What to Expect From Pilates Classes

How Pilates Instructors Approach Class Programming

Oct 8, 2009

There is a method to the madness. Learn how Pilates instructors create classes to ensure proper and safe exercise progression for all levels.

Good Pilates instructors have specific goals they aim to accomplish in their classes. Meeting these goals allows them to ensure that the participants in their sessions receive balanced workouts that promote health.

The Five Basic Principles of Pilates

The five basic principles of Pilates serve as a basis for completing every Pilates exercise. The principles focus on breathing and body awareness. Breathing is usually the first principle to be introduced, and it is revisited again and again, each time an instructor begins class. Exercise participants are also introduced to several principles that promote body awareness and inform proper exercise technique. These principles include pelvic placement, rib cage placement, head and neck placement, and scapular movement and stability. The basic principles are often introduced within the context of the warm-up and are then reinforced in successive exercises.

Pilates Programs Promote Spinal Health

Pilates classes are designed to restore the natural curves of the spine. Participants should expect to learn exercises that mobilize the spine as well as the hip and shoulder joints. For each class, a Pilates trainer will hand pick exercises that require spinal flexion, spinal extension, and spinal rotation. She will also choose a variety of exercises to promote movement of the hip and shoulders in different planes of movement.

How Pilates Classes Progress

Building strength begins in the center of the body and moves out. The initial focus is to strengthen the core muscles. Instructors will choose exercises that strengthen both the larger, superficial muscles, like the rectus abdominis (the six-pack muscle), as well as the stabilizing muscles, like the transversus abdominis (the deepest abdominal muscle) and the multifidus (located close to the spine).

With a strong core to support them, participants can now safely perform exercises designed to train a variety of muscles. Instructors begin to introduce exercises to strengthen the periphery, or the arm and leg muscles.

Building strength is always a focus, but with initial strength developed, a Pilates instructor can begin to work on endurance and stamina as well. Some exercises, like the famous "hundred," are designed to build abdominal endurance. There are also series of exercises, like the aptly named Endurance Series, which are designed to be taught in quick succession in order to build muscular endurance.

More advanced students are introduced to exercises that challenge balance and coordination in addition to strength. These exercises require a deep understanding of Pilates and a strong body to be performed correctly. They often involve choreography, and many Pilates students eagerly await the day they can try them out, as they also have a "wow" factor to them. Hanging upside down from the Cadillac or demonstrating balance and precision on the mat is exciting and fun.

Pilates Programs Progress Based on Individual Needs and Goals

Of course, there are variables that inform any instructor's programming. Participants' strength and body awareness are key factors used when programming. Additionally, exercise frequency and consistency can help set the pace of progression. Exercisers who demonstrate a personal commitment to Pilates almost always find progress to be continuous, challenging, and exhilarating.

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