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written insights and essaysWhy Repetition Makes You a Better Teacher
The Hidden Problem of Group Reformer Teaching
Most movement is learned through imitation.
Humans are extraordinarily good at copying.
If you want to teach somebody a movement quickly, the simplest solution is usually to show them.
This works beautifully in matwork classes, aerobics, dance, yoga and many group fitness formats where participants can see the instructor clearly throughout the session.
Reformer Pilates presents a different challenge. The equipment itself makes demonstration difficult.
A reformer has multiple viewing angles. Some movements face forward. Some face backward. Some face sideways. Even if a studio allocates a reformer for the instructor, it is almost impossible for every participant to see every movement from every angle.
To demonstrate effectively, people often need to stop moving and watch.
And every time that happens, something important is interrupted.
Flow.
Flow Is What Keeps People Coming Back
One of the central ideas of my approach to teaching is that successful classes create immersion.
Participants become absorbed in the task.
They stop worrying about work.
They stop thinking about what happened earlier in the day.
Their attention narrows onto movement.
They become present.
This is what psychologists often refer to as a flow state.
The challenge for Reformer teachers is that every demonstration risks breaking that state.
Someone sits up.
Someone stops moving.
Someone looks around the room.
Attention shifts away from the task.
The class loses momentum.
Demonstration is not wrong.
Sometimes it is absolutely necessary.
But if demonstration becomes your primary teaching tool, flow becomes difficult to maintain.
This creates an interesting question:
If we cannot rely on demonstration, how do people learn?
The Answer Is Repetition
When people perform the same movements repeatedly, they become familiar.
When movements become familiar, confidence increases. When confidence increases, less demonstration is required. And when less demonstration is required, flow improves.
This is one of the reasons we encourage strategic repetition of clusters throughout this programme.
Not because we lack creativity.
Not because we have run out of exercises.
Because repetition solves a teaching problem.
The Industryā€™s Fear of Repetition
Many instructors worry about repeating movements.
They fear clients will become bored.
They fear clients will think the class is not varied enough.
They fear they are somehow failing as programmers.
This fear is understandable.
Many parts of the fitness industry place enormous value on novelty.
New exercises.
New sequences.
New combinations.
New choreography.
But novelty and learning are not the same thing.
