Does it matter how your Pilates instructor learned how to perform and teach the exercises? You bet it does. Your concern for your own safety should be directly proportional to the amount you research your instructor’s background and training. Don’t be shy! You absolutely, positively have the right to inquire about your teacher’s education. Don’t know what to ask? To help you structure your inquiry, here’s some background on what’s going on in Pilates teacher certification.
Pilates became popular in mainstream America very rapidly and a low-end, quickie teacher training industry sprung to life virtually overnight to fill the need for instructors. The fitness industry generally caters to the “in” thing and many gyms hire Pilates instructors who have had very little training to teach classes for as many as 30 clients at a time. With the profit machines treating it like a short-term trend with little or no understanding of the breadth and power of the work, there are many Pilates teacher “certifications that take all of a weekend or two to complete. Many such “certifications” have absolutely no requirements of prior experience with Pilates or any other movement or fitness discipline.
The result is that legions of fast-track “certified” instructors flood the market and teach something, but it’s definitely not Pilates.
The quickie teacher certifications, the knock-off equipment, the QVC specials . . . hopefully all that will pass as quickly as it came and before we know it, the trend-treatment of Pilates will have gone the way of the many other fitness trends that plow through our culture, leaving some of us injured, many of us disillusioned and most of us still looking for safe and effective core strength training.
Don’t be fooled! Pilates is not a fad. It’s not a recent trend. The work in its authentic form is almost 100 years old years old and it has, unquestionably, withstood the test of time.
Is someone receiving a weekend certification going to teach you this work? Is someone who hasn’t worked these marvelous exercises into their own body going to teach you Pilates? How is someone who hasn’t received adequate training going to teach you? How is someone who can’t do it or doesn’t do it regularly going to teach you how to do it? The answer is simple: they won’t and they can’t. A sad and obvious truth: if you certify to teach Pilates in a hurry your clients pay the price.
If you want to learn Pilates, whether you want the healthy body, the long and lean look, the mind/body connection or all of the above, don’t settle for a knock-off. You deserve to learn the real thing from teachers well-trained in the authentic work.
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401 North Market,
Suite B
Chattanooga, TN 37405
Phone: (423) 702-5233
Pilates became popular in mainstream America very rapidly and a low-end, quickie teacher training industry sprung to life virtually overnight to fill the need for instructors. The fitness industry generally caters to the “in” thing and many gyms hire Pilates instructors who have had very little training to teach classes for as many as 30 clients at a time. With the profit machines treating it like a short-term trend with little or no understanding of the breadth and power of the work, there are many Pilates teacher “certifications that take all of a weekend or two to complete. Many such “certifications” have absolutely no requirements of prior experience with Pilates or any other movement or fitness discipline.
