“We Normalize Crazy Prices” — Pilates Lover Slams Cost of Women’s Fitness Classes in the U.S.

A woman who discovered her love for Pilates while living in Australia was gobsmacked to come back home to the states and find out how much her local studio was charging for access to the group workout regimen. TikTok user Hannah Lasche (@hannah.lasche) posted a viral rant on how much more Pilates costs stateside, which sparked a conversation on the "pink tax," i.e. the phenomenon of women's products/services costing more just because they're geared toward women.

"OK so I just got off the phone after being quotes for a Pilates studio," she says at the top of the video as she rocks back and forth in place. "I went to Pilates six days a week in Australia. Loved Pilates. I've never been a huge gym girl, I wish I was, I just don't have the motivation to like bring myself to the gym and make myself work out with myself," she said, expressing her preference for studio-style group fitness classes instead.

She then went on to discuss her experience in attending Pilates classes in Australia: the studio allowed her to attend the gym once a week for a free trial and then after that it was $35 a week for unlimited classes.

"You could go seven days a week, twice a day if you wanted ... $35," she said, adding that this included four different classes folks could attend: HIIT, mat, barre, and reformer.

However, when she returned back home to the states and checked out the Pilates studio near her house, she was presented with a much different payment structure. The representative on the phone told her that she was going to have to fork over $250 a month for unlimited classes.

Hannah was floored by the massive discrepancy, but that wasn't all — the pricing options continued to get worse: "And I've heard that's cheap and I'm like, no. And then she goes, so it's gonna be $250 a month and then on top of that there's a $150 membership starter fee."

The TikToker didn't seem to be about that life — at all: "Why, for what?" she asks into the camera, truly confused as to what the membership starter fee is for. "She goes, it's just once, like just once. And I'm like, um, that's a lot of money. She's like yeah so actually right now we are doing 50 percent off of that membership."

The employee continued, "So it's only $75," but Hannah still wasn't stoked to just hand over her money simply to enter her name and profile into the gym's system: "$75 to start my account? Why?"

Hannah went on to say that it's because of surcharges like this that are the reason why U.S. women are so upset: "Like, no wonder women are pissed off here," she states.

"Like Pilates has been the biggest blessing. I've seen so much change in my body with such minimal, like, sweat and like effort — not effort, it's very hard, but it's like so enjoyable and affordable in Australia, and here I'm like, what?" she said, still harping on the differences in pricing.

"When you said $250 a month I actually almost dropped dead. It's a luxury, too? So like the sad thing is like for our mental health those things are so important but people are gonna have to start deciding."

"Like what are we doing? Guys. $250 a month? Please," she says, looking into the camera before ending her clip.

One commenter who responded to Hannah's post said that workout classes specifically geared toward women, like Pilates, suffer from what some call the dreaded "pink tax."

"I feel like Oilates has a major pink tax. Why is every workout class geared toward women SOO expensive."

Another person wrote that the only reason they haven't signed up for Pilates classes on their own is due to the fact that they, too, thought the fees associated with them were too costly.

"My barrier to Pilates is literally the price, it’s so sad," the commenter wrote, to which Hannah responded by stating: "It’s so sad because it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me."

Another person replied: "I’ve always looked at Pilates as a rich-people thing because of this."

And someone else wrote: "Exactly why I don’t have a yoga or Pilates membership."

According to one TikTok user, the reason why folks think certain prices, like a $250 fee, is considered "cheap" is because there are enough customers out there who will stand for it.

The way to combat this, the TikToker said, is to vote with your wallet: "The fact people say $250 is cheap is the reason why companies keep raising prices on everything. We normalize crazy prices by continuing buying."

This was a sentiment echoed by someone else who penned: "They’re gonna keep acting up until we get Pilates equipment at home like people are doing with lashes."

However, there were also people who shared their own trips and tricks to get Pilates workouts in for a fraction of the price — like buying a reformer yourself or hitting up other workout routines, like Hotworx.