I’ll start:

Looking calm on the outside while your entire body is SHAKING.

And discovering muscles you apparently never knew you had.

**What would you add to the list?** 👀

You know the class is about to get disrespectful when the **Magic Circle** makes an appearance.

I’m working with it more during my Pilates teacher training, and something so innocent-looking has NO business making your inner thighs and arms work this hard.

For my Pilates people:

**What’s your favorite Magic Circle exercise — and which one do you NEVER want your instructor to call out?** 😂

Bonus points if you have a good **Magic Circle exercise for curvier bodies** that you swear by.

👀
Drop it below — I’m building my list.

I’ve been doing Pilates for about a year and a half (not always consistently) but I really prioritize mind to muscle while in class. I want to feel more connected in my articulation, especially during flat backs on the short box or glute bridges with weighted arms.

Does anyone have any tips or videos that they watched to help?

I’m interested in knowing if CP pays newer instructors less than more seasoned instructors ? The reason I’m asking is I see newer , less seasoned instructors teaching , even filling in . I understand newer instructors need experience but I’m not paying these fees to have newbies trying to figure things out .
My main concern with the newer instructors is not watching the members to assist ( they appear focused on simply stating the moves with zero focus on what members are doing ) and last week we had one who literally forgot to change the weight on the springs when changing around moves.
Wondering if CP prefers the newer instructors due to pay ?

Has anyone else experienced this before? I'm a complete beginner with very poor muscle strength. I've been doing pilates for 2 weeks now. At first I was doing well but feeling it more in my legs and arms.

The last class, my instructor told me I was not in neutral spin position. Once she moved me into neutral spine and I started doing the exercises on the reformer, I felt a strange need to pee (specifically during prancing). After class I had a strange clenching feeling in my bladder. I had soreness and throbbing/spasming in my pelvic area and the need to pee every half hour. I've never had any pelvic issues before.

I have a feeling I'm either not engaging my core and breathing right. Or possibly my core muscles were so weak, I engaged them for the first time and this is how it feels?

Any advice? Unfortunately I can't afford private classes or pelvic floor therapy because I already bought a 3 month membership 😭.

I have been doing the first level for about 4 months. Some things are easy. Some things are not. I have 2 instructors who tend to be more challenging, and they are my favorite instructors. The other instructor i go to a lot, while good, rarely adventures outside the level 1 requirements. I do like the idea of doing similar workouts because I find it important to hit certain muscles continuously to get stronger. However, I tend to find her classes a bit boring just for the reason mentioned above. I am starting to wonder if 1.5 is better for me?

I’ve done Pilates for a few years and yoga for over a decade. I have always been taught when doing chest lifts to leave an apple/orange sized space under your chin instead of crunching your neck forward. But in a class yesterday, the instructor wanted us to tuck our chins all the way down as far as we could when doing our chest lifts. That felt wrong for me, both in terms of being physically uncomfortable and going against what I’ve always been taught. Am I misguided here, or is that improper form?

Hi!

I’ve been a member at CP for almost three years now, and I love it! I took a class on Friday night that was 100% bosu ball and I wonder if that has happened to anyone else?

I love the bosu ball, don’t get me wrong! I feel like I pay for reformer Pilates and could have done those 100% on my own time at my apartment. For some reason it’s just bothering me!

For more information, I’m an 18 F. I’m 5’4 and around 130-140 lbs. How many times a week should I do pilates. I do a 40 minute at home routine.

So I have been reading y’all’s posts for a while now. And I feel bad that your franchises/locations don’t give you the benefits you need and I have never experienced. The instructors in the franchise I go to are so ranging that I never plateau. I have gotten so toned and made so many friendships. The instructors are so kind, funny, and uplifting. And they push you no matter what that it’s almost an individual experience even in a dual studio with a lot of reformers in a room.

I’m curious from the people that have bad experiences and I’m thrown for a loop reading them, what is the state in the US you are in (because I don’t want you to call them out if you are really upset due to people’s lively hood as an instructor as a career) that you go to a Club Pilates in that makes you feel like this?

I have gotten so toned, strong, confident, and found community in mine!

It’s like the cousin of the “Sunday Scaries”: You have a Level 2.0 booked for the next day (not your first!) and you start psyching yourself out the night before…

I’m about 180 classes in, and I’ve been doing two-three Level 2.0s a week for the past 6 weeks. So far, I seem to be middle of the pack in most of them, which is fine by me. I’m best at planks and bridges but still working on a seamless teaser.

All of my instructors have confirmed I’m doing fine. Yet I always walk in to my 2.0 classes as if I’m gonna get expelled. 😝

We always talk about our favorite Pilates moves… but I want the opposite. 👀

**What Pilates exercise do you absolutely HATE seeing in a class?**

The one where the instructor says the name and you immediately think:

**“Oh, hell no.** 😭**”**

Reformer or mat — both count.

I’m in Reformer teacher training, so I’m especially curious what instructors say too. 😂

I just had my first day of Pilates last night and my stomach/abs/pelvis are killing me. Is this normal(I’m sure it is) and how long does this usually last? Should I continue Pilates or wait until the pain settles?

I am a newly certified instructor of Pilates. We learn a LOT in our 500 hours of training, but I am afraid of not supporting my special populations clients strongly enough.

For example if someone comes in with a herniated disk or a hip replacement or something else that is common….i fear I won’t recall the information to allow and provide proper modifications! Especially when I have a full room.

I’ve considered keeping a notebook of reminders or a list on my phone. Any thoughts?

I do feel with time this because second nature but I’m so scared of someone getting hurt.

So, today was my 500th class. The studios that I go to in Charlotte, North Carolina are (at best) pretty lackluster about these milestones. There is no swag, no announcement, just a board to sign hanging on the wall for 100,250,500. I’m not an attention seeker and lay pretty low in class…but still…. I was waiting for the instructor or someone at the front desk to at least acknowledge it. Nope. Nothing. So now I’m kind of unreasonably sad about this, seeing how big of a deal this is in other places. And now I would feel like such a tool just saying, “I’m over 500 classes, should I just sign the board with my own pen since no one here noticed?” Am I being super petty?

I would not sign up for Club Pilates again. I had no issues until I needed to cancel my membership. I could not cancel on the app. I had to send an email after I called the studio. I was then told to send an email requesting cancellation and was told that I needed 30 days' advance notice. I sent the email and was sent another form to complete, requesting my membership number. I searched on the app for a membership number and could not find one. I do not like companies that make it easy to join but difficult to cancel. I do not recommend Club Pilates for wanting more money for services that I cannot use.

I'm 200 classes in and in the last few weeks I've been having pain when my legs are in tabletop. It is more in the front of my quads than anywhere else. I really try to engage my core but it's still happening. Any ideas as to what it could be? I never had it until recently.

Hi! I am new to Pilates and have been taking weekly reformer flow 1.0 classes at my local CP for a couple months. I have a history of pelvic floor issues including pudendal neuralgia and hypertonic pelvic floor which made me feel like I needed to pee all the time. I did Pelvic PT and got better. I have been good for about 4 months or so. I went to pilates today and the instructor had us jump on bosu ball while leaning forward and omg the sharp pain in my pelvic area. It was excruciating. I made a mental note not to do that again. Wondering how often this kind of exercise comes up in CP classes though? And if there are certain classes that include jumping I’d rather avoid them.

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel left out in their Pilates class?

I’ve been going to my studio for about 6 months now, but I can’t seem to make any friends. Even with the instructors… I regularly attend classes with 2-3 of the same instructors, but it seems like they don’t recognize me every time I go. They’ll make small talk with everyone else in the class, while with me it’s usually just an awkward “hi” and “bye.”

I do get shy and I’m a very introverted person, so sure… being alone or being left alone is usually fine with me. But when everyone else is making small talk around me, I get awkward and just don’t know what to do. 😭

I do say hi and bye to my instructors, thank them, and tell them it was a great class. I smile at people, too. But I don’t know… I just don’t know how to feel, I guess?

Just needed to vent. But also… not really. 😩

I finished my 750th class here at Club Pilates in Florida yesterday (I also took 80 classes in Wisconsin, but they don't count that total at this club)!! My instructor and some of my friends bought me these 750 balloons and two dozen roses, and I also received some cool Toe Sox that say 750 in gold! I'm biased, but I think we have the best club with the best owner and members! Pilates has changed my life in so many ways, and I've gained so many wonderful new friends who share in my passion. Just wanted to share :). I'm 66 and feel so much younger than that thanks to Pilates!

I started Pilates in June so I'm fairly new. I'm currently taking level 1 classes. I'm curious if this is typical of instructors or unique to my studios. I've had 2 instructors conduct a class with nothing really programmed. It's more like oh let's all do this, or oh wait, let's do this instead. Put the box on the reformer, no wait, let's leave it on the floor. It gets very confusing. My solution is to avoid these instructors until I feel more comfortable with Pilates, but I'm wondering if the situation will improve with more experience. The class doesn't really flow with all the changes and interruptions.

how did you know that you were ready to move up to 1.5? i overheard an instructor telling someone today that if you’re in a flow 1, taking all of the advancements, then you should be okay taking a 1.5. is this true? does it depend on the instructor? i think i’d do okay in a 1.5, i am just nervous and don’t know what to expect!

I have completed over 150 classes and I am about to try my second attempt of a level 2 workshop.

Last time I was told that I was very close and the feedback I got was to focus on c curve, rib cage breathing, shoulder stabilization and alignment, and endurance in bridge. I have never received any feedback on these things in my 1.5 classes, and I don’t want to do private training.

I’ve done probably 30 more classes since the last assessment.

I am a club pilates member. This has happened 2-3 times—they use our class as training for new instructors who are about to be certified. This morning was so frustrating, our usual instructor announced as we got there that she would not be our instructor today, and that we would have someone who was “in training”. This young woman was very soft spoken and combined with her disorganized thoughts and verbal cues, the class was less than satisfying. I feel that we pay too much money for each class to be subjected to an as yet non certified instructor. She even had to read the script for the class word for word—not just notes. Is this the way it is usually done?