Whether you’re practising reformer in a studio or planking in a village hall, here’s the pilates gear that’s actually worth buying, chosen by the experts

• The best massage guns: tried and tested relief for sore, tired muscles

Joseph Pilates had a saying: “If your spine is inflexibly stiff at 30, you are old; if it is completely flexible at 60, you are young.” As someone who’d worked rehabilitating first world war soldiers, he knew his stuff. His eponymous exercise method is a global phenomenon. In 2024, it was the fitness subscription service ClassPass’s most booked exercise for a second consecutive year.

Classical pilates involves low-impact, controlled exercises that strengthen and balance the body, from the core outwards, and improve flexibility. It’s done on a mat – often with small props – or on apparatus that adds resistance.

Whether you’re practising reformer in a studio or planking in a village hall, here’s the pilates gear that’s actually worth buying, chosen by the experts

• The best massage guns: tried and tested relief for sore, tired muscles

Joseph Pilates had a saying: “If your spine is inflexibly stiff at 30, you are old; if it is completely flexible at 60, you are young.” As someone who’d worked rehabilitating first world war soldiers, he knew his stuff. His eponymous exercise method is a global phenomenon. In 2024, it was the fitness subscription service ClassPass’s most booked exercise for a second consecutive year.

Classical pilates involves low-impact, controlled exercises that strengthen and balance the body, from the core outwards, and improve flexibility. It’s done on a mat – often with small props – or on apparatus that adds resistance.

Places to drink fine wines from the world’s top 250 wine and champagne houses – if you can afford it

This week, London was crowned “wine capital of the world”. It’s worth noting, perhaps, that this shiny new title comes from the annual Knight Frank Wealth Report, and is based on how many restaurants serve fine wines from the world’s top 250 wine and champagne houses. If this is what matters to you when looking at a wine list, this would put London’s wine offering ahead of New York, and even Paris.

Below, the Guardian’s resident wine expert Hannah Crosbie lists a few old and new wine bars that you can walk into and order a bottle anytime. You don’t have to be rich to drink here (but I’m sure it helps).

• Favourite is fourth at European Indoor Championships
• Agathe Guillemot wins as Hunter Bell has late slump

Georgia Hunter Bell was such a huge favourite for 1500m gold that a £50 bet on her to win at the European Indoor Championships would have returned just one pound of profit. She was Britain’s banker. A cast-iron certainty. And then, with 100m to go, it all went horribly wobbly.

At that point, the Olympic 1500m bronze medallist was leading and looked to have everything under control. But just when everyone expected her to switch on the afterburners, her legs turned into spaghetti – the result, it later transpired, of an ear infection.

Upmarket, jammy dodger-style sandwich biscuits with a hole on top, made with a filling of fruity guava jam and creamy vanilla icing

At the start of the year, I spent a month eating my way around Mexico City, and one thing I ate in abundance (besides tacos) were guavas. I had them in every way possible: blitzed into a juice; sitting on a cheesecake at the iconic Contramar; or as a sticky, jam-filled pastry found at nearly every bakery I visited. My favourite version also came with a layer of cream cheese, and I’ve taken those flavours and put them in biscuit form. Shop-bought guava jam is as close as I’ll get here in the UK, but these remind me of a delicious trip every time I make them.

Upmarket, jammy dodger-style sandwich biscuits with a hole on top, made with a filling of fruity guava jam and creamy vanilla icing

At the start of the year, I spent a month eating my way around Mexico City, and one thing I ate in abundance (besides tacos) were guavas. I had them in every way possible: blitzed into a juice; sitting on a cheesecake at the iconic Contramar; or as a sticky, jam-filled pastry found at nearly every bakery I visited. My favourite version also came with a layer of cream cheese, and I’ve taken those flavours and put them in biscuit form. Shop-bought guava jam is as close as I’ll get here in the UK, but these remind me of a delicious trip every time I make them.