Pilates Tower in Zürich

What is the Pilates Tower?

The Pilates Tower is a wall unit from the classical Pilates repertoire: a vertical frame with springs at different heights, a push-through bar, a roll-down bar and leg and arm springs. Joseph Pilates built it as the upright half of the Cadillac. The springs guide the movement and give resistance in both directions, which is what makes Tower work so precise: the body has to control the spring on the way out and on the way back.

Compared with a mat class the Tower adds feedback. Compared with the Reformer it removes the sliding carriage and keeps the body on a stable base, so the attention goes to the center, the spine and the hips rather than to balance.

What happens in a Tower class at Anida Lab

Classes in the Reformer Room last fifty minutes and take up to twelve people, each on their own Tower. A class opens with breath and footwork or leg springs, moves through roll-downs and arm work, and builds towards the bigger movements of the repertoire: teaser preparations, side bends, back extension against the push-through bar. The teacher sets the spring load for each person before the class and adjusts it during the exercises.

Because the Tower is fixed, the progressions are clear. The same exercise exists in a lighter and a stronger version, and your teacher moves you from one to the other over the weeks.

What changes with regular practice

The first thing most people notice is posture: the deep muscles along the spine and around the pelvis start to hold the body upright without effort. The abdominal wall becomes stronger without loading the lower back, the hips and the shoulders gain range, and movements in everyday life, from lifting a bag to sitting for hours, become easier to organise. Two classes a week over two to three months is the rhythm in which these changes become visible.

Who the Pilates Tower is for

For beginners the Tower is an easy entry into apparatus Pilates: the springs support before they challenge. For people with a desk job it addresses the typical pattern of a tight lower back and rounded shoulders. For runners, cyclists and climbers it builds the stable center that endurance training leaves out. Tell your teacher about pregnancy, an injury or a recent operation before the class; the springs and the exercises adapt.

Pilates Tower or Reformer Pilates?

Both are Pilates with springs and both last fifty minutes at Anida Lab. The Reformer adds a sliding carriage and takes five people per class; the Tower is fixed and takes twelve. If you want the smallest group and the most individual attention, choose the Reformer. If you want apparatus work with more places and a stable base, choose the Tower. Many members alternate: the same pass covers both rooms.

How to start

Book in the schedule on this page with your email address; there is no app to install. The first visit is simplest with the Guest Pass for CHF 48: one Tower class, valid for seven days. After that, a pack of ten or twenty classes or a Movement membership from CHF 370 a month covers every class in both rooms. You can cancel in your account up to 24 hours before the class and the credit returns to your pass. Grip socks and a small towel are the only equipment; bring both.

Where to find us in Zürich

Anida Lab is at Gotthardstrasse 40, 8002 Zürich, in the Enge quarter of Kreis 2. Bahnhof Enge is a few minutes on foot, with S-Bahn and tram connections to the main station, Paradeplatz and the lake. The lab is open Monday to Friday from 06:30 to 21:30 and at weekends from 09:00 to 15:00, which makes a class before work, at lunchtime or on the way home realistic for people who live or work in Enge, Wollishofen, Wiedikon, the city center and along the lake.

Under one roof you find the Aura Room, the Reformer Room, the Red Light Therapy cabin, the analyses of Therapy Base and the Anida Café. A class, ten minutes of red light and a coffee fit into one visit.