While studying for my Pilates exam, I had the opportunity to audition for an internship as an instructor. I was excited but nervous as I was still not confident in how to plan classes that I felt comfortable teaching. I had been busy learning how to teach the exercises EXACTLY the way they were in the manual for my exam and felt overwhelmed in that alone. Now I had to learn how to pick and choose which exercises I was going to teach, modifications of those exercises, the order I would teach them in, and which props to use while doing my best to make classes interesting. All this and make sure that I didn’t run out of material after 20 minutes. When I practice taught with fellow students, we rarely timed ourselves and were just interested in getting all the right words out. So when I sat down to write up classes for my audition, I felt a little lost.
I scoured the internet to see if there were any tips or tricks on how to plan a class for actual clients. The support material offered programming sample classes, but I was worried it wouldn’t be enough to fill the class, it’d be too boring, or some of the exercises would be too difficult for me to teach since I was still learning them.
I struggled to find anything useful until I came across a post from Body Harmonics. This post was incredibly helpful and I highly suggest you read it. In the post, they suggest to first do a braindump and a mindmap of the exercises you want to use. Then you can identify the exercises by body positions and color code using the same color for the same positions. I don’t always do this step anymore, but this was super helpful when I first started teaching. It’s also great if you are looking to change things up in your classes.
From there, you can determine the flow of the class and on a separate sheet of paper, write down the order of the exercises they way you’d like to teach it using the position as a header and the exercises underneath the color coded header.
If you are a new instructor or looking for inspiration I definitely suggest you read the post by clicking here.
I continued to use this system once I passed my exam, gained certification and started teaching. Over the past few years, I’ve been teaching a variety of classes at multiple locations around Los Angeles and needed a more mobile and compact system that I could carry to all the different studios that I teach at.
I’ve adapted the BodyHarmonics system, and created the following system for me.
Index Cards
I use 5×8 index cards when planning my Pilates classes. To me, these cards are big enough to write down my whole class without having to squint my eyes and small enough to carry around in the small binder that I use for all my classes. I can take these index cards out of my binder and carry the card around with me in the studio if I need to. When I started teaching I was worried it would look like I didn’t know what I was doing if I carried around notes, but I’ve found that clients actually appreciate it when they can see that you have taken the time to create a unique class for them, rather than making up everything in your head as you go, or what’s worse, having the instructor say ‘what should we do next ?’. Several of my ITs taught classes with notes.
Divide by Class Length
I almost always teach 50-minute classes or privates but this works no matter the length of your class. The first thing I do is draw lines dividing my class into 5-minute units of time. Each five-minute component is dedicated to a series of exercises. Sometimes a series can run over 5 minutes and sometimes they can run under depending on class size and ability, but this is a good way to stay on track so that you’re not teaching footwork for 20 minutes (true story). It’s really important to stay engaged with your classes so that you know if they need more time with a particular exercise or if they are ready to move on. Since I usually teach 50-minute classes, I seperate my index card into 10 sections and number them.
Title Your Class
At the top left, I write the name and level of the class that I am planning for. Like many instructors, I teach an assortment of classes, so this helps me stay organized.
Rough Draft
With either an erasable pen or a pencil, I write down a rough idea of what I want to teach. The first 3 sections are usually the same, but with variations. I like to do a warm-up starting with breathing and teaching imprint and neutral spine. To me, if you can’t do these two things, the rest of the class will be wasted, especially anything involving an open-kinetic chain. I also always incorporate bridging and abwork within the first 15 minutes of class. If it’s a reformer class, I will always do footwork and then carry on with the rest of the class. I can make any changes if necessary, but if I like the look of my session, then I move on to the next step.
Highlight Props and Springs
I highlight all the props and spring settings needed for the class. In the top right corner, I write the props that will be needed for the class. That way I can tell the clients to grab them before the class starts or set the props up for them so that we don’t waste time during the class to get them.
Finalize and Color Code
Once I’m happy with the rough draft of my class, I write in pen exactly what I am doing. I highlight and color code the series that of the 5-minute session by what the focus is (abs, arms, matwork). Then I write what the specific exercises are. I don’t typically need to read the specific exercises, unless its a new combo or something that I’m not completely familiar with. The headings are often enough for me, which is why I use highlights.
Small Binder
I slide my 5×8 index cards into 5×8 sheet protectors. I divide the cards by class and place them in the binder.
I try to change up my classes every week so that my clients don’t get bored. Every month, if I have time, I try to take a couple of hours to plan for the whole month. I plan 4 classes for my more popular classes, like traditional level 1 and 2 classes. For classes like stretch or cardio, I don’t have to change them up too often, so I’ll I will usually only plan 1 or 2 classes for the month.
Post-its
One last thing I will do is add a post-it right before the class starts. After speaking with clients or checking our client system in a database, I will write if there are any injuries that I should know about. This way I won’t forget to offer modifications during specific exercises.
And that’s it! I now have a compact mobile system to take with me when I teach. I can change these out by month or by season, depending how classes are going and recycle them when I need to.
I hope this helped you in planning your classes. Do you have a system for creating and organizing your classes?
