Walk through Da'an, Xinyi or Zhongshan in Taipei these days and you'll notice something interesting.
The streets used to be lined with gyms and yoga studios. Now there are more and more studios with Pilates, Reformer or equipment Pilates on the sign. For many people, Pilates is no longer something they try once — it's a fixed part of their week.
Yet the Pilates we know today has more than a hundred years of history behind it.
It started with Joseph Pilates
Pilates goes back to Joseph Pilates in the early 20th century.
He first called his method Contrology. Its core idea was not lifting heavier or moving faster, but training the body through breathing, control and precise movement.
Joseph Pilates later moved to the United States and opened a studio in New York. What had been a fairly niche method gradually caught the attention of dancers, athletes and rehabilitation professionals.
More than a century later, Pilates has become one of the most popular forms of exercise in the world again.
Why do people love Pilates now?
Pilates' popularity has a lot to do with how people live today.
Long hours at a desk, on a computer and on a phone have made many people pay attention to their posture, mobility and how their body feels. Compared with training that is all about weight or intensity, Pilates offers another option.
It focuses on core stability, body control and precise movement, and can be adjusted to every level.
Research has found that regular Pilates can help some people with posture, physical function and lower-back pain. It isn't a cure-all, though — results depend on how you train and on your own body.
What keeps many people coming back may be something else: after a class, you feel much more aware of your own body.
Pilates is no longer niche
Pilates' growth in recent years shows up across the global fitness market.
According to ClassPass's 2025 data, Pilates was the most-booked type of workout worldwide for the third year in a row, with bookings up 66% on the year before. Reformer Pilates grew even faster, up 71%.
Mat Pilates grew faster still, with bookings up 114% in 2025.
Pilates no longer looks like just one thing. Some people love classic mat work, some prefer the Reformer, and others choose higher-intensity Pilates classes. Each style is building its own audience.
Pilates is slowly turning from a single workout into a whole category of exercise.
The same is happening in Taiwan
The trend has, of course, reached Taiwan too.
Equipment Pilates studios have multiplied in recent years, and the Reformer is now standard in many new studios. Everyone from large fitness chains to small studios with a few machines is entering the market.
Taiwanese customers are getting used to small-group, book-ahead classes — a very different model from a traditional gym.
A gym can hold a lot of members at once, but a Pilates studio's spots are limited by its equipment and instructors. One missing person in a class can mean one spot that goes unused.
So as a Pilates studio grows, managing bookings becomes part of running the business.
The next question is how to keep members
A growing Pilates market is a great opportunity for studios.
But as choices multiply, the reasons members pick one studio over another change too. It might be the instructor, the classes, the location, the space — or simply that booking is easy.
For studio owners, the real challenge isn't selling the first class. It's making members want to come back next week, next month and a year from now.
That's where Boost wants to help.
As classes, instructors and members grow, bookings, waitlists, cancellations and schedules take up more and more time. Boost aims to make that daily work simple, so studios don't spend their time confirming messages over and over, and can put their attention back on what matters most:
teaching great classes, so members enjoy them and keep coming back.