One of the most common things Pilates instructors ask clients during a challenging exercise is: "Can you feel that?" The client says yes. Exercise selection alone doesn't determine training stimulus. Load and relative intensity determine how challenging an exercise actually is for the individual. Their legs are burning. They're shaking. They're definitely working. So we assume the exercise is doing its job. But "I can feel it" tells us surprisingly little about whether an exe

Every Pilates instructor has experienced it. Instructor carefully adjusting and guiding client's foot and leg during a Pilates reformer session You ask a client to perform hip extension and their lower back arches. You programme abdominal work and their hip flexors immediately take over. You ask for shoulder flexion and their ribs flare. You cue a squat and their knees collapse inward. You teach a side-lying glute exercise and they somehow feel it entirely in their quadricep

Spend five minutes scrolling through social media and you’ll quickly come across instructors teaching “50 new Reformer exercises”, “10 creative footwork variations”, or “the one exercise your clients have never seen before.” It’s easy to believe that becoming a better Pilates instructor simply means learning more exercises. Great Pilates classes begin long before clients walk through the door they begin with thoughtful programming. Many instructors spend years accumulating re

Most Pilates instructors spend a significant amount of time learning exercises. Far fewer spend time learning how to prescribe them. Effective instructors prescribe exercises with intention rather than simply selecting movements. This distinction is one of the biggest differences between simply delivering a class and creating a program that produces meaningful outcomes. Knowing hundreds of exercises is valuable. Knowing when, why, and for whom those exercises should be used i