Think About The Bread & Butter Exercises First
Effective class planning stands as a cornerstone in the role of a Reformer Pilates Instructor. Mastering effective class planning comes from hours spent instructing and refining your skills on the reformer. The more you plan, teach and play on the reformer the better and quicker you become at it. Even seasoned Pilates teachers can occasionally steer off course, complicating routines unnecessarily. Reformer Pilates class planning should not take too much time after you have got decent amount of hours under your belt as a Reformer Pilates Instructor. Let me share some tips and tricks that will prove invaluable for those moments when your mind draws a blank, or you find yourself tempted to incorporate exercises that might not optimize the results and experience for your clients
TIP 1: Keep it simple! I cannot stress enough the good old saying “consistency is the key”. Clients are not bored of the fundamental exercises. Sometimes it is the way HOW the exercises are taught that can make clients bored or zoned out. If you teach the exercises with enthusiasm and passion the most fundamental exercises become fun and attractive! Consistency equals growth. When clients see growth and results they are happy. Let your clients see and feel improvement in the bread and butter exercises to build fundamental strength and skills. An example of tangible improvement could be going for longer duration without stopping (plank hold) or being able increase load or challenge (heavier springs for scoot, half plank to full plank). Or it could be doing an exercise without assistance due to improved balance.
The Balance Between Fundamentals and Creativity
Fundamental exercises are known amongst regular clients and that helps save time. Clients are not waiting around and wasting time whilst you are explaining or demonstrating a fancy “looks good on insta” exercise. An exercise that is not perhaps the most effective choice in a group class setting to help your clients to reach their goals. In saying all the above I do LOVE variety. Most of the clients appreciate the fun factor, the variety in the exercise selection! It is satisfying to execute our favorite exercises we are good at to boost our confidence but also the excitement to learn new skills is equally appealing. This is why we want to sprinkle creativity on top of the fundamental exercises by adding some juicy layers, balance and coordination challenges or use props wisely to spice things up. Last but certainly not least let your personality have some room in class planning. It’s often this personal touch that will make your class stand out and create a memorable experience for your clients!
Strengthen The Whole Body
Your clients come to Pilates class for various reasons. Community, coffee dates, mental clarity, physical strength gains, lower back & neck pain and the list goes on. How do you serve all these clients really well in a group class setting? How do you fulfill everyones different goals and WHYs? A great Reformer Pilates Class plan is scalable, easy to adjust and convert to different levels and clients abilities.
TIP 2: Bullet proof way to your clients heart is to plan a class that strengthens the whole body in order to serve all the people in the room the best way you can in a group setting. It has the fun factor and allows clients to be challenged in their current personal abilities. Double check that you plan exercises for upper body, core and lower body. Target both anterior and posterior chains and add on spinal planes of movement for spinal health and mobility. We love to rotate, flex and extend our spines. I always incorporate feel good moves and the ones that make you sweat. Combine push and pull, allow clients move both slowly and fast and find a balance between strengthening and lengthening the body. Think highs and lows – allow some active recovery and push the limits. You can also play with tempo to offer variety to fundamental exercises as well as challenge your clients abilities in your Reformer Pilates classes.
Overload the Muscles
You can work with moderate load which means we usually need more repetitions or longer time under tension to work your clients close to the point of fatigue or all the way there. Alternatively you can load clients up and use less repetitions and heavier resistance. Both ways work – the important part is to ensure your clients overload the muscles.
It takes time to develop an eye to be able to read the room and predict how much more you can push and throw challenges at your clients or if there needs to be a step back. Signs of fatigue can be found in facial expressions, body language, noticeable drop in pace or slightly poorer form. BUT Let me be clear. These are GOOD signs most of the time!
TIP 3: Progressive overload! Repetitions/time goals are not set in stone and appropriate load (spring tension or added props) you offer differ from person to person. One size does NOT fit all here. Remember this when you are planning “one spring flows around the reformer” and think twice whether it serves your clients the best possible way! You can offer a few (2-3) springs options like “base” and “challenge” at the start for smooth class delivery . Be proactive and adjust the springs for clients as needed. Be adaptable – when required leave some exercises&layers out and have couple back up exercises up on your sleeve.
Save Your Best Skeleton Reformer Class Plans To Notes
The tip number 4 coming in hot! Have a handful of your favorite, SIMPLE, tested and trialed full body skeleton plans available that you can use and adjust as you go. Your ideal 45-60 minute class includes a short warm up and is followed by roughly 7-13 set ups. Each set up includes a few different exercises that you can flow seamlessly together to superset (for example 2-3 exercises that target the same muscle groups).
Why 7-13 set ups? First of all this allows clients to spend enough time in each exercise to learn it. Secondly we are big fans of progressive overload (see above). If we go from exercise to exercise constantly (especially exercises that focus on different muscle groups) we do not stress the muscles enough to allow them to fatigue, beg for rest and finally grow stronger. Also less complexity and changes will reduce the mental fatigue your clients may experience if your plan is packed with too many exercises.
When you are teaching newbies and beginner level clients start the exercise from its simplest version and build it up from there. We want to build foundation and avoid setting clients up for a failure.
Envision a person at the gym doing a squat for the first time ever. This person needs to start with a body weight squat to learn the skill first and build confidence. We would not load the bar up and ask the person to squat with 50 kgs on their shoulders. Same rule of thumb applies to Reformer Pilates and everything else – we learn to walk before we run (HELLO progressive overload).
Skeleton Reformer Session Plan Examples
Tip number 5 gives you couple examples of the ways to plan your classes. Get your clients to do a sequence on the right side. Either break it up with an exercise that serves as active recovery or smooth transition to other side and start over from the top on the left side OR start over from the top straight away after the side one is completed. If you are more of an 360 gal (full circle around the reformer) you can start the second side in reverse order (this means the first exercise on right side is the last on the left side).
Half Circle
- Warm up
- Lunges and scooters facing the foot bar right side
- Side lying glute series right side
- Single arm work shoulders, chest, back and obliques right side (sideways and facing the shoulder pads)
- Lunges and scooters facing the foot bar left side
- Side lying glute series left side
- Single arm work shoulders, chest, back and obliques left side (sideways and facing the shoulder pads)
- Core work such as mid back series and planking
- Finisher and or clients requests
Full Circle
- Warm up
- Lunges and scooters facing the foot bar right side
- Side lying glute series right side
- Single arm work shoulders, chest, back and obliques right side (sideways and facing the shoulder pads)
- Core work such as reverse planking, roll downs, reverse crunches or knee tucks (facing the shoulder pads)
- Single arm work shoulders, chest, back and obliques left side (facing the shoulder pads and sideways)
- Side lying glute series left side
- Lunges and scooters facing the foot bar left side
- Finisher and or clients requests
Superset Blocks and Mini Reformer Flows
Tip 6: Alternatively you can plan the full body class around a bias/stronger focus on certain muscle groups like back and posterior chain, theme like spinal rotation, focus on balance and coordination or cardiovascular endurance. You can also break up exercises in muscle focus blocks such as upper body anterior, legs side 1, core work, legs side 2, upper body posterior and a finisher. This sort of plan is easy to use and alter. You can also create mini flows that you can combine together (2-3 mini flows) to construct a full reformer class plan. These mini flows utilize the same spring tension and or follow natural, seamless transitions from one set up to another. See examples of mini flows below.
Gluteals, hamstrings and abdominal focus utilizing heavy spring load:
- Carriage kick away
- Side lying glute series
- Mid back series
- Side lying glute series
- Carriage kick away
Short box flow:
- Woodchopper
- Box oblique crunches
- Sissy squats
- Box oblique crunches
- Woodchopper
Legs, shoulders, chest and abdominal focus utilizing light and medium/heavy spring load:
- Standing side splits and skaters
- Planking: Knee tucks and pikes
- Offering and chest press
- Standing side splits and skaters
A Great Reformer Pilates Session Is Over In a Blink Of An Eye
We all have been to a class where time disappeared and just like that the class had finished! You feel high on endorphins and accomplished! Have you ever wondered why? We believe it is because the Reformer Pilates Instructor was motivating, empathetic, engaged and gave you a personalized experience. And because the plan was simple and easy to follow yet fun, safe and challenged your abilities.
There is a saying “well planned is half done” and that applies to your Reformer Pilates classes too. A plan so simple you can memorize it easily. You have carefully thought of the flow of things such as how you place the props for fluent execution and how clients can move around the reformer without confusion. When you know really well what your plan entails you have more time left to do what we should do more – observe and assist your clients to get most out of the class!
From Beginner Level to Advanced
You can scale your simple, fundamental Reformer Class plan to the next class level. The change of load, timings&reps, layers, set up, levers and body position can make a huge difference between class levels and add on a further challenge. It pays off to be mindful and understand how the change of set up, props and positioning of the body may change the whole focus of the exercise, the level of balance or coordination skills that are required as well as targeted muscle groups and intensity. The props can be added wisely to either make some exercises more challenging or more achievable.
Couple important considerations that help you to scale an exercise down or up:
Upper body (bi- or unilateral) set ups: Low kneeling, high kneeling, seated on the short or long box, 4 point kneeling, boat pose
Incorporating props to regress or progress the chosen exercises: Such as the Box, dumbbells, Pilates ring, Pilates Ball
Layers: Heel lifts, pulses, holds, shoulder presses, rows, rotations, taps, claps you name it!
Body positioning, joint angles and muscle focus : Arabesque lunge (hip hinge to promote glute and hamstring bias) vs runners lunge (torso upright to promote quad bias) , inline vs decline planking, side lying glute series vs side lounging glute series (propped on the elbow), foot positioning in side splits to decrease and or increase the spring load
Lever arms: Extended knee vs bent knee, extended elbow vs bent elbow
I hope you got a few golden nuggets to take away in order to offer an effective class and to save time in your future Reformer Pilates Class planning!