The Small Number of Things That Actually Matter
Great Programming Is Simpler Than You Think
One of the paradoxes of becoming a better Pilates instructor is that the longer you teach, the fewer things seem to matter.
Most of us begin our teaching life believing confidence will arrive once weâve learned enough. Enough exercises. Enough modifications. Enough rehabilitation protocols. Enough diagnoses. Enough cues. Enough creative programming ideas.
There is always another course to attend, another workshop to complete, another exercise to add to the repertoire. Education providers and the industry broadly are organized around this.
For a while, running on that wheel feels like progress.
But in time, something counterintuitive happens.
Think of the most experienced and compelling (the compelling Martinâs important - sometimes experience equals jaded) instructor you have been in front of. As well as all the other things they do easily, they probably seem remarkably calm.
They arenât rushing to introduce new sequences. They arenât demonstrating how much they know about anatomy. Dare I say it, they might be ambivalent about âimportantâ things like neutral spine and breath patterns (having understood that the first is a zone not a place and the later is less important than moment and different people have different âoptimalâ breath patterns)
They walk into any room, with any collection of abilities, and produce a class that simply works, for everyone, effortlessly.
The obvious question is how.
It usually isnât because they know more than less experienced teachers.
Itâs because they understand the relationships between a small number of important ideas.
Rather than trying to remember hundreds of solutions, they work from a handful of principles that guide every decision.
They know how to recognise an appropriate level of challenge.
They know how to calibrate corrections to individuals by reading the individuals specific capabilities as they relate to the given movement (strength/ROM/skill)
They understand how changes in equipment (springs/footbar/foot and placement) changes the load for different bodies and different muscle groups.
They can recognise the difference between someone who is working hard, someone who needs coaching, someone who needs more load and someone who needs support.
They know when to progress and when to simplify.
They understand that rehabilitation is not a separate category of movement.
Each principle is simple on its own.
Their power comes from the way they reinforce and resist one another.
Excellent instructors understand the fundamental principles of excellence in teaching - even if they donât know how to explain what they are doing.
Experienced instructors are unfazed by the unique presentations and personalities of their clients because they work from a position of principle rather than detail.
The paradox is that most experienced instructors discover these principles only after years of mastering the details. HLP simply tries to teach the principles.
Once you understand the principles, changing exercises becomes relatively easy.
Without the principles, even the most creative programming quickly becomes guesswork.
This is also why many instructors eventually find themselves overwhelmed.
There is simply too much information available.
Social media offers thousands of new exercises.
Continuing education offers hundreds of specialised techniques.
Every week there seems to be another problem to solve.
If your confidence depends on learning enough to cover every possibility, the finish line keeps moving further away.
The alternative is not to know everything.
The alternative is to build a system that allows you to think clearly when you encounter something unfamiliar.
That is the purpose of HLP.
Rather than presenting an endless collection of techniques, our aim is to identify the small number of ideas that make the greatest difference to programming and coaching.
Ideas like
âThe law of the springâ
âMeat & potatoes programmingâ
âGross to subtle learning.
âReading the repsâ.
âDo what you can. Stop if you need toâ
In my system of group Reformer teaching, these principles are applied, and most succinctly expressed through the Layered Cluster programming framework. A deceptively simple way of organizing movement according to varying levels of challenge, equipment use and body position.
These are not independent topics.
They form an operating system.
When they work together, programming becomes calmer, clearer and far more adaptable.
You no longer need a different solution for every person who walks into the room.
You need a way of thinking that helps you make good decisions, regardless of who is standing in front of you.
That doesnât happen overnight.
It develops gradually, through practice, reflection and experience.
But it begins with a simple realisation.
Great instructors are rarely the ones carrying the largest collection of exercises or anatomical knowledge.
More often, they are the ones asking better questions.
What is this person capable of today?
What is the smallest change that would improve this movement?
Is this appropriately challenging?
What am I trying to achieve with this exercise- where is it going at a high level and today?
Those questions, asked consistently, are worth far more than another hundred exercises.
Because confidence is not built by knowing everything.
It is built by understanding the small number of things that matter most.
Photo by Ginny Rose Stewart on Unsplash
