How Lane Kiffin used hot pilates to beat Kentucky

Lane Kiffin at Kentucky (Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images, Sterling Hot Yoga)

What if I told you that the difference in Kentucky‘s 30-23 loss to Ole Miss at Kroger Field was an early-morning hot pilates session on game day for Lane Kiffin and the majority of his Rebel staff?

It sounds crazy, but that’s what Sterling Hot Yoga chief operating officer Cassie Hamilton told Mark Story of the Herald-Leader this week.

You may have seen the photo of Kiffin showing off way too much Kiffin in the hours leading up to kickoff in Lexington. Now, we have the story behind it all.

Lane Kiffin did hot yoga this morning in Lexington pic.twitter.com/AtdS7jecBu
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) September 6, 2025

Apparently, Kiffin’s people reached out to the Lexington-based studio and asked for game-day availability, hoping for something as early as they could open.

He then had a baker’s dozen show up to get ready for the Wildcats later that afternoon.

“We ended up doing a hot Pilates class for them at 6:15 that morning,” Hamilton told the HL. “It’s outside of our regular schedule. So they booked an hour class with us, and the coaching staff came out. They had, like, 13 of them or so out there, and they did their class before they went over to their game.”

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It was a first for the studio, whose COO says that while they’ve had athletes come in on occasion during the normal class hours, no visiting team has ever booked a private class.

But that’s just how Kiffin and Ole Miss like to do things, apparently. And it worked, so who can blame them?

“When they travel, they try to find a studio wherever they’re traveling, whatever city it is,” Hamilton continued. “It was really cool that they decided they wanted to support a local business and come in and take a class on their game day, which seems to be at least part of their routine.”

I certainly didn’t have that on my bingo card, but hey, excellent reporting by Mark Story and the Herald-Leader. Maybe we’ll start seeing Mark Stoops in there on Caturdays to switch up the game day routine? Whatever it takes to get back in the win column in the SEC.