Ruling Class

Making mat classes fun, dynamic and effective will help you attract clients and enhance your bottom line.

- Anne Marie O’Connor

“For Joseph Pilates, the matwork was what we should all aspire to do, and do well,” says Joy Puleo, education programming manager for Balanced Body. “In his book, Return to Life, he boasts of the profound positive physical transformations that occur through the matwork,” she notes.

“For a while, simply offering Pilates mat ensured a full roster, but the classes are no longer easy and guaranteed sells,” says Puleo. “Time, rote repetition, and the rise and fall of other fitness fads have made them harder to market.”

For the studio owner, it can be hard to convince clients who can take mat classes for “free” at their gym to sign up for studio-based mat sessions. Instructors at health clubs and those who teach other open classes face another issue: “You have people who’ve been taking class for eight years in the same class with someone who has never taken a class before,” says Blossom Leilani Crawford, the owner of Bridge Pilates, who also has taught a mat class at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn for 12 years. “In my class, I have everyone from young dancers to 65-year-old ladies.”

For advice on overcoming these obstacles and teaching mat classes that are enjoyable, interesting and challenging, we asked four highly experienced teachers for their best tips.

1. MIX IT UP.

“If you simply repeat the same exercises in the same order every time, you run the risk of becoming too monotonous and boring,” says Puleo. “Making classes dynamic, with a sense of light spontaneity, can liven any class situation. The most popular classes I have ever had are the ones which I make diverse and fun.”