Cueing Pilates- Art or Science?

 

Cueing Pilates - Art or Science?

Helping participants of your Pilates classes get the most from their workout is fundamental to your teaching objectives as well as the results your clients can achieve.

How you communicate with your clients, can mean the difference between a good Pilates class and a great one.  The same applies to your personal training sessions, although this can be a little easier as you are dealing with one person instead of many. 

Art or Science?

A sound foundation of anatomy is necessary as well as an essential part of a comprehensive Pilates teacher training.  However, if you choose to approach cueing with a purely scientific, anatomical model you may find some clients do not respond as you want.  Even those who appear to understand may not be experiencing the Pilates repertoire to its full extent.

Using a variety of cues will help you target the different learning styles in the room:

 ★   Visualisation

★   Directional

★   Feeling

Cue the Move not the Muscle

If you are a teacher with a strong anatomy & physiology background you may have difficulty separating the science of your understanding from the basics of movement.  In your dedication to enable clients to create change in their body, when you see clients with problems, your initial reaction may be to analyse which muscles need lengthening or strengthening, or which part of their body needs mobilising or stablising. 

The problem with this analytical approach, especially in a group scenario is that most clients neither have the knowledge or the interest in learning the various muscles groups or their actions. In addition you will not have the time to attend to individual needs at this level.  Clients are paying to attend an exercise class to get results. 

 The results they want normally fall into one or more of several categories:

 ★   Toning

★   Postural

★   Re-education following physiotherapy or medical problems

★   Relaxation/stress relief

★   Flexibility/Mobility

Your Pilates session taught well, with practical cues together with the effective use of small equipment can cover all these areas.  Your job is to do your best to help your clients get what they want from the session, whatever that is .  ; In one Pilates session there could be several clients with very different needs. The only exception you should make is for clients that need re-habilitation following medical issues. These clients will get the best results from one to one sessions. 

Let’s look at Shoulder Bridge for example.  The movement is straightforward enough, from a supine position, initiating the movement with a pelvic tilt the hips are raised then replaced gradually to the start position.

All Pilates teachers will be able to teach this movement - the test of skill comes when some clients show movement pattern problems.  For example:

 •   Knees rolling in

•   Knees rolling out

•   Limited height in the lift

•   Toes lifting up

By simply telling the client to contract certain muscles and relax others may help some of the class to control the weak muscles that allow the knees to fall in, or over active muscles that pull the knees out, but this type of cueing is haphazard at least.  Even if the person who has problems keeping good knee alignment understands the muscles that need to be targeted to improve the quality of their performance, it may be ineffective overall as there are so many muscles crossing joints involved in creating movement.

Using a more practical approach will target the necessary movement pattern more directly to get a result.  In the case of knees rolling in or out for example tying a length of dyna band around the outside of both knees then asking the client to press against the band during the performance of the bridging will de-activate the glutes from taking over due to weak hamstrings and adductor magnus to pull the knees into external rotation and prevent the other adductors ( Brevis and Longus) from causing the knees to fall in.  You can also use a Magic Circle for the same effect. 

It will not be necessary to explain why necessarily, engaging the client in a practical solution which changes the way a movement is performed will be enough to allow the client to notice the different feeling when their alignment is improved.

Clients who have the issue of alignment can use this accessory whilst those who don’t need it won’t.  This kind of individual tool for those clients needing it will not only educate the clients but will help to achieve lasting change. 

By cueing the move along with utilising small equipment if appropriate, you can directly effect the movement pattern whereas purely cueing the muscles creating the activity may take significantly longer to achieve the changes needed.

Change One thing Change Everything

Sometimes the smallest change can have significant effects.  During Side Kick for example if, as the legs lift, the cue is to exhale, the sensation will be directly experienced in the Obliques and Rectus, maybe the Glutes too as a contraction or bracing sensation.  The feeling might be described as heavy.  Whereas if the cue is to inhale as the legs lift, focus can be placed on lengthening the spine and a feeling of increased amplitude in the hip joints - overall a lighter sensation altogether.  I appreciate that someone who is new to the technique may find using an exhalation easier.

When teaching to a group it is perfectly acceptable to give the breathing pattern as an option, so participants can choose which breath they find most effective.  As the teacher you could give some guidance as to how they may experience the breath or suggest reasons to use either of the options.  Giving the responsibility back to the client may benefit their long term learning experience; it will also take some pressure off you.

When teaching Pilates altering the focus of a movement from the action to the feeling will create a completely different class.  Any Pilates movement will help clients get a variety of result - it just depends on how you cue it.

Pilates movements are a combination of elements - strength, mobility, flexibility, coordination and stability you can alter your cues to highlight any of the elements in any of the movements to develop various results.  This is why Pilates is such an exciting technique that can keep the client interested and motivated.

In closing here are 5 points to consider to enhance your cues:

 1.  Cue the movement not the muscle

2.  Use a variety of cues

3.  Use small equipment when appropriate

4.  Avoid just listing the same cues clients may not find useful

5.  Say what you see - observe your clients

 If you have any questions about any part of this article please contact me at info@thepilatesconsultant.com

Get full details about my Secrets for Teaching a Great Mixed Ability Pilates Class at

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About Nuala Coombs.  With over 25 years experience in the fitness and Pilates industry Nuala has taught hundreds of students worldwide to teach Pilates.  She is the author of Golf and Pilates published in 2005 as well as an international presenter and teacher trainer.  Based in the south of France along with teacher training and workshops she offers career guidance to teachers in training and qualified Pilates teachers at a crossroads in their working life. Nuala also offer Pilates Retreats for Pilates enthusiasts. Contact her to sign up for her free monthly Newsletter at www.thepilatesconsultant.com. email:  info@thepilatesconsultant.com