The Pilates Instructor Feedback Loop: A process for cueing successfully

Today, I want to talk about feedback loops. In general terms, a feedback loop is a system that monitors an output and then influences the input of a process based on what it senses. In Pilates, this is what an instructor does when they observe a client and decide, based on what they see, what to cue next—if anything.

It sounds simple, but I believe it’s one of the most important skills that separates a good instructor from a great one. In my Pilates teacher training in 2013-2016, this kind of decision-making was discussed very casually. I had multiple instructors during my training and in subsequent continuing education courses, and the emphasis on feedback varied greatly depending on the teacher, with hardly any formal training given on:

1. How much feedback to give a student 

2. When to give feedback 

3. Whether to give feedback at all 

Most teacher training programs focus on learning an “ideal” version of each exercise. (There’s a lot of discussion around the concept of “ideal” these days, and I won’t go into it deeply here, except to acknowledge that it has historically been based on thin, white, female bodies—an unrepresentative and unsubstantiated standard).  We learn cues to help students resemble the “ideal” form we’re taught, but I have yet to see a system that teaches how to decide which cues to use and when in just as much detail.

Broadly speaking, we as instructors are aware that students can get overwhelmed with too many cues and struggle to process them all. When an instructor gets fixated on making a student move “perfectly,” it can be frustrating and demoralizing for both.

My Goal in Teaching Pilates

Before diving into my feedback loop, I want to share my overarching goal as a Pilates instructor: to let my students move.

Ideally, Pilates helps people build confidence in their movement choices, connect with their bodies, and gain strength. What letting them move looks like varies from student to student. I don’t subscribe to the philosophy that there’s only one “right” way to move or that Pilates is only effective if executed exactly as written in a manual.

We are all a work in progress and I want to encourage my students to keep getting better every day. That means every day won’t look perfect.

Also, my students should move more than they sit still and listen during my class. They aren’t coming for a lecture. They’re coming for a workout.  I want them to feel challenged. I want them to feel successful so they keep moving—whether with me or elsewhere in their lives.

Even if your teaching philosophy differs, this discussion on feedback loops may still be relevant as it provides a basic framework for guiding movement effectively.

The Basic Formula: My Feedback Loop

I’ve written before about how I believe form minutiae should be the last thing we “correct” in a client. Here’s the broad order of my cueing and corrections—essentially my feedback loop—when teaching a class:

1. Equipment Setup

2. Resistance Settings

3. Big Picture Form

4. Basic Breath

5. Form and Breath Minutiae

6. Let Them Move

My goal is always to get to Step 6: Let them move. But since each student is unique—with different mental loads, physical abilities, and levels of experience—how quickly I move through the steps varies. Sometimes I only get to Step 3 or 4 and then skip to Step 6, deeming their movement time more important than struggling to copy a picture in a manual that may or may not deliver the desired impact.

There is usually a minimum acceptable performance level that needs to be achieved in each step before moving on to the next.  That criteria varies based on the exercise, the student and their goals, and the conditions of the day.  To say this another way: the process stays the same but the criteria to progress through the steps will vary.

Let’s go through each step.

Step 1: Determine the Equipment Setup

Examples of this include:

• Footbar height/angle, carriage gear position, rope length, and headrest position on a reformer

• Push-through bar height, leg spring attachment point, or body positioning on a Cadillac

• Student positioning relative to their mat for mat Pilates

This is in the “preparing to move” phase, and sometimes can be swapped with Step 2 depending on the setting.

Step 2: Setting the Resistance

Examples of resistance settings include:

• Spring choices on a reformer

• Modifications like performing a plank on knees vs. toes

• Distance from the tower when doing leg spring exercises

This is in the “preparing to move” phase, and sometimes can be swapped with Step 1 depending on the setting.

Step 3: Evaluating Big Picture Form

This is the broad movement shape—the essential mechanics of the exercise. During footwork, for example, it means bending and straightening the knees fully with heels on the bar. It’s the minimum safe movement required.  I try to keep this a short instruction so students can start moving sooner, and then refine as they move if necessary.  Some exercises require a longer explanation than others.

Step 4: Evaluating Basic Breath

At the very least, I want my students to breathe rather than hold their breath. Sometimes, I cue specific breathing patterns (e.g. exhaling during a roll-up), but for other exercises (e.g. footwork), I’m less particular—as long as they breathe.  In any exercise, I really, really want my students to get to a place where they can process the breath cues with the big picture form cues and then let them move.  Once they can competently move and breathe, then I can cue breath and form minutiae.  But I won’t do that unless they are successfully breathing and moving, broadly speaking.  Some beginner students take a lot of time to get to this step.  More advanced or experienced students can often get to this step much faster.

Step 5: Cueing Form and Breath Minutiae

This is where the detailed cues Pilates instructors love to give come into play—those small adjustments that can lead to breakthroughs. Examples:

• “Lift your left hip so it’s level with your right hip.”

• “Press into the strap to lengthen your waistline.”

• “Shift weight to the big toe side of your foot.”

These cues can add challenge and refinement, but I only usually introduce them once a student has successfully navigated the first four steps. Some students—or some sessions—never reach this step because it might interfere with getting to my goal of Step 6: Let Them Move.

Step 6: Let Them Move

I want my students to spend most of their class time in this step—moving, feeling successful, and experiencing the challenge and mindfulness of Pilates.

What is looks like in practice

Let’s say I’m working with a beginner in a private session. Here’s how I’d cue footwork:

Resistance Level Setup 

Verbal Cue: Attach 3 full springs and a half spring. (In a private setting, I may do this for them instead of telling them)

What I’m looking for: This is a well-educated guess that I’ll verify as the feedback loop process continues.

Equipment Setup 

Verbal Cue: Lay down on your back with your heels on the footbar in parallel, about hip distance apart. 

What I’m looking for: I start with a well-educated guess for equipment setting, and then I’ll make a basic assessment: Are their hip and knee angles appropriate? Can they achieve a neutral spine?  If not, adjust the footbar and/or gear position.  Is their head in a comfortable position? If not, adjust the headrest.  Later on in the feedback loop I may return to adjust these settings to enable the student to better experience the exercise intent.

Big Picture Form 

Verbal Cue 1: Press the carriage out and straighten your knees all the way, then bring the carriage all the way home.

What I’m looking for: Since footwork tends to be a high repetition exercise, I want to use as short of instructions as possible to get them started and then build on after they’re moving.  If the student cannot achieve this basic goal, for example they can’t straighten their knees all the way, I may adjust the springs lighter.  If they’ve got it down, I add another Big Picture form cue or move on to breath, depending on the exercise.

Verbal Cue 2: Move at an even speed in and out every rep.

What I’m looking for: Generally I’m cueing this so they avoid “riding the springs” home or letting themselves speed up as their mind wanders. I consider speed and control to be integral.  If they’re doing great, I move on to basic breath.  If they are struggling, I will refine with other cues.  At some point I’ll move on to basic breath, or I may skip to Step 6 here and let them move if it’s clear my cues aren’t creating the desired outcome.  Another way to look whether I want to progress to Basic Breath or Let Them Move is: There is no way I can cue breath effectively if the student cannot regulate the speed and range of motion of their movement.

Basic Breath 

Verbal cue: Exhale as you press out, inhale as you float in.

What I’m looking for: Sometimes focusing on the breath can cause the Big Picture Form to suffer, like maybe they no longer straighten their knees all the way, or their tempo changes for the worse.  Or, sometimes I see students giggle and nervously exclaim they can’t quite get the breathing pattern.  In many cases this is where I stop cueing and let the student sit in that struggle to competently execute the cues I’ve given so far.

Form and Breath Minutiae
Verbal Cue: As you press out, maintain a neutral spine.  Think about where your tailbone is pointing throughout the movement, and aim to keep it still.

What I’m looking for: This is just one example of a minute form cue (or correction).  There are a ton of these examples, but the key thing to consider here is that my choice is not to cue this until the student has successfully executed all the previous cues I’ve given.  The number of minute form and breath cues I give depends on the student and the objective.  I will move on to step 6 and let them move so that they can experience the challenge, joy, and mindfulness of executing that exercise as I instructed.  In other words, displaying and feeling competence.

Let Them Move
Verbal Cue: Some students want to hear Keep going! or 8 more! but I try to read the room on whether I need to say anything when I’ve delivered the bulk of my cues.

What I’m looking for: I want my students to be focused on their movements without new inputs from me for a significant portion of time.  Whether they’re challenged is a judgment call, and worthy of its own blog post.

Final Thoughts & Caveats

• Footwork is a basic example. More complex exercises may require more or less cueing at each step.

• Safety is key. I avoid fear-mongering, but every exercise has baseline safety requirements.

• This process isn’t rigid. Every instructor will use their own cues and decide what the criteria is for moving on to the next step. Even the same instructor will vary depending on the exercise they’re teaching, the student in front of them, or the particular intent of the exercise.  That’s okay.  The process broadly is the same and functions as a baseline.

• Group classes differ from privates. I may cue through these steps faster, change the evaluation criteria for moving from one step to another, and allow students to self-select what to focus on if teaching a multiple people.

• I am not familiar with all of the training programs out there.  I know many talented instructors and teacher-trainers but I don’t know every teacher trainer program’s curriculum, much less the level to which it’s delivered. Do you know someone I should talk to about how they teach this?  Connect us!

At the end of the day, my goal is safe, confident, challenged, and successful movers. Pilates should empower people to move—not leave them frozen in pursuit of perfection.  This process encapsulates the baseline of how my brain works in deciding how to teach so I can consistently deliver a great Pilates session.