Teaching Great Private Classes Virtually

[00:00:00] Welcome to Pilates Teachers' Manual, your guide to becoming a great Pilates teacher. I'm Olivia and I'll be your host. Join the conversation on Instagram @pilatesteachersmanual. Today's chapter starts now.

Hello, hello. I am so glad you're here. I've got a fantastic episode for you today about teaching great private classes virtually using a video conferencing app like zoom to teach your private classes. 

Before we dive in to that good stuff, I want to remind you to [00:01:00] please subscribe or follow the podcast wherever you are listening to it. Super excited. I just got listed in a bunch of new podcasting platforms, so wherever you love to listen to podcasts, make sure that you subscribe so that you can stay up to date with all the awesome Pilates goodness. 

So diving in, how do you teach a great private class virtually? It's very similar to teaching a regular private class in which you were in the same room as the person who is doing the Pilates, but there are some things that are different.

First thing I'm going to talk about is setting the stage. It's largely the same as the previous week's episode. I have a more detailed rundown about setting the stage for your classes in the episode on Teaching Great Group Classes Virtually. So if you haven't already listened to that episode, make sure you go back and listen to it.

But let me give you the quick rundown here. Some important things to keep in mind while you are setting the stage for your class. You do want to have a clear space. It doesn't [00:02:00] need to be a blank studio wall of space, but you do want it to be neat and organized and fairly muted so that it's not distracting from you when you are doing the exercises or while you're there. 

You do want to have bright light because everything looks better in bright light, including you, including the exercises that you're doing. So whether that means that you're getting some daylight from your windows or you're getting some lamps to help you definitely have bright light if you can. 

I talked about color considerations and I do think that it's important that if you have a black mat wearing black clothing is going to make it difficult to see your body just sort of against it. Or if you have a colored wall background or stuff going on that's a certain color, you may want to choose different colors for what your wearing. Also, just kind of being wary of patterns, specifically horizontal lines, that kind of make that dizzy effect on camera. Just so that you look your best and what you're wearing is not distracting from what you're trying to do, which is fabulous Pilates. 

You do want to check your sound and [00:03:00] your video beforehand. Minimize any noises that you can, whether that means closing windows, if you're by a busy street or asking the people you live with to not have heavy metal guitar practice during your session, things like that. 

Do you have your props on hand so that you don't need to get up and grab them. You just want everything to be set from your camera to your audio, to your props so that you can just do the class. 

And you do want to be as comfortable as you can on camera and you can practice that. The privates are a little bit easier because you are getting feedback, so it's not as much of a void. But there are things to think about when you're on camera just sitting up straight or standing up straight and smiling. You know, just speak your natural fabulous self. 

Couple of differences if you're using Zoom specifically. There are lots of video conferencing applications out there and there are new ones popping up all the time. I'm still working on zoom, so if you are also on zoom, I've got a couple of tips for you that will help your private sessions go a [00:04:00] little bit smoother. 

So something that's really good to do is if you can, if your schedule allows it and your client's schedule allows it, if you can schedule your privates as recurring meetings, they will use the same zoom link to get into the meeting every time and you don't have to send them an email reminder before every session telling them this is the Zoom link. If you just make it a recurring meeting, it's going to have the same link and that's going to be easier for you and for them. 

I like to enable the waiting room. So when you go to your meeting, you can go to your settings or edit this meeting and there's an option way down at the bottom of that screen that says, enable waiting room and that means that you will manually admit them to the class. That's not a feature that is super helpful necessarily for group classes where there's a bunch of people and you may not even know who's going to be showing up to that group class. Probably that would not be helpful, but in your private, then you get to let that person into the room and then you can make sure that your space is all set up beforehand.

I usually [00:05:00] sign in about five minutes before I start the session just to make sure that the room is set and I know that if I've enabled the waiting room, they won't be coming in while I'm in the middle of doing something. I will let them in and make sure that I am smiling when they come in. 

Gallery view is a good thing to do when you're teaching a private class because there's only you and one other person. So two screens on your screen is fine. When you're teaching a group class and you've got tons of tiny little boxes, that's not super helpful, but if it's just you and another person as it is in a private session, having gallery view allows you to see yourself and them side to side. That's useful. 

Whether you want to start the meeting with your video on or your video off is really up to you. If they're coming in for a virtual private training session, the expectation is that their video is going to be on. So you can choose to say, start with the video on. I think I have mine set to start with the video off, but that's really up to you. Whatever you think is easier is more [00:06:00] comfortable. 

And I did talk about this in group classes, but if you can turn on your video preview so that when you start the meeting, it shows what the camera sees before the meeting even starts. If you've enabled the waiting room, you may not have to do that, but it just lets you see what the camera sees. So if a door is not closed or something's askew, you can kind of address it before the meeting actually begins. 

There are some real benefits to offering privates on Zoom or offering them virtually. And the main thing for me, I see is scheduling, is that I'm able to schedule 30 minute appointments and I'm able to minimize the downtime between my appointments because there is no commute. It's literally my living room. So it does free up a lot of time. 

And just offer a different way of doing those privates. Like, I don't know if with the equipment I would, even if I was in the same room with the person, want to offer a 30 minute [00:07:00] class, like I'm really used to the 50 or 55 minutes frame of mind. I'm sure you can do amazing things in 30 minutes. I see it all the time, but in terms of my personal teaching, 30 minutes seems really short for an equipment class, but you can do so much matwork in 30 minutes. You could probably do all the classical mat exercises in 30 minutes if you were just going through it. 

So teaching virtually really provides that opportunity to have those shorter classes and to create your schedule in a way that maximizes your time. I know for me, in addition to doing the teaching bit of it, I'm also working really hard on this podcast and like I announced, I'm also working very hard on Pilates Students' Manual, the student companion to this podcast, which is more teacher focused.

Being able to organize my appointments in a way that maximizes my time away from teaching. I can really put my energy towards other projects and other things. And really you can't beat the commute. [00:08:00] It's going to be really difficult actually going back to like having to take time to get places and it's not just walking into the next room. 

Coming up after the break, I'm going to be talking about things to keep in mind before your virtual appointment. Things to think about during your appointment and things to think about after your appointment. So if you're looking for tips and tricks to the actual teaching part of your class, stay tuned. That's coming up next.

Hi there. I hope you're enjoying today's chapter so far. There's lots of awesome stuff coming up after the break as well. Please share this episode with your friends and followers and share the Pilates love. Now, back to the show.

[00:09:00] Even though this class is happening virtually, it is in a lot of ways, exactly the same as a private class in regular formatting where you're both in the same room. Like all private appointments, it's not just you being this dictator and just telling them what to do. It really is a conversation and it is a co-creation of a movement experience, right?

So before your appointment, and this could happen over zoom, if you scheduled like a specific zoom call with them, it could happen over email, or if your clients have your phone number, if you're texting with them. You do want to figure out some things before you even have your virtual appointment that you would do the same in person.

Whether you do it at the start of your first session or if you talk to them beforehand as [00:10:00] well. Even if you've worked with this person before, I think that it's important to have this conversation because it's going to be different. Just the nature of the virtual setting is going to be different. The nature of what you can accomplish is going to be different. The sort of feedback you're going to be giving is different, so you want to just talk it out beforehand. 

Big things that are in that conversation for me are what are my clients goals? What do they want to get out of these sessions so I can tailor those sessions, still exactly the same as you would in a regular private session, to meet their needs.

Also really important that you wouldn't have to do for an in person private is what equipment and what space do you have in your house that you're going to be working with. Because if I have a ton of great exercises for the stability ball that I think would really help them, it doesn't matter if they don't have a stability ball. You can recommend that they buy a stability ball, but it's not like you're coming into the studio and working with the equipment that's there. 

So you want to know what they have [00:11:00] and if it's a person who's new to you, also their level of proficiency with the equipment because we are still concerned about our client's safety and we want to make sure that they're moving safely. If it's a piece of equipment and they've never used it before and they're brand new to Pilates, maybe that's not the first thing that I'm going to start programming for them. 

You also want to outline in this conversation what your rates are and how you're going to be paid, whether that's happening through the studio, whether that's happening through your business, if you have one, or if they're going to be paying you in a different way. You just want to have all of that stuff out there so that there's no questions when you are teaching how compensation is going to work. 

I would also say before your class, you may want to plan ahead of time. And it's interesting for me because I have moved beyond kind of writing down my class plan in a lot of ways when I'm teaching in person, because it almost flows. And I don't mean that in an arrogant way, but just being with the [00:12:00] equipment and seeing how the body's working in front of me, I can make adjustments. 

But that's because I'm in the room with them, so I can change springs or I can, Oh, you know, this is looking really good. I'll grab this other piece of equipment that's there. You can do some of that in a virtual appointment, but the equipment changes is really going to be on your client.

They're going to have to grab the new piece of equipment for themselves or change something, spring setting, whatever, themselves. So I like to have a note card and I feel like I've regressed in my teaching because I started with a note card for every class and now I'm back to note cards. But it's really nice to just have that nearby while I'm teaching. If I'm on my laptop doing the video, I'll just have the note card there so that I can keep track of what's coming next and what to tell them to grab. So those are all things that I have done before I start teaching the appointment. 

During the appointment, very similar to when you're doing it in person, I always have a check in. I want to see how their body's feeling since I've seen them last. Have they taken other [00:13:00] classes? Have they ridden their bike? Have they gone for a long walk? I just want to kind of get a baseline of how they're feeling, same way you would in person. 

I do want to wrangle their camera before we start moving. So I want to make sure that I can see their mat and see their body parts on the mat. If they're going to be standing. I want to make sure that there is space for them to stand, that they're still on camera, just so that I can keep an eye on everything that's going on. 

Some clients, it'll be super intuitive and they'll already be there. Sometimes they'll have their laptop set up from something else and it won't be there. So just, you know, gently get them in position so that you can see what's going on and really have the best session. 

I also have them equipment wrangle at the very beginning of the class as well. So I will tell them right upfront, this is what we're going to be using, have this nearby, whether it's, you know, grab your resistance band, grab your weights, grab your exercise ball, whatever we're going to be using.

I want them to have it all set out ahead of time so that those transitions since they're [00:14:00] going to be handling the transitions can happen a little bit more smoothly. There's no looking around for the gliding discs. You told them right up front, grab them, right now. We are going to be using them. 

A question that's come up for me just as I've been teaching is do I need the piece of equipment that they're working on? Because I do have a ton of props, but there are props that I don't have. One prop that I don't have is like the really big exercise ball, like the 55 centimeter or the 85 centimeter, like the really big exercise balls that you can sit on. I do not have one of them. I also don't have a magic circle, which if I knew that I was going into quarantine and like, obviously I could also order it right now, but I just don't have that at the moment.

On one hand it is helpful if you have it, but on the other hand, if it's something like a reformer, I don't think that you need it to teach. If you can still demonstrate the body position, if you feel comfortable enough with that piece of equipment that you can walk them through using it in a way that is clear to them, I think you're fine. You don't need that piece of [00:15:00] equipment, but you may be miming a little bit which like, Hey, who doesn't love a good mime? 

So for that example, I don't have a magic circle. I do have a balance pad that is about the same size as a magic circle. So if I need to demonstrate what you're doing with the magic circle, I'll hold on to that and then I'm still holding a circular thing. But I'm also working with clients who are comfortable with those pieces of equipment and they can, you know, use their imagination to see that it's a magic circle, or they have the magic circle and I have the balance pad because this is a private session. 

You don't want it, in my opinion, again, everything. This entire podcast is my opinion. You don't want it to just be you demoing the same way you do in your group classes. You shouldn't be doing the entire workout with them, in my opinion. A little bit of demoing, yes. Especially if they're confused about what you're asking them to do or if you're doing something that you've never done with them before and they don't have a frame of reference for it. Like, yes, of course demo it. 

You don't have to like sit there and just talk the whole time, but the really important thing is that you're giving them feedback. You [00:16:00] want them to know that you are looking at them. You are seeing what they're doing and you're offering them suggestions. You're offering the modifications, you're offering them variations so that this is for them. This is not a general workout experience. It is specifically for their goals. It is using the equipment that they have and you're challenging them because you're paying attention to them. You're watching them as they're doing those things.

I was really lucky to do a Barre Above barre certification with Leslie Bender, of all people. I know. Freaking amazing. And she talked about the learning stages of your students, and I think it's really useful. Definitely going to be useful in person, but it's really useful right now when you're just looking at a person on the screen.

And so the idea for the learning stages is, is that there are three levels, and they're not better or worse. You will progress as you become more proficient in the exercises, but I don't want you to see it as like a hierarchy of things. 

But the first is cognitive learners. [00:17:00] And they might be brand new to this type of exercise. They may be fine at exercising, but they're brand new to Pilates maybe, and they don't have the body awareness and they don't have the awareness of the movements. So they're kind of lost. So for a person who's at that level of awareness, if they're at that cognitive level, you want to give them basic cues and you want to do a lot of demonstrating so that they can do what you do.

And of course you're cuing that it's becoming, you know, about them and they're making those connections, but you're really focusing on those very basic cues. You're trying to lay the foundation. 

An associative learner is starting to get it. They have some familiarity with the exercises, with what you're talking about. You will probably still be visually showing them things, but they're going to start benefiting from the comparison where you're saying, you know, this is the proper alignment, and then showing them this is out of alignment. They're beginning to make the connection in their body and they can see, Ooh, that's out of alignment. I can [00:18:00] see that that's different. 

And then the highest level or learning stage would be autonomous learners who definitely get it. They know the exercises, they have that brain body connection, and for that person, you can get more specific in your cues. So if you're starting with basic cues for a cognitive learner, you're getting a little bit more specific for your associative learner and then an autonomous learner, you can get really into the nitty gritty. You can really fine tune the cues that you're giving them because they have more of a foundation to build on. 

I would also say for your autonomous learners, you can incorporate greater coordination challenges. Because if they understand the foundational movement and they've leveled up a little bit there, you can also start challenging their brain and having them do multiple things at the same time, things like that.

So depending on where your client is, that's going to change how you teach. I feel like I already knew that when I went into the barre certification, but it was really useful having words to go with it, if that makes sense. You know that some people get it and some people don't get it, but I felt [00:19:00] that that was a kind of interesting thing and you definitely want to keep that in mind with the person that you're teaching, especially virtually where you don't have that tactile component to assist them in their learning.

This goes for group classes. This goes for private classes. Video and the internet are difficult sometimes, and that's okay. Sometimes the video freezes or your sound cuts out. All you can really do is be patient and repeat yourself. I always try to make my transitions and my exercises simpler than not, or I'll start really simple and then add complexity until what I want to happen begins to get lost in translation and then I hang out there.

And just the usual stuff. You're speaking loudly, you're speaking clearly. You're not afraid to repeat yourself and you just be patient. You push through and you keep moving forward. I hope that these tips help you teach those great private classes virtually. I'm learning as much as you, I'm finding things that work and things that don't work all the time.

[00:20:00] If you have some great ideas to share, please share them with me on Instagram @pilatesteachersmanual or send me an email at pilatesteachersmanual@oliviabioni.Com because again, we're all growing together. We're all learning together, so thank you for sharing your feedback.

Thank you so much for joining me for today's chapter of Pilates Teachers' Manual, your guide to becoming a great Pilates teacher. If you loved today's episode, subscribe and leave a review. You can reach out to me on Instagram @ pilatesteachersmanual or send me an email to pilatesteachersmanual@oliviabioni.com. 

The adventure continues. Until next time.