Your new Pilates client walks into your Pilates studio for their very first Pilates session. This Pilates client has never done Pilates and for you, the Pilates teacher it can be that teaching moment of going from one extreme or another. Every Pilates teacher wonders what do we do with this new Pilates client? No matter how long you have been teaching Pilates.

Is this Pilates client a beginner? Just because they have never done Pilates before? Maybe not…I would even say most likely not. So why put that label on of the “beginner” ? Maybe look at this new client in a way that doesn’t put a label on them.

Your job as a Pilates teacher is to teach to the body in front of you so, why would we put a label on that body before even seeing them move? I tell students in my Teacher Training Program all the time that new first-time clients may have the connections, ability, and everything they need to do that so-called “advanced” move so, we don’t put that label on and really who wants to have a label put on them anyway?

I got a great reminder on this the other day. I had my 17-year-old niece ask to try Pilates. She had never done Pilates mat much less been on any of the Pilates apparatus. As a kid she played soccer but hadn’t really been active in a long time, a teenager you know? She recently has started running and getting interested back into moving and exercise.

Thinking on her first time session I knew she wanted to “experience” PIlates but, I also wanted to show her what she could do, what she was capable of and to have her leave with a new sense of confidence and fun in working out.

At the beginning of the session I asked her did she want to end with hanging upside down or handstand type stuff. After all she is 17 and I wanted to end on something fun and that she doesn’t normally get the opportunity to do. Knowing that I could gear toward that in a way she would have fun and succeed, no matter what happened. She choose hanging upside down. During our session I made sure she had some moves and knew some shapes in Pilates to connect back to when we hit the Cadillac.

She did mat, we then went to the Reformer and did a bit of Wunda Chair before we headed to the Cadillac. After a few more exercise to connect to things we stood up and went for Walkover and Pike.

SHE DID THEM! Now, they weren’t perfect but she did it! She felt great, had fun and was strong! She loved Pilates.

Teaching Pilates, especially that first-time client is like walking a tightrope for the Pilates teacher. You want them to see what Pilates can do for them, to understand the process of Pilates and to guide them in their movement. We want them to feel safe and capable. To enjoy their first experience so much they want more and to continue working with us as their teacher.

It is important as Pilates teachers that we also remember that first time walking into a Pilates studio, never having done it before. That first time client is coming in feeling apprehensive, wondering if they can do this, will they do it good enough, they are not only figuring out the choreography but, the apparatus on top of all that.

How do you, the Pilates teacher show this new Pilates client success? Do you treat them with basic moves or throw the “Advanced” stuff at them? That new Pilates client needs to be looked at not as someone who CAN’T do something but, as someone who is more like that fresh piece of paper that has so many possibilities of what you can draw!

I have found after teaching Pilates for almost 30 years and also teaching those who want to teach Pilates a few tips to help truly teach that first time client and that body in front of you!

Here are some tips for that new Pilates client to remember:

1. Watch them in the mat- Hit the mat work first to assess their movement. Go through moving them in all directions, and positions to gravity. What is their movement like? How connected to their body and where they are in space are they?

2. Is there any moment of being tentative or showing some fear? Any issues with confidence in their body and movement?

3. Hit the Reformer- How do they respond to the apparatus and the support of the spring? Go back to 1 and 2 here and see what changed if anything.

4. Ask them what they want to accomplish today! Give them a choice of getting to that using building blocks based off what you have seen so far. Knowing you can break them down and build it to the point you know they can succeed or be challenged in a positive and supportive way.

Pilates teachers are there to guide and help the Pilates client feel capable and believe in their body and strength to do things and explore movement.

Teaching Pilates to that new first-time Pilates client is not about someone being a beginner but, teaching to this body and mind that is in front of you today. You and the client will be surprised at what can happen