I had a great question from one of my students recently (thank you if you are reading this), wanting to know what the most useful cues are when teaching Pilates. Constantly reminding clients to breathe – preferably using the thoracic breathing technique – and engage the core are useful, but any cue that helps a client perform the exercise well and safely is essential. This will vary from exercise to exercise, client to client, so there isn’t really a list of the top ten. Yes, of course: there will be some cues that we reel off ad nauseum that aren’t really aimed at anyone in particular in the class. They are just general reminders in case our clients’ minds have wandered to a parallel universe.
So what makes a cue useful? At the most fundamental level, a cue offers basic instructions: name of the exercise, body position, initial movement, direction of traffic. For example, for the Roll Up, it could sound something like this:
“Roll Up, seated facing me knees bent, as you exhale engage the core and tilt the pelvis.”
In 5 seconds, they have a good idea of where this is heading. From there, the execution cues will continue to progress the exercise, modify or help the client perform the exercise with good technique to enable them to perform safely and effectively.
And you can’t do that unless you can see your clients. Back in my Jane Fonda inspired halcyon days as an aerobics instructor, if I stopped, the whole class stopped. But we were on our feet, I was visible the whole time. That is not the case in a Pilates class. With the exception of those very few exercises where the clients are seated or side-facing, they can’t see you at all. They rely on the cues you give them. But you cannot give effective cues if you can’t see them and you can’t see them when you are lying down, doing the exercises with them. And anyway, they can’t see you without losing alignment.
So if you aren’t already on your feet, observing, correcting and adjusting, the time has come. You will never be short of an effective cue again.
BODY SOUL WELL 