Actress Sydney Sweeney has revealed the secret to maintaining her world-famous body.
She’s taking part in a hardcore Pilates-inspired workout that’s taking the nation by storm.
“I love this place called SolidCore. It’s a full-body, high-intensity workout, but I use a reformer, so it was very tiring. I love it,” the “Euphoria” actress told WSJ. magazine.
SolidCore was founded in Washington, DC in 2013 by Anne Mahlum, a former nonprofit turned entrepreneur. She created this to “redefine the Pilates core workout.”
Sweeney broke into popular culture with her role as Cassie Howard on HBO’s “Euphoria.”
As of December 2023, we have more than 100 studios across the United States, from California to North Dakota to New York.
But it’s not cheap. Individual classes cost $43, and a six-month unlimited membership costs $367.94 per month.
This class takes place on a machine that Solidcore calls “swetlana.” This is essentially a larger version of the Pilates reformer. This long length makes certain movements more difficult.
The strength and tension of the coils attached to different parts of the machine can be adjusted to create more or less resistance when performing different exercises in the class. Using this type of machine for resistance exercises is said to improve posture, balance, and increase the extra tension that strains your muscles.
However, there are important differences between Solid Core and Reformed Pilates.
Solid Core focuses on strengthening muscles and endurance, while Pilates encourages deep, slow breathing and more gentle training.
The pace is also much faster and similar to a spin class.
Newcomers are expected to come to class early for orientation on this machine, which can seem like a torture device to beginners.
The lights dim and music blares as the 50-minute class begins. This is no different than cult-favorite spin classes like SoulCycle and Orangetheory.
As music plays, an instructor yells instructions through a headset connected to a speaker system, walking participants through a total of 25 different exercises, from planks to lunges to squats to bicep curls.
Solid core classes are performed on a machine called a “swetlana” which helps increase the stress on your muscles.
The instructor instructs participants to hold each pose for a long time, making small, slow contractions and stretches, working their way toward “muscle failure.”
According to the Solid Core Team, this helps build lean muscle endurance by stimulating slow-twitch fibers.
Slow-twitch fibers are resistant to fatigue and are used for activities that require endurance. “By gradually increasing resistance over time with a Pilates-inspired reformer, your muscles gradually become stronger,” they explain on their website.
The class is designed to tremble when ordinary people speak.
The scientific literature agrees that to build slow-twitch fibers, you need to perform endurance exercise slowly until muscle strength declines. For example, marathon runners tend to have very strong slow-twitch muscles.
Sweeney is not the first person to “die” from this intense training.
“I was shaking with every step. Needless to say, SolidCore is no ordinary Pilates,” said a TikTok user who shared his first experience in a video.
“This is the most difficult and unusual class I have ever taken in my life. I have never felt so humbled,” user Ravishrana said in another video.
In response, the official SolidCore account commented, “The shaking means it’s working!”
