Why the Way You Were Taught to Teach Groups Is Letting Your Reformer Clients Down

Hands up if you've ever walked out of a group Reformer class knowing that some people had a brilliant session and some really didn't.

If that resonates, I want you to know it's not because you're a bad teacher. It's because most of us were handed a teaching model that sounds logical but breaks down the moment you're standing in front of a real, mixed-ability group.

Here's what I mean.

The model we were all taught

When most of us trained, we were taught to teach a base move, offer a regression for anyone who needed it, and offer a progression for anyone who wanted more.

Neat, tidy, sorted.

And in theory that works. In practice? Not so much.

Think about what actually happens in your group Reformer classes. Someone struggles with the base move from the start but you're already moving on. They push through something that isn't right for their body, waiting for you to spot them and offer that regression. Meanwhile someone else on the other side of the room could go so much further but is just coasting along, not really being challenged at all.

And in Reformer sessions specifically, someone pushing through a movement that isn't right for them isn't just unproductive. It can be genuinely risky.

Nobody is getting the session they came for. And you're doing your best with a model that was never really designed for the reality of teaching groups.

The real problem

Your clients are not all the same. Their bodies, their movement histories, their capacity on any given day, all different. When you teach everyone from the same starting point and hope the regression and progression will catch the outliers, you're essentially building your session around a fictional average client who probably isn't even in your room.

The question worth sitting with is this: at the end of your group Reformer sessions, has every single person had an effective workout? One that was genuinely appropriate for where they are right now?

Honestly? With the base/regression/progression model, the answer is usually no.

What actually works

Effective group teaching requires a completely different skill. It's the ability to layer an exercise so that every person in the room is working at a level that is right for them specifically. Not too easy, not beyond them, but exactly right.

This isn't about offering three versions of everything and hoping people self-select correctly. It's about understanding how to build and strip back complexity within any exercise, reading your group in real time, and adjusting on the fly so that everyone is progressing at their own level simultaneously.

It is genuinely one of the hardest skills to develop as a Pilates teacher. But it is completely learnable and when you have it, your group sessions are transformed.

Want to learn it?

I'm running a small, live workshop on 6th August specifically to help qualified Reformer Pilates teachers develop this skill.

Smart Layering for Group Reformer is a 2-hour session on Zoom where we get into the framework for layering any exercise on the Reformer so that every client in your group is working at exactly the right level for them, every time.

There are only 10 spots available and it's live only, so if this has landed for you I'd love to have you there.

Book your spot here — £97