Building a Reformer Class

Introduction

In what other profession do you have this dynamic unpredictability, excitement every day you show up to work? I mean, even if you check your client roster and you know who's showing up, you don't really know who's showing up. Like, what personality is gonna walk through that door? And personally, I think that that's a lot of fun, but it does come with its obstacles and challenges. And so my goal is to help you navigate through some of that. What we do as Pilates teachers is really important. We impact people's lives in a profound way. We elevate mood.

We provide tools so that people can help alleviate pain. We create an environment where they can connect inward to themselves and connect to other people. And I think all of this is really awesome. So before we dive into this workshop, I just want to say you're already doing an amazing job. You're here on Pilates anytime.

You're teaching Pilates. You're connecting with your clients. This is exactly what you need to be doing. My goal in this course is to just give you a few tips that I've learned that will help you just grow and evolve. I love the quote that perfectionism is the enemy of progress.

So we are certainly not striving for that, but we will continue to evolve and learn and I'm excited to share what I've learned with you in this course. So here's what we're gonna cover in this workshop. I have designed a PDF which will help you follow along with me and take notes throughout the course. The course will be broken down into chapters and then we'll dive really deep into each topic. The first chapter is elements that make a kick ass class.

Some of these might seem obvious, but I guarantee you some of them you haven't considered. Next, we dive into layering and teaching techniques to a Miller level group. Successfully. And successfully is the key word. Right? How do we keep people moving successfully and having a positive movement experience? Well, I'll help you with that. Next, we're gonna talk about creativity.

And this is a favorite topic of mine. And I can't wait to dive in. I do have some exercises that will help you kind of unlock your inner creative teacher. And then last, I will share with you survey results that I used for my own clients in my studio when I asked them, what makes a great teacher?

Chapter 1

Now some of this is my opinion and some of this is data and research that I have gathered from other Piletti's teachers, from Piletti's clients, and from studio owners. So I just wanna say take what you love, leave the rest, and adapt this for what's going to work for you in your studio with your clients, in your environment. The first thing I want to cover is what I would consider the basics. So let's talk about location. Now you might think that this is, kind of goes without saying, but I have this little motto and it's know by location.

Right? And you have to know the ins and outs about the studio space or the outdoor space that you're teaching your class in. And the reason this is important is because you'll need to know where to stand and where to position yourself. You'll need to know what types of visual cues to provide. Are you using left and right? Or are you using towards the window or towards the door? Right? So before you dive into teaching, especially if you're coming into a new environment, just make sure that you know the cues, the those visual cues in your space. When I teach in a new studio, which I often do, I'll travel and I'll teach, I'll kind of work the room walking around, making sure that I know where to stand, and that I know where my best sight line is. And if you're in a studio, likely there's mirrors, maybe not.

But you'll wanna find a space when you're queuing to the group where you can look in the mirror and you know those students in the room can see you through the reflection. I use that a lot. I talk to people through the mirror. I wanna position myself so that I can make eye contact with people, whether it's through the mirror or whether it's face to face. And I also wanna make sure I have clear paths of movement. I'm sure we've all done this.

You're teaching, you're walking backwards, and you stumble over a box or a prop, or how many times have you hit your thigh, on the foot bar. Right? So just get into that space and get familiar with it prior to teaching. This is a small trick, but it'll help you feel confident, and it'll provide just kind of that professional approach when you are conducting your class. The next note that I have here in our PDF is music and that isn't just my opinion. We'll dive into it a little bit more in other chapters, but music has an impact on your class. And I use that same little saying, know thy music prior to diving into a class.

Music is a great way to get inspiration. Right? You hear a strong base and you're like, this is a great time to pulse. Music helps your clients move together, and that's a really cool feeling. When you're at a concert and everyone's like, sway in and doing the same thing, it's kind of the goal is we're creating this intuitive movement environment where students are not only paying attention to you and your tone and your count But there's more of this connection to the vibe to the energy, and music is great for creating that. When I teach classes, I have a playlist that I've curated, and I know what songs are on it. This also gives me little timestamps so I have an idea of where I am in my class, and I'll provide you some music options in this workshop as well, some playlists that I love to use.

I'm gonna press pause on the music part because we are gonna really dive into it. But we are covering just these elements right now. So moving on to the next element, which is a basic but also very important is your equipment. Of Courtney, you're gonna know your equipment, you're a pilates teacher. But the idea of having this as an important element is that you know your equipment and you know how the exercises are going to feel in the client's body.

It's empathy, right? And I talk about this with trainers all the time. You are not doing r and d. You are not doing, you know, a little science experiment in class in real time. Oh, let's like see how this works. Sometimes it works really well, but let me tell you from my experience. Sometimes it does not. Right? You go to try and move and the tension isn't right, or you try something that feels like it could creatively flow, and the ropes are just too long.

So you'll be doing this r and d on yourself or perhaps a buddy that can help you so you know the equipment is set up well and you know your exercises are going to work. This also applies to props. So if you are including props into your class, I have this kind of little obsession if you will with the number three, like a rule of three. If I'm going to pull a prop in, you'll see that prop appear three times within the class. And for me in my programming and my planning, that prop then becomes a useful tool with a reoccurring theme.

And again, just kind of gives us professional choreographed thought out plan. So recapping on some of the basics that we've covered you're gonna know your location, know where to stand, know sight line, and know how to queue in that space. You're gonna have a playlist that you love, and it matches the tone of your class, and it will keep your clients moving and inspired, and you know your equipment. You know how to position the people, how to cue them into the exercises, and if you're using props, those props have a reoccurring theme. So all of those things you're probably already doing.

So let's get to some of the more exciting stuff. I think I talked about plan. We're gonna dive a little bit more into that. When I say have a plan, I actually mean have a plan and a backup plan. So you know what you wanna do and then you're flexible to be able to shift and change.

When we do our programming chapter, we'll talk more about that. But I do think it's important note here just to just to just to say, just so I said it, you have your plan, but your plan is to present a story, if you will, where you go from here to here, a to b, with a dynamic audience of moving people who are alive and you don't quite know how your plan is going to unfold, as those people begin to assimilate all of this information. I've seen it before and I've experienced it myself when I have a plan that I'm so excited about and I'm so committed to and it starts to go differently than I expected. There's a little bit of a panic, where you're like, oh, this is unpredictable. This isn't what's supposed to be happening. And it can really mess with your head game with what I call your mojo.

So when we talk about programming later, I'll give you some strategies to help you with this. But you have a plan and you have a backup, and you remember that you're working with real people who are going to interpret what you're saying in all kinds of different ways, and that is awesome. When we dive into creativity, I'll tell you a strategy that I love to use when working with people and watching how they interpret what I say. Is pretty cool stuff. The next part about plan, kind of in the same section, is focus and theme.

And we're gonna spend a little bit of time here. When I build my classes, I always have a focus or theme. I don't always tell you or I don't always tell the clients. It's not something I share, but it's a big part of my programming and choreography. And it helps me to constantly come back to what it is that I was intentionally wanting to create or, achieve in this session or in this class. And I think that this concept of theme or focus is missing in a lot of classes that I take.

In my studios, I have built in a theme or focus into every class because it's in our class description, but you may not be teaching in a studio that has that. Your class may just be a leveled class. You know, we're gonna teach a intermediate class. So it would be up to you to come up with a theme. And I provided you some themes that I love to use. Let's go through them.

So one of my favorite ones is this concept of push pull theme in a class. And so we know what a pushing exercise is, right, footwork, for example, is a push. And we know what a pulling exercise is. An example of a pull would be seated facing back, doing some rowing. There's a really cool strategy that I like to use where I intentionally program push and pull exercises kind of like an a, b pattern, or potentially I'll build a sequence, which is very push heavy, and then I'll move over to a sequence, which is very pull heavy.

And this is also really good to keep consistent movement throughout your class. Right? Think of push exercises in the upper body. They often fatigue the wrist joints, but pull exercises create elink elongating and lengthening sensation. So when I do my push pull choreography or theme, I almost think of it as like a, a playlist in my head, like a mashup, like a Britney versus Beyonce kind of playlist, and I'm going back and forth between these themes. Again, the beauty of having a theme is I'm not hyper committed to a plan with specific exercises that I cannot pull away from. Here are some other examples of themes that I love.

A strength day, a balance day and a lengthening day. So I will take each one of those strength, balance, and lengthen, and I will create a whole class format just around that theme. The beauty here is that if you have reoccurring clients show up to your classes regularly and you're teaching Monday, Wednesday, Friday, then you're giving them a dynamic programming that is gonna stay exciting, but also will benefit them because you're hitting all of those marks. You could also take those elements of strength, balance, and lengthening and build it into a single class and section out which parts you're focusing on. So the beginning of the class is strength focused.

The center of the class is balanced focused and then you finish the remainder of your class with length. Again, these things might seem very simple, but having these strategies will help you keep your class programming cohesive And in the event that you need to pivot and make a change, you know the direction you need to go in because that's your theme for the day. I had mentioned earlier that I often don't share my theme with the clients That's not always the case though. Sometimes I do and I think that letting your people know that you have a theme or focus is a great idea because it also helps them kind of be into that zone as well. So you could certainly say welcome to my class today.

We are focusing on strength movements. Everything that we do today is gonna be focused on strength, which means heavy resistance, minimal repetitions, multiple sets, and you will feel fatigue and muscle burn. Starting to class off, letting them know your theme could be a really great strategy for you. They're sitting there thinking, okay, I'm ready for this challenge. And as you dish it out, you're like, I warned you. I told you.

I provided a number of other themes. I'll run through them really quickly, but again, the PDF is there for you. So you can use and take notes. A one spring challenge. I think we've all done that. Right? We wake up in the morning. We're like, what are all the exercises I can do on a blue spring and you choreograph a class that way? It doesn't always work out though, and we'll dive into this again a little bit more. I do think that providing spring options for different people is a great idea.

I personally have tried this one spring challenge and it is a lot of fun. It's fun for a teacher, right, because we get to really push our own limits as well and what creative moves can we do on this single spring. But depending on who shows up, you gotta be okay with providing those other options. Unilateral challenges, you know I'm a fan of that. So in my choreography, I would say often. I would say probably one out of every four classes you take with me will be focused on unilateral challenge I just love it. I think not only are we rebalancing the body, left to right, top to bottom front to back in these unilateral challenges, but I like the cerebral part of it. Right?

Often, a one-sided movement is gonna create more focus. It's going to request. It's gonna require more concentration from the client, and I love when I can do that. The beauty about a unilateral challenge class is that you always do something twice Right? Assuming you have two arms and two legs. So as we dive into the second set or the other side, you get to layer in different cues and create different emphasis and pull more focus into form alignment precision if that's your jam, unilateral challenges. It's great. You get to teach and exercise twice, which is unusual on Miller, right? Usually it's one and done. We're moving on.

Oh, I love this one. Reverse class. Have you ever done this? So a reverse class means that we take the exercises that we would normally start class with and we finish with those. And I just love it. It is so fun to finish a class. I'm giggling because I'm remembering experiences with clients. It is so fun to finish a class with exercises like the hundred because the whole time you go through class, the clients are thinking cheaper god to teach the hundred, or I escaped without having to do the hundred, and then wham, you throw it at them at the very end, but the cool thing about a reverse class is as you know, as class progresses, our connection to our body increases, it heightens. Right? So we could say that our cues, our Pilates principles are creating more awareness and engagement from the beginning of the session onward. Right? So towards the end of the class, we're more connected to our body.

Then I would think that our performance and our ability to execute a movement is probably gonna be heightened. So if I reverse order, I am taking those exercises that I generally do at the beginning of my class where somebody may not be super in tune with their breath, or connected to their body. Maybe their mind is else elsewhere. Right? And now I'm taking at the end of the class where they are so hyper focused on how they're feeling and how they're moving that they can sometimes feel the exercise in a totally different way, sometimes in heightened or in enhanced experience in that particular exercise. So I like that reverse order because it keeps them on their toes, right, had that level of unpredictability, But then from a choreography standpoint and a, a precision standpoint by teaching that move at the end, they have taken all those seeds, all the movements prior to it, and they could now potentially execute that move in a different way. Maybe they feel better about it. A prop focus.

You've done it. You love it. I do wanna say that in my choreography, I don't use props regularly. What I want to utilize is the machine that we have and I've actually designed a machine that's pretty awesome. It's got a lot of bells and whistles and reformers of any kind have so many options as far as exercises and movements. In my opinion, adding the props is just an extra layer on what we already have. And I have definitely got into this habit where I start a class and I'm just saying grab it all. Let's grab a band.

Let's grab a ball. Let's grab a this. Let's grab a that. And put it down and kind of see where we go. And I've shifted, the way that I do that now.

Most of the classes that I teach are using the reformer. That's what's in my studio. And as a special treat, or if there's a reason, I pull a prop. So I use props less regularly now, but when I use them, I feel that they're more impactful. Now again, this is my strategy that I'm sharing with you, and you might have a totally different approach for it. But, when I pull out props, like I said earlier, they're gonna have a theme. You're gonna see it reoccur, and they're very purposefully embedded into the class. So I can have a theme or focus and that is today we're using the ball.

So just something to throw out there, something to consider. If you love using props, keep doing it. A music focus class. So again, I'm quite inspired by music and your clients are too. So you may wanna play a little bit with your playlist.

And the beauty of that is you could teach the same sequence or relatively similar sequence to a class prior, but change up the playlist and it feels so different. Don't believe me. Take one of my classes on Pilates anytime, put on some hip hop, some 50¢, and then take that same class again and put on something mellow and relax, and you're naturally gonna feel different and move differently. You're gonna breathe differently. Right? So I do use music as a theme to create a unique environment from class to class without changing my choreography I think you should try it. I think you're gonna love it.

The next I have noted here is a tempo focus class. Now I just wanna say you probably know this about me. I don't love pulses. I'm not a huge pulsar. There's a time to pulse and there's a time not to pulse in my opinion, right? I really like those long range of motion, that full range of motion that we get from the reformer and a lot of the pilates work.

But there are times where I intentionally play with tempo in my classes, and I'll give you an example. I may choose to add in pulses into exercises that I typically do not in order to have a client feel a little something different. Right? Maybe it's just a little bit more heat, that muscle atrophy. I may play with pulses to create a little bit more musicality connection or choreography connection into the class. Those are sometimes more of my bar style classes. So instead of a press return, maybe it's a press pulse pulse pulse, bring it all the way back in. Right?

And this does, in my opinion, offer a little bit more levity or fun or lightness into the class when you're playing with tempo, but it is a way to take exercises that you're already teaching and have them feel really different in clients' body. And again, this would be a theme that you announce or don't announce, but it would be a fun challenge. Hey, welcome to my class. Today, we're gonna play a lot with tempo. We're gonna work in that mid range and connect our movements to music. So just a thought. The next few things I have here is a combinations focus class. Okay. I do this all the time.

And it's really quite fun. For a similar reason that I love doing those unilateral challenges, the combination class allows us to extract a little bit more focus from our clients, right? I will say though if you're choosing to teach a combination focus class, and let me define what I think a combination is. Combination is you have a move. We're gonna call that a.

Perhaps it's a bridge, bilateral bridge, both feet on the foot bar and you're pushing the carriage forward and back forward and forward and back. We're gonna call that move a. To create a combination, I need to add a secondary part into that move and that move is now gonna be called b. And perhaps that move is a flat back hinge. So now I'm dropping the the booty lifting it up, dropping lifting, dropping lifting.

And then when I put those two together, I have a combo. Push the carriage back, pull the carriage in, drop the booty down, lift the booty up, push pull, drop lift, and you can even hear in my words in in my teaching to you that as soon as I switch to this combination, I am now very direction focused. I just have to tell you what to do because there's a lot to think about. Right? So a combination focus class is really fun because you are directing the people through these movements and you're asking them to stay in the zone, to stay focused, to stay with you, as you take them through this higher level coordination challenge. So it's a combination focused class, and I'll give you strategies for how to teach that, successfully when we go into programming. So wrapping up some of these ideas for theme or focusing your class I have a spinal flexion free class. And what I mean by that specifically is lying on your back, putting your hands in the straps and curling up and doing the hundred for example.

The reason I have this in here as a focus is I think it's a really powerful tool. For you as a teacher to have an entire class programmed without doing loaded spinal flexion, we know that this is not always the most, impactful way to strengthen the abdominals, and it's not a great exercise for some populations. So program a class without that in it, and I think you'll be really excited of what, what comes out of that. And then the last thing I have here is a sets class. So this is really kind of fun. It takes from personal training.

When you're hitting the gym or weight lifting, you typically do multiple sets of an exercise. Sometimes three, sometimes four. In Pilates, we never usually do that. Right? We do an exercise once. We move on to the next. And I believe that's because we're so focused on form, right, and alignment. And if we over fatigue the muscles, perhaps it will reduce our precision.

But I do think that there are opportunities within the Pilates world to offer multiple sets within a class. And the benefit here is that we are building strength with these multiple sets right, finding our edge, finding our max load, that we're doing one exercise more than once. There's a cognitive benefit with that too. The clients get to do it once, twice, three times. And then there's also this psychological effect of, judging your progressions. Coming back to something more than once within a class and improving because you understand it is a really successful and positive experience.

So we've covered elements that make a kick ass class, and that includes location, music, props, and equipment having a plan, being able to change from the plan, but we spent a lot of time talking about focus and theme because in my opinion, that's missing from a lot of classes. And it's honestly going to make your job so much easier. You can always come back to that theme. You can pull inspiration from all the exercises you know and love and just fit them right into that theme or focus and you have an unlimited amount of class programming with that extra little piece. So let's dive into layering and teaching a class to multi level

Chapter 2

I add that at the end because we have probably all experienced a time where we have taught a class and there's a variety of levels and abilities in the class and we feel like it wasn't that successful. We perhaps had some challenges with what modifications to offer, what progressions to provide. It may have felt like some people were doing this, and others were doing that, and this chaos may have caused you to feel a little bit of anxiety. So I'd like to reduce that. I'd also like to say that in a group class people kind of will be doing a bunch of different things and they should because they should be listening to their body.

So I'm gonna give you some tools to help you manage that situation. I also wanna note that if you teach in a studio that has leveled classes beginner intermediate advanced, one, two, three, Chances are the people who show up to the class don't fit into that category or level. We've all seen that, right? People come to classes because that time of day works for them, and they don't always read the class description. So it will be important that you understand how to manage a room when you have a variety of different abilities and different types of movers into that room. So that is what I'm gonna dive into next.

If you have taken my previous workshop here on Pilutte's any time about progressions, some of this may be a little bit of a refresher, but you should take that workshop because I spend the entire time talking about this topic and I also provide a bunch of exercise examples. So if any of this seems, a little confusing or you want more information, that will be available on my previous workshop that I've done here on Pilates anytime. When I teach in a Miller level environment, my strategy is a three step strategy. And I told you earlier, I kind of had a thing with threes. You'll see it pop up a bunch of times.

But I take a three step layering approach to all of my classes, all of them. Even if that class said, this is a beginner class, I still utilize this three step approach. Before we dive into each step, I'll tell you what the big picture looks like. Step one is I build a foundation and I build a base. Step two is I then offer progressions and step three is that I layer on a challenge.

So we know that we've got three steps and those steps are foundation, progression challenge. Let's talk about what each step means. Beginning with foundation. Now it might be common in your Piletti studio to label foundational exercises as movements that help people feel very nuanced or small, movements within their body, like scapular isolation or a pelvic Miller. But for this reference, when I say foundation, what I mean is building a baseline and teaching exercises that have low complexity and also exercises that are maybe familiar exercises that you can provide foundational cues while teaching.

And so these exercises allow you to tell the client what they're doing, that's a directional cue, but also where to feel it, perhaps why we're doing it, how to modify it, how to progress it, you're really diving into the depth of this movement. And I'm gonna give you an example. For me, a foundational exercise is something like a bilateral bridge. So I've got my feet onto the footbar. I've got my spring tension set for bridging Courtney, I like a red and a blue or two reds, and I have my hips up, and I'm pressing the carriage forward and back.

So this is a impactful move. This is a great exercise. Everybody in the room is gonna be feeling like they're working. But in this strategy, this is a foundational movement because it's during this time that I provide the information they need to keep movement quality high. I'm talking about the knees tracking over the toes. I'm cueing things like posterior pelvic tilt and finding the glutes.

Maybe I'm talking about arms long and strong and staying active during the exercise. I'm also cueing breath potentially and abdominal recruitment. All while they're moving. And the reason I'm able to talk about all these other things is because the movement itself is low level complexity. Doesn't have a lot of parts to it. Once the hips are up and the carriage is moving forward and back, I say keep going.

And as they go, I talk. Right? So this is the idea of building a baseline. You may choose a certain amount of reps that you want to utilize. In your training or in your studio, you might stick around a certain number. For me, when I'm in foundation land, I'm really watching the bodies in front of me, and I'm watching the assimilation of what I'm saying into their body. And that is how I choose how many reps I do.

With of course a limit. We're not gonna do 50 of these, but I look around the room and I'm thinking wow, they are doing what it is I'm asking them to do and they are doing it well. They look they're having a good time. Chances are that somewhere between eight, ten repetitions and now I have the green light to move to the next step. And so the next step is progression.

There's a number of ways that you could progress or in another way, say make the exercise harder. Right? Just challenge them more. But there's three ways that I progress in my style of teaching. And those ways are coordination challenge. So I'm already doing something. Now I'm gonna add a coordination challenge into the mix.

Another way to progress is a whole body integrative opportunity. So let's take bridge for example. If I'm already focusing on the lower body in this exercise, I can lift the arms off the mat, and add some arm movements. Now I'm working at all. It's a whole body move.

And then the next way or the third way that I progress in this technique is utilizing load transfer. So load transfer or weight shifting is when I reduce or change my contact, my body's contact with a stable surface. So in the event I was teaching this bilateral bridge, and I'm doing my presses back, If I kept the carriage in, I lifted one leg, put that leg back down, push pull, lift the other leg, put that leg back down. I had just introduced weight transfer. And there's a lot of different ways that you can play with weight transfer.

It's not just lifting a leg and it's not just lifting an arm. If we're considering that it's our body's contact with a stable surface, a weight transfer would also be from going supine lying on your back to side lying. Right? And again, if any of these things seem like a lot, I do have an entire workshop on this. So to recap, we've built a base. That's our foundation. Didn't have a lot of complexity.

They're moving and they're moving well. We're doing a bilateral bridge in this example. I look around the room and I think to myself, I want to make this harder. So I progress. In this scenario, I could add coordination challenge an a and a b, right? Maybe I'm doing those presses, forward and back. I add a flat back hinge into the Miller.

Forward back, lower lift, forward back, lower lift. Perhaps I add a whole body integrative challenge. I'm still doing that bridge. I lift my arms off the mat and every time I push the carriage back, my arms open out like a letter t. And every time I bring the carriage in, my arms reach back up to the ceiling.

This would be a whole body integrated integrated progression. And then I also have the opportunity to add into weight transfer here, which I gave you that example earlier lifting a leg off of the foot bar would be weight transfer. Now as soon as I take this step and I go from my foundation into my progression, I'm probably gonna see some movement quality drop. And I'll tell you why. When we are in our foundation brain, we're in that stage of building a base, we're pretty comfortable. And the instructor is able to continue to cue alignment and form and check-in with clients because the exercise itself doesn't have a lot of parts to it.

But as soon as I add more parts in my dialogue changes, I'm not just telling you how to do it, where to feel it, and how to make it better, I'm really telling you what to do, and it's important that you're listening, that client is listening to the what. And as soon as their brain shifts from the how, the where, the why, back into the what, we sometimes see movement patterns revert back to where they were. So for an example, if I was teaching that bilateral bridge in my foundation and I had a client whose knees were always opening wide and I was queuing to bring them back in line with the feet and that was successful and we're in foundation. It looks good. And then I go in and I add in that weight transfer challenge if lifting the leg. What I'm likely gonna see is repetition one, two, three, that pattern of the knees opening is gonna come back. But that's okay because again, what are we saying in the beginning in regards to how we treat ourselves? Perfectionism is the enemy of progress.

It's the same with clients. We are not looking for perfect movers. But as teachers, we're looking around the room and spotting opportunities where we can help to enhance the precision of the movement and the engagement of the muscles. So you'd simply walk over and help that person find that correction again. That is our second stage.

So foundation progression. Once I have my room moving happily and successfully, then I have the opportunity to make things even harder. And I feel like all Pilates instructors are looking for that opportunity to make our clients' lives as card as possible. I do wanna say that I don't always get to this next layer. It isn't, you know, like a successful moment for me as a teacher if I can move my class from step one to step two to step three. That's not how I mark my progress in the class.

Those are just tools that I utilize to keep my class moving and to help people move together in a unit, but I am just as happy to keep an entire class in a foundation stage as I would be to progress them one, two, three. I hope that that makes sense, right? So if it makes sense for me to progress the person or the group into that third step, which is our challenge, there's two ways to get them there. One is to take your current progression. So what are you currently working on? Is it coordination? Is it weight transfer or is it whole body integration?

And turn up the volume? Amplify. So a very easy example of this is if I'm using coordination challenge and I have an a and a b, I add in a c or maybe a d or maybe I play with how the coordination challenge, how the combination is being taught. Perhaps I'm doing a, b, c, right side, c, b, a, left side. And I can give you some examples.

I know sometimes it sounds like a lot but it makes sense. The other way that we can create a challenge is by layering two progressions in at the same time. So if I'm already doing weight transfer, then I can layer in whole body integration. You can even hear by the way I explain this that it has a layer of complexity to it. And again, it's gonna pull your client or your class outside of that kind of inner thought, how am I doing it? Where am I feeling it? Into this external environment, what am I doing?

And during that time, your queuing and your discussion and your words are very directional based. And there's nothing wrong with that. But that is why we started with foundation. So now that you know these three layers, I wanna talk about why they're so important. When you use this approach of step one, two, three, essentially you're building up the entire group together.

It's this upward momentum. And you can decide. You can look and you can see in a real time environment if it's appropriate to go from foundation to progression or to push even further from progression to challenge. You can also keep the room, the majority of the people in one stage. Perhaps it's progression, and then you could work independently with people in the room and provide challenges one on one.

But the goal here is that we're all moving up and we're moving together having a very successful and fun movement experience. We're also eliminating surprises when you teach this method, and this is important as a teacher. You do not wanna be surprised. You don't wanna have a group of people standing on the machine, doing the splits, and then all of a sudden you realize that balance is a challenge that day. So as we as we move through this system of one, two, three, we can watch and see how are our Miller showing up today? How are they assimilating or absorbing the information that you're providing?

Does it make sense to take them to that next step? So now that we've covered what these three steps are, let's discuss how we can utilize them and why they're important. I like to incorporate these three steps within a single movement. So quite often, if I'm teaching exercise like bridge, you'll notice I'll set up a foundation and then build or even the hundred. Right? I also like to use these three steps into a flow or over a period of time in my class.

An example of that would be to have three exercises that are foundational based followed by an exercise or two. That's progression with the possibility of an exercise that's challenged base. And you can also utilize this technique over a window of time. Right? If you have clients who regularly attend your Monday, 10AM class, you might move them together along this path of starting foundation and then in a couple of weeks layering in some more progressions and having perhaps a master plan to get them to that one exercise or two that you feel is really challenging and you wanna push them. It gives you that path or that direction. I think it's important to layer in this way, these one, two, threes, in a group environment for a number of reasons, And one is that it eliminates surprises. And trust me as a teacher in a group environment, you want to be surprised as infrequently as possible. You don't want to have ten, fifteen people standing on a machine, And all of a sudden you realize surprise, balance is really off today.

Or surprise, coordination really isn't quite there. I didn't build those seeds. I didn't plant those seeds. I didn't build that base. And now when they're sitting on the machine, I have to kind of backtrack and teach them those foundational moves.

So this is a great technique to make sure that you're covering those foundations that they know them, they can feel them, and they can apply them into a more dynamic situation But you also, during that time, are able to assess, are these progressions or are these movements or sequences that I wanna teach appropriate for this group this day right now? Right? You wanna know before going into that next stage. I also feel that this one, two, three approach is a very positive approach in a group environment because we're building everybody up together. Right? So it feels like we're doing more and pushing ourselves and that we have as clients the autonomy to choose if I want to go to that next step and the ability to stay where you are or to modify and go back to the step that you are previously in. So by laying out this path for your group of one, two, three, it provides clear examples of exercises that they can currently do, challenges that they want to try And in the event that there's a variation that they don't wanna do, they know where they can go. And this is really helpful in keeping the class moving together and feeling good about the movement that they're doing. As we dive into strategies on layering, I want to talk about utilizing some tools and tricks.

So one of the things I love to do in my class is continuous movement. I don't give any formal breaks or rests. And I provide this environment of continuous movement by utilizing a technique called super setting. To keep a group of people moving together with no stop at all, with no break at all, I utilize different parts of the body at different times strategically within a flow. We know the parts of the body that are gonna get tired or fatigued most while you're challenging them.

One of those are wrists. We can only do so many push ups. Right? One of them are knees. We only wanna be in a quadruped kneeling position for so long. And so we can take this knowledge and we can build a flow. We can build a class. We can build a sequence with the concept of working muscle a or body part a and then going to muscle b or body part b. Then circling back to where you were and coming back to that b. So that idea of switching things up.

The benefit that I've noticed is I can push my clients harder. I can get more out of them with this strategy and their experience in the class is not one of surrender. Waive the white flag. Get me out of here. This is too many. Instead, it feels uplifting.

They find their limit within an exercise. Perhaps it's a long stretch on the reformer and then they move into another exercise. Maybe we're doing a lunge on the reformer with a scooter press different body part right now working lower body. And now I have this renewed energy and this sense of I can do this as I go back into an upper body or wrist focused movement. So super setting is a strategy to create continuous movement without any formal breaks or rests, but keeping movement quality high and keeping the participants' enjoyment level high.

That is a consideration. Right? We want them to have a good time. And then the idea of I've done this achievement versus I can't do this. I give up. That's the idea of super setting. I use it all the time.

I also utilize a strategy that I call reset. So a reset is an exercise that I choose typically after doing a long unilateral series. So I have this amazing flow. It's all on the right side and I'm working myself through it. And I'm taking my group and maybe it's got six, seven exercises within that element. Prior to going into the next side and repeating it again on the other side, I typically choose a movement that just kind of grounds them again. Right?

It brings them back to center. And resets to me are exercises like a bridge exercises like a plank, an exercise that sometimes has low level complexity, an opportunity to feel connected into the machine and into your body, and a chance for me to go back to those seeds that I've planted. Remember the idea of foundation planting the seeds. And then once I've had that reset experience, then we're ready to go into the other side. And I find this to be really helpful.

When we are doing unilateral challenges, especially when it's a long sequence, it's a brain twister. It's a lot to think of, and clients are giving it their all to stay there with you into that flow. And there's a level of fatigue that happens, not just in the body, but in the brain. So a reset is like, alright, let's take that etcher sketch. We've just made all of these design lines.

We're gonna shake it up. We're gonna clean the palette, Here's how we are gonna breathe, here's how we're gonna move, here's how we're gonna feel, and now let's go into that challenge on the other side. I also find that psychologically, it's a great opportunity just to kinda like shake it off for a second. It can be a bit daunting. If you just did something really hard on one side, and now you're gonna do it again on the other side. It's like gosh, can I do it? Do I need you to take a break? So a reset sort of is that break, but it's the mental break, not the physical break.

I hope that makes sense. I use resets a lot in my class, and I even use the word reset. So let's dive into the concept of flow. I know you know all about this. As a bloodies teacher, this is embedded into what we do naturally, but what I really wanna discuss is the concept of flow equaling efficiency in a group environment.

If you were teaching a mat class with 50 people and your transitions weren't tight, you potentially lose five or ten minutes of your class to waste a time. We don't wanna do that. So when I think of flow, I try to create intention on how I move from one move to another. And that might mean something like from a supine position on the reformer, I get off the machine doing a few reformer roll ups. I also create sequences that I know are going to flow with minimal changes.

And when I say sequence, I mean exercises of a three, four, or five moves in a row where I'm not changing the springs, and there's minimal changes in my body so I can keep the clients moving. Efficiency in a class really translates to the client's experience, feeling like they're getting more from the class, and it also feels like that class is cohesive, well thought out and planned. So I encourage you to consider flow as you're layering into your groups. When considering layering and teaching to a multilevel group, I also want you to think about tools like adding props. This is a great way to shake things up.

Adding props doesn't just make exercises harder or more complex. When you're teaching to a large group of people, adding props can make your job as a teacher a lot easier. Case in point, you're gonna pull out the ball. Everyone's gonna have the ball between their inner thighs while they're doing bridge. You don't need to walk around and help people find their alignment of knees over toes. Right? So there is this opportunity to use props to your advantage.

They love it. They feel like they're working harder. You love it because it's keeping everybody in the room into the alignment and form that you're hoping for in that particular exercise. Bringing it back to the ball. Typically, if you're gonna use the ball, what we're doing is activating adductors or our inner thighs if the ball's being placed between either the thighs or the calves or the ankles. The beauty of that adductor inter integration is that it helps us to find our abdominals and often makes us feel more stable and more connected. I also wanna say that a ball as a prop when we're using the legs independently, like feet and straps, they could go everywhere.

Just keeps everything together. Right? It keeps you feeling like you're moving from the center, which is often our goal in a lot of exercises. You might have the opportunity in your studio to use a resistance band. Now this is the opposite sensation to the ball. So now we're using those AB doctors or if it's around the thighs, that is pulling the legs away from each other. I love using the band. I think that this is a great way to activate through our glutes.

I know a lot of us have a hard time finding that muscle. So glute activation can be key prior to going into certain exercises. So you're moving from that strength, from that power from behind you. And it can also again create this idea of connection between left and right side. As I'm pushing my legs away using that resistance band, I feel like I'm pushing from my center.

I'm no longer thinking that I have a left and a right leg. I'm thinking them together and I'm pushing from that midline. You might also have other props in your studio. In my studio, we use a weighted medicine ball. In some studios, they use, hand weights or dumbbells. These are great ways to play with some of our progressions that we talked about earlier, bringing it back to that whole body integrative opportunity.

If you're doing an exercise, you've built a foundation. It's primarily lower body and you wanna amp it up, you wanna give them a challenge and you choose whole body integration, grab some of these, right? And add that upper body integration. I love the medicine ball because again it keeps the limbs kind of connected, right? We feel like we're composed. We're holding one thing, but there's an amazing challenge when you're using hand weights too of finding that unity. The concept is using props to your advantage when in a group room to help the participants feel the exercise or find the form that it is that you're trying to invoke into that movement. They can be very helpful.

There's only one of you. So if everybody is using this prop, they have that tactile reminder of where they have to be. And again, trust me, the clients love it. I've never heard anybody leave a Play's class and say, we worked way too much booty band. They love it. Pull it out.

When we're teaching a class with multi levels, which we always will, let's face it. Right? People are gonna show up and they're gonna want something different from the class. People are going to move differently because they should move differently. We are all different and people will be in your class that have different experience levels. The idea is that we need a strategy and we need tricks to keep everybody moving safely, and to make sure they're having a good time while they're there. I offer this opportunity for you to try out this three step progression technique that I love, layer one foundation, level two is your progression, and then we go to challenge.

We talked about super setting, which allows the group to continue to move without having to surrender and take a break because they can't take more. I talked about resetting, which gives the brain an opportunity to reset, and we discussed the importance of flow, meaning efficiency in a class. We also talked about using props to help you as teacher and help clients have tactile reminders of where they're meant to feel something or improve their alignment. Let's talk about key markers that you want to see as a teacher before pushing your group out of their comfort zone. It is extremely important that you are aware and engaged and looking at your clients all the time. You wanna look for body language, you wanna look for facial expressions. It is easy sometimes to zone out or to go to autopilot, but I am encouraging you to do that as little as possible because your clients will communicate with you and tell you with their body and with their face how they're experiencing and exercise and when you should push them a little bit further.

Chapter 3

I wanna step back for a second and say that all of this that we do, it all really is meant to be fun. It's meant to, be light. We are supposed to have a good time, and so are the clients and I have noticed in talking with some teachers that they put so much pressure on themselves about coming up with these creative flows and always reinventing the wheel and that they have to make it different every time and I just want to say stop you do not need to be doing that I do have data from the survey that I did with my clients on creativity and class formatting, and I'll share that with you later, but you are good doing what you're doing. You don't need to change everything. Changing small things makes a huge impact in the perspective of the client. Let's talk about where we get our source of creativity.

I mean, there's the obvious right here on Pilates anytime. It's a great way to get new flows to take workshops like this and to stay up on continuing education. Amazing. There's also platforms like social media where we can get a plethora of new moves and new flows and I think that's really exciting too. But I'm gonna ask you to take a second and step away from those external sources of creativity. And channel into your intuition because you have what it takes to make some bad ass flows.

I'll gonna give you some tools. It might help you kind of think outside the box a little bit. Before we dive into some exercises, that will help really bring out your inner creativity. I just wanna make a note and say for me, personally carving out specific time during my day to be creative has been instrumental in my creative development. I'm sure just like me, you wear a lot of hats. We are required to do a lot in our profession.

We're creating these flows. We're working with clients and personalities. We're working with other teachers and studio owners. And then there's life and then there's all the other things that come into play. And what I noticed is if I don't unplug and put myself in an environment where I can be free to be creative without any interruptions, then I'm never able to reach my creative potential.

And this was something I've learned very recently, actually, as a business owner I find myself constantly toggling between that left side brain and that right side brain. And for the most part, I'm able to do it. I'm able to juggle it. But recently, I've taken on some creative projects that have required me to really hone in and get into that right side imagination brain. And as I'm working on a writing project, for example, I pick up my phone, I see a text message or notification on Slack, and I need to go over to that whiteboard brain of mine and come up with a solution that's going to solve a problem.

And it's nearly impossible for me to get back into the brain that I was before. So this has helped me a lot. Just turn everything off and schedule that time into your day to be creative in a place that's going to inspire you and don't allow anything else to impact that scheduled in like any other appointment, make it a priority and stay consistent with it, and your brain will start to just expand when it has that time to reach its potential. So carving out the time. But on top of that, these are things that have really helped me to be creative and to come up with programming that, I think is unique and I think really benefits my clients.

One of them speaking of clients is problem solving. So as I work with my classes and with my clients in a real life environment, I'm exposed to opportunities where I have to come up with a solution to a potential problem. And I think that creativity that solves the problem is really ingenious. We're not just changing things for the sake of being different. We're changing things to do something in a better way.

And for me personally, as a business owner who has multiple studios, I still teach on the schedule because the interactions with my clients, the getting in there, and the facilitating of my class, and seeing what works, and seeing what doesn't is a massive contributor to my creative ability. This could be as simple as a client can't do an exercise in a certain position, but I really wanna do something similar and I really wanna target that muscle and I think this would be so beneficial for them So how can I reconstruct this exercise in a way that's going to work for them? I think that's a great place to start, and it also is very rewarding. You get the feedback from the client in real time

Chapter 4

So when you're using platforms like social media to get those creative flows, Please try them on yourself first and don't, use your your class or your clients to experiment. Sometimes they work really well, sometimes they don't work really really well. Sometimes there is, little nuances that are missed in some of these thirty or sixty second flows that you're seeing on social media like getting into the exercise or getting out of the exercise, that's really important when you're teaching it. So if you are using those external sources for creativity, feel them in your body first because you might make some changes. Going back to that internal inspiration, though.

So I get info from my clients. I also get info from my everyday life. I get inspired from what's happening on a day to day basis and I try to channel that inspiration in ways to create programming for my classes where everybody is gonna benefit. Case in point, if I'm personally experiencing a lot of stress and I think I'm, you know, needing to just focus on breath a little bit more. I'm feeling tension in my neck and shoulders.

I may create a theme or a program for my classes that are talking about this. Is a real life experience that I am experiencing and these people are coming to my classes to share this time with me, it's relevant that we are having this kind of collective experience together. Chances are somebody in your group was also gonna benefit from that. And that could be, you know, really anything. It could be something like I had mentioned needing to breathe and relax the shoulders a little bit more, or perhaps you are planning to go on this amazing backpacking trip and you're gonna be hiking for 15 miles a day and and you're really working on training your lower body strength and your mental ability to overcome obstacles, these would be things to pull creatively to add into your class. Your clients are going to benefit from things that are happening in your life and how you build them into your programming.

One of my favorite things when I take a class with a teacher is to hear why the teacher is teaching that exercise. I love it because for that moment, I get to see a little glimpse of their life. What motivates them why do they like it? And it is inspiring to me. And I think you can share that more in your classes as well and get a lot of creativity about how to choose different programming based on what's important to you at that moment. Additionally, I get a lot of these like ideas popping off when I take classes in different modalities, completely different, whether it's a boot camp class, an aerial yoga class, whether I I recently went ocean kayaking.

I've been getting into rock climbing. How do these things relate to Pilates? They don't really, but they're fun and exciting activities that I like to do. And in doing those, I'm interacting with other people with other coaches and I'm putting myself in the position of the client trying something new stepping outside of my comfort zone. And not only does this build empathy when I'm working with my clients, whether in a class or one on one, but again, gives me this inspiration.

Wow. When I did this rock climbing thing, I really felt how important it was for me to, you know, feel my back muscles, for example. And so now I'm on the reform. I'm like, oh yeah, this would be a really cool move to strengthen those muscles that I needed for that exercise. I would say if you are not taking or or or being involved in outside modalities, outside of Miller, that you should give it a try. You not only have a great workout and a great time and meet some more people, but it will benefit your professional career immensely by exposing yourself to more modalities, more teachers, more clients, and by being the client. Here are some additional ways that you can spark those creative juices.

So one thing I have written here is curiosity. And personally, I think curiosity is a personality trait that we all need to nurture more. I just think that through curiosity, we have this authentic desire to evolve. And how cool is that? Right? And so being curious in the realm of a Pilates teacher means carving out time to play on the machine and try new things and ask yourself the question Well, what would it feel like if I did this? Or what would happen if I tried it this way? I'm a huge fan of that.

I always have been. If you go way back to my classes on pilates anytime, You've seen that I have been curious and creative from day one. I also, note here collaboration, collaboration with others. So at my studios at Plates Republic, we meet almost monthly if we can. All the teachers and we do a round robin teaching class where we each teach five Miller.

And sometimes there's a theme and sometimes there's not. And this is so much fun. If this is something that you have access to teaching classes, with others, like kinda like a tag team style. I highly recommend it. Somebody can teach and exercise the same, way, right, which all teaching, say, a bridge series. But these small nuances, these little changes, these very subtle differences can spark some creative flare in you to be like, oh, wow.

I've never thought about doing it that way. It's also a great way to stay current in your practice. And to connect with your peers. It's all very important to those creative juices. I have here adding a prop and see what happens.

So if you are stuck and you've been doing the same thing for a while, why not change it up by adding a prop to an exercise that you've never used before? I remember I was doing some programming, and I really wanted to work on spinal extension. This was just after I had my son. I was just feeling so tight in my chest. And I already have scoliosis and my back felt like it was just moving like one single bone.

And I was at home and I had the ball and my reformer. I do have a reformer at home. I'm lucky for that. But I started doing moves seated on the reformer facing back, hands and straps with the ball behind my spine. And I started doing these back bends with some arm movements, and I was moving the ball up my spine, and down, and I was able to target different areas to create some mobility. And that's an exercise that I've never I've never tried that prop back there before.

So I I definitely recommend if you have a prop nearby spice it into flows that you're already doing and see how you can create some dynamic changes, ways to think of that is how can I include more or different, spatial planes, like planes of movement into an exercise that you typically doesn't have it? Have fun with adding those props. And then I also note here that music is a huge inspiration. You know, I've talked about this before. So put on a playlist. You Miller, I promise be inspired feel creative by the music that you're listening to.

And if you always listen to a certain style of music, change it up. We know that music stimulates our brain. We know that music sparks creativity why wouldn't it help you as an instructor on your reformer? Give it a try. Don't be afraid. I have another note here for a creative Miller. Choose an exercise and then pick an exercise that you could do before and after that move. That you could do with no spring change or choose an exercise and then pick a movement before or after that move.

That is a super set, a different muscle group. For if you're if this is available to you, choose an exercise, with somebody or a group of people in your Pilates Studio group and go off of each other. Okay. I choose a bridge. What can go next? It kinda reminds me of when you're driving, you know, for a long time. It's car game. We always play the alphabet game or the license plate game. So it's like, I choose Bridge.

What can go next? Okay. Somebody else, I choose reformer roller. What can go next? Okay. I roll off the machine and I choose some squat jumps. Okay. What can go next? Okay.

I choose the playful allow your brain the freedom to basically, ad lib, to improv, to come up with ideas without any judgment. And you'll be surprised what creative flows you come up with. You're gonna love it. Your clients are going to as well. I recently conducted a survey, and I specifically asked clients who come to my studio who are on any membership, what makes an instructor great.

And the results were awesome. Some of them I expected, some were a bit of surprise and some were the complete opposite to what I thought they were gonna say. I had 322 people participate in the survey, and I gained a lot of clarity on teaching techniques, what clients are looking for, and how we can all collectively improve. When we are teaching group classes, and I wanna share that with you. Let me remind you, these are clients of my studio.

These are people who I pulled. It's my independent survey. So I'm providing the results based on what I received. I summarize the results and put them into categories to make it easier for me to share the information with you. So we're gonna use the acronym great. And the first thing we're starting with is greeting. Now there's absolutely no doubt in my mind prior to conducting this survey, the way we greet our clients is so important to set the tone for class.

But what I saw from my client's results is that it is very important. One of the questions I asked my clients was do they think the teachers at my studio are friendly and approachable and we got great responses, so no worries there. But then I further asked what makes a teacher friendly and approachable in their eyes, and I provided a number of different options. And the number one answer I received was that the teacher smiles and welcomes me to class. And what I love about that answer is that's a very easy thing for all of us to do.

We just need to be aware clients wanna be seen. The next answer that came, came up was they seem upbeat and excited to be there. So we've all experienced teacher burnout. It is a real thing, but I just wanna say that was the second choice. So the clients do notice, definitely wanna leave whatever you can at the door and walk in excited to teach your class.

And the third indicator that they noted as a friendly and approachable trait in a teacher was that they know their name. Now they also had the opportunity to write out Other qualities that they find make a teacher friendly and approachable, things that weren't on the list, and I had several people say that it's important to them that teachers make eye contact with them. And I'm definitely one, two, when I think I kind of look off into space and when I'm in that creative vibe, I'm just sort of doing my thing, but it is important for the clients that you're making eye contact with them. And the other thing that came up quite a lot and I thought it was actually really beautiful was that clients noticed when teachers help new people and they like that. So that they didn't write down that they needed help as a new person.

The clients that I surveyed are all members at my studio. Many of them have been coming for years, but they notice when a teacher is helpful to a newer client and to them, they see that as a friendly characteristic. Next is r, and I have results listed for that. So what I mean by that is what do your clients want? Why do they come to class? What kind of results are they hoping to get? Because if you don't know those things, then how do you know what to give them?

Right? What to Miller? Or if you're doing a good job? I asked a number of questions to my clients, but here's some that I felt to be helpful for all. I asked my clients to choose the top three reasons that they take Pilates. And I gave a number of options to choose from. The number one choice by a landslide was to build strength.

And I thought that was really awesome because The technique that I really gravitate towards in my style Pilates is really about that strength programming. So I want you to ask yourself if you feel like your clients are in the same category as mine, are you choosing exercises that will build strength? Are you programming to build strength? Are you using strength training modalities? If not, that might be additional education that you wanna dive into. We're talking about possibly multiple sets we're talking about max load, progressive loading, things to think about that will really help clients build strength. It was the number one thing that my clients want from their pilates class. The next was to tone up and I feel like that's a pretty common one. Right? I expected that. Through strength training, you will see more muscle definition and tone.

So those kind of go hand in hand And then the third answer that I received from my clients in regards to what they're looking to achieve from their Pilates class was to improve flexibility. And that one did kind of, surprise me just a little bit. I didn't think that that was a priority. So if you are teaching classes where you're not incorporating a lot, those long range motion, flexibility style poses, it might be something you wanna consider implementing or ask your clients if it's important to them. Another question that I surveyed to my clients was rate the body part on a scale from one to three on how important it is for you to strengthen or tone that area.

Three being very important and one being not important at all. And the number one body part that came in, I'm sure you can guess it. Abdominals and core are we are already doing what we need to be doing. It's embedded into our repertoire. But the number two was whole body integration.

And we talked about that earlier in our programming, right? It's like you have a star of the show and now you're including some other movers in there. So that was important to my clients. Another question that I asked is, and this one I thought was quite interesting. I mean, I think they all are, but which is the most helpful information you get from your teacher once you're moving within the exercise. And some options that they had was is it important for me to know how many?

Like repetitions? Is it important for me to know the name of the exercise? Is it important for me to know why I'm doing the exercise? Is it important to know where I'm supposed to be feeling the exercise? I wanna give you just a moment and guess what do you think the answer was? Because it was overwhelmingly one of those things. And the number one answer that my clients find most helpful while they're in an exercise is to know where they're supposed to be feeling it. So when it comes to providing those verbal cues, telling them what muscle is working, where they're supposed to be feeling it, was very important to my clients.

Here's an example. We're doing a bridge exercise. This exercise is meant to strengthen your hamstrings and glutes, you should be feeling this in your booty and in the backs of your legs. They prioritize that far greater than any other options, any of the other options that I provided. I also asked my clients I choose my classes primarily on and then I gave a number of possible options.

The teacher, the location, the class format, the time of day and time of week, etcetera. And again, this one was a ma definitely majority response was that my clients choose the class they go to based on the time of day and the day of the week. That was the one option that came out. Greater than any other. So I wanna go back to what we talked about earlier programming within a multilevel environment.

They are not prioritizing coming to the class based on the description. They are coming based on the time of day. So make sure you review those strategies on programming to different levels in your group. Next, I asked my clients what they like to do before class starts. And overwhelmingly, the response was relax and stretch. They had other options like connect with the teacher, talk to other clients, shop, what they just want to relax and stretch. So when you're programming your classes, you may want to allow people or verbally give them permission to just chill on the machine before the class starts. I also ask them what they like to do after class.

I give them that same option to stretch and relax, to shop, to chat, or to get out of there because they have somewhere else that they need to be. And overwhelmingly, the response says bye, I have to go. So as a business owner, that makes me think, okay, if I have something important to say to my clients or an announcement, I'm not gonna do it after class. I'm gonna do it before. Well, they're all relaxing and stretching because there are not in any rush to go anywhere. This was an interesting one.

When the teacher gives options for an exercise variation, I usually, and then we had a number of potential responses, The number one response was I like having the option to move harder, have a more advanced option, but I don't always take it. So again, the question was when the teacher gives options for an exercise variation, I usually, right? And so it was like, you know, I always want the harder option or I'm happy where we are or I'd like a modification. But the answer was that they like having the option to do something that's more challenging but they also like knowing that it's something that they don't have to do. So let's go back to that three step progression technique. Right? We are giving these options to progress or to challenge, but we're also allowing the clients to stay where they are if that feels right for them. The next letter is e, and for that one, I chose exercise.

How do you tell the story? How do you present your plan to your class? How do you keep them moving connected and together? And I asked my clients what they like? And I got some responses. One of the questions was what is the most important quality in a teacher? And I provided a number of options. The number one response I got was class programming with challenging classes and a good flow.

So let's bring it all back again. We talked about this. We talked about the power of a theme and focus. We talked about the importance of flow and tight transitions in a class. And how those tight transitions equal efficiency within a class efficiency makes the class feel harder and makes your choreography feel connected.

They can tell. So that's something to work on. This was when I asked about more for my personal self, because I'm bit of a chatty teacher. Do you prefer when a teacher talks a lot during class or talks less? Well, I was surprised the majority of people said that they do like a teacher talking a lot during class. They like the teacher to talk to keep the tempo to remind them of cues and to describe the movement.

I also asked if there's an exercise that, you cannot do or you do not want to do, what do you prefer? And I gave some options. You just wanna do your own thing. Do you wanna give it a try? And the number one option was that they do want the teacher to provide a modification for them. The reason I'm including that in our discussion today is I know that some teachers feel hesitant on providing modifications They don't know if they should go up to that person and offer that individual feedback. I definitely seen in my experience and in this survey that people want that one on one opportunity.

So don't be shy to go over and offer them that modification. I think you'll be happy to hear the results to this one. I asked, do you like the class programming to be similar or different each time? And I also gave different options. Like, I want the class to always be different. Don't want the class to be different at all. I like it always the same and a few different options in between.

And the response overwhelmingly was mostly the same with a few different new exercises. And I just think that takes a lot of pressure off us. That's what I was saying earlier. Right? So when we come to that creativity side of things and the pressure we put on ourselves, our clients or at least mine are not looking for us to reinvent each time. Through consistency, we're able to judge progress, and the clients are saying they like to do some of the same things so that they can see that they're getting stronger. And they like a few different things, not all of them. So Take it easy on yourself when it comes to coming up with those new creative flows.

I also asked if my clients would prefer if the teacher provided different spring options. So like an option a and an option b, for example, you could do this exercise on a red or you could do it on a blue. Here's the difference you can choose. Again, I had a very strong majority say that they did want the option for a different spring. And I think a lot of us aren't doing that. At my studios, we've started incorporating that, but that might be something you wanna consider into your programming as well, not every exercise, but maybe a couple here and there so the clients can choose what type of resistance they want when given two different options.

Lastly, I asked, how do you like the teacher to count repetitions? And I ask them if they like the teacher to count numbers for them or if they like the teacher to tell them the amount of repetitions that they're going to do at the beginning and to give them freedom to move on their own. And if it was up to me, I would choose the second one. I thought that's what my clients want, but according to the survey, that is not what they want. They want us to count for them, and they wanna feel like we're guiding the class.

So when you're teaching exercise, If you choose to count repetitions, my clients at least are going to enjoy you helping them count down those repetitions. A is for attention? Where is the teacher's attention going during class? Oh, here's what my clients say. I asked the question, do you want the teacher to check-in with you before class to see how you're feeling? And overwhelmingly, the response was it doesn't matter to me. And I thought that was so interesting because I gave them the options. Yes. I like computer checks in.

I have things to tell them. I want them to ask me about injuries. No. I do not want them. I want my private time. I want my time to stretch.

But it really was this kind of like it doesn't matter to me if the teacher checks in before class. And, I thought that was insightful. Use it how you'd like. The next question I asked is what is the number one most helpful way the teacher assists me during a class, and I gave these options, demonstration, hands on adjustments, and personalized verbal cues. And we had a majority of people say they prefer demonstrations. And I also thought that was so interesting because in my studios, the reformers are all used up with clients. We don't have a machine to demonstrate on.

But I thought a little bit more about the answer, and there are plenty of times where we do demonstrate with our body. For example, If we're showcasing elbow flexion, leg, a b duction, we do a lot of the moves from the floor. We make sure that we are in that visual point. We talked about this when we started today's workshop with the elements of building a kick ass class, right, being in a place where they can see you. So what I'm seeing here from this response is the clients want to see you that they value that. They wanna see you during class.

And it provides information for them to help them feel like they're being assisted through the exercise. In another question, I specifically asked about using personal verb verbal cues privately directed right to them and their preference on that, and that also scored very high as well. So if that's something that you're not doing, it might be something that you want to include. I also asked, I prefer when an instructor gets us moving right away and then explains more details of the exercise. And I gave options like true. Yes.

This is very important to me. No. I wanna hear everything about the exercise before I get moving, a combination of those, and the answer was true. Get me moving right away. So going back to our programming, The idea of building that foundation and then moving to progression is going to get that entire group moving while you're providing that important information that they want to hear. So that brings us to tea.

And for tea, I chose word tempo, whether you want to believe it or not music and tempo is a huge part of what we do in teaching Pilates, even if music is not your thing and you're not gonna play it in your class or at your studio. Pilates has tempo in it. Think of the hundred. Think of scissors. There is tempo, and it is important to the clients. Here's some of the questions I asked my clients.

How important is it to you that class movements be connected to the music? And the majority of my clients chose vary. It makes the class more motivating. So there you have it. Not just my opinion.

I also asked a question here regarding counting repetitions versus giving a duration of time. So I can count. You've got eight reps or 10 reps here or I can use the music, kind of in the background to help me Courtney. And that's usually more of a, period of time for the clients. And, the client said that they definitely prefer that we're counting and that we're not using you have forty five seconds left. I'm guessing that's a motivational thing.

I did have clients make notes that they love the Courtney, but when it's a countdown from three versus, you know, a countdown from 15. So I hope that's helpful. I asked questions here like What personality, teaching personality resonates most with you? And I gave a number of different options. And the number one answer was, clear and straightforward instructor. And the second one was an upbeat personality and on tempo.

So I think both of those things really kind of embody our Pilates selves when we're teaching but the clear and straightforward teacher was the number one results with my clientele. And the last question that I have here is asking my clients what style of music they like to listen to during their Pilates class, and I provided a number of different genres. And if it was me answering this this question, I would say some sort of, you know, nineties hip hop mashup songs that I know the lyrics to that I used to dance to or still dance to but the number one answer from my clients is that they prefer to do Pilates to pop music. The survey that I'm referencing is one that I built and I conducted to my clients for my studio because I wanted to learn what they love, where can we improve, and what can I do differently to create a better experience? But what I think is really cool is that I received some results that can universally help us all grow and evolve in this profession. Here's the thing.

You are already a great instructor. You're here. You're investing in your education. You obviously love what you do, and that shows the clients can see the authenticity, and that's gonna make you stand out and successful in your career. But we can never have too many tools in our toolbox to help us continue to evolve and grow. To build confidence and to navigate a lot of challenges that come with this amazing job. Thank you so much for joining me, and I will see you guys again soon.