Your Pilates instructor training starts the first day you start learning Pilates!

“How do you remember all of this?” is a question I often get from clients.  My simple answer is years of repetition.

Joseph Pilates created a system of exercises that have a specific order.  There is a specific sequence of exercises in the Mat and Reformer work.  These sequences truly provide the framework for the practitioner to learn the method and for instructors to teach from.  It’s part of the genius of the system. Having a sequence and an order is important for many reasons.

1. It allows your body to learn quicker.  The best way to learn anything is to practice, practice, practice.  Not just once or twice, not just 10 times,but hundreds and hundreds and thousands of times.
2. Every time you practice a movement you are able to master another piece of it.  There is A LOT that goes into every single exercise and even with daily practice it may take you years to work toward perfection!  Note that I said towards perfection ….I truly believe that your movement goals should not have an ending spot….we can always fine tune and move better wherever we are in our practice.
3. By learning a movement and sequence so deeply that you can repeat it automatically you take your movement to a different level.  You can focus on smaller details and continue to progress in strengthening and balancing the body.

From day 1 of your learning process you are teaching your body a sequence of exercises.  It doesn’t matter if you only get to 2 exercises that day( maybe you do your hundreds and a version of a roll up).  Every time you practice it is all a process of learning a sequence of exercises so intimately that you eventually can do those exercise on your own without your instructor.  Once you’ve learned the exercises in your own body the next logical step is often diving into learning how to teach the movements to others.

Once you know the exercises in your body teaching others is merely the act of stepping into your students body and figuring out where they are, what type of movements they are ready for, and being their guide.  ( Ok well there’s a little more to it….like knowing safety issues, modifications,etc.)

Just like it took lots and lots of practice to learn the exercises in your body – learning to be a good teacher takes lots and lots of practice.  Every time you teach something you learn from your experience.  Every student is different and unique and you get to use your own personal experience in your own body and teaching others to guide your next student along their path.

For those wanting to take the next step in your Pilates journey, Rivercity Pilates offers a fully Comprehensive Classical Pilates Instructor training program that is broken into modules for ease of learning.  Want to learn more?  Click here to learn about our programs or schedule a complimentary consultation to talk to us in person.  We’d love to take you on the next step of your Pilates journey!!