Lean Pilates (It’s not what you think 😉)

I’ve had a lot of conversations recently about how Pilates teacher training (TT) programs are failing Pilates studios and teachers.  It’s not as simple as “big box programs are bad,” or “we need to learn how to teach C-curve in more detail,” it’s a fundamental gap in training folks how to teach across the board.

For example, I was in a jump class a few weeks ago and one student repeatedly crashed the carriage home every other repetition.  The whole class.  And the instructor never once said anything to the student!  It was a well designed class, but the instructor did not seem to make any adaptation of the plan or cueing based on what was happening in front of them.

Why didn’t the instructor say anything?  I’m not sure.  Maybe they were so focused on delivering their class plan that any distraction would throw them off.  Or, maybe they didn’t know what to say.  Or, maybe they didn’t actually notice.

Teaching is hard.  I’ll be the first to admit that.  But the keys to delivering A Great Class are the ability to deliver Pilates Principles and match student goals. In the case of the crashing jumpboard, it was very obviously a lapse in teaching Pilates principles.  There was no control.  A simple cue, not even directly directed at the individual student, could have worked wonders.

Perhaps modern TT programs copied what historically worked.  Maybe the extensive number of training modules weren’t seen as a bad thing because they brought in more revenue.  But along the way no one has evaluated whether the programs were effective for the modern Pilates studio environment.  What is the actual goal of the TT program?  Short term revenue for the studio?  Or to train new teachers who can keep studio clients coming back with engaging and effective classes?

It’s a testament to the Pilates method that we’ve scaled the industry so far with, arguably, mixed quality of graduating instructors and little innovation in TT programs.  However, I don’t think that prosperity will continue without a major change in the infrastructure of our modern Pilates environment.

In order to keep growing Pilates sustainably, we should take a page from the startup world.  Specifically, The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, a book considered to be a startup bible by many. At its core, The Lean Startup is about learning quickly, adapting intentionally, and using feedback to create better outcomes. And as Pilates teachers, if we think of our classes as products and our students as customers, we can bring a lean mindset to the art of teaching movement — with powerful results.

My hypothesis is that by implementing this methodology, we’ll see drastically different TT programs with a higher quality of group instructors graduating from them.

Start with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

In the startup world, an MVP — or minimum viable product — is the simplest version of an idea that can still deliver real value. It’s the rough draft you share with the world to start gathering real feedback early.

For Pilates TT programs, the MVP mindset means you should be able to produce a Minimum Viable Teacher (MVT) at the end of the program.  An MVT should be able to be hired to teach group classes.  THe classes they teach should be a Minimum Viable Class (MVC) that consist of the following elements:

• Safety: Clients must move in a way that minimizes risk of injury, whether from using the equipment improperly or performing a movement they aren’t ready for.

• Pilates principles: Breath, alignment, core control, flow — these fundamental ideas should be present.

• Smart sequencing: The class should flow intelligently so that students are not changing position every two minutes and have enough time in each exercise to interpret instructor cues, adjust their performance, and get fatigued.

• Appropriate difficulty: Challenge clients enough to spark change, but not so much that they’re overwhelmed.

I think we got off course with these basics.  As Pilates group classes grew in popularity and studios struggled to find more great teachers, we didn’t re-evaluate TT programs to ensure we could get instructors trained in what mattered most via the cost- and time-efficient ways.  Instead we doubled down on what was already in place without evaluating whether it was actually the right model to scale.

(Not to mention, we kept potentially talented instructors from beginning their journey because the programs were so expensive and time-intensive that someone wanting to teach part time couldn’t easily commit.)

Do I think someone needs a 600-hour certification to teach an amazing group reformer class?  Nope!  When I honestly look at what I teach in my group classes, I don’t use most of what I learned directly in instructor training. Of course, continuing education is super important, but that’s another topic that I’m not talking about here.  

I’m talking about producing an MVT who can teach an MVC.  A 600-hour TT program is not required for that. 

Plus, typical 600-hour TT programs don’t actually prepare their graduates to deliver an MVC anyway!  So many TT programs are heavily focused on proper execution of individual exercises on all the apparatus rather than the core principles of teaching Pilates to a group class.

For example, I recently reviewed the manual for a popular Mat TT program delivered by a world-renowned training institution that was adapted for group fitness pros at gyms.  Unfortunately, the manual was literally the same text and exercise photos I got in my comprehensive training 12 years ago, minus all the good stuff about structuring a class and managing students in real-time.  In an effort to make the training shorter, the program cut out all the teaching elements and left all the choreography, almost ⅓ of which I’d never teach in a group class.  There was no mention of sequencing and no mention of broad safety beyond the ~30 exercises in the manual.

This is the perfect example of how a TT program does not produce an MVT because it doesn’t actually cover all the components required for an MVC.

Implement a Build-Measure-Learn Loop

Building an MVP is only the start of the startup growth process, though.  Once a startup has an MVP, they have users use it, they observe what happens, and they make changes.  It’s called a Build-Measure-Learn loop, and it’s the heart of The Lean Startup.

That’s how it should be for Pilates teaching, too.  As long as the core elements of the MVC are delivered, there is tons of room to refine style, cues, pace, exercises, and more.

Here’s the basic process for a Build-Measure-Learn Loop in Pilates:

• Build: Create a new class structure, sequence, or cue.

• Measure: Observe what happens with your students when you try something new. Directly ask them about their experience.  Remember, as a teacher, you cannot read minds.

• Learn: Based on the data, refine your approach.

There are some very basic skills missing in today’s new Pilates instructors that are crucial for becoming a better teacher.  Namely, in the measuring and learning phases. Part of this problem exists because of poorly evolved TT programs.  But part of it exists because we just aren’t very good at soliciting, recording, and interpreting student feedback in Pilates (or fitness in general).

I think implementing this loop across the board would drastically change how many of us teach our students now, as well as affect how TT programs are structured.

In fact, I read a great interview with Bob Liekens last week (thanks Pilates Intel) where Bob mentioned that Romana did make changes to Joe’s method, in large part because the way it was spreading meant she couldn’t work 1:1 with her apprentices for 3 years like she wanted.  So, she had to make things a little more rigid to control safety and quality because she was observing that the output of what some of her apprentices taught was not what was intended.  She made thoughtful changes to support the evolving Pilates landscape.  Whether she meant to or not, she applied Lean Methodology to Pilates because she adjusted what and how she taught based on what she observed.

Validate What You Learn

Without observation and directly asking students what their experience was like, you may draw the wrong conclusions and then base many more classes and cues on feedback that was misinterpreted.  Before making a change based on your observations you must make sure you’ve actually interpreted the data correctly.

Ever hear of correlation doesn’t equal causation?  That’s what’s at play here.  Was the cue you used the game changer?  Or was there something else affecting the outcome like a different footbar height or spring setting?

We are incorrectly attributing sub par instructors these days with new “big box” TT programs.  But the reality is the legacy programs haven’t evolved either.  No one has gone back to square 1 and asked themselves what is the MVP I want to build?  What’s the desired outcome for this TT course?

Once you have a clear objective, you can then identify what indicators you should measure to verify whether you achieved the objective or not.

Leading Indicators

In startups, you can't just measure success by revenue alone — you have to track meaningful progress toward your overall vision is. It’s the same in Pilates. That means setting meaningful success metrics — ones that reflect real-world client outcomes, not just business KPIs like revenue. This is why I think tech innovation in Pilates is so important.  We need tools like class feedback apps, client progress trackers, and wearables to get on the proverbial Pilates train.

In a software startup, leading indicators that may foretell whether a main KPI like revenue will suffer might be customer retention, daily active users, cost to acquire a customer, or even number of support tickets submitted.  It all depends on what the main business objective is.

In Pilates, these are the things that are leading indicators to a studio’s revenue KPI:

• Are clients moving differently because of your classes?

• Are they progressing toward goals they care about (pain reduction, strength gains, better balance)?

• Are they gaining confidence and autonomy in their movement?

• Are they referring your studio or class to friends and family?

While the answers to these questions may impact whether your revenue grows, just because your revenue grows doesn’t mean you are succeeding in these areas.  Measuring these outcomes requires more than looking at a monthly accounting report.  It means constant iteration of your build-measure-learn loop to figure out exactly the impact you are having on your clientele.  What are your customer’s actually experiencing?  That’s why Part 2 of my A Great Class series is so important.

Why do the answers to these questions matter? Because ultimately you want to double down on the things that actually work!  A studio may be seeing great overall revenue in the short term, but if they aren’t measuring these leading indicators they may falsely attribute it to the wrong thing.  That could lead to wasting a lot of effort, time, and money on something that doesn’t actually scale the business.

If you don’t actually know what’s working, you aren’t scaling something sustainably.

Where We Go From Here

One of the reasons we got to this place with new instructors is because of a frankenstein-esque evolution of how Pilates TT is designed and delivered.  Comprehensive TT programs, much like the one I went through 12 years ago, are big investments of time and money, and focus very much on properly teaching individual students correct choreography (form).  Great for dedicated instructors who want to make a career of teaching small group classes and 1:1 sessions.

But these days most studios only offer group classes so the typical 600-hour TT program probably isn’t the answer anymore.

The environment we teach Pilates in now is far different than pre-pandemic times, much less 10, 20, or 30 years ago.  Not only that, but our students and society are different.  Therefore, how we teach needs to adapt.  Pilates TT programs need to evolve drastically to not just make more money, but produce better teachers for less time/money commitment so that ultimately more students get great instruction around the world.

I’m not 100% sure what that evolution looks like yet, but I do know Lean Methodology is the way we’ll get there.