Our semi-regular rundown of Pilates (and Pilates-related) news from around the web. Enjoy!

• LifePower in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business JournalIt looks like some of those 2010 fitness trends are spot on; here’s a major corporation trying on the “yoga gym” idea. Life Time Fitness is testing a new club concept called LifePower, a smaller, “boutique-style” gym that focuses primarily on yoga and Pilates. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal reports on the opening of the second-ever location of the LifePower brand, and catches up with Life Time’s CEO, who calls it “a higher-end, futuristic, functional training that top-end personal trainers can deliver.”

• While we’re on the topic of the gym biz, here’s one we missed in the last edition of Newsfeed. It’s Survival of the Fittest for Small Gyms, from the Los Angeles Times, takes a look at how the little guys are faring in this rough economy, with some encouraging numbers.

• Pilates continues to enter the Smartphone app market. Here’s veteran instructor Lynda Lippin’s review of FitDeck Mobile’s new Pilates app for BlackBerry.

• The Indianapolis Star gave us this quick, concise upper back extension series, courtesy of instructor Beth Lohman from Zionsville, Indiana’s Pilates Wellness Studio.

• A pricing structure worth noting as we ride out the recession: any-price classes. Read about how a new Brooklyn yoga studio, Dharma Yoga Brooklyn, is hedging its bets on a 100% donation-based model.

• The New York Times ran a couple of articles of interest to Pilates practitioners lately. Even More Reasons to Get a Move On shows that regular exercise promotes healthier aging and longer life—not exactly a shocker, but it breaks down the details. Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much points to studies that illuminate the power of touch—worth considering when you’re cueing your next client.

Cirque School L.A.

Our semiregular rundown of Pilates news from around the Web. Enjoy!

• Been searching for a place where you can do Pilates and fly with the greatest of ease? Look no further than Cirque School L.A., which blends Pilates with the circus arts, and grew from founder Aloysia Gavre’s desire “to give anybody with any body the opportunity to ‘hang by their knees,’ even if it’s just once, and create a hybrid of fitness programming.” Read Digital City’s interview with Gavre.

• More 2010 fitness trend forecasting, this time from the American Council on Exercise. No direct mention of Pilates, but functional fitness and credentialing both get a nod.

• The hottest new Pilates prop: a baby! If you’ve ever wondered how mommy and baby Pilates classes work, check out this video news clip, aptly headlined “NBA star’s wife uses baby to exercise,”  from MSNBC’s The Grio. 

• Longtime fitness instructor Andrea Metcalf introduced Live-alates, simple Pilates-inspired moves for better living, on Oprah.com.

• Pilates trainer Meleah Rubio, a former cheerleader, works with University of Texas football players two to three times her size, and says they’ve really warmed up to Pilates. “It’s made them more aware of their body and their breathing. And injury prevention has been huge,” she tells News 8 Austin in this segment. Hook ‘em, Horns!

• Real Pilates maven Alycea Ungaro discussed tailoring workouts to body types with local cable network New York One.

• Soap opera star Susan Lucci has partnered with Fila to launch a Pilates apparel line for the Home Shopping Network. Lucci launched her Malibu Pilates System on the channel last year.

• Karena Lineback and her studio Pilates Teck got props for their homemade contribution to the Santa Clarita, California, holiday Festival of Trees, and raised cash for the local Boys and Girls Club to boot. Kudos!