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Type of Cues That Help Your Pilates Student

What Type of Cues Help Your Pilates Student the Most?

teaching skills Feb 23, 2020

Watch me teach a few mat exercises to my student Bethany. As you watch Bethany do the first couple of repetitions of each exercise, see if you can identify what type of cue would help her the most, tactile, or verbal?

We did 

  • Bridging
  • Pelvic Clocks 3-9 (1:45)
  • Oblique Bridging (2:48)
  • Chest Lift (3:55)
  • Table Top (5:55)
  • Dead Bugs/Arm Arcs (6:30)
  • Dead Bugs / Toe Taps / Heel Taps (7:00)
  • Swimming (8:05)

 

Related: The Cueing Cure: Dramatically Improve Your Verbal Cueing in 30-Days

Notice how I let her do two repetitions of the exercise without correcting her. I want her - first of all - to move as she's learning the basic form of the exercise. This gives her confidence that she's doing the exercise correctly. It gives me a chance to look at her whole body, and see what she might need, most of all. 

In Bridging, I chose to correct her feet, because by closing the kinetic chain with a good contact point to the floor, her leg and hip muscles can work more effectively.

How do you phrase your verbal cue? Did you come up with the same ones I chose? Would you have done something differently?  Shoot me an email.

In the Pilates Encyclopedia, we dive into each of these exercises to help you fully understand the details and get the maximum benefit from them.

 

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