Effective Pilates Teaching

Harnessing the Power of Positive Reinforcement

When I started teaching Pilates 20 years ago, I had a book suggested to me by a Pilates professional. The book talked about how to be successful as a Pilates teacher. My biggest takeaway at the time was a chapter devoted to positive reinforcement. I didn't have a pet, but they encourage this training if you've ever trained an animal. For instance, instead of saying, “Stop,” it takes two thoughts to figure out what you're asking them to do. Instead, you tell them what you want them to do.

When you're teaching clients, and all you're doing is barking, “Stop doing that, don't do this, quit doing that,” it takes a second in their brain to figure out, “What am I trying to do at this moment?”

An excellent example to get someone to slow down, instead of saying, “Don't go so fast,” say, “Slow down and do that in five counts.”

Communication is Key

Language is critical when we teach. If you've been doing it for any time, it's all about communication. How you express what you want to accomplish, using your words, and maybe some tactile feedback. But it's all communication. Teaching our clients, it's 1,000%, about communication.

If you say things like, “Don't accelerate the push off of footwork,” or “Don't let your right foot turn out.” Think in your mind, as the teacher, what you want your client to do, which is “slow and steady press during footwork,” “keep your right foot parallel,” or “big toe pointed to the ceiling.”

Give commands or suggestions of the behavior you want to see instead of calling out the behavior you don't want to see. If you do this with such regularity, your clients will hear you better because nobody likes to be barked at.

I had a teacher that nitpicked everybody in the class. And when you left, it felt heavy. It didn't feel good. So, as a teacher, our job is not to nitpick form and alignment. It's about getting people to move. So the way that you do that is you move them. Using positive reinforcement, encouraging them, and cheering them on moves them.

Positive Reinforcement

“You did such a good job. I'm so proud of you. That footwork looks so much better than last week's footwork. You kept your right foot parallel this time,” goes a long way with clients. Using positive reinforcement to help encourage your clients will allow them to listen to you more and hear what you're saying.

Positive reinforcement takes less thought to process for clients. Think about it…when you first learn anything, you're so overwhelmed with the information you're processing in real-time that there's no way you can take in a lot and then have to do two thoughts to spit it back out how your teacher wants you to do something. That’s asking a lot.

If the teacher can tell you precisely what they want to see, you're likelier to do it. Because otherwise, your brain is just overloaded at the moment. So with clients, you're moving, breathing, there's choreography, this machine is like moving underneath you, the teacher’s telling you things to do, it’s a lot.

If you want your clients to hear, you need to simplify it. KISS, keep it simple, silly. And straightforward. “Keep your right foot pointed to the ceiling.” Reach out through your fingertips.” “Smooth, continuous presses of the legs.” “Exhale, and then do the movement.”

Anything you can do to create the behavior or movement you're trying to accomplish.

Tell clients what you want. Don't tell them what you don't want.

Double Negative, but you know what I mean.

It applies across all aspects of life, and trying to rewire your brain is excellent. Hopefully, that helps in helping your clients hear you a little better!