Clare Hornby Pilates

16/09/2025

Have you ever thought about starting Pilates? I have two spaces available in my beginners class at 10:15 on Tuesdays. Please get in touch if you are interested on 07900 068456 or pilates@thehornbygroup.com ###

07/09/2025

Really looking forward to the start of a new term on Tuesday 😀.

I have one space available in my 10:15 beginners class….. if you’ve ever wanted to give Pilates a go or have been looking for a beginners class now’s your chance!

Please contact me on 07900 068456 or pilates@thehornbygroup.com xx

05/08/2025

One leg stretch level 2 + ab prep = lumbopelvic stability challenge for my 10:15 summer class today! All nailed it obv 😀

29/07/2025

Rain this morning but we’ve got double resistance bands! Today’s class includes exercises in sitting - a great way to strengthen postural muscles in a position we tend to spend a lot of time in 🪑🏋🏻‍♀️

20/07/2025

Where there’s class planning there is always a cat.

17/06/2025

Balance pads today! Standing, sidelying, hand and knees - using them to challenge our stability. We’ve also got some roll downs for abs……. see you there x

06/05/2025

Lovely sunny day for Pilates in Berkeley even if it is a bit cold and the Bank Holiday makes me think it’s Monday 😵‍💫!

Therabands today, purple for legs and blue for arms (could also be purple for arms if you’ve had your Weetabix this morning 💪😀).

09/04/2025

I think this is so true and something that I never appreciated when I first started teaching. So many people in my classes meet for coffee, catch up about their lives (often during the warm up 🤣), check in with each other when life is hard, give each other lifts to class when their cars have broken down. Classes are as a much about making a social connection as they are actually doing Pilates ☺️.

Group fitness classes aren’t just about exercise, Mikala Jamison wrote in 2024. https://theatln.tc/z5fhRvrd

When Jamison was teaching indoor cycling, she was the nicest version of herself: “warm, welcoming, and encouraging to the point of profound corniness, despite my usual caustic tendencies,” she writes. People that met in her class started dating; strangers went out for coffee. “These experiences have convinced me that group fitness classes are the best place to make friends as an adult,” she continues, “an idea supported by research that suggests that the glow of exercise’s feel-good chemicals has interpersonal benefits.”

Once, friendships were born in what the sociologist Ray Oldenburg called “third places”: physical spaces that aren’t a home or a workplace, don’t charge (much) for entry, and exist in large part to foster conversation. Group classes don’t quite fit in that definition—they can cost money, and their primary activities are “sweating, grunting, and skipping a few reps when the instructor isn’t looking,” Jamison writes. “But they fulfill many conditions that social-psychology research has repeatedly shown to help forge meaningful connections between strangers: proximity (being in the same place), ritual (at the same time, over and over), accumulation (for many hours), and shared experiences or interests (because you do and like the same things)”—a less awkward way to find people with similar interests than at work or at a party.

Even if you don’t find your next best friend at Zumba class, getting into a fitness habit might help you step out of your comfort zone and make more friends in other spaces.

“A room full of grown adults flailing, shouting, and running miles without ever going anywhere is a fundamentally ridiculous prospect,” Jamison continues. “Ridiculous things, however, play a crucial role in connecting with others: They make us laugh.”

Read more: https://theatln.tc/z5fhRvrd

🎨: Debora Szpilman

06/04/2025

The metalwork has come out! Unfortunately this means I need to cancel classes on Tuesday 8th April as it won’t be ready to teach on. Have a lovely Easter and I’ll see you all after - keep an eye on your inbox for the renewal email 🐣🍭🍫☀️ x