‘Wellness is actually on the ballot at the end of the day,’ said Kiersten Gibson-Cooper, the owner of KGC Pilates in New York City. Photograph: Tatiana Maksimova/Getty Images View image in fullscreen ‘Wellness is actually on the ballot at the end of the day,’ said Kiersten Gibson-Cooper, the owner of KGC Pilates in New York City. Photograph: Tatiana Maksimova/Getty Images US midterm elections 2026 ‘Wellness is on the ballot’: why did so many pilates studios tell me to vote in the midterms? Owners of pilates and yoga studios in the US got political and encouraged their followers to vote on social media
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Johana Bhuiyan Wed 4 Nov 2026 19.53 CET Last modified on Wed 4 Nov 2026 23.51 CET Share Prefer the Guardian on Google Your local pilates instructors only want you to do two things: breathe through your side-planks and vote.
In the days leading up to the US midterm elections, a wave of posts from fitness and wellness accounts blanketed Instagram, eschewing their typical messaging around the importance of strengthening your core in favor of the importance of exercising your civic duty. Owners of pilates and yoga studios and instructors across the US posted reels and pictures on platforms like Instagram encouraging their followers and clients to vote. Engagement varied depending on their following: posts reaped anywhere from 70 to more than 10,000 likes.
“A strong core is cute. Having a voice is powerful. Go vote,” posted Frederick Ocansey, a pilates instructor who goes by the name flyfreshfreddy on his Instagram account with nearly 25,000 followers.
“A pilates class no-show only costs you,” an Instagram reel posted by the Flatbush, Brooklyn, studio KGC Pilates read. “An election no-show costs all of us.”
Mome Studios, a pilates studio in South Portland, Maine, posted a picture of a sign outside its door taking a dig at Elon Musk’s ambitions to colonize Mars that said: “No Pilates on Mars. Vote.” Kore Pilates, a Nassau county, New York, Black-owned studio, posted in plain block letters against a black backdrop: “Pilates Girls Vote.” Yoga studios also offered free drop-in classes for anyone who brought in their “I Voted” stickers and others have offered to waive fees for canceling a class too late so people can go vote.
For many of those instructors and creators, there’s a natural connection between pilates and politics.
“Wellness is actually on the ballot at the end of the day,” said Kiersten Gibson-Cooper, the owner of KGC Pilates . “You’re voting for things related to healthcare, for wages, for grocery prices. I don’t want my clients to have to decide between booking a pilates class and affording groceries.”
Posts that show off “I Voted” stickers or that encourage people to vote have become reliably viral content for social media during US elections in recent years. Platforms like Instagram often capitalize on the moment, creating filters or stickers to overlay on images being shared to users’ stories. Using celebrity to encourage people to vote, especially for less attended elections like midterms, is also well-trod territory. The “Rock the Vote” campaign of the 90s famously tapped rappers and singers to bring younger people to the polls. Social media has combined the two phenomena, mobilizing the influence of semi-famous fitness instructors who command deeply loyal followings.
It’s not lost on Gibson-Cooper that her posts about voting could be seen as a ploy to boost engagement an…