Proven Strategies To Develop Your Reformer Pilates Teaching Skills

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1. Record Yourself Teaching

One of the best ways to grow as a Reformer Pilates Instructor is to record (audio) yourself teaching a class. This could be done with your phone. Keep the phone in your pocket out of the sight, press record and do your thing. Then find the time to listen the recording back as soon as possible.

I suggest that you pay attention to the language, tone & volume of the voice and the actual words you use. Is it positive, motivating, clear, understandable? If you played your recording back would you or your clients be able to follow the class most of the time just by listening to your verbal cues without seeing any demonstrations or being assisted? Of course assuming your clients learn mainly by listening and have some level of body awareness.

Once you have thought about the accuracy of your verbal cues I recommend to spare another thought for the tone and volume. Does your tone match the exercises or the class/people you are teaching? Are you talking the same way from start to finish or can you find some variation? Do you sound passionate, educational, nurturing, motivating, bored or mundane? There is no wrong or right. It depends on the style of reformer pilates class you are teaching, your personality and style. However if you are teaching an athletic reformer pilates class I hope to hear some excitement and cheerful energy in your voice at times whereas in stretch class I would love to hear more educational, cool, calm & collected voice instead of shouting.

2. Film Yourself Teaching

Ultimately the elite way to get some fantastic feedback is to film yourself teaching a class. If you decide to film your class including your clients the best practice is to ask for their permission to be filmed. Alternatively you can gather some friends together and in exchange of permission to film the class the kick ass reformer pilates session is on you.

Listening my voice or watching myself on video is nothing but torture. First of all I feel like I never get to used to my voice that sounds completely foreign to me. Secondly my facial expressions are out of this world. And after that I can be very hard on myself.

Needless to say it is not nice task to watch myself teaching but hands down the best and most true way to learn. The camera does not lie. It reveals your teaching manner and tendencies like no other. The words and language you use. The body language and overall energy. It shows how you move around the room, the way you stand and how you give hands on adjustments.

When I started my teaching career I used to race around the room like a rat. That was intense and frantic. However none ever told me or said anything about his tendency. Thanks to watching myself teaching on video my strutting around the room has now more purpose. I might still catch myself doing that every now and then. But because I am aware of this tendency I can make myself stop it. I believe it is an old habit of mine always walking fast and getting things done.

3. Bring In A Person Whose Opinion You Value and Respect

Another great way to learn and grow is to ask for feedback from a person whose opinion and or expertise you respect. Someone you aspire to be and you look up to. Someone you consider as a role model. You need to find value in their experience and knowledge to know you are moving to right direction with the feedback you receive. Otherwise be mindful what feedback you take too deeply into your heart. Feedback taken too seriously from a “wrong person” may do you disservice and weigh you down.

I find value in listening to all sorts of feedback but dwelling on non sense is waste of time. Some of the feedback we receive is purely an opinion of one person. Some feedback may be thrown towards to you because someone had a bad day and it has no real value.

Sometimes the personalities of the instructor and client do not match. That is not on you. In situations where you may have been confronted and are feeling overwhelmed or defensive it might be difficult to think straight. It is worth to step back and give it a moment before you respond or reflect.

4. Ask For Feedback About Your Reformer Pilates Classes

I want you to know that any feedback given to you about your reformer pilates teaching skills is not about who you are as a person. It often is feedback about your class delivery against some set standart or expectations by manager, owner or someone else.

I ask for feedback on regular basis from all my clients, colleagues and students as well. Personally I do take all the feedback seriously because I want to know how I made my clients or mentees feel. This is because I want to be and do better. I do annoy people by not being happy with answer “it was good”. I want the class to be great rather than just good. Hence why I challenge my clients and students by asking what was good. What did you like? And if I am really mean I ask what did you like and why? Asking questions and going deeper than the surface gives you better tools to improve!

If you are not used to receiving constructive feedback first time may feel like a slap in face. You may feel offended and defensive. The ideal feedback given to you is both valid and valuable. The ideal feedback contains words of wisdom about your strengths and areas of improvement. Great feedback also includes outlined next steps or ideas how to improve, where to go from here and tells why expressing this feedback is important.

5. Look For A Mentor and Be Curious

The best investment you can make is the investment in educating yourself. If you are passionate about teaching reformer pilates and want to progress in your career finding the right mentor is paramount. The right mentor will accelerate your learning process and point you to right direction. Find a mentor who aligns with your values, teaching style and be specific about your goals. What it is that you are looking to achieve during the mentorship? What are your future goals in the Pilates industry? Why do you want that person to be your mentor? Do you want the face to face experience or can you settle for online mentoring?

The mentor and mentee partnership could be the best thing you will ever do in your Pilates journey. However there are also many other fantastic opportunities to up skill. Such as podcasts, workshops, short courses and books available for a fee and free. Take time to listen industry leaders and put in the effort to attend workshops to keep up with the Pilates World. Be curious and adaptable to challenge old ways. Stay open minded to respect other points of views and collaborate with one and other!

6. Attend Reformer Pilates Classes

We all learn new movement patterns in different ways but most of us need to feel the exercise physically in our bodies to get the full picture. It helps us to understand better how the exercise may need to be taught or broken down, what cues would be suitable and what challenges clients may face.

Of course how someone feels during a movement/an exercise is a subjective experience depending on many factors such as prior experience, fitness level and skills, readiness levels (sleep, fuel, stress, hydration) and all that jazz but we can agree that having done and tried something can make you more empathetic. You have an idea how it feels to execute an specific exercise because you have experienced it yourself. It will make you better instructor and help you to find the right words to use more easily!

Attending classes in the studio you work at improves team spirit. You support your fellow trainers and friends. I hope you smile at them and cheer them up! I hope you make them feel more confident rather than nervous. Clients get excited to see that you walk the walk instead of talking the talk. You also get to see them outside your teaching hours which translates to getting to know them better. You will have such a good time when your clients become friends and you can offer them more personalized in class experience.

Hot tip! I also recommend change of scenery. Support an other reformer pilates studio, make friends, try new things and styles. Mix it up! Life is too short to be lived in one reformer pilates studio!

7. Attend Other Group Fitness Classes

Attending classes outside your studio (not just reformer pilates) will inspire you and teach you new skills. It will make you think outside the box. We all have our own biases. And the reformer pilates studio teams tend to have their biases and quite often have synced/similar ways of doing things. We love class pass here at SPTM as it allows you to attend classes anywhere in the world. Check it out and give it a go for free on us!

A breeze of fresh air is good for us! Be ready to add on new tips and tricks to your Pilates Teacher Toolbox. Like how well the trainer treated a first timer in the class and made them feel welcome. What did he or she do? How good did the trainer make you feel when they praised you and used your name to do so? How to crack a joke and be light hearted? Or was there something that made you feel uneasy? If yes, why?

I do not mean that every time you attend a fitness or reformer pilates class your brain should be ticking million miles an hour. Or that you try to take a note of everything. Not at all. Pick one thing and then enjoy the ride. After all you are there getting sweaty and having fun!

Often the best take-aways surface when we do not think about the class delivery, the vibes or so. It is often the way you felt after the class that makes you look back and ponder why the experience was so damn good or not so good.

Go Out And Play

It is time to find out what strategies work best for you! Share your love for Pilates and join our instagram community for more inspiration, tips and tricks to level up your Reformer Pilates Teaching Skills! If you are hungry for more quick reads here at Speak Pilates To Me go ahead and suggest a next blog topic! We would love to hear from you!

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