[00:00:00] Welcome to Pilates Teachers' Manual, your guide to becoming a great Pilates teacher. I'm Olivia, and I'll be your host. Join the conversation and the Pilates community on Instagram at @pilatesteachersmanual and visit buymeacoffee.com/OliviaPodcasts to support the show. Today's chapter starts now.
[00:00:56] Hello. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. [00:01:00] I was having a great chat with a person on Instagram a couple weeks ago about assigning difficulty levels to Pilates exercises, and it was such an interesting topic, one that I definitely feel passionately about, that I wanted to share it on the podcast with everyone as well.
[00:01:16] So the big question is what contributes to an exercises difficulty? What makes an exercise in advanced exercise, or what makes one version of an exercise easier or harder than another person? In my opinion, through my years of teaching, through all of the classes that I've taught, I've developed a bit of a scale for myself. It's not universal, but I do think that many teachers would agree that there are three main dimensions of difficulty in Pilates. And there's several ways that we can dial each exercise up or down by manipulating those three dimensions.
[00:01:57] I consider those dimensions to be strength, [00:02:00] flexibility, and coordination or control.
[00:02:03] And we can add or decrease challenge in each of those dimensions, or in one or more dimension at a time, and that will change our students experience of the exercise. Some of the variables that impact those dimensions are things like the length of the lever, the base of support, the equipment settings if we're using equipment, the exercise complexity, and the range of motion, known as ROM.
[00:02:32] A longer lever is heavier than a short lever, which is why single leg stretch from the series of five or the ab series is more challenging than marching with both of our legs bent. A long straight leg is heavier than a bent one, and our legs and arms are our levers. So if a person in class is struggling with the strength component of the exercise, that's the dimension that's really challenging for them, [00:03:00] it's difficult for them to have a straight leg, bending the leg, shortening the length of the lever will make the exercise easier for them in that moment.
[00:03:09] Something like offering legs in tabletop instead of straight legs hovering over the floor in the hundred is going to make the strength component of holding up your lifted legs a little bit more doable for a client. Things like putting your knees down in plank. Things like holding hand weights closer to the chest versus extending them out in front of you with a straight arm. Those are all ways that we can adjust the lever length in the exercise.
[00:03:37] And then the flip side of that is if someone wants more challenge in the exercise, adding a longer lever, adding wrist weights or ankle weights to exercises, changing the length and the weight of the lever is going to make that exercise harder with a longer, heavier lever arm. Legs are also lever arms, but the term is lever arm. Sometimes the lever arm is an arm, but sometimes it's a [00:04:00] leg.
[00:04:00] Changing the base of support is another variable that we can play with as teachers. For something like shoulder bridge, for example, having your arms by your sides while you do a bridge is widening the base of support because the weight of our body as we're lifting our hips can be distributed across the arms as well as our shoulders. So lifting your arms towards the ceiling while you do a shoulder bridge narrows the base of support. Doing a shoulder bridge with one foot on the floor, one leg and tabletop or lifted in some way is also making the base of support more narrow. It adds a strength challenge because if you're lifting your hips with one leg instead of two, that is lifting a hundred percent of you with half of the legs. So that's obviously more challenging from a strength perspective. And it also challenges balance because now instead of having a wider base of support that is more stable, if you're on one foot or if you're on shoulders, or if you're on a Bosu on your foot or your shoulders, it's going to [00:05:00] become more wobbly. So there's also a coordination component.
[00:05:02] And I do want to point out that the variables themselves are not mutually exclusive at all. Usually when we change one, it impacts more than one thing. We know that our bodies are complicated. We do it all the time. I still think it's a useful framework, even though you can't a hundred percent isolate anything, but we can't a hundred percent isolate anything in life. So I think it's okay.
[00:05:23] Changing the equipment settings also changes the challenge. If you do footwork on more springs, it is more difficult to move the carriage. You have to work harder to push the carriage out in footwork. Doing some exercises on lighter springs also is a strength challenge. Think about trying to keep the carriage closed when you're bridging on a really light spring, the hamstrings, the muscles in the backs of our legs that are pulling the carriage into the bumper for us in the absence of spring tension, have to do a lot of that work. Otherwise the carriage goes away from the footbar.
[00:05:58] When you're working [00:06:00] at the tower or the Cadillac or the springboard attaching the springs at a higher point will feel different depending on how you're pulling the spring than attaching the springs at a lower point, right? The a bicep curl with your springs attached very low so that you're stretching the spring more is going to require more strength than having the spring strung at shoulder height when you're doing that same bicep curl you can see the spring doesn't stretch as much.
[00:06:27] Changing the height of the foot bar is also changing the angle. So if you think of any plank that you're doing on the reformer, having the foot bar at the highest position is going to be the easiest version in terms of load in the shoulder for the person doing the exercise, because the angle is higher, right? It's like doing a wall pushup versus doing a pushup with your hands on the ground. So really doing any plank version with your hands on the platform or with a very, very low foot bar is going to be the most difficult. version of the plank that way. And then we [00:07:00] can flip it, right? Because then we can turn ourselves around, have our hands on the carriage, our feet on the foot bar. Now our feet are not only as high as our shoulders, they're higher than our shoulders, which is going to be a really big strength challenge.
[00:07:12] So changing the angle, the foot bar, changing the springs while you're doing that plank, planking on three springs and planking on one spring are two very different exercises um, targeting different parts of the body, certainly, but definitely changes the strength perspective.
[00:07:26] You can also add equipment to change the challenge. So maybe you're doing a mat exercise and you don't have spring tension and foot bars to play with. But like I mentioned, doing shoulder bridge on the BOSU, if your head and shoulders are on the BOSU and that's the only thing that's on the ground, I mean, you've got maybe one, maybe two feet on the ground when you're doing your shoulder bridge, it's going to be very wobbly and that is a coordination challenge. Think about doing dead bug or any marching exercise lying on a long foam roller, right? We've added this piece of equipment, that piece of equipment [00:08:00] moves, which definitely adds to coordination, definitely adds to a strength challenge.
[00:08:05] But adding equipment doesn't only make things harder. It can make things more supportive as well. Think about doing swan on the long box on the reformer versus doing swan on the chair or swan on the barrel. The chair and the barrel have a much smaller base of support. So by changing the piece of equipment you're doing the same exercise on, that is going to change the difficulty as well. That's actually something I really love about Pilates because you can do the same movement that a client is familiar with, but in a different place, in a different way.
[00:08:42] And even though the movement is familiar, the challenge is different. You can also add and subtract complexity to make an exercise more or less challenging. Take something like the exercise coordination on the reformer. Instead of arms long legs long hold the carriage still with the arms, legs [00:09:00] open, close, bend the knees first, bend the elbows second, like that's a very complex choreography with lots of steps. You might start with a simple supine arms, tricep press. You've got hands and straps, legs in tabletop elbows, straighten and bend, right, tricep press. We got this. Then you can add in arms long and reach the legs over the foot bar. So everything long, everything bends, everything long, everything bends. It's getting more complicated. Then we add in the legs open, close. Then we add in knees, bend first, elbows bend second. But you can add challenge or subtract challenge by increasing the complexity of the choreography.
[00:09:39] Exercises like seal crab and boomerang on the mat are just rolling back or rolling like a ball, but the complexity has been dialed up. We're now doing things with our arms and our legs. We're clapping our feet. We're crossing and uncrossing our ankles. We've got straight legs instead of bent legs.
[00:09:56] Coming up after the break, I'll talk about that last variable range [00:10:00] of movement as well as um, why I see all exercises as a spectrum and a couple variables that we want to keep in mind as a teacher, but aren't necessarily the ones that we play with. That's coming up next.
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[00:11:01] Now back to the show.
[00:11:18] One more variable that we can play with as teachers is range of motion or ROM and it's one of the easiest dials I think to play with and one of the ones that was like the first one I felt comfortable with kind of adjusting on the fly when I was working with people as a new teacher. A person's ROM in an exercise can be limited by their strength. It can also be limited by their flexibility.
[00:11:43] If you look at in mat Pilates, Joseph Pilates' version of the side kick, it's a huge kick. It's how far back can you reach that straight leg behind you and how far forward can you swing that leg to nearly kick yourself in the [00:12:00] face? That requires a ton of hamstring flexibility, that requires a ton of quad strength, that requires a ton of strength in the hamstring, as you're pulling the leg backwards, as well as the glutes. You know, outer thigh, outer leg strength to keep that leg lifted.
[00:12:18] So if someone was trying to do sidekick and they were having difficulty from the flexibility perspective, like maybe they can't do the split. So kicking themselves in the face is not on the table, but how far forward can they reach the leg? How far back can they reach the leg? Also from a strength perspective, like you need to really be able to control a very long lever. So you might say, Maybe your sidekick is just the width of the mat. Maybe your sidekick is, can you kick the leg forward to 90 right in front of your hip, right? You can make the range smaller to make it easier to control.
[00:12:54] In something like scooter lunges on the reformer, where you're standing next to the reformer, you've got one foot [00:13:00] on the shoulder block, one foot on the ground, and you're pushing the carriage back with your leg. The further you stretch the spring, the more spring tension there is. So if you want the person to press all the way back to a straight leg, it could be that they aren't strong enough to stretch the spring that much. So making a smaller range of movement will make the exercise a bit more doable.
[00:13:25] Sometimes doing a concentrated small movement with a small ROM also requires a ton of control. It doesn't mean that one leg circle is harder when you draw a small circle or a big circle, but it is different. And as a teacher, you can choose to prioritize different things based on the people in your class, based on the bodies in front of you to challenge a person's strength. You can change a bunch of variables to make that possible to make that work harder to adjust the load to challenge their flexibility. ROM is a big one in terms of challenging [00:14:00] flexibility, but it can also be changing the lever length. Something like scissors or single straight leg stretch from the ab series is challenging for someone with limited flexibility because holding onto a straight leg, like just straightening your leg can be difficult if that's your flexibility thing.
[00:14:18] Challenging coordination could be challenging balance, could be adding that complexity in terms of the exercise, could be adjusting the equipment settings so that they have to work harder or less hard, potentially if you're looking for a more stable surface, to support their coordination, to help them build their coordination in a fun and safe way.
[00:14:39] A variable that we don't necessarily change but one that we want to keep in mind is our client's individual and personal preferences. I have clients who do not want to stand on the reformer. They're older. They have a fear, totally mental component, that is their [00:15:00] belief that standing on the reformer is scary. Now, what I can do as their Pilates teacher is introduce them to exercises where they see for themselves how strong they are, how flexible they are, how coordinated they are, so that standing on the reformer doesn't feel as scary, but I have a client who has told me outright: I do not do elephant on the reformer. I've had a bad experience. I know that it's in my head. I know I'm strong enough to do elephant on the reformer, but I don't want to do it. It's scary to me. So that's a variable that I keep in mind that I, when I work with this client, that that isn't an exercise that I'm going to include in her program, because she's told me that she doesn't want to do it.
[00:15:44] There is an element of meeting our clients where they are, and if they've said, I don't like this, I have a client who says, I don't like the Bosu. And I said, okay, fantastic. Like I don't need to fight this battle. We can challenge coordination in other ways. Like we have so many [00:16:00] different tools and pieces of equipment to play with in Pilates. Like I don't need to die on this hill that you have to do this exercise that you don't want to do. So really keeping in mind what our clients want and what they like to do, like the path of least resistance, like we're already offering them so many challenges and we're already doing so many great things with them. Let's not fight them necessarily on the things that they've said, I don't want to do this.
[00:16:29] It is entirely possible that over time, their preferences can change and I wouldn't be surprised at all if my client who doesn't want to do elephant says, you know what? I think I would like to try elephant because there is a mental component that you have to be ready to kind of take that leap of faith for some exercises for some pieces of equipment. And I've found again, in my experience that it's not worth fighting the battle. I'd rather keep the client, do amazing things [00:17:00] and other places, and if they come around to it, awesome, I'll be there. We can work on it, but if they don't, I'm not going to stress over it either.
[00:17:07] There are also variables that aren't part of the exercise in terms of anatomical focus, but just the shape that the exercise is in can change how the exercise feels for someone as well. So if you think of chest expansion on the reformer, you can do it kneeling on the reformer. You can do it sitting on the reformer carriage. You can do it sitting on the long box and they're all chest expansion, but they do have different dimensions of difficulty in terms of executing them. So you might say that, well, obviously kneeling on the reformer, the reformer moves, they're doing chest expansion. It's a back exercise, back of the arm exercises. They pull the straps behind them, but kneeling does have a coordination component because kneeling on something that's moving [00:18:00] does require some body awareness, some balance, and some ability to negotiate the load of the spring from a kneeling position. Um, Okay.
[00:18:08] You might think that sitting on the carriage would be the easiest version, but think about the flexibility that's required to be sitting cross legged flat on the ground. It's something I think Pilates teachers can take for granted, potentially, if your body is very cooperative, very flexible, very strong, but it can be really difficult for people who have tight hips or tight hamstrings to sit flat on the carriage. So sitting on the long box, even though they're both sitting, it has a decreased demand in terms of the client's flexibility. And so sitting on the long box might be considered the beginner version of chest expansion because the flexibility component is taken out of it. On the box hips are at about 90 degrees. Knees are at about a 90 degree bend. It's easier to do than to sit flat on the carriage. So sometimes the position that we're [00:19:00] in, and things like a Z sit for mermaid and things like sitting flat on the mat, like sometimes mat Pilates in general, all of those seated exercises can be really challenging for that person with tight hips or tight hamstrings. So that's another variable to keep in mind.
[00:19:14] Again, maybe not one that we can change immediately, but we can make that person more comfortable by offering the box to sit on, by maybe propping up their hips with a pillow or a bolster on the mat, something like that. And over time, they will likely get more flexible and they may not need that option as time goes on because of this interconnected nature of the dimensions of difficulty in each exercise.
[00:19:37] I like to see each exercise as a very broad spectrum, starting at a pre Pilates version of the exercise, something like leg slides or marching before you get up to the hundred or single leg stretch, something like that. And you can dial every exercise down to that pre Pilates, very [00:20:00] foundational movement, the shape of the spine, the mechanics of whatever the movement is going to be and dial it all the way up to some wild calisthenics, even beyond Joseph Pilates imagination in terms of the strength, flexibility and coordination needed to execute the exercise is massive.
[00:20:20] If I was going to teach something like long stretch on the reformer, which is a plank, hands on the foot bar feet against the shoulder blocks or on the headrest with the headrest lifted up. I'm recognizing that long stretch itself is just one point on the spectrum of a plank. And because we're on the reformer, a plank that moves.
[00:20:39] There's a kneeling plank on the reformer with their knees down, hands on the foot bar. There's kneeling plank on the mat. There's kneeling plank with their hands on the box on the mat to decrease that angle, to decrease that load in the shoulder.
[00:20:55] And that long stretch also dials past long stretch to [00:21:00] lifting one leg, to lifting one arm, to changing the springs to something ridiculous, you know, to control front. We're facing the other direction. It's still a plank. We're still moving at the shoulder to press the carriage out, pull the carriage in and you're lifting legs there, you know? So instead of looking at each exercise as an enclosed bubble, really seeing it as a spectrum helps me as a teacher to visualize all the ways that I can change and add variety to the exercise, to add challenge, to decrease challenge, so that I can meet every person in the class where they are and let them find the challenge that they are looking for.
[00:21:42] This is something that I feel really passionately about and it's really informed my teaching, so I hope that it's helpful to you as well.
[00:21:50] Huge thank you to all my supporters on Buy Me A Coffee, especially to newest supporters, Shazaroo6 and Lacey, thank you so much for being part of this [00:22:00] project. I just set out the newsletter and I look forward to having a coffee chat and connecting with you about all things Pilates soon. Have a great couple of weeks and I'll talk to you again soon.
[00:22:19] Thanks for listening to this week's chapter of Pilates Teachers' Manual, your guide to becoming a great Pilates teacher. Check out the podcast Instagram at @pilatesteachersmanual, and be sure to subscribe wherever you listen. For more Pilates goodness, check out my other podcast, Pilates Students' Manual, available everywhere you listen to podcasts. The adventure continues. Until next time.