Often in classes when I am showing an exercise, clients will comment about how easy I make it look. Everyone should know that Pilates exercises are not easy, even for instructors. If the exercises are easy something is probably wrong. Of course, different exercises are easier or harder depending on your body type.
As an instructor when we are teaching, we are showing you how to do an exercise. We’re usually talking, so chances are we aren’t doing the proper breathing, we may not be holding our belly button to our spine. Our job at that time is to be there for you, so we aren’t working at the level we would if we were taking a class. However, you aren’t trained to notice where we err. When I take a Pilates class, I can be pretty vocal–moaning and groaning with the best of them. But I can also sigh when an exercise or a stretch feels good.
Instructors don’t have perfect bodies–we have stronger and weaker muscles from the different types of wear and tear we put on our bodies. There are exercises that I don’t perform well in class and others that I still struggle with and have to focus especially hard on to this day. As a client it may appear to you that my form looks perfect, but to one of my instructors they will notice problems and adjust me.
It’s great that you want to think we can do all the exercises perfectly. It’s a bit of an ego boost, but you should know the truth. The exercises aren’t easy. We are flawed as much as anyone else. When we are doing the exercises they take as much practice and concentration as they take you. We all have our strengths and our weaknesses, of course. But know that when Pilates seems tough, even if someone can make an exercise appear easy, chances are it’s no piece of cake–not even for your instructor.
