Level 3 reformer Pilates teacher course

Reformer Pilates is often considered more dynamic and intense than its mat work counterpart because most of the exercises are performed through greater ranges of motion and involve resistance that is applied from springs and bands. The boxes used on the reformer also allow participants to get in to body positions that just aren’t possible on the mat.

The reformer was initially created by Joseph Pilates using a hospital bed and its springs to help injured soldiers to rehabilitate themselves from war injuries. Thankfully, the technology has advanced somewhat now and the modern reformer is almost unrecognisable from early designs.

Many people often think that reformer exercises are more advanced and complex than the original mat Pilates repertoire. While in some cases this may be so, other reformer-based exercises are in fact a little easier because the reformer can be used to support bodyweight, as well as provide resistance to work against. From a skill perspective, they are a little more technically challenging because there is much more to think about while the reformer bed is moving.

Mat Pilates is the foundation of all Pilates instructor qualifications which is why the Level 3 Diploma in Teaching mat Pilates is an entry requirement for this and other reformer Pilates courses. If once you’ve completed your mat and reformer instructor courses you are still hungry for more Pilates knowledge and skills, there are a number of other pieces of apparatus that you can work with. Our Guide to Pilates Equipment describes each of these in more detail, but for ease of reference, they include the Cadillac, Trapeze, Ladder Barrel, Spine Corrector, Pilates Chair, also known as the ‘Wunda Chair’.

Reformer exercises are typically grouped into ‘series’ according to the starting position on the reformer bed, although some may refer to them as a ‘repertoire’. Each exercise within a series is designed to flow into the next and build upon the previous movement, adhering to the key principle of Pilates, flow.

While there are some variations between the exercises in each series, and even the order of each series, most reformer sessions follow a linear structure similar the following: footwork, hundred, overhead, rowing (front and back), long box, short box, stomach massage, side-lying, kneeling, long stretches and knee stretches.

Our reformer Pilates teacher course will teach you how to perform over a hundred different reformer exercises so you’ll be well-equipped to start your career as a reformer Pilates teacher.

The Level 3 Mat Pilates Diploma is the entry level qualification for those wanting to teach Pilates classes. It covers all the essential anatomy, physiology, Pilates principles, exercises and teaching skills. There is also some technical postural information included in the programme to help you assess and correct your student’s alignment. Essentially, this programme is designed to prepare you for teaching apparently healthy students, either on a one-to-one basis, or in a class environment.

The Level 4 Certificate in Teaching Pilates again focuses on matwork, but the technical knowledge included in this programme is much more advanced, and aligns with modern scientific thinking on posture, pain, and movement dysfunctions, which is a common reason why people turn to Pilates and reformer Pilates today. Our level 4 advanced Pilates course is designed more for those teachers that want to demonstrate that they have a specialist level of knowledge to be able to support clients that are in pain, or who have complex musculoskeletal injuries.

This reformer teacher course is designed specifically for those wanting to teach reformer-based exercises to apparently healthy clients that don’t have any complex postural or musculoskeletal disorders. This course will equip you with the knowledge and competence to be able to teach a wide range of reformer-based exercises safely and effectively, and to assess the safety of basically any other reformer exercise. For those that also undertake the level 4 reformer course, there is no reason why they couldn’t teach appropriate reformer-based exercises to clients with more complex needs.

The practical aspect of the reformer Pilates teacher course focuses on the teaching skills, including how to deliver safe and effective reformer Pilates sessions and classes that align with the principles of the Pilates methodology.

You will spend as much time off the reformer teaching your classmates as you will on the reformer. As such, you will need to ensure that prior to attending your course, you have watched all the online reformer training videos and that you have a reasonable amount of practical experience attending reformer Pilates sessions. Throughout your pre-course study period, we recommend that you complete 1-2 classes per week alongside your learning and coursework.

Interested in learning more about the specific steps involved in becoming an instructor? Read our how to become a reformer Pilates instructor article.

There are a handful of training providers delivering reformer Pilates courses entirely online, but we do not. Whether these are delivered in a live virtual environment, or as a self-paced online learning course, these courses do not provide the best learning experience and are potentially unsafe. The reformer is a highly complex piece of Pilates apparatus and it’s imperative you learn how to use and teach it safely and effectively. You cannot do this online.

Pilates is a very tactile form of exercise and one which requires highly specific patterns of movement in order to target key stabilising muscles. It’s highly unlikely that anyone completing an online reformer Pilates course would be able to get the requisite level of skill without physically attending their training.

We do however have online virtual programmes for mat-based Pilates, because we’re able to livestream and watch students in real-time. Most of our students don’t have reformers at home, so livestreaming a reformer instructor course wouldn’t really add any value to anyone. It would also be incredibly unsafe. This is another reason why we don’t offer online reformer Pilates courses.

Yes. Once you graduate, we’ll send you over an email with a link to our offers and discounts page, from here you can redeem a range of discount codes on all manner of health and fitness products and services, including equipment suppliers.

We currently have a partnership with Align Pilates and as such, students wanting to purchase reformers from Align will receive an exclusive discount. All you need to do is to prove that you have qualified with HFE.

We deliver our reformer Pilates courses across the country, although most of our training venues are concentrated around major cities like London, Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham and Nottingham.

While the popularity of reformer Pilates is growing exponentially, there still aren’t as many high-quality reformer studios as there are health and fitness clubs. As such, the availability of studios with sufficient equipment to run reformer teacher training classes is much more limited than other matwork Pilates.