Cuing Basics

Today's episodes looks at how to effectively cue exercises in a Pilates class. We look at the mnemonic PEACE RR, which is how Club Pilates teaches teachers to cue, and cuing strategies for boosting our clients' motor learning.  Tune in!

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Show Notes:

Other episodes about cuing:

How To Teach More Positively

Three Ways To Make Teach Pilates Simpler

How To Improve Your Cuing

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Episode Music:

Tracks: Tobu - Good Times, Tobu & Itro - Sunburst 
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Itro Official YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/officialitro
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Transcript

[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] Today, we're going to be talking about cuing basics, which is getting the people in your class to do what you want them to do with a high rate of success. And we'll also go over how you might cue if you teach at club Pilates, their method for cuing, as well as another way of thinking about cuing that has an emphasis on prioritizing motor learning so that your clients are learning the movement for themselves and why you might choose to cue exercises one way or another way. That's what we're diving into today. How exciting. 

[00:01:39] I like the Club Pilates method of cueing because it has a really easy to remember mnemonic that especially when you're getting started teaching and it seems like there's so much, it just breaks down what you might say to get people to do the Pilates thing that you're talking about really easily.

[00:01:59] So that [00:02:00] mnemonic is PEACE RR. P stands for position, the start position of the exercise. E stands for exercise name. A is the action. C is the concept cue. E is explain the breath. R is refine and return. And then repeat. It's technically three R's, but I kind of add refine in because that's also where I, where I tuck in my refinements.

[00:02:27] So when you are telling people to do a Pilates exercise, a great thing to tell them first before you give spring options, before you give variations is what is the start position? What do they need to be doing to initiate the movement of the exercise? Should they lie on their back? Should they have their head rest up? Should they be on their side or on their front or in a plank? Always start with the start position, then give the exercise name. 

[00:02:57] This is really important because [00:03:00] people who know what that exercise is will start doing that exercise without you telling them the action. If you say we're doing kneeling side arms, draw a sword, People who know what draw a sword is have the correct strap and the correct hand. They're already drawing a sword, right? So telling people the exercise name will actually minimize the amount of cueing that you may have to do for the exercise if people already know what that is. 

[00:03:25] For people who don't know what that is, or who are waiting very patiently for you to tell them what to do, you tell them the action. I always think in like one, two, three, like what are three steps they need to do to take the action? Continuing on that draw sword analogy, you are grabbing the strap in the opposite hand that is further away from your headrest and you are pulling the strap on the diagonal towards the center aisle, drawing a sword, also known as the disco in my opinion. But that's the action of the exercise. 

[00:03:54] Once you've gotten them moving, they're in the start position. They know what the exercise is called. They're starting to do the action. This [00:04:00] is where you start layering in the concepts. What is still and what is moving? What is the exercise targeting? Is there a muscular emphasis? You can layer in those anatomy cues if that's your vibe. You can layer in, you know, how this exercise fits in with the class, fits in with other exercises that you've done. Is there like an echo of this movement, uh, that we did somewhere else? So those sort of concepts, why are you doing it on the spring setting? You know, why are you moving at this range of motion, at this tempo, all of those things. 

[00:04:36] You explain the breath, where are we inhaling, where are we exhaling, why are we inhaling or exhaling where we're inhaling or exhaling, important. Then refinements. So where can you offer that correction to the group? How do you return to start? Like how does the action end? And then repeating it, not just for the exercise, repeating it for each repetition you're doing [00:05:00] of this exercise, but then also repeating, because teaching a class is just teaching a bunch of exercises in a row, and you just repeat PEACE RR for the next exercise.

[00:05:10] You give them that lead in to how to either finish this movement or finish this exercise, and then what the next exercise setup is. What is the start position? What is the exercise name? And that's teaching a class. That is a great starting point for cuing because it has a very neat checklist of things to check off of your list.

[00:05:31] Another way to think about cuing, which is not at odds with Club Pilates way of cuing, but another way you might think about cuing. Where you're really emphasizing the motor learning aspect, which is not just telling your clients every little thing that they need to do, but helping them learn those movements for themselves. So if you were to tell someone, all right, set up for the hundred, you know, begin. They know what the hundred is because they've learned it. They're not [00:06:00] just doing all of the things that you're saying. It kind of gives your client a little bit more autonomy. 

[00:06:06] So a way that you might think of it is what is the setup for the exercise? What is the action of the exercise? How can you promote motor learning, and how can you refine and lead into the next movement, layer, or exercise that you're going to teach? 

[00:06:23] So the setup in this way includes both the start position, that is exactly the same, and the exercise name, that is exactly the same. It is pretty standard to say that if you want people to get started doing something, telling them where to start and what they're going to be doing is, is great. So those are very much the same across how you might learn to teach exercises. That's a pretty standard start. What is the start position? What is the exercise name? What's the setup for this? Could also be the equipment settings if you're teaching on a piece of equipment that has settings, telling them that as well, that's part of the start position. 

[00:06:59] Then the [00:07:00] action again, one, two, three, simple. What are we doing? Tell people what to do. And it gives them a higher rate of success at doing it.

[00:07:10] Three things that we know about promoting motor learning. And I did have a podcast episode about optimal theory and, you know, how motor learning kind fits in with movement and teaching exercise. But three things that you can do is build confidence, give choices, find an external focus. Those are the big three.

[00:07:30] So for building confidence, we're talking about giving someone a compliment. You know, you're doing great. It can be very general like that, or it can be very specific. I love how high you've curled up in this chest lift. That looks awesome. But something that builds confidence or wow, is this your first time doing the hundred? You're doing a fantastic job, much better than a beginner I would expect or something like that. There is something about normative cuing that even though to my ear, I'm like, [00:08:00] is it weird? But the outcomes we've seen in research is when you compare people to an average and say that they're better than average that, that confidence boost is just like a little endorphin rush that we can take advantage of. So I'll joke a lot of times in my intro class as a way of building confidence, like, are you sure this is your first time on the reformer? You're doing amazing. You're a natural. Something like that, um, makes people feel really good, which is in turn motivating to want to do more things. So that's building confidence. 

[00:08:29] Giving choice could be options within the exercise, like a modification or a progression. It could be letting people choose a speed. It could be letting people choose what loop they're holding on to. You know, if you're doing the hundred, your hands are in the short loop. So you say, if that's feeling a little bit heavy, feel free to switch to the long loops, or you might say, if both legs long and low feels like a little too much today, hug one knee and towards your chest. But you're letting the person in your class be the [00:09:00] boss and make the choice for themselves. 

[00:09:02] We know that giving choices, everything from letting people choose what station they're at today, to choosing a version of the exercise they want to do, that this is also very motivating for people. 

[00:09:14] An external focus is something that is talked about a lot in optimal theory and the sort of external cue that instead of turning the attention inward and maybe using a muscular focus that is happening inside your body, directing that attention outward. So maybe in the hundred it's reach your toes to the wall in front of you or press through the straps, reaching to the foot bar. Teaching on the reformer is great for external cues because there's a lot of reformer to cue to that isn't just body. So you might add an external cue.

[00:09:45] Again, you don't have to do all three of them every single time for every single exercise, but trying to layer at least one of those into your cues can be helpful in terms of promoting motor learning. 

[00:09:54] Then we're offering refinements, we're offering corrections. I always like to frame them as a question. Could you lower [00:10:00] your legs another inch? Could you pump those arms even bigger? Could you curl your head and shoulders up a little bit higher? Could you take a deeper breath here? All of those things are refining our client's experience of the exercise. 

[00:10:15] And then we count down into the next exercise. You've got three more breaths here, then we're taking it into the roll up or whatever's coming next. And then once again, you do it again. That's the game. 

[00:10:25] Coming up after the break. I'll cue through the hundred on the mat so you can see how both of those ways of thinking about cuing are very similar with just a couple differences.

[00:10:38] And I'll also talk about why you might choose to cue one way over another way, or just cue the exercise differently. That's coming up next.

[00:10:53] Hi there. I hope you're enjoying today's chapter so far. There's great stuff coming up after the break too. Be sure to [00:11:00] subscribe wherever you're listening and visit buymeacoffee.com/OliviaPodcasts to support the show. There you can make a one time donation or become a member for as little as five dollars a month.

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[00:11:33] Now back to the show.

[00:11:50] Let's look at an exercise we all know, the hundred on the mat, and look at how you might cue it following PEACE RR, how you might cue it with that motor learning [00:12:00] emphasis, and see where the overlaps are. If I was following PEACE RR and I was cueing the hundred, I might say, lie on your back, arms long, legs long, preparing for the hundred.

[00:12:13] Exhale to curl your head and shoulders up. Float the arms, float the legs a few inches off of the ground. Begin to pump the arms vigorously by your sides, inhaling for a count of five. exhaling for a count of five. Can you draw the navel in? Can you curl the head and shoulders up a bit higher? Maintaining that abdominal connection as you pump the arms, the arms are moving, the abdominals are drawn in. You are still and strong in the torso. Three more breaths, deep inhales, full exhales, last two, last one. And on your exhalation, return to lying on the mat, prepare for the roll up. 

[00:12:52] So not incredibly complex, and that doesn't touch all of the concepts of all of the things that are going on in the hundred, but that [00:13:00] might be something that you would cue or a way that you might cue it if you're cuing in PEACE RR. 

[00:13:06] By that same token. How would we look at the hundred if we were prioritizing motor learning? And again, these things are not mutually exclusive, but just looking at the same exercise and how we might talk about it just slightly differently. 

[00:13:18] Preparing for the hundred. Lie on your back arms, long legs, long exhale to curl head and shoulders up. Begin to pump the arms. Legs are hovering here. Arms pump vigorously up and down deep inhales, full exhales. Wow. Do you love the hundred? It looks like you love the hundred. That looks amazing. If both legs long feels like a bit too much, feel free to draw one knee into the chest, but keep that other leg as long and as low as you can. Can you lower it even more? Can you pump those arms even faster? You've got three more breaths. Last two, last one. Both legs stretch long, lower everything down, prepare for the roll up. So you can see that they're [00:14:00] actually not vastly different. 

[00:14:02] I would say when I cue for myself, I kind of cue a hybrid of those ways. I do like giving choices and giving compliments as part of the process of cuing. And I find that that's something I do really naturally. Didn't do an external focus cue, but things like reaching your arms to the wall in front of you, reaching your toes. Can you touch the wall in front of you? Something like that could be an external focus.

[00:14:27] Sometimes, I'm not going to lie, I do cue the hundred asking people to pump their arms like a drunk Big Bird, but that's just me. And that's just my sense of humor. So you can see that they're just two ways of doing the same thing. And one way might resonate with you more. 

[00:14:44] Now you might choose to cue differently if your studio has a specific way to queue. So if you're teaching at Club Pilates and they're asking you to cue in that PEACE RR way, then you will likely cue that way. That's what they're asking you to do. [00:15:00] Sometimes studios have a common language or exercise names that are universal within maybe that lineage of Pilates or maybe within your studio. So you're going to follow that for consistency sake. And that's totally fine. That's totally valid and a totally fine way to cue. 

[00:15:16] If your client is motivated by something in particular, like muscles, I had a client who was really interested and really wanted to know what was working in every single exercise. So, we would talk about the muscle names, we would talk about the anatomy, we'd talk about origins and insertions for muscles. Not because that helps everyone learn, but it helped the person I was working with feel connected to the work. Totally fine. 

[00:15:43] This also goes for breath. There are people who breathe sometimes opposite of how you might cue to breathe in Pilates, or maybe breath is just something that is an added layer of complexity - I don't want to say that they're not ready for, but it's just detracting from the overall experience because [00:16:00] they're trying so hard to match the breath that they're not able to move because they're so preoccupied with the breath. So maybe you talk about the breath a lot when you're teaching someone, maybe you don't talk about the breath hardly at all when you are teaching someone, it depends on what is helpful to the person that you're teaching. I've had clients who don't like positive feedback, who have said, please stop giving me compliments and just tell me what I can do better when I do the exercises. 

[00:16:26] And that's totally fine because part of teaching is matching our client's expectations and their needs because we can do that. Like that is a gift that we can give our students. We can find a way to communicate with them that is meaningful and helpful to them. So that's totally fine. 

[00:16:43] Part of the reason I think that PEACE RR is a great kind of starting point for cuing is because you're teaching a group of people at Club Pilates. There are people who the breath is very interesting to them. So talking about the breath when you do every exercise gives that [00:17:00] person something to connect to. And talking about the muscles is giving the person who's really interested in muscle names something to think about. And, you know, the way you choose to layer in concepts will, and you know, the way you use imagery or use figurative language or, you know, give examples and analogies, like those things will connect with different people. And when you're teaching a group, we want to match everyone's expectation and needs. So we give everyone a little bit of everything so that they have that meeting point. 

[00:17:33] Cueing is really fun, and I think your cueing can evolve over time, and I think the more you teach, the more you find cues that land really well. You find different ways to describe movements and exercises that can connect with more people. I think that ties into the art of teaching quite nicely. 

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[00:18:08] Also big thank you to our newest member Khiara. Really looking forward to connecting with you in a coffee chat. I hope you have a great couple of weeks, and I'll talk to you again soon.

[00:18:26] 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.

[00:18:50] The adventure continues. Until next time.