How Do I Keep Track of Repetitions During Teaching

I recently received this question from one of our members:

I'm having a hard time figuring out how long to teach a movement. Should I mentally count how many times the class has done the exercise? Shall I count repetitions, watch the clock, or observe how everyone is moving?

I have a feeling you already know the answer.

Go ahead—read the question one more time.

I'll wait.

Did your instinct bring you to the last option?

Observe how everyone is moving.

If you've read my article about why you should stop counting repetitions, you know exactly where I'm headed with this.

Let's revisit a few familiar phrases:

• Quality over quantity.
• Less is more.
• Smarter, not harder.

I truly don't count repetitions. I know that sounds almost rebellious in a world obsessed with numbers. We track everything: calories, steps, productivity, sleep scores, unread emails, and the tiny app badges reminding us of unfinished tasks. Numbers make us feel productive. They give us something to compare.

But in Pilates, numbers can be misleading.

It's not the quantity of movement that matters. It's the quality.

We often say, "Practice makes perfect." But if we practice without attention to quality, we simply become more skilled at doing something imperfectly. As Brent Anderson from Polestar Pilates wisely reminds us, we risk becoming perfect at imperfection.

Joseph Pilates himself said:

"A few well-designed movements properly performed in a balanced sequence are worth hours of doing sloppy calisthenics or forced contortions."

Romana Kryzanowska echoed the same sentiment:

"The only reason to repeat an exercise in Pilates is to do it better than the one before."

More recently, Naval Ravikant made a distinction that I think applies beautifully to Pilates: iterations versus repetitions. Repetitions are doing the same thing over and over again. Iterations are making small improvements with each attempt. In Pilates, we're not simply accumulating reps for the sake of a number. Each movement is an opportunity to refine, adjust, and improve upon the one before. In other words, we're not chasing repetitions—we're pursuing iterations.

So how do you stop counting and still keep your classes flowing smoothly?

1. Alternate Sides Immediately

Whenever possible, choose variations that alternate sides within the exercise itself.

For example, in Bridging with a Single Leg Lift, maintain the bridge position while lifting one leg into tabletop, then alternate sides.

This approach takes the pressure off. If one student ends up doing one extra repetition on one side, it's not the end of the world. Compared to the asymmetries of daily life, that's a very small imbalance.

2. Don't Be Afraid of Repetition

Side Series can be trickier.

Because you complete one side before switching to the other, it's easy to spend extra time on the first side while cueing alignment and correcting form. By the time you move to the second side, students already understand the exercise, and we often rush through it.

We sometimes hesitate to repeat ourselves because we feel silly saying the same thing twice.

But repetition has value.

Make a point of revisiting the setup and key cues on both sides. Think of those repeated cues as an alignment mantra that reinforces the movement pattern.

3. Start on the Other Side

If you notice that you consistently spend more time on one side, simply reverse your usual order in the next class.

Start Mermaid on the right instead of the left.

Not only does this balance your teaching over time, but it also keeps your students mentally engaged. They may recognize the exercises, but they can't rely entirely on autopilot.

4. Teach Students to Honor Their Own Bodies

Here's an experiment you can try.

Continue teaching an exercise until everyone in the room has taken a break.

Of course, explain your intention beforehand:

"I want you to work for yourself, not for me. I don't want you comparing your repetitions to the person next to you. We're going to play a game: I'll continue teaching this exercise, and each of you will decide when you need to pause, recover, and rejoin when you're ready."

This encourages students to listen inward instead of seeking external validation.

5. Develop a Feel for Timing

Over the years, I've developed a sense for how long it takes to teach approximately five repetitions of an exercise.

You can develop this skill too.

Practice talking yourself through five or six repetitions. Do it often.

Eventually, you'll recognize the rhythm instinctively. And whether today's class completes four repetitions or six isn't nearly as important as whether those repetitions were meaningful.

6. Watch Their Form

This is perhaps the most important guideline of all.

Watch your students.

When their alignment deteriorates, when movement becomes rushed, or when effort replaces control, it's time to move on, take a break, or modify the exercise.

A useful benchmark is the majority rule: when about 50% of the class begins to lose form, it's probably time for the next step.

Pilates was never meant to be a race to a predetermined number.

As teachers, our job isn't to deliver five repetitions, ten repetitions, or sixty seconds of work. Our job is to help students move with greater awareness, precision, and control.

Sometimes that happens in three repetitions.

Sometimes it takes eight.

The art of teaching Pilates is learning to trust what you see more than what you count.