One of the main ways we become effective instructors is from practice – you can’t authentically teach what you haven’t tried yourself. But beyond training and subject knowledge, we also become better teachers by studying the art of teaching. It is a truism that there is no ONE best way to teach a subject(or an exercise) because different students learn in different ways. One way that we, as instructors, can better teach Pilates to as many different people as possible is to explore different styles and models of teaching. Obviously, a good education program is essential, but that is only the very start of your learning about how to effectively teach people to get the most benefit from Pilates. There are so many different exercises to learn, and so many different apparatus, and then there are various protocols for different conditions, etc, etc,. Even with hundreds of hours spent on studying, someone fresh from a teacher training program will still need years of experience to master the skill of comprehensively teaching Pilates to the general public. Unfortunately, new instructors often come right out of school and, using savings or loans from parents, open their own branded Pilates studio. They feel empowered by all the Pilates knowledge they’ve acquired and feel they only need to apply their business sense and go for it. Sometimes it even works for a while, especially if there is a demand for Pilates in the area. More often, the business starts to stagnate and many close after a short period. The problem is that just relying on what you’ve learned from one school leaves you very limited when it comes to the real world. Pilates is a very dynamic and evolving business. The people who are successful in it all know this and have accumulated lots of outside experience and adapted to new ways of presenting and selling.

Remember, the primary purpose people are training in Pilates is to improve their health and fitness. Pilates exercises, Pilates technique, Pilates equipment, and the Pilates system as a whole all have the goal to improve important aspects of physical health and mental conditioning. Knowing all the exercises in sequence on the Reformer for different levels is quite an accomplishment. However, it is a mistake to think teaching a routine by rote is the primary goal of your lesson plan for a client. It is understandable to get caught up teaching clients to master the routine considering how great it felt as a teacher in training to perform the advanced routine. However, the reality is there will be few clients for whom this workout will be appropriate or sufficient. In Pilates, using the mind to memorize a sequence and flow is, I believe, an important part of the training method. But we always need to keep in mind the individual needs of the client. As an instructor, we need to be attentive, adaptive and creative and be careful not to fall into patterned routines and directives that don’t always fit the particular needs of the client we are working with. Being able to get outside the box and having a deeper well of options to choose from to successfully teach people of all levels, comes from years of teaching with an open mind and a desire to continue learning and growing.

Without a doubt, one of the main things that has helped me become better as teacher has been working in studios with other instructors from all different backgrounds and watching and learning from them. Most teacher training programs require some practical observation, but the few weeks are not really enough, and usually you are watching teachers from your own school so you don’t necessarily learn much new. I have always felt a need to broaden my education and have attended many conferences and workshops from teachers all over the Pilates and mind/body spectrum. This was helpful to my progress as a teacher as it helped to open my mind to different perspectives. But actually working on a day-to-day basis next to other instructors with different styles, different backgrounds, and from different countries, and of different ages has influenced me in a very practical way that has been invaluable. When I find an instructor particularly interesting, I will take a private lesson from them, in addition to my regular lessons from my teacher. Working with many different clients with different challenges and conditions for many years will also teach you a lot about how people respond to the Pilates that you know. However, you will be less limited and more versatile if you’ve gathered more experience and knowledge in the field from other schools and instructors of varied backgrounds.

This includes working with apparatus from different manufacturers. I have found that each different manufacturer offers different qualities for the same apparatus. There is a learning curve with each one and it behooves you to practice with each. I personally prefer the Clinical Reformer from Balanced Body because in addition to being able to change gears, the moveable footbar offers greatest flexibility for clients of different heights. But I find benefits in other versions from other quality manufacturers as well. The important thing is to not get stuck on one kind or to think one style is the ultimate. Use your own judgement from experience with them. Try as many as you can and be objective on the quality of its parts, how it is made, and how it works, and think about how it may suit the different clients you may work with. Does it fit clients of all sizes and abilities? Does it make offering modifications easier? What can it do that other versions can’t? For smaller studios, having a limited choice is understandable. For larger studios, I think stocking a studio with only one version of an apparatus or only one manufacturer is a mistake in the same way as only having instructors with the same background.

In conclusion, I have worked in various studios now for over 16 years and have met hundreds of other Pilates instructors. I can’t thank them all enough for all that I have learned from them and been inspired by them. And this goes for the first generation teachers and the newbies as well. If you bring your passion to teach and to help others become fit and healthy, Pilates will reward you in kind. Remember that Pilates is practiced and taught all over the world and offers a wealth of benefits and experiences. So get out there and absorb all you can, and maybe, don’t be in such a hurry to open up your own studio.

We seem to always be looking for the simple, singular answer that will solve an age-old question: is there one best exercise that will get in you into optimal shape? But, then again, wouldn't doing just one exercise over and over be kind of boring? After over 30 years of teaching and studying traditional and non-traditional methods of exercise, and having trained in a wide variety of disciplines, I have to say that the only good answer is that you have to do it all. By that I mean that there isn’t one exercise alone that is sufficient to achieve and maintain complete fitness. There aren’t two or just three either. The reality is that to truly achieve complete fitness, you have to do a variety of exercises, much like you need to eat a variety of foods, and you have to do them consciously. This is not to say that your exercise program needs to be complicated. In some ways, doing a variety of exercise is easier to understand and more enjoyable than constantly striving to outdo yourself at the same thing and expecting amazing results. There is one important caveat however; you need to bring the same careful attention to proper form and technique to each and every effort, regardless of the workout. This means you are training the mind as well as the body by increasing your awareness of your body, your balance, your energy, your choices, etc. As opposed to the infomercial tagline “muscle confusion”, the decision to perform different workouts is not to “confuse the muscles”, which sounds like you are uncoordinated in your actions or unconscious in your focus, but rather a multi-dimensional approach to fitness means you have decided to work the body in a more well-rounded and balanced way. One should carefully select exercises that address different areas of fitness, and are appropriate for your body and level. For people lacking in sufficient exercise science knowledge and/or with imbalances/weakness/injury, an appropriate and effective fitness program would be best achieved from an individualized program designed at least partly by a knowledgeable and experienced professional.


Pilates training is one of the best complimentary exercise disciplines anyone can do to help balance out their fitness program. Going beyond cross-training, Pilates develops awareness of how your body moves. As instructors, we can expand on this awareness by also focusing on the forces of gravity and momentum. The jump board is the only plyometric apparatus in Pilates, but from this we can begin to teach proper foot placement when doing jumps. Speed, balance, and stability are all critical components of running and other athletic activities. For my athlete clients, I also include dynamic movements, such as standing leg swings or kicks, body swings, and lateral slides. Taking the client off the machine and teaching them to support their body in planks and other full-body matwork exercises, can be progressed to what is now called “animal” movements, which I’m sure Joseph would have approved of, that includes walking on hands and feet and short arm balances and quick changes of direction. The concepts of working on speed, balance, and stability can be broken down for any level of student as well. Mature clients also need to work on these skills. Foot and ankle strength is critical to our balance, especially in older people. So doing footwork standing, perhaps on the round side of half a foam roller, is a way to expand from the apparatus to help clients improve. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t a “classical” exercise, what matters is if it works. The soft surface is more amenable to weak, tight feet and toes, and the slightly unstable surface develops the smaller intrinsic muscles of the ankle. This is the kind of “conscious” exercise selection that makes your fitness program “functional”. 

The other day I was asked to train someone who had tried Pilates for 12 sessions but was disappointed with the lack of results. I met with him and learned that he had 2 bulging discs in his lower back and a torn meniscus in his knee, but otherwise was very strong. The interesting thing is that he thought that just doing Pilates would cure his back. This is a common misconception in the lay fitness community. For this client, he had been working with a new instructor who indeed knew Pilates, but was not experienced in working with people with special conditions. She had modified all of his exercises and took out so much that his workouts were lacking in energy and effectiveness. Basically, he said he felt like he was doing “baby Pilates”, and his back and knee pain didn’t improve. It takes years of experience and further study of the body to learn how to effectively train such clients. The point is that just doing “Pilates” exercises is not going to fix serious conditions of the spine or joints. In order to help these clients, one must first have a clear understanding of the condition (including a doctors diagnoses and guidance). Then, one can use Pilates technique as guide, but you still have to do rehabilitative exercises that specifically address their needs. Just going through the repertoire of classical or modern Pilates exercises with appropriate modifications is NOT sufficient to effectively train these individuals. 

To come back to the idea of what are the best exercises for someone to achieve complete fitness; we said that you have to do a mix and we said you have to be mindful. But, what would be a good mix? Again, it really depends on the individual and perhaps a professional to help design a personalized program. That being said, we know that cardio training is essential for complete fitness, which is why I included it as a component in my book on Yogilates. With this in mind, I've written up an example so you can get a general idea of what a balanced “beyond cross-training” program might look like for one week.
Sample One:
Sunday - Run 45 min or Walk Briskly followed by 15 min of stretching
Monday – Foam Roller self massage and full hour of Pilates on the apparatus
Tuesday – 30 min bike / Strength train Legs and Shoulders
Wednesday – 30 minutes of yoga and assisted stretches / Swim mile
Thursday – Pilates matwork plus strength train Chest and Arms
Friday – Run 30 min or Walk Briskly followed by 15 min stretching
Saturday – Dance class or Barre class / Strength train Back and Abs

This program includes 4 cardio workouts, 4 integrated exercise sessions (Pilates, yoga, Dance, or Barre), 3 strength workouts, 4 flexibility or massage components.

This is just a start and not a long-term program. For continued improvement, the routines would need to change over time, maybe including a sport practice like basketball or tennis, perhaps substituting an interval training workout for the short run/walk day. For athletes, there would be even more variation in the types of strength training workouts, perhaps just doing bodyweight exercises for a month. Though just a rough sketch, the example program above does show a balanced mix and addresses essential components for a complete fitness program. If you have your own mix of balanced exercises, please share those with me if you want and I’ll be happy to review.

The other day, a student of mine came up to me and told me she heard that it was best to change up your exercise routine every 10 days. I told her I had heard of periodization, where athletes in training would focus on one area of fitness such as speed, or endurance, or strength, for 3 months and switch to another area, and that Russian coaches had promoted this for improved performance. However, I had not heard of the 10-day rule before, so I asked where she had heard it. She said, “Tracy Anderson”. Ah, I said. As a former dancer myself, I understood her perspective to keep pushing yourself with new challenges. However, if you are practicing how to skillfully master your body, whether in dance, Pilates, yoga, or any intelligent system of exercise, with a goal of truly transforming the way you look, feel, and move, then it helps to sometimes keep repeating certain movements just to see if your training is making a difference. Sometimes, that means you need to practice some routines consistently over many years. “Training the body – whether to perform surgery, play baseball or do ballet – requires repetition. You can’t just think about it, you have to do it. Over and over.” – Erika Kinetz, NYTimes reporter in her review of Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit. In her article, Ms. Kinetz explains the concept of how the repetition of a “ritualized set of physical exercises”, provides a time for reflective consciousness, which is to say a time to get in touch with the present (how does my body feel today as opposed to in previous days) and to re-investigate the movements anew. Hence, through repetition, we are not just training the body, but the mind as well. This is the definition of discipline – regular practice with attention. Many people ask me how I continue to teach the same basic Pilates exercises every day for so many years without getting bored. My answer is that they always feel new to me! 

I have had great satisfaction in seeing the few students who take the time to come back consistently to class, growing in their skill and development of their bodies. With no change in the exercises, they find that they now feel the work even more and get better results, not less, from the repetition. Others, who either found the work too challenging or were not committed, come back infrequently and think things are still the same and are bored. But, boredom is never a problem of the exercise, it is a problem of the mind. In my classes, there is always much to focus on. And it is precisely this focus that creates control and develops the body as nothing else can. You can tell you are in a real technique class by the way the instructor is getting you to focus, not on muscles, but on the way you are moving – with direction, quality, ease of effort, grace, and form. I always make students aware of the whole body so they can sense the oppositional forces, the length, the space, alignment, and control from head to toe. This is how repetition leads to better and better mastery. 

With this being said, I am not against learning new things. In fact, I probably challenge my students with more exercises outside of the traditional Pilates and yoga vocabulary than anyone. However, I don’t do it just to have them do new things. I do it to show then how to apply the same exact focus used in Pilates and yoga with any exercise. It is a continuation of the technique, applied to different movements. It is never really about the exercise, but again in how you do it. This is how I approach teaching my Yogilates and Barre Fusion classes. Within the vocabulary of the toning exercises, I integrate the focus on the whole body, proper alignment, centering, fluidity, and balanced development. Needless to say, doing Pilates and Barre Fusion is a natural combination, just like Pilates and Ballet. For me, the goal is still the same – efficient, quality exercises that teach you to move better, as well as look better. 

Take care, Jonathan

I heard on TV the other day that more and more people are getting injured while doing exercise. As someone who has been injured from exercise, and who deals with clients who have suffered exercise induced injuries, I believe this is one of the most important issues in the health and wellness field. So what are the causes of these injuries? Basically, people get injured when doing exercise for three reasons: 1) They perform the exercise with bad form. 2) They attempt to do something they are not sufficiently prepared for either in terms of coordination or intensity. 3) The have an accident due to a dangerous environment or faulty equipment.

Leaving aside the third reason, let’s analyze the first two reasons, which are by far the most common causes.

1. BAD FORM. What constitutes bad form? As a Yogilates instructor, I constantly stress proper alignment, control of momentum, limited range of motion, and performing the exercises with a minimum of unnecessary tension. Any deviation in these qualitative factors can lead to bad form and thus to injury. Above all, a participant must learn alignment principles when they are lying down, sitting, and standing. The neutral, parallel positioning of the feet, knees, hips, ribcage, spine, shoulders, neck, and head have to be shown and practiced in static positions and then gradually introduced into movement. This is why modern Pilates training which includes “functional awareness exercises” is so vital and important. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for someone to know how to hold themselves in proper alignment while performing an exercise if they had not first practiced simple articulations of the body parts to see how the movement affects their alignment. Cues such as “pull your ribs in”, “draw your shoulder blades down”, “keep your pelvis in neutral”, are common in Pilates training, but would be difficult for a non-Pilates exerciser to grasp while in the middle of doing a conventional exercise against resistance. A certain amount of body awareness training is essential to insure that a person first knows what proper alignment is and then how to maintain it. Emphasis on this when training should be paramount if someone wants to avoid injury. 

Other factors that constitute bad form include giving into momentum where it throws the body off its center. One cannot move without generating momentum, but it can be controlled through stabilization and by initiating the movement from the center. Again, this is part of Pilates training, but as a concept it can be practiced in any exercise or movement. Suffice it to say that if you are jerking or swinging wildly in your movement, your risk of injury skyrockets.

Other key factors I mentioned earlier that relate to injury prevention is to limit one’s range of motion(ROM). Recently, I have seen a lot of people doing an exercise that some call “Bulgarian Lunges”, which is a lunge with the back leg and foot up on a bench or step. This creates an excessive ROM for the hip flexor of the back leg and very often can lead to injury in that hip. There is a better way to accomplish the same ends without risking the strain on the back leg hip flexor. Focus on keeping your hips level and inline with your back, and simply ease up the muscles in the back leg to place more focus on using the front leg. This is what we do in the Pilates studio when we do Step Ups on the Wunda Chair. By not letting the client tilt forward at the waist, we keep the weight centered over the front leg and get more work for those muscles.

Lastly, holding unnecessary tension anywhere in the body while exercising can lead to a strain. Always take a “sigh” exhale before beginning an exercise and try to let go of any unnecessary tension in the body. Try to get to know your tension spots, the places you usually grip, like the neck or shoulders, or buttocks or feet. If you can relax before and breathe with your movements, you will more likely be working with your body, rather than against it.

2) NOT SUFFICIENTLY PREPARED. It sounds so common sense, but you would be surprised how often this is the reason why people get injured. It is the classic weekend warrior syndrome – doesn’t exercise all week, then goes out and plays hard on the weekend and gets injured. To be truly effective, and to reduce the risk of injury, training needs to be consistent, progressive, and balanced. Someone who hasn’t run in months (or years) can’t suddenly go out and run like they used too just because they decide they are going to do it. Just like it would be silly to try to lift something too heavy for you, the same is true with trying to do an aerobic activity at an intensity level (speed) or duration that you are not used to. Same thing applies with flexibility exercises. Someone who hasn’t done any stretching for years and then goes into a power yoga class is setting themselves up for a strained, even a pulled muscle. For most people who are deconditioned and want to start exercising it is recommended to start with simple, functional strength, balance, and flexibility exercises. Simple exercises that are fully doable are better than complex movements even if your eventual goal is to play a sport that involves plyometric and/or coordinated movements. To better prepare for sports, one would be best served by doing body-weight exercises that teach not only strength, but work on stability and engaging of supportive core muscles, such as push-ups, free squats, supported lunges, and general calisthenics. Most people as they get older get better at pacing themselves and can perform well at moderate aerobic activity for extended durations. Unfortunately, our joints and tendons can become stiffer as we age, and support muscles can become weaker so while we may not feel pain during the workout, we often experience pain afterwards that gradually increases with each consecutive workout. The best ways to prevent this is 1) Always do a thorough warm-up before exercising which should include some gentle dynamic movements like leg and arm swings, brisk walking, short/light repetitions of planned exercises, etc. 2) Set a reasonable goal for each workout. You have to start from where you are. Anything that is new, or you haven’t done in a long while, needs to be approached carefully and performed at moderate intensity and duration so that the body can gradually get used to it. 

So, let’s all take some time to be sensible in our workouts. Never sacrifice good form for more intensity. Be gradual in your planning and be consistent in your schedule. Here’s hoping that the exercising you choose, and the way you do it, makes you healthier and injury free for the long term.

The other day, a Pilates instructor friend and I were discussing the future of Pilates and our own inclinations with regards to where we see ourselves evolving as teachers. I related how lately I was looking at how to use Pilates principles and techniques in breaking down and re-creating powerful core exercises that would benefit athletes. In the fitness world, I've noticed a lot of interest in high-intensity exercises and full-body movements, and feel Pilates has alot to contribute to sports training in general. However, what I have seen so far, both in the gym and online, are lot of training to tire you out but little if any awareness of how to position the body or maintain proper alignment in the execution of these exercises. On the other end of the spectrum, my friend was talking about how she was leaning more toward discovering a gentler form of Pilates training, one that breaks down our reflexive patterns of how we move and through somatic (sensory) detailed exploration helps people learn to move with more ease and amplitude. Many people are carrying around huge amounts of tension and dis(ease) in their bodies and are mentally blocked from dealing with the root causes. I too am interested in this approach and have trained in the somatic sciences of Alexander, Feldenkreis, and Laban Bartinieff, and of course yoga. The question is how to reconcile the two widely different focuses? As you know, I am always trying to bridge differing camps and believe in a kind of utopian ideal where everyone of all persuasion can get along healthily and respectfully. It stems from my passion to understand and to see and share all the ways to achieve a higher state of being.

Anyway, Pilates has certainly come a long way from when I first started to study it back in 1996. Back then, I pretty much got the classical approach, focusing on the execution and routines, and not so much on the mental aspects of the practice. I’m sure there were already teachers exploring this aspect, but Pilates was still a few years from going mainstream and the integration of sensory awareness and mindfulness into the technique was idiosyncratic. We still are working at it, but it is much more acceptable now to discuss things like the breath and relaxation and visualizations when teaching Pilates then it was ten years ago.

There is a related issue to this discussion which has to do with letting go of hard, fast rules when it comes to fitness and nutrition. I need a lot of carbs in my diet because I burn a lot of calories on most days. On the other hand, I try to make most of the grains I eat whole grains, which ups the fiber in my diet and keeps me from having sharp insulin drops. Some people eat little if any carbs and they believe it has made them healthier. For many people, cutting wheat products from their diet reduces bloating and improves energy. Someone who is gluten-intolerant has to avoid breads, cereals and pasta, but can still eat rice and quinoa and beans. I know someone like this and I’m sure she eats far fewer carbs than a normal diet, but her energy is better than it was before. The fact is that everyone is different and no one diet is best for everybody.

The same is true with exercise. Some people believe they get all that they need from a fitness routine that doesn’t include any aerobic exercise. On a physiological level, I can’t find any basis for this type of fitness program. Nevertheless, I know a person who only does resistance training and she looks great. I also know some people who only do yoga or pilates for exercise, and who am I to say they need to change or add to their program. I am a firm believer in persuading others through example and not by lecture. One thing I've learned as I've matured, is that you cannot change someone’s mind just by arguing. Most people have too much invested in their own perceptions of their bodies to change their behavior just because someone tells them to. People will change when they are ready and when they have a compelling personal reason to do so.

All of the above being said, there does seem to be a consistent character trait with people who exhibit exclusionary behavior patterns (without medical reasons for it) like severe carbohydrate restriction or limit themselves to only one kind of exercise, and that is they tend to be less tolerant of others in general. Could it be that sub-consciously they feel deprived and this leads to intolerance toward people living more freely? Now, let me be clear that when I talk about exclusionary behavior, I am not talking about people who are just well disciplined. Discipline, as I talk about in my book on Yogilates, does not necessarily restrict freedom; rather it can give you more liberty by providing rational limits and motivations that make choices easier. If you have no limits you would have too many choices which can clutter the mind and stop you from progressing in life. Discipline is a good thing and means you still execute good decisions even when stressed, and you still work out even when you are tired or it is raining, etc. An exclusionary person, by contrast, bases their behavior on a belief rather than discipline, and that belief isn’t grounded in either scientific fact or personal experience. For example, a person thinks they don’t need to do any exercises for their feet even though they have back problems. They want to only do abdominal exercises thinking this will be enough. However, their reasoning is not backed by either science or by their personal experience, since they have never done footwork or know what the effect would be. That is an exclusionary mindset and is detrimental to the person's goals. In addition, this person has a very low tolerance for other people in general. They judge others quickly and unfairly and are openly prejudiced about many topics. These people are difficult to train and not nice to be around for much time at all. What a pleasure it is when a client walks in who is genuinely open to new ways of moving and feeling and understands and appreciates the different perspectives a mind/body approach brings to their way of being.

I recommend to everyone to try to do something new everyday. To resist from judging others or ideas too quickly. To practice seeing things from different point of views. We all could probably use a little more tolerance toward ourselves and to others. This will lead to more personal and universal peace. Hopefully!