Pilates is a great exercise for the body and the soul. It’s not always easy to find a great instructor. Here are some tips to help you know what to look for.

These are my top 5 tips when choosing a Pilates instructor:

1. Start with an assessment – For any exercise program to be effective, the instructor needs to know your strengths, weaknesses and any injuries you have so that your program can be tailored to address your weak spots and not cause injury.
2. Technique should be closely supervised –  The way you do the exercises is the difference between a great exercise to suit your needs and just another exercise with no outcome.
3. Choose a qualified instructor –  A physiotherapist or exercise physiologist will have an excellent knowledge of musculoskeletal medicine and can make sure all your exercises can be adjusted to treat and not aggravate your injuries and address your body’s specific needs.
4. Exercises should be continuously progressed and altered –  In order for you to improve and feel better, your exercises have to change and evolve. Your muscles need progressive overload (a little bit harder than you are comfortable doing) to change. As you get better, your exercises need to be made harder, more complicated and address different muscle groups to continuously improve.
5. Program should be regularly reviewed and adjusted – You will change, improve or new issues and injuries will arise, and these needs to be addressed in your program.

Do you have any other tips to share? Please SHARE in the comments below.

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