A note for Pilates Instructors - Finding "balance" in teaching

This entry is designed to help Pilates instructors improve their teaching. Its also is a good reference for people who take Pilates, and want to have further insight into the BIGGEST and most COMMON mistakes teachers make.

The goal of every Pilates instructor should be to do nothing more then provide the client with a safe, effective, and enjoyable workout. If the instructor fails at any of these three things the client will either not come back, or will not get results. To break it down a little further:

1A.) Safety (physical) - Obviously, this is the most important. If a client gets injured then the client doesn't get results, is obviously unhappy, and the instructor gets a lawsuit in the majority of cases.

1B.) Safety (emotionally) - This one is more common, but overlooked. And it's about feeling safe with the instructor. If the client doesn't trust the teacher, or doesn't feel comfortable with the teacher then there is a problem. Pilates is full of often uncomfortable, unflattering, and awkward positions. If the teacher can't remain 100% professional at all times, or can't make the client feel safe or comfortable they will not come back, and furthermore the workout with be less affective.

2.) Effective - If Pilates doesn't get results then it's likely time you re-evaluate your teaching. Pilates is a powerful system that should get results for anybody. If all your clients look and feel the same as they did when they worked with you 6 months ago, YOU will notice. And, trust me when I say, they will notice too. Nobody, and I mean nobody in their right mind would spend hundreds of dollars for no results. The likely issue will be covered further below.

3.) Fun - This is the least important, but at the same time most important point. Most clients will tell you that Pilates is HARD, but they LOVE it. They go to class every week with a smile on their face (unless its before 9am), and they leave happy and invigorated. Well, that is sometimes the case. It's what all Pilates instructors strive for, because if your client is having fun they are 1000% more likely to come back. The word fun is rarely attributed to working out, but then again consider why so many people in this country don't work out? Fun can mean many things, but to a Pilates instructor it generally translates to: "I feel great after my workout. At no point was I ever bored, and I definitely want to come back."

So, in summary. If the goal of a Pilates workout is a safe, effective, and fun workout, it's amazing how many teachers fail to complete all three. The first of the big three "safe" is generally linked to poor training, or owning a weak certification. It's also linked to an instructor working too many hours, being tired, or just being sloppy. Those things can't be helped by my blog. However, the other two points (Effective and Fun) are closely tied together. In my experience one mistake is responsible for failing to achieve these two goals.

The mistake is called losing balance. Not actual physical balance, but teaching balance. What is teaching balance? It is finding the thin line between teaching proper strict form, and allowing the student to move uncorrected. Having a proper balance between these two extremes is the key to being effective as a teacher. All too often teachers will be too far towards one style or another and this results in alienating your client, and destroying a workout.

The two teaching styles broken down a little further:

The "movement" teacher: This style of teacher focuses on movement, and rarely makes corrections. The teacher goes from one exercise to the next with great speed, and few (if any corrections). The teacher can fit in A TON of exercises in a short period of time, and often can trick people into thinking Pilates was a spin class taught on the ground. This style of teaching can be effective, but it is generally dangerous. Teaching Pilates at this speed with the small number of corrections leads to bad form, bad habits, and often bad backs. Pilates believes in quality over quantity, and I have to agree that a few good repetitions of an exercise is better then many bad ones.

The "form" teacher: This style of teacher is all about form. They teach slow, very slow. Everything is calculated, aligned, and perfect. They will talk constantly about the "Power House", and are often extremely "touchy" teachers. An hour can go by, and the client will barely have fit in an entire mat session (which teaching at a respectable speed should take around 20-25 minutes). They won't let the student go to the next exercise until it's perfect. This style of teaching can be good if your working with an injured client, or a professional dancer who needs to have an extreme level of body control. Teaching good form also tends to be safer, and the client learns the form over time, and eventually is able to work at a faster pace. But the average client who isn't used to being so heavily corrected and analyzed often leaves the lesson feeling horrible. Also, teaching at such a slow pace often destroys a workout. Some teachers can get away with teaching slow, and still have clients dripping wet from sweat, but they are few and far between.

Those are the two extremes. Both have some benefits, but both fail miserably to achieve the goals of a Pilates teacher. Finding the balance between these two opposite styles is crucial in maintaining and building a clientele.

How to find the balance as a teacher? This is not easy too do! I have taught a while, and sometimes I have a tendency to sometimes move a little too fast, or go a little too slow. If a teacher says that they always are teaching at a proper pace then they are lying, or just extremely ignorant and unwilling to analyze themselves for self benefit.

Here are some quick tips for how to become a balanced teacher:

1.) Corrections - Every correction should achieve the following: make the exercise safer, make the exercise more effective, or make the exercise in general correct. In other words, if your correction isn't about safety and not going to make a difference in the overall benefit to clients, then it's not worth making. Having someone's hands look "pretty" is not worth stopping a person who is paying $1.25 a minute.

2.) Talking - Be aware of it. Try to stay on topic if possible, and try to make the client focus on the exercise at hand. DON'T talk to prevent silence. Some of the best lessons I have ever had didn't involve all that much talking. There is already enough for the client to think about as it is!

3.) Touch - Don't touch your client on every exercise. Best advice I ever received was that when you touch a client it better be meaningful. And, to go further, never "half" spot somebody. If you make a correction. MAKE THE CORRECTION. Otherwise, you are just in the way.

4.) Efficiency - The fastest way to speed up a workout is transitions. This is the time between exercises. If you are slow to adjust the reformer, or get the client into the next position, then you can waste easily 10 minutes or $15 of your client's time. They may not notice at first, but if they work with a teacher that does transitions quickly they will notice. That reflects poorly on you.

5.) Good decisions - Not everything has too be perfect or correct. As a teacher you pick your battles. The human mind can only remember around three corrections at a time. So why overload it, and then hope that the client remembers the important corrections? A good instructor should have a focus during the lesson. Maybe that means being strict with stomach massage and less picky on knee stretches, as an example.

To summarize, the goal of a Pilates lesson should be a safe, effective, and fun workout. Striking a perfect balance between teaching with pace and with corrections to form is the best way to achieve this goal.

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? I welcome all three, and always answer!