Blogilates Review

Free on YouTube, with an optional Body by Blogilates app subscription at about $3.99/month or $39.99/year and a 7-day trial · one of the biggest fitness channels in the world, with around 11 million subscribers and roughly 1,500 free workouts from Cassey Ho · POP Pilates, that is mat Pilates choreographed to pop music, plus cardio, HIIT and toning · sessions from about 10 to 30 minutes · a mat is all you need · Optional light dumbbells.

What this review is. This is a sample-tested review: I ran a 7-day trial of the app, completed a workout and explored the library, rather than running a full programme, so the score is a hands-on look with a longer test still to come. One correction from actually using it: I normally train with weights and expected POP Pilates to feel easy, and I was wrong, the session made my muscles sore the next day and works them in a different way. What has not changed is the menopause picture: there is still no perimenopause or menopause programming, no pelvic-floor work and no strength progression, so this remains a fun, general Pilates resource rather than a menopause tool. This is education, not medical advice; speak to your clinician, especially about HRT, bone health or existing conditions.

Is Blogilates right for you?

What Blogilates Actually Is

Blogilates is, at heart, a free YouTube fitness channel, and one of the biggest in the world, with around 11 million subscribers and roughly 1,500 free workouts from Cassey Ho. It began in 2009, when Ho posted a farewell video for the Pilates students she was leaving behind, and it grew into a phenomenon on the strength of one idea: POP Pilates, which is classical mat Pilates choreographed to pop music so a whole workout flows like a routine. Around that sit cardio, HIIT and toning videos, the equipment-free PIIT28 format that runs about 28 minutes, and a free printable monthly workout calendar that stacks the videos into a follow-along plan with a different muscle focus each day. There is also a low-cost app, Body by Blogilates, and a separate apparel brand, POPFLEX, but the free channel is the main event.

For this audience it is worth being precise about what Blogilates is and is not. It is a large, fun, genuinely free library of low-impact Pilates and body-weight toning, with a warm, high-energy teacher and a ready-made structure, and for a beginner who wants to move at home without spending, that accessibility is real. Testing the app, I also found the workouts land harder than the bright, playful design suggests. What it is not is a midlife or menopause platform. The content is built for a young, general fitness audience, its framing is aesthetic, get lean and toned, and it leans on cardio and HIIT that add faster, higher-impact moves. There is no perimenopause or menopause programming, no progressive strength system, no bone-loading work, and no pelvic-floor content. Read Blogilates as a low-cost, fun way to move that a woman over 40 can absolutely use, rather than a programme designed for her stage of life.

 

Who Is Behind Blogilates? Credibility

Blogilates is Cassey Ho, an American fitness entrepreneur, instructor and designer who built one of the largest fitness followings on the internet, with tens of millions of followers across platforms. Her fitness credentials are real: she is a certified group fitness instructor and a Pilates mat and reformer teacher, with certifications through ACE, NESTA and Balanced Body, and she created POP Pilates, which became an internationally recognised instructor-certification format approved through ACE, AFAA and NASM and adopted as the Pilates format of a large US gym chain. She holds a degree in biological sciences, not a clinical or medical one. So she is a genuinely qualified and hugely experienced fitness teacher, and that is her strength. Her energy on screen is a real part of the draw, and in my trial her warm, cheeky delivery made working out with her genuinely fun.

What she is not is a clinician, physician, physiotherapist, registered dietitian or menopause specialist, and there is no medical or menopause advisory board behind the content, and no hormone-health or bone-health expertise informing it. Her business does employ a registered dietitian for some website nutrition content, but that does not extend to the workouts. For a midlife audience that means high credibility and safety for general fitness and Pilates instruction, and low authority on menopause-specific medical or training questions. It is also worth noting that Ho has publicly said she has scaled back making new fitness videos, shifting her focus toward the POPFLEX apparel brand, so the fitness side, while still enormous, is less actively expanded than it once was. Read her as a well-qualified, much-loved fitness teacher, rather than a source of menopause or medical guidance.

Content and Features

What Equipment Do You Need for Blogilates?

Very little, which is part of the appeal. Most POP Pilates and toning workouts are body-weight only, so a mat is really all you need, and the sessions are designed for a small space at home. Cassey Ho does use light dumbbells in some toning and HIIT videos, and she sells a light pair herself, so a set of light weights is a useful optional addition. That said, because Blogilates offers no progressive strength system, the more valuable midlife purchase is a set of adjustable dumbbells for a separate strength habit, since building and keeping muscle and bone is exactly what this content does not do.

Recommended spec examples. These picks are curated by specification and feature fit, not personally lab-tested for long-term durability. Prices are examples; verify before buying.

How We Scored Blogilates: the 5.9 / 10 Breakdown

Hands-on scores on our 9 weighted criteria. Women Over 40 is our most heavily weighted menopause criterion, and its full 12-capability breakdown follows in the next section.

Is Blogilates Good for Women Over 40?

In a general way, yes, and the price makes it easy to say so. Blogilates is free at its core, the POP Pilates format is fun and unintimidating, the sessions are short, and the monthly calendar tells you what to do each day, which removes a real barrier for a beginner. Pilates itself is low-impact and supports core strength, mobility and posture, all of which serve a midlife body well, and a woman who is nervous about exercise can start moving here without spending a penny. For low-cost, at-home movement with a warm teacher, the exercise side is not the problem.

Who it suits, and what is missing. The gaps are specific and important for this site. First, the training emphasis. Midlife guidance prioritises progressive resistance to protect muscle and bone, and Blogilates offers only body-weight and light-dumbbell toning with no progression, so while it challenges muscle more than it looks, it does little for long-term strength gains and almost nothing for bone density. Second, the audience and pace. This content is designed for a young, general crowd, so it is fast and aesthetic-led, and the cardio, HIIT and PIIT segments add jumping and higher-impact moves that can be hard on knees and pelvic floors, which is worth knowing before you follow a calendar day at full speed. Third, the menopause gap. There is no perimenopause or menopause programming, no hormone or symptom content, and no pelvic-floor work. It suits a woman who wants free, fun, low-cost movement and is happy to add her own strength work; it is a weak single choice for someone whose priority is bone or a menopause-specific plan.

This is the perimenopause and menopause assessment, and it is separate from the overall score. Twelve things a programme either does for a midlife body or does not, each scored out of 10 with my reasoning next to it. Together they produce a single menopause fit score, and that becomes one of the nine categories in the overall scoring below.

These are evidence-informed suitability ratings, not clinical measurements. They combine exercise science with hands-on and feature analysis, and are approximate. Individual response varies. A starting point, not medical advice. How we score menopause fit.

What the Research Says: Blogilates’ Approach Checked

Pilates, the foundation of Blogilates, has real and worthwhile benefits for midlife women, with clear limits. In postmenopausal women, an 8-week Pilates programme significantly improved trunk and lower-back muscle strength and flexibility and reduced menopausal symptom scores, which fits the core, posture and mobility gains Pilates is known for.^[1] A larger 12-week trial in 110 postmenopausal women found Pilates improved lower-body strength and several cognitive measures against a control group, so the functional-fitness case is genuine.^[2] A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis also found Pilates improved health-related quality of life in postmenopausal women.^[3] One useful nuance that matches my own experience of waking up sore: a trial comparing Pilates with resistance training in older women found the two produced broadly comparable gains in trunk strength and balance, with few clear differences, so Pilates is a reasonable way to train those qualities, not a poor one.^[4]

The caveat that matters most for our audience is bone and muscle. Across the menopause transition, body composition genuinely shifts, with the rate of fat gain roughly doubling and lean muscle declining from about two years before the final period, which is exactly when strength and bone need protecting.^[5] The stimulus that protects them is progressive, heavier loading: in the LIFTMOR trial, high-intensity resistance and impact training improved bone density and function in postmenopausal women, whereas light exercise did not, and building or holding lean mass in older women reliably comes from resistance training.^[6][7] Blogilates provides body-weight and light-dumbbell toning with no progression, so it does not deliver that loading. On the positive side, low-impact exercise is safe for older joints and does not worsen knee osteoarthritis, so the gentler Pilates work is genuinely joint-friendly, which supports using it, just not relying on it for bone and muscle.^[8] The sensible way to use Blogilates is as fun, low-cost Pilates and mobility that works muscles harder than it looks, paired with a dedicated progressive-strength habit for the bone loading it cannot address.

What Users Report: Verified Sentiment

Rating snapshot, and a split worth naming: the workout products rate well, while a separate apparel brand drags down anything that shares the name. The Body by Blogilates app holds about 4.7 stars on the Apple App Store from roughly 4,700 ratings, and about 4.7 on Google Play from around 14,200 reviews on more than 500,000 installs, both read in August 2026, which is a strong, stable picture for the app itself. Trustpilot has no genuine listing for the app; the low Trustpilot score you may find, around 2.3 out of 5, is for POPFLEX, Cassey Ho’s separate apparel store, and reflects shipping, sizing and returns complaints, not the workouts. We keep those apart: the app stores speak to the fitness experience, and the apparel reviews speak to a shop. My own week in the app matched the positive picture, with a workout that was tougher than expected and no bugs in that time.

Devices, Platforms and App

Blogilates is easy to reach. The free channel is on YouTube, so it plays on any phone, tablet, computer or smart TV and casts easily to a screen. The Body by Blogilates app adds iOS and Android, with the full video library free and a subscription unlocking the calendar, challenges, programmes and the 90 Day Journey. In my trial the app was clean and easy to move around, and the design is a genuine step away from the identikit look of most Pilates apps. The practical catches are still worth knowing: users report recurring app bugs, including slowness, a monthly calendar that sometimes fails to load at month-end, checkmarks that do not stick, and a cast-to-TV button that does not reliably work, none of which I hit in a single week, but a week is not a stress test. Cancellation is also app-store-only, so you manage or stop the subscription through your Apple or Google account rather than inside the app. For a woman over 40 who mostly wants to follow a free video on her phone or TV, the free channel is the smoother experience; the paid app is cheap, nicely designed, and more variable over time.

Blogilates specifications

Blogilates Price 2026: What You Actually Pay

Will You Actually Stick With It?

Blogilates Pros and Cons

How Blogilates Compares to Similar Platforms

If you are deciding between low-cost, at-home Pilates and toning options, this is how Blogilates sits against the alternatives. Scores come from our independent reviews and update automatically as each is scored; Pvolve is included as the menopause-built contrast, and free options are shown alongside.

Competitor prices are approximate; verify on each platform’s website. Scores reflect our independent reviews. See each full review for methodology.

Blogilates vs The Sculpt Society: Which Is Better for Women Over 40?

This is the closest pairing for a woman drawn to fun, low-impact, aesthetic-led home workouts, because both come from a charismatic solo founder with a younger core audience. The Sculpt Society, from dancer Megan Roup, is a polished app built on dance cardio and sculpt with light weights, with a cleaner interface and a more curated, structured feel. It suits a woman who wants a paid, app-first experience with dance-led sessions and does not mind that, like Blogilates, it skews young and is light on strength progression.

Blogilates is the freer, more improvised option: a vast library on YouTube at no cost, the fun POP Pilates format, a monthly calendar, and a very cheap, nicely designed app, from a teacher with genuine Pilates certification, and in testing the session hit harder than the playful look suggests. It is the better pick if free matters, if you like Pilates over dance, and if you are happy to self-edit the pace. Neither is a strength or menopause tool, both are aesthetic-led and young-skewing, and both leave the progressive loading a midlife body needs to you. For free, fun Pilates, choose Blogilates; for a polished dance-sculpt app, The Sculpt Society; and for genuine menopause programming and the strength and pelvic-floor work either one lacks, a purpose-built option such as Pvolve goes further than both. If budget is the deciding factor, a free option such as Fitness Blender gives you real, progressible strength content at no cost.

If Blogilates Is Not Right for You: Best Alternatives

Blogilates’ gaps for our audience are menopause programming, progressive strength and bone work, and pelvic floor. If those matter, these published options map to the gaps.

Blogilates FAQ

Final Verdict

Hands-on Score: 5.9 / 10 · Sample-tested

Blogilates is one of the largest and most approachable free fitness resources anywhere, and for fun, low-cost Pilates and toning it delivers a great deal. It is genuinely free at its core, the POP Pilates format is enjoyable and beginner-friendly, the sessions are short, the monthly calendar removes decision fatigue, and the app is unusually cheap and better-designed than most. Cassey Ho is a qualified, experienced instructor and a long-standing body-positive voice, and testing the app surprised me: as a regular lifter I did not expect the Pilates work to make me sore, and it did. The moderating factors for our audience are clear and important: the content is built for a young, general crowd, so it is fast and aesthetic-led with higher-impact cardio and HIIT, the strength work is light toning with no progression, and there is no perimenopause or menopause programming, no bone work and no pelvic-floor content.

Blogilates is for women who want free, fun, low-cost movement and Pilates they can follow at home, who are happy to slow the pace, skip the higher-impact days and add their own strength work. Blogilates is not for women whose priority is building bone or following a menopause-specific plan, who should pair it with a dedicated strength habit and, for menopause, a purpose-built option such as Pvolve.

Testing Status

Sources and Further Reading

1. Lee, H. et al. (2016). Effects of 8-week Pilates exercise program on menopausal symptoms and lumbar strength and flexibility in postmenopausal women. Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation. Available at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. An 8-week Pilates programme improved lumbar strength and flexibility and reduced menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women.
2. Garcia-Garro, P.A. et al. (2020). Effectiveness of a Pilates training program on cognitive and functional abilities in postmenopausal women. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Available at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. A 12-week Pilates programme improved lower-body strength and several cognitive measures against a control group in 110 postmenopausal women.
3. de Almeida, P.P. et al. (2024). Effects of Pilates exercises on health-related quality of life in postmenopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Quality of Life Research. Available at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Pilates significantly improved health-related quality of life in postmenopausal women compared with controls.
4. Carrasco-Poyatos, M. et al. (2019). Pilates versus resistance training on trunk strength and balance adaptations in older women. PeerJ. Available at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Pilates and resistance training produced broadly comparable trunk-strength and balance gains in older women, with few clear differences between them.
5. Greendale, G.A. et al. (2019). Changes in body composition and weight during the menopause transition. JCI Insight (Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation). Available at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. The rate of fat-mass gain roughly doubled while lean mass declined across the menopause transition, from about two years before the final period.
6. Watson, S.L. et al. (2018). High-intensity resistance and impact training improves bone mineral density and physical function in postmenopausal women: the LIFTMOR randomized controlled trial. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. Available at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Heavier, high-intensity loading improved bone density and function; light exercise did not.
7. Thomas, E. et al. (2021). The effect of resistance training programs on lean body mass in postmenopausal and elderly women: a meta-analysis of observational studies. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research. Available at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Resistance training was associated with increased lean body mass in postmenopausal and elderly women, the loading stimulus light toning does not provide.
8. Quicke, J.G. et al. (2015). Is long-term physical activity safe for older adults with knee pain? A systematic review. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage. Available at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Long-term exercise was safe for older adults with knee pain and did not increase pain or joint damage, supporting joint-friendly low-impact work.

This is a sample-tested review based on a 7-day app trial, not a full multi-week test. Pricing and features were verified August 2026 and may have changed. Some affiliate links may be present. This site does not accept payment from platforms reviewed. Education, not medical advice; speak to your clinician, especially about HRT, bone health or existing conditions.

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