 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fitness |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Founder | Trevor Tice |
| Headquarters | Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
Number of locations | 220 (2024) |
Key people | CEO: Niki Leondakis (2020-current); Co-Founders: Brandon Cox, Tim Johnson, Dave Porter |
| Website | www |
CorePower Yoga, based in Denver, Colorado, is the largest yoga studio brand in the United States with more than 220 locations across 23 states. Founded in 2002, CorePower Yoga offers memberships, classes, and yoga teacher training. [1]
The first CorePower Yoga studio was opened in 2002 by founder Trevor Tice. Alongside early partners Dave Porter, Brandon Cox and Tim Johnson, Tice grew the company through private funding. [2] [3] In 2008, CorePower made its first expansion outside of Colorado opening in Minneapolis, San Diego, Portland, and Chicago. [4] Tice served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) until CorePower Yoga received an investment from the private equity firm Catterton Partners. [5] Tice stepped down as CEO following this deal in 2014. [6] Following Tice's death in 2016, his CEO successor, Eric Kufel, ran the daily operations of the company from 2017-2019. [7] In 2019, CorePower Yoga was acquired by TSG Consumer Partners. [8] Financial aspects of this deal were not disclosed. [9] In January 2020, Niki Leondakis was appointed as CEO. [10]
CorePower Yoga is considered to have its own yoga class style combining power yoga, ashtanga yoga, and vinyasa flow yoga. [11] Class styles range from their C2 class, hot yoga, and yoga sculpt class that uses weights and blends yoga with cardio and strength moves. [12] [13] [14]
Since 2018, CorePower Yoga On Demand has offered subscription based online yoga classes. [15] CorePower started offering an At Home Membership in 2020, which offers classes both pre-recorded On Demand classes and live virtual classes. [16]
CorePower StrengthX launched in 2023, its first new offering in 10 years that combines cardio, strength and HIIT-style elements. [17]
In 2017, CorePower settled a class action lawsuit for $1.65 million regarding employee compensation for extra hours of work outside of the studio — CorePower did not admit liability. [18] [19] In April 2019, a class action lawsuit was filed against the company by more than 2,100 employees, alleging gross underpayment of wages. This lawsuit was settled for $1.5 million — this was the fourth lawsuit around employee underpayment against the company. [20] [21]
In addition to teaching classes, CorePower Yoga also offers yoga teacher training. 200 and 300-hour training programs are available in their “power vinyasa” style and 50-hour sessions in their "yoga sculpt" method — incorporating yoga poses and flow with cardio and weights. [22]
Bikram Yoga is a system of hot yoga, a type of yoga as exercise, spread by Bikram Choudhury and based on the teachings of B. C. Ghosh, that became popular in the early 1970s. Classes consist of a fixed sequence of 26 postures, practised in a room heated to 105 °F (41 °C) with a humidity of 40%, intended to replicate the climate of India. The room is fitted with carpets and the walls are covered in mirrors. The instructor may adjust the students' yoga postures. Choudhury's teaching style was abrasive.
K. Pattabhi Jois was an Indian yoga guru who developed and popularized the flowing style of yoga as exercise known as Ashtanga vinyasa yoga. In 1948, Jois established the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, India. Pattabhi Jois is one of a short list of Indians instrumental in establishing modern yoga as exercise in the 20th century, along with B. K. S. Iyengar, another pupil of Krishnamacharya in Mysore. Jois sexually abused some of his yoga students by touching inappropriately during adjustments. Sharath Jois has publicly apologised for his grandfather's "improper adjustments".
Ashtanga vinyasa yoga is a style of yoga as exercise popularised by K. Pattabhi Jois during the twentieth century, often promoted as a dynamic form of classical Indian (hatha) yoga. Jois claimed to have learnt the system from his teacher Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. The style is energetic, synchronising breath with movements. The individual poses (asanas) are linked by flowing movements (vinyasas).
The Mysore style of asana practice is the way of teaching yoga as exercise within the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga tradition as taught by K. Pattabhi Jois in the southern Indian city of Mysore; its fame has made that city a yoga hub with a substantial yoga tourism business.
A vinyasa is a smooth transition between asanas in flowing styles of modern yoga as exercise such as Vinyasa Krama Yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, especially when movement is paired with the breath.
Zumba is a fitness program that involves cardio and Latin-inspired dance. It was founded by Colombian dancer and choreographer Beto Pérez in 2001. It currently has 200,000 locations, with 15 million people taking classes weekly, and is located in 180 countries. Zumba is a trademark owned by Zumba Fitness, LLC.
Larry Schultz was an American yoga teacher who was a long-time student of the founder of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, K. Pattabhi Jois. Schultz is primarily recognized as the creator of Rocket Yoga, a style derived from Jois's, which is known to be one of the original forms of Vinyasa Flow or Power Yoga.
Power Yoga is any of several forms of energetic vinyasa-style yoga as exercise developed in America in the 1990s. These include forms derived from Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, namely those of Beryl Bender Birch, Bryan Kest, and Larry Schultz, and forms derived from Bikram Yoga, such as that of Baron Baptiste.
Hot yoga is a form of yoga as exercise performed under hot and humid conditions, resulting in considerable sweating. Some hot yoga practices seek to replicate the heat and humidity of India, where yoga originated. Bikram Choudhury has suggested that the heated environment of Bikram Yoga helps to prepare the body for movement and to "remove impurities".
Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga is a style of yoga as exercise created by American yogini Sadie Nardini in 2006. Central to this style is a movement referred to as a 'wave' (softening). The structure of this practice includes a 7-step framework which is applied to each pose within a sequence. Nardini incorporates aspects of Kundalini Yoga, Sivananda Yoga, Anusara Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, and portions of movement sequences from Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Maintaining an internal focus on joy in the moment is part of the practice philosophy. This style integrates postures with learnings from many disciplines including physics, biology, and geometry, influenced by the works of Leslie Kaminoff. It incorporates traditional yoga philosophy from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. It emphasizes muscles that are deep within the body and includes the use of 'waves' in order to enter and exit poses. Examples include physical moves that activate muscles close to the spine—such as psoas and quadratus lumborum in order to build support for the body from within before generating outward expression of that movement. The purpose of deep core focused poses in this practice is to improve and deepen breathing. This perspective differs from other styles in which the purpose of deep core work is to stabilize the back. In this practice, keeping belly soft and core strong improve breathing. "Belly Bonfire" breath is one example of a deep core breath technique that involves focus and target of attention and breath with softer abs. Pelvis is viewed as the body's physical center of gravity in this system.
Barre is a form of physical exercise, usually conducted in group classes in gyms or specialty studios. It is distinguished from other group fitness activities by its use of the ballet barre and its incorporation of movements derived from ballet. These classical dance movements and positions are combined with those drawn from yoga and pilates, and other equipment is sometimes used in addition to the barre, such as resistance bands, yoga straps, exercise balls, and hand weights. Barre classes typically focus on small, pulsing movements with emphasis on form, alignment and core engagement. Participants hold their bodies still while contracting specific, targeted sets of muscles in isometric exercises. Repetitions tend to be high, range-of-motion small, and weights, when used, light. Barre classes focus on the lower body and core, developing strength and flexibility from the ankles up though the calves, knees, thighs, glutes and abdominals. Holding muscles in contraction for extended periods frequently leads to them shaking as they fatigue. This is particularly true of thighs, as the quadriceps tire.
AKT InMotion is a New York City-based fitness company founded by fitness expert Anna Kaiser. Founded in 2013, the AKT program consists of a mixture of circuit training, HIIT, strength, toning, dance cardio, Pilates and yoga.
Prasarita Padottanasana or Wide Stance Forward Bend is a standing forward bend asana in modern yoga as exercise.
Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of postures, often connected by flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by breathing exercises, and frequently ending with relaxation lying down or meditation. Yoga in this form has become familiar across the world, especially in the US and Europe. It is derived from medieval Haṭha yoga, which made use of similar postures, but it is generally simply called "yoga". Academic research has given yoga as exercise a variety of names, including modern postural yoga and transnational anglophone yoga.
Jathara Parivartanasana, Revolved Abdomen pose, Belly twist, or Spinal twist is a reclining twist asana in modern yoga as exercise.
Modern yoga as exercise has often been taught by women to classes consisting mainly of women. This continued a tradition of gendered physical activity dating back to the early 20th century, with the Harmonic Gymnastics of Genevieve Stebbins in the US and Mary Bagot Stack in Britain. One of the pioneers of modern yoga, Indra Devi, a pupil of Krishnamacharya, popularised yoga among American women using her celebrity Hollywood clients as a lever.
Yoga teacher training is the training of teachers of yoga as exercise, consisting mainly of the practice of yoga asanas, leading to certification. Such training is accredited by the Yoga Alliance in America, by the British Wheel of Yoga in the United Kingdom, and by the European Union of Yoga across Europe. The Yoga Alliance sets standards for 200-hour and 500-hour Recognized Yoga Teacher levels, which are accepted in America and other countries.
Shiva Rea is a teacher of Vinyasa flow yoga and yoga trance dance. She is the founder of Prana Vinyasa Yoga. She is one of the best-known yoga teachers in America, and around the world.
Yoga in Britain is the practice of yoga, including modern yoga as exercise, in Britain. Yoga, consisting mainly of postures (asanas), arrived in Britain early in the 20th century, though the first classes that contained asanas were described as exercise systems for women rather than yoga. Classes called yoga, again mainly for women, began in the 1960s. Yoga grew further with the help of television programmes and the arrival of major brands including Iyengar Yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.
F45 Training is an Australian franchiser and operator of fitness centers based in Austin, Texas. It has around 1,600 studios in over 60 countries across Australia/Oceania, North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. The fitness franchise was launched in 2011 by Adam Gilchrist and Rob Deutsche. It was ranked the fastest growing fitness franchise in the US in 2021, one of the fastest globally. It has around 1,600 studios worldwide, including approximately 240 studios in Australia and about 1,000 studios in North America as of 2024.
Media related to CorePower Yoga at Wikimedia Commons