Pilates in Irvine

Use your VCR to tape over old workout tapes with cherished episodes of AfterMASH. With today's Groupon, $50 gets you two private Pilates lessons and one mat group class at Bella Forma Pilates (a $145 value). Located above Borders at the Carlsbad Forum Shops, the sumptuous studio takes a personalized approach to toning, the kind rarely seen since the legendary Golem of Prague was blessed by his creator with rock-hard abs.

Led by co-owners with backgrounds in professional dance, the experienced instructors at Pilates Studio City cultivate carved torsos with exercises that target the core. During personalized private sessions, pupils to bend into Pilates poses or the shape of their own initials atop a mat and sliding equipment such as the Reformer, Cadillac, and Wunda chair. Teachers also divide their attention among students of all levels during group classes, which range from Level 1 mat sessions to dynamic Nia workouts. Nia blends elements of dance, martial arts, and the healing arts into a series of 52 movements that rotate from session to session to keep muscles from getting bored.

Fitness blooms at three locations, which together host more than 130 classes each week. The Studio City location surrounds exercisers in rustic wooden walls, in contrast with the floor-to-ceiling mirrors and undulating modern lines of the Porter Ranch studio's décor. Mat classes at The Annex stretch and bend beneath a large photo mural of a forest so that students can draw inspiration from branches' ability to hold themselves indefinitely in plank pose.

Under the guidance of certified Master Trainer Armone Sullivan, students will be introduced to, and become firmly acquainted with, trademark Pilates positions that reawaken bodily potential and may even spawn a photographic memory. Armone is a local Pilates champion whose cycling and dance background has helped her create intense workouts famed for their rigor and clear-cut results. Your limbs will rise to her challenges, defining muscles and building the core endurance needed to scale art-deco skyscrapers and wrestle entire mountain ranges.

Dancers, athletes, and the not-so-nimble can get the personalized Pilates instruction that they're not getting from their butcher, member of Congress, or cargo cult. Today's side deal gets new customers one private Pilates session at Pilatesblue for $38 (a $75 value). This private studio in Culver City features the Best Pilates in Los Angeles according to Citysearch and will provide the mat and any equipment you need. Call a week in advance to schedule your appointment.

Lani Pelino discovered Pilates as a means to help her condition her body for dancing as she studied at Ohio University. Later, during an apprenticeship with The Atlanta Ballet, she completed her Pilates' teacher certification and opened Mind 2 Body as a venue for students to build healthy, powerful muscles without risking injury. As she continued to teach, she incorporated yoga, gyrotonics, and ballet-barre-based exercise into her studio's repertoire.

Now, joined by a dozen other instructors, Lani inducts beginners into the gratifying world of exercise, helps long-term athletes improve their skills, and even certifies teachers looking to bring the workouts to their own students. Lit by sunbeams splashing through a large front window, her green studio honors the earth with organic cleaning equipment, reusable bamboo towels, and studio mats manufactured without the use of PVCs, chloride, or the labor of indentured squirrels.

The SPX system works specifically to target hips and thighs and tighten the core by pushing the muscles to failure. You'll stretch and strengthen your muscles until the point of collapse, a proven method for developing a rock-hard middle. Developed by Pilates pro Sebastien Lagree, the intense, 40-minute classes will give even diehard gym rats speedy results and work the muscles harder than standard Pilates-based workouts. Sessions start as early as 5:30 a.m. and are offered every day. View a complete schedule and sign up here for the group class of your choosing.