06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Is Pilates Political?
In early April, MaryBeth Monaco-Vavrik, a 24-year-old barre instructor and fitness influencer living in Washington, D.C., was sitting at the airport waiting for a flight to board when she had an idea for an Instagram Reel.
Ms. Monaco-Vavrik studied political science and communications at Davidson College. It became a habit, she said in a recent interview, to 'always connect random things that don't seem to relate.' In that moment, she juxtaposed two concepts that had been on her mind: Pilates and President Trump.
Grinning at the camera, and lip-syncing to a popular TikTok clip about the Broadway musical 'Wicked,' Ms. Monaco-Vavrik made her case: 'Does anyone want me to explain the connection between the popularization of Pilates & running instead of strength training… and the rise of extreme American authoritarianism?'
She elaborated in the caption, saying that conservatism was correlated to 'smaller bodies,' and that curves were out and heroin chic was back in. Given our current political climate, she did not think it was surprising that the trend for 'Pilates arms' among 'Pilates girlies' was surging.
A post shared by MaryBeth MV | Fitness & Culture Creator (@
Ms. Monaco-Vavrik was new to content creation in the fitness space — she posted her first Instagram Reels, focused on training tips and exercise advice, in February — and this particular post was, she said, somewhat spur of the moment. 'I made that Reel in five minutes sitting at the airport, just to put it out there,' she said. 'I was just like, 'Why not?'' She was not prepared for the reaction: two million views in two days, and nearly five million as of this writing.
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