Teaching Pilates : How Fast is Too Fast?

An anonymous teacher from the midwest writes:

In my Power Pilates mat training, I was pushed to teach quickly, more quickly than I'm comfortable with.  As I've explored other comprehensive teacher training programs and found what I consider to be high quality ones, I'm learning more and more that I really am more cut out for detail teaching. 

In the search for a comprehensive program, I realize I've developed a lot of bad habits from Power Pilates so I'm essentially beginning again by working out the kinks.  Power Pilates has changed my body and developed my core, and was a good way to get started, but now, it's time for more.  My neck was always hurting after I did Power Pilates, too, and now it doesn't with a more mindful setup.

Why the push for speed and is Pilates really meant to be the fast-paced "work out" some programs believe it should be?

The Pilates Nun adds on:

In December, I visited with an East Coast studio owner and when I asked about her mat program, she confessed that she'd completely discontinued it.  The reason?  She thought she was a failure as a mat teacher because she could not teach the class as fast as her Power Pilates comprehensive program pushed her to.  She does not believe that clients are safe or that they're able to grasp the work in any meaningful way when class is taught so quickly and did not feel confident enough to override her training so her solution was to drop her mat program entirely. 

The Pilates Nun answers:

What a lousy outcome for everyone concerned. 

These two issues are caused by the same problem and to understand the problem, we've got to objectively understand its origin and live if forward, so to speak, in order to see how difficult it becomes if we don't nip it in the bud. 

Allow me to begin with a glaringly honest couple of questions that point up the real problem.

In the case of our studio owner who discontinued her entire mat program, how can she have successfully completed a comprehensive program and not been encouraged to think independently? 

In the case of our mat certified teacher who has a problem with speed, does it seem reasonable that a person attending a weekend mat training would, come Sunday, know enough to be able to safely and confidently teach even a basic mat quickly? 

Beyond that, a deeper issue is whether a weekend/quickie mat training is reasonable to begin with.  

Grab a Pellegrino & click on that little link to keep reading.