Teaching & Safety Guides
Teaching considerations, equipment guides, and teaching techniques
Spring Resistance & Gear Bar Mechanics
Understanding leverage, spring weight adjustments, and gear positioning for various body proportions and exercise goals.
Teaching Clients Who Mention Osteoporosis
General teaching considerations for instructors whose clients mention low bone density - not a clinical protocol or a fracture-risk assessment.
Reformer Maintenance & Daily Care
Best practices for keeping your reformer clean, quiet, and operating safely for daily use.
What is Pilates?
Discover the complete guide to Pilates: its history, core principles, mat vs reformer methods, and its modern evolution.
The Guiding Pilates Principles
Explore the core Pilates principles: centring, Concentration, Control, Precision, Breath, and Flow. Learn how mind-body integration transforms movement.
Classical vs. Contemporary Pilates
Compare Classical and Contemporary Pilates: explore their origins, differences in sequencing and exercise science, and how blending both creates an effective practice.
Movement with Intention: Mind, Muscle & Breath
Discover the teaching philosophy of Pilates Addicts: combining intentionality, targeted muscle recruitment, dynamic mobility, and functional strength for daily life.
Teaching Key Aspects
Master the essential teaching aspects of Pilates: effective verbal cueing, tactile feedback, observation skills, and managing class flow.
Manipulating Teaching Variables
Learn how to manipulate key teaching variables in Pilates—leverage, resistance, tempo, base of support, and range of motion—to regress or progress exercises effectively.
Class Variables
Explore essential class variables in Pilates: structuring session flow, balancing movement planes, timing, equipment selection, and group dynamics.
Core Biomechanical Principles
The fundamental biomechanical principles that anchor every Pilates Addicts workout. Regardless of the exercise or intensity, these guidelines serve as the foundation of safe, effective movement.
Health and Safety
A comprehensive guide to health and safety in Pilates: apparatus inspections, client intake screening, managing injuries, and safety protocols.
Spring Settings: A Practical Guide
How to choose spring settings as a progression from more support to more challenge — described in colour-agnostic terms that work in any studio, whatever its spring colour system.
Footwork: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the Footwork series: the V-position and single-leg setups, the press-and-return breath pattern, and the alignment cues that make it the foundation of every session.
Short Box Series: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the Short Box series: the Round Back, Flat Back, and Twist variations, their spring setups, the articulation and hinge cues, and how to substitute safely when loaded flexion is contraindicated.
Knee Stretches & Stomach Massage: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the Knee Stretches and Stomach Massage series: the kneeling and seated setups, the exhale-driven press, and the cues that keep the centre in control of the carriage.
Spinal Extension Series: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the Swan, Breaststroke, and Rocking series: prone extension work that strengthens the back extensors, with the spring setups and lift-from-the-upper-back cues that keep it safe.
Feet in Straps: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for Feet in Straps: its dual role as inner thigh strengthening and mobility work, the two-medium-spring setup, and the key cues for the double leg lift and lower.
Short Spine: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for Short Spine: the accessible book variation for clients who are not comfortable inverting, the rolling and peeling cues, breathing, and common faults to correct.
Standing Series: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the Standing Series inner thigh work: the light spring setup, the side-splits breathing pattern, and the alignment and symmetry cues that make the series effective.
Cheerleader Series: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the Cheerleader Series: spring setup, the dead bug and clasped-hands starting positions, and the cues for the plié position and the fist reach.
Side Lying Glute Series: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the Side Lying Glute Series: the critical pillow and carriage setup, hip stacking, and the breathing and alignment cues that get the glutes firing.
Pelvic Tilt: Teaching Notes
Foundational spinal articulation and posterior chain activation: the segmental roll-up that primes every bridging and rolling exercise on the Reformer.
Mermaid: Teaching Notes
Lateral flexion and thoracic opening: the side-bend that breathes into the ribs and balances the flexion and extension of a session.
Reformer Push-Up: Teaching Notes
Full-body pressing work: a traveling plank on the footbar that builds shoulder stability, trunk control, and upper-body strength.
Single Leg Bridge: Teaching Notes
Unilateral bridging: spinal articulation meets glute and hamstring strength with a level pelvis and one leg extended long.
Seated Row: Teaching Notes
Foundational pulling work: scapular control and back strength as the straps row toward the ribs with the spine stacked tall.
Chest Expansion: Teaching Notes
Standing posture work: the arms open wide and back to retract the shoulder blades and open the chest against the springs.
Long Stretch: Teaching Notes
The classic full-body plank: feet in the straps, hands on the footbar, the carriage pressing away through one long line from head to heels.
Coordination: Teaching Notes
The classical combination: arm pull, leg press, and spinal curl coordinated by the breath in one demanding sequence.
Arms Pulling Straps: Teaching Notes
Prone upper-back work on the long box: the straps pull down and back toward the hips while the chest stays lifted.
Back Rowing Series: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the classical Back Rowing series: the long box and pole setups, the curl-and-pull and open-chest patterns, and the articulation cues that keep the spine in control.
Standing Stretch Series: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the classical standing stretch family — Up Stretch, Tree, Tendon Stretch, and Squat: the footbar setups, the hip-hinge and squat patterns, and the alignment cues that protect the knees and low back.
Inversion Series: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the classical inversion family — Jackknife, Boomerang, and Control Balance: the shoulder-stand mechanics, the articulation cues, and the cervical and osteoporosis screening every inversion needs.
Teaser, Corkscrew & Side Over: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the classical advanced-core trio — Teaser, Corkscrew, and Side Over: the box and strap setups, the articulation and circling cues, and the regressions that build toward each exercise.
Quadruped Series: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the Quadruped series: four-point kneeling setup, the knee tuck, single leg stretch, and bird dog, plus how to progress from core isolation to cross-body coordination.
Stretches & Cool Down: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the Stretches and Cool Down family: Eve's Lunge, the carriage hamstring stretch, the lat and side stretch, child's pose, and the standing cross-body shoulder and overhead triceps stretches, plus how to program a settling finish.
The Hundred: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for The Hundred: breath-pump rhythm, stable supine curl, and regressions from head-down to extended legs.
Elephant: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for Elephant: hip-hinge control, Flat Back vs Round Back versions, and hamstring-loaded press work.
Stomach Massage: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for the Stomach Massage family: Round Back, Flat Back, and Twist — seated and standing leg-press work with a spinal agenda.
Pulling Straps: Teaching Notes
Teaching notes for Pulling Straps and Pulling Straps: T Pull: prone pulling with the shoulder blades leading, thoracic extension, and safe regressions.
Teaching Clients Who Mention Low Back Pain
General teaching considerations for instructors working with clients who mention low back pain - not a clinical protocol or a treatment plan.
Teaching Clients Who Mention Shoulder Pain
General teaching considerations for instructors working with clients who mention shoulder pain or a previous impingement diagnosis - not a clinical protocol.
Teaching Clients Who Are Pregnant
General teaching considerations for instructors working with pregnant clients - not a clinical protocol. Comfort, breath and the client maternity team lead the session.
Teaching Clients Who Mention Knee Pain
General teaching considerations for instructors working with clients who mention knee pain - not a clinical protocol or a diagnosis.
Teaching Clients Who Mention Neck Pain
General teaching considerations for instructors working with clients who mention neck pain or cervical sensitivity - not a clinical protocol.
Teaching Clients Who Mention Hip Pain
General teaching considerations for instructors working with clients who mention hip pain or a previous impingement diagnosis - not a clinical protocol.
Teaching Clients in Acute Back Pain
General teaching considerations for instructors whose client is in an acute episode of back pain - not a clinical protocol or a treatment plan.
Teaching Clients Who Mention Spinal Stenosis
General teaching considerations for instructors working with clients who mention spinal stenosis or spondylolisthesis - not a clinical protocol.
Footbar Height
How the footbar angle changes the mechanics of an exercise — leverage, knee flexion, and which muscles take the load — and how to set it for footwork, bridging, and feet-in-straps work.
Glute Bridge: Teaching Notes
Glute Bridge — the movement the mat work calls the Pelvic Curl — is the foundation of all bridging and articulation on the Reformer.
Seated Arm Series: Teaching Notes
The Seated Arm Series on the short box: front raises, W raises, triceps press and lat press, plus the overhead triceps extension — arm work where the springs anchor rather than travel.
Standing Lunge & Split: Teaching Notes
The standing sagittal work on the Reformer: the lunge patterns that press the carriage with one leg and the front split that lengthens the same line.
Mobility & Release: Teaching Notes
The Reformer mobility and release work: the kneeling hip flexor stretch, the supine twist release, Cat Cow on all fours, and the three stretches taken standing inside the frame.
Kneeling Pull: Teaching Notes
Two kneeling pulls on the Reformer: the heavier two-phase lat pull from the footbar, and the lighter kneeling W raises for scapular control.
Supported Squat: Teaching Notes
The supported squat at the parked Reformer: Squat Triceps Pulls for the arms, Squat Baby Swan for the thoracic spine, both with the hands on the shoulder rests.
Roll Up: Teaching Notes
Roll Up on the Reformer: the classical supine-to-seated rolling articulation against the strap tension, and the scooping control it builds.