Every Pilates exercise trains strength, range of motion, and skill.

We explore how to progress your clients intelligently by adjusting one dimension at a time to build capacity, clarity, and confidence in movement.

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Special shout out to Adam McAtee for this post

Citations in these episodes:

1. ep 278 Does Pilates strengthen your little muscles?
2. ep 216 Why knowing which muscles are working in a movement is a waste of time
3. ep 160 Can we even feel muscles activating?

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Dallas Noerdlinger (Core Pilates, Oklahoma City) shares why she sold 50% of her studio during pregnancy, what changed in the business and culture, and how she bought it back.

We talk boutique vs franchise positioning, keeping instructors happy, managing owner overwhelm, and the “unlimited membership” + waitlist problem—plus practical fixes for capacity, pricing, and schedule structure.

The most useful kind of body awareness is mostly unconscious and automatic control, like a cat. This is built through practice, not narration.

Links:

1. Glute activation drills increase perception but not actual glute activation here
2. Episode 160 "Can we even feel muscles activating?" here

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Studies mentioned in this episode:

1. 2025 longitudinal study finds text neck is not associated with future neck pain here
2. 2023 systematic review of interventions for neck pain finds strengthening works here
3. 2017 Chen et al. systematic review finds neck strengthening is the most effective intervention for workplace neck pain - more effective than posture or ergonomic advice here

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Your clients don’t skip Pilates because they don’t care.

They skip because the system asks them to do work they don’t have the capacity for.

In this short episode, Raphael shares:

1. Why flexibility often reduces attendance
2. The paradox of overwhelm: needing structure but lacking the bandwidth to create it
3. How studios unintentionally design for no-shows and drop-off
4. A simple shift from “choice” to “default” that increases consistency and retention

If your clients say they “don’t have time”, this episode explains what’s really happening and how to fix it.

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What do flamingo, arms in straps and knee pulls have in common?

They look different. They feel different.

They’re secretly doing the exact same thing.

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A Pilates cue goes off the rails and exposes everything we get wrong about “perfect form.” Expect heresy, biomechanics, and a very small grape that ruins neutral forever.

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How much Pilates do you need to do to get stronger?

Probably less than you think!

Resources:

• Strength training reduces injury risk substantially here and here and here
• Resistance training itself is a very safe activity here and here
• Foot pronation increases risk of shin splints here, but has no effect on overall injury risk here and there is minimal evidence that any biomechanical variable predicts running injuries here
• Knee valgus does not predict future ACL injury here

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