In the Victorian era, people made their cores look tight by wearing corsets, which doubled as bulletproof vests during pistol duels. Strengthen your core until it's naturally impervious to bullets instead with today's Groupon: for $49, you get your choice of either five mat classes (a $104 value, including tax) or three equipment sessions (a $76 value, including tax) at Retrofit Pilates.

Retrofit Pilates offers fun and welcoming Pilates workouts in a pristine Bloor West Village studio. Small group classes offer a bevy of stretching and strengthening options, including Pilates mat, Pilates fusion, cardio Pilates, specialties Pilates, tightrope over alligator-pit Pilates, and Pilates reformer. Erase years of gravy buildup and form solid muscle foundation in the centre of your body during the beginner’s core principles class, or tone up extremities with the body sculpt class. If jungle-gym nostalgia overtakes your workout, you can plunge into the precision machine class, which utilizes the same core muscles and principles of mat Pilates with the reformer, a machine specially designed to help you make each movement with improved alignment and effectiveness. Because all of Retrofit’s classes are small and intimate, the Pilates pros lavish their protégés with personal attention and superfluous bolts of silk. Check out the group class schedule online.

Retrofit’s immaculate space is filled with top-of-the-line equipment, ensuring your workout runs smoothly and efficiently and without the usual stalling and flaking common in the antiquated communist-era imports typical of local gyms. A regular Pilates routine can benefit almost anyone, from expectant mothers to pro athletes and everything in between, including expectant pro athletes. So stop in for a few of the muscle-building classes, or gift this Groupon to an out-of-shape orator to build her core muscles in anticipation for an hours-long podium address.