SaunaBox Solara
SaunaBox Solara
End of Summer Sale is live
Add to cart
Woman sitting on a reformer catching her breath after a Pilates class
SaunaBox
The Pilates guide
Advertisement

Why Pilates regulars are using a sauna after class.

You feel it for two days and book the next class anyway.

See the options
Fifteen minutes after
A household outlet
Free shipping
Key facts
•Muscle soreness after new or harder exercise peaks 48 to 72 hours later.
•Pilates is low impact, and there is no large study of Pilates injuries.
•Pilates has been the most booked workout on ClassPass for three years running (ClassPass, 2025).
•A sauna should not be used straight after a heated Pilates class. Heat after an unheated class supports recovery and supports sleep, and does not tone, sculpt or burn fat.
01

Nobody gets hurt doing Pilates. That's what everyone thinks.

A sauna for Pilates starts with an honest look at the week. And mostly, people are right: Pilates is low impact, and physiotherapists use it in rehab for back and neck pain. We looked for a large study of injuries caused by Pilates and could not find one.

What does show up is soreness. Muscle soreness after exercise you are not used to, or a class that is harder than usual, peaks 48 to 72 hours afterwards. A new reformer instructor, a heavier spring, a sculpt class on top of your usual three.

Soreness peaks
48 to 72h
Your next class
inside it
Large Pilates injury studies
none
Logged as a problem
almost never

None of it is dramatic. It is the same core, the same lower back, the same neck, showing up again on Thursday because it never got a break.

It is not an injury. It is the class you walked into still sore from the last one.

Source: Delayed onset muscle soreness review, Hotfiel et al., Sportverletzung Sportschaden, 2018, PMID 30537791.

Woman holding her lower back after a reformer Pilates class
Soreness peaks two to three days later, usually right when the next class is booked.
02

It's not an injury yet. That's the problem.

It is the Thursday reformer class you did on legs still shaking from Tuesday. The laugh that reminded you of your core. The neck that tightens in the hundred. The lower back that aches getting out of the car, so you booked the next class anyway.

None of that goes in your calendar. It is all the same thing, arriving slowly. By the time it has a name, it has been there for a month.

Tuesday reformerlegs shaking
Wednesdaylaughing hurts
Thursday classbooked anyway
Logged as injurynone of it

None of that goes in your calendar. It is all the same thing, arriving slowly. By the time it has a name, it has been there for a month.

03

Wipe down the reformer. Straight back to your phone.

You wipe down the reformer and grab your bag before the next class files in. You check your messages in the car. You feel your core the next time you laugh, and you book the next class anyway.

You sleep badly and go again in the morning. That is not a criticism. It is what almost everyone does.

That is not a criticism. It is what almost everyone does.

Your classes have a booking in your calendar. Recovery gets whatever is left over.

Gym bag, grip socks and a foam roller by the door after a Pilates class
Everything you own for this already lives in a bag by the door.
04

The evidence says it goes after.

47
People
8
Weeks
15
Minutes after

In a 2023 trial, athletes sat in an infrared sauna for twenty minutes straight after a hard training session. Compared with resting, they reported less muscle soreness and felt more recovered.

It was sixteen people, and they were basketball players, not Pilates clients. In a separate randomised trial, 47 inactive adults with at least one heart risk factor added fifteen minutes of sauna straight after exercise for eight weeks, and came out ahead of the exercise-only group on cardiorespiratory fitness and systolic blood pressure. Not every study agrees. The ones that helped put the heat in the same place: after.

This is not instead of class. It is the fifteen minutes after.

Source: Ahokas et al., Biology of Sport, 2023, PMID 37398966, 16 basketball players. Lee et al., Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 2022, PMID 35785965. Heat supports recovery. It does not prevent injury or make you more flexible.

05

Heat after class, not during it.

A heated studio heats the air while you work. Full spectrum infrared warms your body directly while you do nothing at all: the core, the glutes and the lower back you just worked for fifty minutes.

Your heart rate climbs. Your blood vessels open. You sweat. That is the mechanism, and it supports recovery without anybody promising you a flatter stomach.

Heart rate rises
Warms you directly
Heated studio, warms the air Full spectrum infrared Skin Warms your body directly
83.5%

of 482 sauna users said they slept better afterwards.

That is a survey, not a trial. It is also where recovery actually happens.

Global Sauna Survey, 2019

Not in the sauna. In the eight hours after it.

Source: Global Sauna Survey, Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2019, PMID 31126560. Self-reported, 482 respondents. Heat supports sleep, it does not treat a sleep disorder.

06
The bonus

The hardest part of red light therapy is standing in front of it.

You're already sitting down.

A panel costs three hundred to two thousand dollars on its own, and the protocol is standing still in front of it several times a week. Nobody does that after a reformer class. You will sit down after one.

660 and 850nm red light is built in. Not an upsell, not an attachment, not a subscription.

Source: Red light is a built-in feature. Most red light research places the light directly on the muscle at a measured dose, which is not the same as a panel inside a sauna, so we make no recovery claim for it. It does not treat an injury.

Woman sitting in a SaunaBox Solara infrared sauna at home after a reformer Pilates class
07

Every class gets fifteen minutes.

It takes about fifteen minutes to warm up. Turn it on when you get home from the studio, and it is ready by the time you have changed. Drink water first, then sit.

Mon
Reformer
then sauna
Tue
Rest
Wed
Mat Pilates
then sauna
Thu
Reformer
then sauna
Fri
Rest
Sat
Hot Pilates
no sauna
Sun
Walk
then sauna

Most owners land on four or five sessions a week.

For a Pilates regular that is just every class that isn't already hot.

A SaunaBox Solara infrared sauna warming up in the corner of a room after a Pilates class
Home, changed, fifteen minutes, then the rest of the evening.
08

A corner, or a closet.

About thirty minutes to put together. One person. No tools, nothing drilled, a regular household outlet. The Solara fits adults up to 6 foot 8 seated, and at 63 inches tall outside it clears a standard doorway. The Solara if you have a corner or a spare room or a home Pilates corner. The Pulse PRO if you do not: it folds into a carry bag and lives in a closet. Go to class with a partner? The Solara 2-Person fits you both.

The SaunaBox Solara
SaunaBox Solara
End of Summer Sale is live

If you have a corner, a spare room, or a home Pilates corner.

✓Full spectrum infrared, up to 158°F
✓Medical grade 660nm and 850nm red light
✓Crafted from 100% Canadian hemlock
Add to cart
No tools, about 30 min
Household 110V outlet
Free shipping, mainland USA
Warm in about 15 min
09
4.6 out of 5  ·  155 reviews

From people who do Pilates.

★★★★★
It has a time slot now

Turn it on when I get home, sit in it once I have changed. That is the whole trick. I have done more recovery in two months than in five years of owning a foam roller.

Verified buyer
★★★★☆
Sleep after day two is the difference

Evenings after an evening class used to be restless. They are not now. Four stars because I wish it warmed up in less than fifteen minutes.

Verified buyer
★★★★★
Good, but measure your doorway

No complaints about the sauna itself and my back feels better the day after a hard class. Three stars because getting the boxes round the turn at the top of my stairs was a job.

Verified buyer
End of Summer Sale is live

End of Summer Sale is live.

Across the whole lineup, our biggest sale of the year. Free shipping, HSA and FSA eligible through TrueMed.

10

Questions.

Up to 158°F, so you can go as hot as you want, or sit cooler on an easy day. It ships set to 149°F; holding TIME + and TIME − together for about six seconds unlocks the full range.

About fifteen minutes. Turn it on when you get home and it is ready by the time you have changed.

No. A regular 110V household outlet at 1600W with an 8 foot cord. Give it its own outlet rather than a shared strip, and skip extension leads.

35 by 37 inches of floor and 63 inches tall, so it clears a standard doorway and sits in a corner. Measure the tightest turn on the way in, not the room. It arrives as two flat boxes, the larger 65 by 37 by 13 inches.

Yes, through TrueMed, subject to their eligibility questions at checkout.

2-Year warranty, with support by phone and text.

Skip it unless your doctor has cleared it, especially in the first trimester. Obstetric guidance is to avoid high heat during pregnancy.

No. A heated class is already a heat session. Rehydrate and cool down, and save the sauna for the days your class was not heated.

After a class that was not heated, yes: drink water first and start with shorter sessions. It supports recovery and supports sleep.

Yes, it is normal. Muscle soreness after exercise you are not used to, or a harder class than usual, peaks 48 to 72 hours later, and it usually fades on its own.

Not in this one. The Solara is built for sitting. Do your class first, then sit.

After. Warm up in class, then sit.

The studio sauna is there when you are at the studio and someone else is already in it. Yours is at home, on the days you do not have a class too.

No. In hot Pilates you are working in a heated room. In a sauna you are sitting still while the heat does its thing. They are different sessions, and you do not need both on the same day.

Intertek testedProp 65 compliantUltra low EMF2-Year warranty110V

Heat therapy supports recovery and supports sleep. It does not prevent or treat injuries, does not increase flexibility, and nothing here is medical advice. Do not use a sauna straight after a heated class. Rehydrate first, avoid alcohol before a session, stand up slowly afterwards, and speak to your physician before starting sauna use, especially if you are or could be pregnant, have a heart condition, or take blood pressure medication.

Woman sitting on a reformer catching her breath after a Pilates class
SaunaBox
The Pilates guide
Advertisement

Why Pilates regulars are using a sauna after class.

You feel it for two days and book the next class anyway.

See the options
Fifteen minutes after class
A household outlet
Key facts
•Muscle soreness after new or harder exercise peaks 48 to 72 hours later.
•Pilates is low impact, and there is no large study of Pilates injuries.
•Pilates has been the most booked workout on ClassPass for three years running (ClassPass, 2025).
•A sauna should not be used straight after a heated Pilates class. Heat after an unheated class supports recovery and supports sleep, and does not tone, sculpt or burn fat.
01

Nobody gets hurt doing Pilates. That's what everyone thinks.

A sauna for Pilates starts with an honest look at the week. And mostly, people are right: Pilates is low impact, and physiotherapists use it in rehab for back and neck pain. We looked for a large study of injuries caused by Pilates and could not find one.

What does show up is soreness. Muscle soreness after exercise you are not used to, or a class that is harder than usual, peaks 48 to 72 hours afterwards. A new reformer instructor, a heavier spring, a sculpt class on top of your usual three.

Soreness peaks
48 to 72h
Your next class
inside it
Large Pilates injury studies
none
Logged as a problem
almost never

None of it is dramatic. It is the same core and the same lower back, showing up again on Thursday because it never got a break.

It is not an injury. It is the class you walked into still sore from the last one.

Source: Hotfiel et al., Sportverletzung Sportschaden, 2018, PMID 30537791.

Woman holding her lower back after a reformer Pilates class
02

It's not an injury yet. That's the problem.

It is the Thursday reformer class you did on legs still shaking from Tuesday. The laugh that reminded you of your core. The neck that tightens in the hundred. The lower back that aches getting out of the car, so you booked the next class anyway.

None of that goes in your calendar. It is all the same thing, arriving slowly. By the time it has a name, it has been there for a month.

Tuesday reformerlegs shaking
Wednesdaylaughing hurts
Thursday classbooked anyway
Logged as injurynone of it

None of that goes in your calendar. By the time it has a name, it has been there for a month.

03

Wipe down the reformer. Straight back to your phone.

Gym bag, grip socks and a foam roller by the door after a Pilates class

You wipe down the reformer and grab your bag before the next class files in. You check your messages in the car. You feel your core the next time you laugh, and you book the next class anyway.

You sleep badly and go again in the morning. That is not a criticism. It is what almost everyone does.

Your classes have a booking in your calendar. Recovery gets whatever is left over.

04

The evidence says it goes after.

47
People
8
Weeks
15
Min after

In a 2023 trial, athletes sat in an infrared sauna for twenty minutes straight after a hard training session. Compared with resting, they reported less muscle soreness and felt more recovered.

The group that added the sauna came out ahead on cardiorespiratory fitness and systolic blood pressure.

This is not instead of class. It is the fifteen minutes after.

Source: Ahokas et al., Biology of Sport, 2023, PMID 37398966, 16 basketball players. Lee et al., PMID 35785965. Heat supports recovery. It does not prevent injury or make you more flexible.

05

Heat after class, not during it.

A heated studio heats the air while you work. Full spectrum infrared warms your body directly: the core, the glutes and the lower back you just worked for fifty minutes.

Your heart rate climbs. Your blood vessels open. You sweat. That is the mechanism.

Heated studio, warms the air Full spectrum infrared Skin Warms you directly
Heart rate rises
Warms you directly
83.5%

of 482 sauna users said they slept better afterwards.

That is a survey, not a trial. It is also where recovery actually happens.

Global Sauna Survey, 2019

Not in the sauna. In the eight hours after it.

Source: Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2019, PMID 31126560. Self-reported. Heat supports sleep, it does not treat a sleep disorder.

06
The bonus

The hardest part of red light therapy is standing in front of it.

You're already sitting down.

The red light panel built into the back wall of the Solara

A panel costs three hundred to two thousand dollars on its own, and the protocol is standing still in front of it several times a week. Nobody does that after a reformer class. You will sit down after one.

660 and 850nm red light is built in. Not an upsell, not an attachment, not a subscription.

Source: Red light is a built-in feature. Most red light research places the light directly on the muscle at a measured dose, which is not the same as a panel inside a sauna, so we make no recovery claim for it. It does not treat an injury.

07

Every class gets fifteen minutes.

It takes about fifteen minutes to warm up. Turn it on when you get home from the studio, and it is ready by the time you have changed. Drink water first, then sit.

Mon
Reformer
then sauna
Tue
Rest
Wed
Mat Pilates
then sauna
Thu
Reformer
then sauna
Fri
Rest
Sat
Hot Pilates
no sauna
Sun
Walk
then sauna

For a Pilates regular that is just every class that isn't already hot.

A SaunaBox Solara infrared sauna warming up in the corner of a room after a Pilates class
08

A corner, or a closet.

About thirty minutes to put together. One person. No tools, nothing drilled, a regular household outlet.

The SaunaBox Solara
SaunaBox Solara
End of Summer Sale is live

If you have a corner, a spare room, or a home Pilates corner.

Add to cart
09
4.6 out of 5 · 155 reviews

From people who do Pilates.

★★★★★
It has a time slot now

Turn it on when I get home, sit in it once I have changed. I have done more recovery in two months than in five years of owning a foam roller.

Verified buyer
★★★★☆
Sleep after day two is the difference

Evenings after an evening class used to be restless. They are not now. Four stars because I wish it warmed up in less than fifteen minutes.

Verified buyer
★★★★★
Good, but measure your doorway

My back feels better the day after a hard class. Measure your doorway before it arrives, getting the boxes round the turn at the top of my stairs was a job.

Verified buyer
End of Summer Sale is live

End of Summer Sale is live.

Across the whole lineup, our biggest sale of the year. Free shipping, HSA and FSA eligible through TrueMed.

10

Questions.

Up to 158°F, so you can go as hot as you want, or sit cooler on an easy day. It ships set to 149°F; holding TIME + and TIME − together for about six seconds unlocks the full range.

About fifteen minutes. Turn it on when you get home and it is ready by the time you have changed.

No. A regular 110V household outlet at 1600W with an 8 foot cord. Give it its own outlet and skip extension leads.

35 by 37 inches of floor and 63 inches tall. Measure the tightest turn on the way in, not the room. It arrives as two flat boxes, the larger 65 by 37 by 13 inches.

Yes, through TrueMed, subject to their eligibility questions at checkout.

2-Year warranty, with support by phone and text.

Skip it unless your doctor has cleared it, especially in the first trimester. Obstetric guidance is to avoid high heat during pregnancy.

No. A heated class is already a heat session. Rehydrate and cool down, and save the sauna for the days your class was not heated.

After a class that was not heated, yes: drink water first and start with shorter sessions. It supports recovery and supports sleep.

Yes, it is normal. Muscle soreness after exercise you are not used to, or a harder class than usual, peaks 48 to 72 hours later, and it usually fades on its own.

Not in this one. The Solara is built for sitting. Do your class first, then sit.

After. Warm up in class, then sit.

The studio sauna is there when you are at the studio and someone else is already in it. Yours is at home, on the days you do not have a class too.

No. In hot Pilates you are working in a heated room. In a sauna you are sitting still while the heat does its thing. They are different sessions, and you do not need both on the same day.

Intertek testedProp 65 compliantUltra low EMF2-Year warranty110V

Heat therapy supports recovery and supports sleep. It does not prevent or treat injuries, does not increase flexibility, and nothing here is medical advice. Do not use a sauna straight after a heated class. Speak to your physician first, especially if you are or could be pregnant.