We are increasingly seeing Pilates studios being opened and operated by individuals with little or no formal Pilates training, often relying on what they have seen on Instagram or TikTok rather than a proper understanding of the method.
At the same time, some studios are offering in-house instructor training led by people who are themselves inexperienced or not fully qualified. This is creating a cycle of inadequately trained instructors and, ultimately, lowering the standard and quality of Pilates being taught. And a lot of these instructors are actually not teaching Pilates exercises at all, but offering either fitness exercises or acrobatics and not the Pilates method, but are calling it Pilates because Pilates is hot. Poor Joseph must be turning in his grave!
Pilates is a skilled discipline that requires proper education, knowledge and experience. If we want to protect the integrity, reputation and safety of the Pilates method, we need to uphold professional training standards and respect what it truly means to be a qualified Pilates instructor.
Learning to teach Pilates is very different from learning to perform/execute Pilates exercises.
Online videos can be useful for inspiration, revision and personal practice, but simply watching and copying an instructor cannot provide the depth of education needed to teach other people safely and effectively.
Live teacher training gives students the opportunity to understand not only what an exercise looks like, but why it is being taught, how it should feel, who it is appropriate for, and how it may need to be adapted for the individual in front of them.
A qualified Pilates teacher needs to develop observational skills. This means learning to recognise alignment, movement patterns, compensations and signs that a client may be struggling or performing an exercise in a way that could be ineffective or unsafe. These skills are developed through supervised practice, discussion and feedback — not simply through imitation.
Live training also allows trainee teachers to practise the essential skills of teaching: giving clear instructions, choosing appropriate exercises, correcting technique, modifying movements, progressing or regressing exercises, and responding to different bodies and abilities in real time.
Just as importantly, trainees need feedback on their own understanding and teaching. An experienced educator can identify misunderstandings, refine technique, answer questions and explain the reasoning behind corrections. A video cannot see what the trainee is doing, hear how they are teaching, or recognise when they have misunderstood something.
Pilates is not a choreography to be memorised and reproduced. It is a method of movement that requires knowledge, judgement and adaptability. Two people may perform the same exercise very differently, and a good teacher must understand when to correct, when to modify, when to progress and, importantly, when an exercise may not be appropriate at all.
Online resources can be an excellent supplement to education, but they should not replace supervised teacher training. The goal of Pilates teacher training is not simply to learn a collection of exercises; it is to learn how to teach people. That requires practice, observation, feedback, questioning and real human interaction.
When someone becomes responsible for another person’s movement and wellbeing, knowing how an exercise looks is not enough. A professional teacher needs to understand what they are teaching, why they are teaching it, and how to teach it safely and intelligently.