The Sol Room
The Telomere team visits The Sol Room in Chicago, IL
At A Glance
Vibe: Minimalist, calm, understated
Standout Feature: Chicago's first group Cadillac Pilates studio.
About The Sol Room
The Sol Room is the project of founder and lead instructor Jia Li, who built it from a private training practice into a full studio concept rooted in classical Pilates methodology. Jia's reputation preceded the space: clients followed her through physical therapy recovery, pregnancy, postpartum rehab, and chronic pain management long before there was a studio to call home. The Sol Room is what happens when a methodically trained instructor has enough conviction in her work to build infrastructure around it.
The studio sits on Randolph Street in Chicago's West Loop, a neighborhood that has become the city's most competitive zone for boutique fitness. The space is bright, deliberately designed, and organized across distinct rooms: a group Cadillac room, a mat studio, and a private training suite.
What They Do Best
The Sol Room's programming is built around reformer work, Cadillac, mat, and GYROTONIC®/GYROKINESIS® methods as well. Group Cadillac classes are the clearest differentiator: the Cadillac (also called the trapeze table) allows for spring-loaded, suspended, and hanging work that targets stabilizers and spinal articulation in ways a reformer can't replicate. It requires more proprioceptive awareness and rewards precision. For clients coming from a standard reformer-only background, it's a noticeably different demand on the body.
The mat offerings include Mat Sculpt, which layers classical Pilates movements with bodyweight sculpting patterns, and the schedule rounds out with restorative yoga and kettlebell-integrated formats. The logic here is a full-week movement practice under one roof: intensity where appropriate, recovery where needed.
The Experience
The studio has a defined aesthetic of natural light, clean equipment, and cohesive brand design. The space is easy to be in, and the temperature and lighting during the 50-minute class stay comfortable throughout. If you're someone who likes to arrive, set up, and move without a lot of orchestration, the environment accommodates that.
New visitors will need to self-navigate their first time in the studio to find props, lockers, restroom, but they’re not hard to find. The Mat Sculpt class was accessible and steady, appropriate for someone easing into a consistent movement practice, though lighter on load than the class name might suggest. Instruction was competent and calm with music that never interfered with the flow of class, but could have been turned up just to drive some meaningful energy through the session. The physical foundation here is strong, and it’s clear that Cadillac Pilates aficionados would enjoy this dedicated space.
What Makes Them Special
Group Cadillac format: Chicago's first group Cadillac studio.
GYROTONIC® under one roof: Rare for a Pilates-primary studio; adds rotational, spiral-based movement that complements classical Pilates work.
Multi-room, purpose-built layout. Separate rooms for Cadillac, mat, and private training means sessions aren't competing for space or equipment.
On-demand library: Reformer labs, mat flows, and mobility resets available for streaming and built for members who travel or want volume beyond their in-studio schedule.
Why We Love It
Jia Li built The Sol Room around a vision of helping people move functionally and with precision. The Cadillac-forward programming, the GYROTONIC® integration, the multi-room infrastructure is designed to meet guests where they are in their practice, with intentional progression built into the membership. This is a studio with a clear point of view on movement, and the equipment and space to back it up. The front-of-house experience could use a bit more warmth, but the classes here are strong.
VisitThe Sol Room: 647 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL • www.thesolroom.com/ • @the.sol.room
About Telomere Consulting
We're a boutique fitness studio consultancy and marketing agency working with over 650 studios globally through our signature Studionomics program. We help studio owners build profitable, sustainable businesses through strategic consulting and full-service marketing implementation. Our team of former studio owners and industry experts partners with yoga, Pilates, barre, HIIT, cycling, and boutique fitness studios to solve their biggest business challenges—from filling classes to scaling revenue.
Ready to elevate your studio? Book a strategy call to explore how we can help you grow.
Want to be featured in The Studio Index? We're always looking for exceptional studios to visit and showcase. Request a studio visit and let us experience what makes your space special.
Olive Pilates
The Telomere team visits Olive Pilates in Orland Park, IL.
At A Glance
Vibe: Clean, intentional, approachable
Best For: Pilates curious beginners and seasoned reformer lovers who want real instruction, not just vibes
About Olive Pilates
Olive Pilates was founded by Vivian Tadros in Orland Park, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago where boutique fitness options are fewer and farther between than in the city proper. The studio's name is more than aesthetic. Tadros built the concept around the olive tree: slow-growing, deeply rooted, thriving through consistency and the right conditions. What Olive is selling, underneath the cheeky class names and the warm community energy, is real results.
What separates Olive from the reformer studios crowding the Chicago metro is the founder's insistence on keeping it both elevated and unpretentious. The studio takes its method seriously and everything else with an air of fun.
What They Do Best
Formé Essentials is the entry point: a slower-paced foundations class that familiarizes clientele with the machine and the movement before they advance. From there, the Olive Signature class is the workhorse: creative sequencing, athletic choreography, reformer-based flow that cycles through planks, holds, pulses, and repetition until the shakes arrive and stay. Bounce introduces jump boards for cardiovascular conditioning in a low-impact format. Tower is billed simply as "high control, no shortcuts" and brings in vertical spring resistance for a different stimulus entirely.
At the top of the menu sits The Highest Standard, an advanced format gated behind a 10-class minimum and instructor approval, it’s only for advanced students. Rounding out the menu: Sculpt: Ass & Abs (reformer-based posterior chain and core burn), The Strap Method (feet-in-straps, isolation-focused), Core by Olive, and The Stretch Collection for recovery.
The Experience
Olive Pilates studio matches its brand promise. It’s clean, cohesive, and built on growth. The front desk team sets the tone immediately: professional without being too stiff. First-timers get a tour before class as thorough understanding of the studio and movement is integral to Olive’s overall practice.
Sculpt: Ass & Abs is 50 minutes of reformer-based work built around lower body and core work. The progression moves from warm-up into working sets, glute focus into core finish with music calibrated to push you through. The instruction style is hands-on, corrective, and specific. Modifications are offered and adjustments made with care to ensure you’re getting the most out of the experience. On a reformer, poor form can loads the wrong structures entirely, and Olive instructors are about ensuring flawless form.
The studio itself is well-kept, equipment is in solid condition, with amenities that round out the experience. Spacing at peak hours runs slightly snug, so it’s smart to book ahead.
What Makes Them Special
Women-only studio: Olive made a deliberate call to keep the space single-gender “for quality control,” creating a female-safe workout space in the market.
Cool community partnerships: Olive has hosted events at The Mecca Center with post-class Nood Coffee cart, signaling local roots plus extra perks (like coffee + grip socks included!)
Why We Love It
Vivian Tadros built Olive around a simple idea: that movement works best when the environment around it is right. The studio she's created in Orland Park does just that. The programming is rigorous and logically structured, the instruction is hands-on and form-forward, and the atmosphere manages to be both polished and relaxed at the same time. Olive is focused on being a considerate, comfortable space for women in the Chicago suburbs, and so far, it’s succeeding.
VisitOlive Pilates: 14275 Wolf Road Orland Park, Illinois • olivepilatesstudio.com • @olivepilatesstudio
About Telomere Consulting
We're a boutique fitness studio consultancy and marketing agency working with over 650 studios globally through our signature Studionomics program. We help studio owners build profitable, sustainable businesses through strategic consulting and full-service marketing implementation. Our team of former studio owners and industry experts partners with yoga, Pilates, barre, HIIT, cycling, and boutique fitness studios to solve their biggest business challenges—from filling classes to scaling revenue.
Ready to elevate your studio? Book a strategy call to explore how we can help you grow.
Want to be featured in The Studio Index? We're always looking for exceptional studios to visit and showcase. Request a studio visit and let us experience what makes your space special.