Reposted with permission from Movementality

It seems as though every corner of Melbourne has got a health or fitness studio popping up, offering some form of hyped-up fitness phenomenon. Sweaty bodies, tight active wear, perfect physiques and the golden smile. It’s all part of their pristine marketing campaign to facilitate huge numbers of willing and ambitious people in to their small but busy studios. Why? Perhaps in hopes of achieving the media influenced, socially-accepted ideal body that’s continually pushed down our throats by mainstream marketing. It’s enough to make you reconsider even starting to exercise, and unfortunately Pilates (particularly reformer Pilates) is right in the mix with the best of them…

However, they aren’t all like that. Some of them actually even know what they’re talking about!

Group classes of any format are a fantastic way for providing structured exercise to larger numbers of people, who need a little extra motivation. And they can be hugely beneficial for facilitating repeat visits per week, while remaining cost effective for those who don’t want to attend regular semi-privates at a premium cost. And there are a million different versions of group classes you can attend these days; Pilates, Reformer Pilates, Piloxing, Yoga, Bikram, Hot yoga, ZUU, dance classes etc etc, the list goes on… And the beauty of having so many options, is that if you try enough, at some point you’re going to find the right instructor, teaching the right kind of information, at just the right pace for you.

But it can be a real mine-field to navigate in order to find the right class, and often you’ll end up working your way through the introductory packages of every studio in town in search of that ideal class. So surely, there must be a better way to navigate the system, and streamline where to attend classes? Well, I’ve listed a few ideas below to help you find the right class for you.

Ask the big questions from yourself first - what is it that I actually enjoy doing? If you can identify what that is, half the battle is over. We often get people coming for sessions with no idea what they’re actually looking for, which makes it pretty hard to give them what they want. If you can spend a bit of time thinking about what your goals are, the environment you enjoy, the kind of people you like being around while exercising, the attitude of the practitioner, and the kinds of movements you like doing - then you’ll have a starting point of reference when speaking to the studio about their offerings.

If you find something you like, find out where/how they trained - it’s not a guarantee, but often if one practitioner is delivering a certain way, there will be others like them! They may be working in the same studio, or have recommendations for other studios that are better suited to your requirements. Also, ask how extensively they are trained - for example, Physio’s, although University qualified for rehabilitation, don’t actually have to have any certified Pilates movement training, and so a lot of them will attend a weekend course or two, but very few actually meet the government standard for Pilates Practitioners of a Diploma level qualification, which takes around 18-24 months to complete.

Shop around - often people are happy to settle for something because it suits their location, or their time, or their price point. And these are all valid reasons to attend a studio, but often there is that extra something you get out of finding just the right place for you that can’t be valued quite so easily - like the community you get to know, and the relationships you develop within the studio, that might take a little extra work but add so much more value to your sessions.

Premium vs Discount model - ask some questions around what the studios model is. If they have anymore than 12 people in a class, it falls in to the category of a discount model - expect larger class sizes, lower price points, less individual attention and more expectation that you’ll figure it out as you go. This is great if you have no injuries, and are just looking for a easily accessed session without too many of the extras. Anything around 10 or less people in a class is heading towards a premium service. Expect more individualised attention, more experienced practitioners, more of a community feel, a few extra add-ons in the studio, and a price point to match - great for those who have decided they want more value from their sessions and aren’t afraid to invest a bit more to get it.

So at Movementality, we offer a premium model: we have Diploma qualified practitioners, a maximum of 8 clients per class, and we focus on the feel-good factor, rather than the sweat and scream side of the industry. We have a strong community feel, and most people do a mixture of services within our business. It’s an awesome space that we’re really proud of, and although we aren’t the prettiest or coolest kids on the block, we’re doing some pretty awesome things for our clients who show up every week and want to have an awesome time.