Introducing Your Pilates Teachers

At some point in the last two years, Liz and I have had several conversations that went like this:

Us: I’m training to become a Pilates teacher
Them: (pause)…oh…is that like a weekend course?
Us: Er…no, not quite.

In our first blog for our new website we’d like to tell you a little about our training at Body Control Pilates (BCP) in London.

Firstly, we could bamboozle you with ‘Celeb Praise’ for our main tutor and co-founder of BCP Lynne Robinson (her of the distinctive streaky grey hair that you may have on a DVD circa 1990) and how she is called “the high priestess of Pilates” by Sophie Dahl, has worked wonders on Liz Hurley and takes some significant responsibility for Holly Willoughby and Paloma Faith’s trimmer, toned figures. However, the BCP mission is “Pilates for all”.

So instead, we want to you to know just how much goes into training as a BCP teacher. It is not a weekend course; it’s a thorough and intense and challenging course. Starting with 12 tuition days in London of intensive learning about the body, each day taking a different joint – you would never believe you could spend 6 hours exploring the spine, or the elbow, or the intricacies of the foot and ankle! Then we do practical assessments and around 50 hours of teaching practise in another BCP tutor’s classes. This saw Liz and I driving all around Wiltshire and Gloucestershire for hours each week to get a breadth of experience under our belts from observing and co-teaching with a range of BCP teachers. During this phase, we also completed workshops back at the London headquarters, essays on aspects of the history and ideals of Joseph Pilates, workbooks on health and safety and had to sit quite a terrifying Anatomy and Physiology exam (less for Liz with her PE background – a whole new challenge for me!). Training is completed with a final practical teaching exam – think of a test akin to a driving test (there’s an examiner with a clip board), mixed with improvised stand-up mixed with having x-ray vision and, oh yes, the alignment, centring and breathing in Pilates. It’s all a bit of a blur…

So, when we passed all this we were very relieved, but also, we know that we have been very well trained and prepared to take our knowledge out into our classes to meet the needs of our clients of all shapes and sizes and abilities.

So, Pilates for life, Pilates for all, not just for celebrities.