One teacher · one first-floor room over the seafront

Told to try Pilates for your back? Start with one quiet hour.

Everyone new to the studio begins with a 55-minute introductory one-to-one. Marta finds out what your back does and doesn't like, shows you the equipment, and tells you honestly whether mat or reformer classes are the better fit. Then you choose.

Book the introductory one-to-one £45 See the week's classes

Six reformersReformer classes never have more than six people.

Eight matsMat classes are capped at eight, so you get seen.

Since 2014Marta has taught the same way in the same room for over a decade.

Physio referralsMost one-to-one clients arrive with a physio's letter. Bring it.

The room, in plan — the light moves across the floor all morningSeafront side ↑

Two kinds of class

Mat or reformer? Plainly.

Both are Pilates. Both work the same deep muscles slowly and carefully. The difference is what you're lying on — and how much help it gives you.

Mat class · 55 minutes

You, a mat, and your own body weight

capped at eight

Lying, kneeling and sitting exercises on a thick mat, sometimes with a small ball or band. Nothing supports you except the floor, so you work harder to hold positions than you'd think — that's the point. Marta walks the room the whole hour and adjusts people by hand.

Good if you're generally mobile, your physio has said "strengthen", and you want a class you can also do at home.
Less good if getting down to and up from the floor is the hard part right now.
Wear anything you can move in. Socks or bare feet.

Drop-in £16Ten-class pass £140

Reformer class · 55 minutes

A sliding bed with springs that help or resist

capped at six

A reformer is a low frame with a padded carriage that glides on rails. Springs attach underneath — light ones make a movement easier, heavier ones make it harder. Because the machine supports your spine and guides the movement, it is often where people with a sore back start, and the place people with strong backs go to be challenged.

Good if you're nervous about your back, or you've been told to build strength without loading it.
You must first do the introductory one-to-one, so you learn the machine with one pair of eyes on you, not six.
Wear leggings or shorts and grip socks (we sell a pair for £8 if you forget).

Drop-in £26Ten-class pass £240

Why the introductory one-to-one comes first

Fifty-five minutes, just you, before any reformer class

Every reformer is set up differently for every body: spring weights, footbar height, headrest, strap length. Learning that in a class of six means five people waiting, and a teacher who can't watch your back closely. So it happens once, on your own, first.

You'll leave knowing how the machine works, which class suits you, and what to tell Marta about your back before each session. If you decide Pilates isn't for you, that's a useful £45 too — and it's the only booking you'll ever be asked to make blind.

£45

55 minutes · required before reformer classes · recommended before mat classes if you have a current injury.

Book the introductory hour

The week

Every class, with the places left

Places shown as they'd be live on a real site — each small square is one place; filled means taken. One-to-ones happen in the gaps between classes.

Can't see a time that works? Marta runs the studio alone, so the timetable is the whole timetable. One-to-ones fit in the gaps between classes — Friday afternoon and Saturday late morning are quietest.

Class is full? Book anyway on the real site and you'd join a waiting list; cancellations are released 24 hours ahead. Here, the full sessions are shown so you can see how that looks.

Prices and passes

No membership. Pay as you come.

Passes are ten classes for the price of about nine and last six months. Card or bank transfer; no contracts and nothing renews on its own.

Classes

Mat class, drop-in55 minutes, capped at eight£16
Reformer class, drop-in55 minutes, capped at six£26
Ten-class pass, matValid six months£140£14 a class
Ten-class pass, reformerValid six months£240£24 a class

One-to-one

Introductory one-to-oneRequired before any reformer class · 55 minutes£45
One-to-one55 minutes, in the gaps between classes£65
Grip socksIf you forget yours£8

Cancellations: 24 hours' notice for classes and one-to-ones, otherwise the session is charged or taken from your pass. If Marta has to cancel, you're told by text and nothing is charged.

Book

Four choices. No account, no password.

Pick what you want, then a day, then a time. On a real build you'd get a confirmation email and a text the day before. This example never collects anything.

1What
2Day
3Time
4Confirm

Marta

Teaching since 2014. The Long Room is hers alone: she takes every class and every one-to-one, so the person who assessed your back is the person in the room every time.

Email: marta@thelongroom.example (example address)
Phone: 01323 000000 (example number)
Replies: Between classes, usually the same day

Who teaches

Small, slow, and watched closely

Marta opened The Long Room in 2014 in a first-floor room she chose for its light: a wall of sash windows facing the sea, and enough length for six reformers in a row without anyone touching elbows. She has kept it deliberately small. Six reformers, eight mats, one teacher — and no plans to add a second room.

Most of her one-to-one clients arrive with a letter from a physio saying "Pilates would help". If that's you: bring the letter, or just tell her what it said. She'll work within whatever your physio has advised and will say plainly if something isn't a good idea yet.

Who it's for. People rebuilding after a back episode. Runners and cyclists with tight hips. People in their sixties and seventies who want to keep getting off the floor easily. Anyone who prefers a room where the teacher knows their name.

Who it isn't for. Anyone wanting a sweaty, loud workout with music; the local gyms do that well. Anyone in acute pain right now — see your GP or physio first, then come.

Good to know

The questions people email to ask

Written down so you don't have to. If yours isn't here, email — it'll be added.

Injuries and pain

Pilates is exercise, not treatment. Marta doesn't diagnose and won't promise a fix. What she does is adapt every exercise to what you tell her, keep the room small enough to watch, and stop you doing anything that looks wrong. Tell her before class about any change since last time.

Pregnancy

You're welcome at one-to-ones throughout, adapted as you go. For classes, Marta asks that you check with your midwife or GP first and then talk to her — some positions change after the first trimester, and it's easier to plan that one-to-one than mid-class.

What to wear and bring

Clothes you can bend in and that stay put when you're upside-down-ish. Grip socks for reformer (bare feet or ordinary socks are fine on the mat). Water. Nothing else — mats, balls, bands and blocks are here.

Class sizes

Six on reformers, eight on mats, never more. If a class shows as full it is full. There's no overbooking and no "we'll squeeze you in".

Cancelling

Twenty-four hours' notice and nothing is charged. Inside that, the class comes off your pass or is charged at the drop-in price. Cancel from the link in your confirmation or by text; there's no need to explain.

Arriving

The door is on the street, first floor up one flight of stairs (there is no lift — say if that's a problem and Marta will suggest options). Come five minutes early; classes start on time and the door is locked once they do, for the sake of the six people already lying down.

Where

First floor, on the seafront

Address: Example Parade, Eastbourne — a fictional address for a fictional studio. A real build would carry the real one with a map link.
Parking: Seafront bays are pay-and-display, free before 9am and after 6pm — which covers the early mat classes and the evening ones. Side streets one back are free for two hours.
Bus and train: Ten minutes' walk from the station along the front; the seafront buses stop within a minute.
Bikes: Railings outside; bring a lock.

White chalk cliffs above a green-blue sea under a clear sky, on the Sussex coast. — The chalk coast a few miles west. The studio's windows look out on the same sea — the light that gives the room its name.

From the register

What people say after a few weeks

Illustrative words for an example site — a real build would carry real, permissioned quotes.

"My physio said try Pilates and I put it off for a year because I thought it meant a gym. It's six people and a quiet room. I can get my socks on standing up now."
— Jenny R., reformer, Tuesdays

"The first hour on my own was the useful bit. She showed me which springs I needed and why, and I stopped being frightened of the machine."
— David M., introductory one-to-one then reformer

"Mat class at quarter past seven, at work by half eight. Two years in. My back's had one bad week in that time, and I used to have one a month."
— Priya K., mat, Mondays and Fridays