A Practical Guide to Pilates Teacher Training in the UK

Popularity and Demand for Pilates

The popularity of Pilates-based exercise has increased significantly in recent decades. There are perhaps a multitude of reasons why Pilates has become so popular, including, but by no means limited to, celebrity influences, greater societal interest in staying fit and healthy, and more widespread understanding of the physical benefits of Pilates as a form of body conditioning.

Perhaps however, the number one reason why people take up Pilates, at least initially anyway, is linked with its restorative and therapeutic benefits. With soaring levels of inactivity, prolonged time spent being sedentary, and our incessant and overreliance on technology, people just aren’t activating muscles at appropriate levels or in a balanced way like they used to. This has given rise to somewhat of an epidemic of musculoskeletal pain and other pain-related disorders.

Medical doctors and physiotherapists can do little to fix the problem because it’s primarily lifestyle-related, and painkillers only serve to mask the symptoms. It’s at this point when many people are attracted to Pilates; they’ve been told by a friend or colleague with a similar ailment that this resolved their complaint, so they give it a try. In fact, many doctors actively encourage their patients to take up Pilates when they present with muscle or joint pain because they trust the underlying science.

Interestingly, a common reason why people often decide to later become a Pilates teacher is because they themselves have experienced the effects of chronic musculoskeletal pain, or maybe a more complex neuromuscular disorder, and through Pilates they were able to reduce or eliminate their symptoms completely. Those teachers that are motivated by contribution and helping others very often stand out as being some of the best Pilates teachers in the profession because they’re motivated by much more than themselves.

Growth of the Pilates Profession

The health and fitness industry has grown exponentially over the past 20–30 years and the Pilates profession has certainly grown with it. We use the word ‘profession’ instead of ‘industry’ here because Pilates is very much a profession. To teach Pilates well, you need to complete specialist and professional qualifications, and there is also an ongoing demand to keep your knowledge, skills, and practical experience up to date through continuing professional development activities, or CPD.

There are now more health, fitness, and wellbeing facilities than ever before offering Pilates sessions to their service users/members, both on a one-to-one basis and in group settings. Classes are clearly more popular, not least because they offer cheaper access to a Pilates experience, but also because there is a huge social aspect to class-based exercises.

Outside of the mainstream health and fitness industry, there has also been somewhat of an explosion of boutique Pilates studios offering more specialised and niche forms of the Pilates approach. In fact, according to Data published by Rentech Digital (2024), there are 2345 Pilates studios across the UK (2192 in England, 128 in Scotland, and 25 in Wales). Pilates is clearly here to stay, and if you’re thinking about becoming a Pilates teacher, we’re certain that you’ll find the following information of great practical value.

Types of Pilates Programmes

Most of the Pilates services offered by health clubs focus on mat-based Pilates, where variations of the classical 34 Pilates exercise movements are taught to participants using only their bodyweight and a mat. Classes are usually scheduled and delivered according to ability (e.g., beginner, intermediate, advanced) and, on occasions, specific movement themes may be created and delivered over multiple sessions (e.g., back extension) to support clients with specific needs. Mat-based classes are also often available and taught by independent instructors in community facilities, like village halls and community centres for example.

Dedicated Pilates studios tend to offer the most diverse range of Pilates-based activities, combining mat-based classes and one-to-one sessions with specialised Pilates equipment (or apparatus as it is more traditionally known). This equipment was originally designed and developed by the founding father of the Pilates method, Joseph Pilates, through the early part of the 20th century. While today’s Pilates equipment is thankfully a little more sophisticated than early iterations, the principles and movement repertoires are as relevant and valuable today as they have ever been.

Pilates programmes are typically labelled by the equipment or apparatus that they use (e.g., mat Pilates, Reformer Pilates, Cadillac Pilates) and the same convention is also applied to Pilates teacher training programmes, which the remainder of this article will now focus on.

Pilates Teacher Training Qualifications

The landscape of Pilates teacher training courses is a little complex and can be broadly put classified as regulated qualifications and non-regulated training.

Regulated programmes are those Pilates qualifications that fall under the scope of the Government’s Office for Qualifications (Ofqual) and which are certified by Ofqual regulated awarding organisations, like Active IQ, YMCA Awards, or Pearson for example. These qualifications are rigorous in terms of the content that they cover and how they are assessed, and they also tend to map to other professional instructor and coaching roles, like personal training or yoga teacher training for example. They are also often mapped to other professional standards (e.g., CIMSPA), which are intended to provide a degree of standardisation and parity between different programmes, regardless of the school or training provider delivering the programme.

Non-regulated teacher training programmes are typically certificated by individual Pilates schools and/or membership organisations directly and there is rarely any external auditing, inspection, or quality assurance of these schools. From a governance perspective, they regulate themselves, which can make it difficult for students that have complaints because there is nobody external to escalate issues to.

Regulated qualifications for Pilates only exist with mat-based programmes, and for more specialist programmes, like Reformer Pilates teacher training for example, schools are required to develop their own programmes. This lack of uniformity does tend to lead to high-levels of variability between different schools and their approaches, but without universal standards for schools to work within, unfortunately this is somewhat unavoidable.

While it is beyond the scope of this article to provide any recommendations or endorsements of individual Pilates schools or their teacher training programmes, it is worth underlining that there are many non-regulated training providers that deliver good quality programmes. So, if you are considering becoming a Pilates teacher, you shouldn’t necessarily rule any one school out just because the training isn’t regulated. It’s just one consideration amongst many.

If you are thinking of becoming a Pilates teacher, it’s crucial to do your homework, get some advice from practising teachers, and be sure to read the online reviews, both good and bad. Finally, ask lots of questions and only commit when you are completely satisfied that the programme is right for you. There are some providers that will try to rush your decision making by presenting ‘too good to be true’ offers if you book before some made up deadline. These providers should be avoided like the plague because these practices only serve their interests.

Timescales for Completing a Pilates Qualification

The length of time it takes to complete a Pilates teacher training programme varies considerably depending on the school or provider delivering the programme, the type of programme (regulated/non-regulated), and the study method being used.

Today, there are very few regulated Pilates qualifications that are delivered fully in-person, and most adopt a blended approach combining home-study and online learning, with physical or virtual (more latterly) attendance. It’s important to ensure that there is a considerable part of the programme that is taught in a live and synchronous environment, whether virtually or in-person, to ensure that you get access to personalised and quality instruction. Pilates is a practical and tactile discipline, so it’s crucial that you’re able to engage with the training in the same way.

There are some entirely online Pilates teacher programmes and these tend to be a lower price point and lower in terms of quality. Often, students enrol on these programmes, get access to digital manuals and some online videos (of varying quality), and there is little more than this in terms of course delivery. At the end of their studies, students on these courses typically just submit a video of themselves delivering a session or class, and that’s it, they’re qualified.

If getting the qualification as fast as you can is your goal, irrespective of the level of knowledge and skills you want to develop, then this style of programme is likely to appeal to you. However, even with the qualification, without quality training, you’re likely to fall short of what it takes to become a skilled and competent instructor, and it will be glaringly obvious from the outset. Additionally, throughout the fitness industry and Pilates community, it’s widely known which providers represent quality, and which are chasing a quick payout!

On average, most trainee teachers will spend 6–12 months completing their initial training, before adding 1–2 years of Pilates specific CPD on top of their qualifications early in their careers. Some teachers do qualify faster, and some take longer, so it’s crucial that you select a school or provider that gives you the flexibility to extend and change at a later date if you need to. Somehow, life does seem to get in the way for people!

Take your time and do your due diligence — it will literally pay for itself in the long run.

Progression Routes and Opportunities

So, once you’re qualified and you’re ready to enter the Pilates profession, it’s only natural that you’ll want to know what and where is next? Well, the great news about Pilates is that it’s highly versatile and there are plenty of different ways that you can take your career.

From an employment perspective, you might decide to work on a freelance and self-employed basis, teaching different classes and sessions at different locations. Alternatively, you might decide to set-up your own studio, either virtual or physically with a dedicated site.

Online Pilates classes are in big demand because participants that can’t access them in a live fashion can participate later in an on-demand format. Many Pilates teachers simply teach these classes from a room in their home, although some have created more sophisticated studios in spaces like a garden room for example.

Many mat-based Pilates teachers decide to undertake training on dedicated Pilates apparatus, like reformer teacher training, the Cadillac, Trapeze, or Wunda Chair for example. Alternatively, they may focus on learning more about incorporating Pilates accessories and small equipment into their sessions, so that they can better customise the mat method to their student’s needs. There aren’t currently any regulated qualifications for apparatus programmes because they are highly specialised and far too niche for Ofqual and their awarding organisations to get involved with. That said, much of the advice above around selecting a quality provider still applies.

Many Pilates teachers decide to develop more knowledge and skills around specific types of musculoskeletal injuries so that they can offer more tailored and expert Pilates programmes that adopt more of a ‘corrective’ exercise approach. Whether it’s low back pain, hips, shoulders, or pre and postnatal Pilates, there really aren’t any limits on how the method can be customised to meet specific needs of clients.

Finally, to add further context and support to the previous paragraph, many Chartered Physiotherapists and other rehabilitation professionals (e.g., osteopaths, massage therapists) become Pilates teachers so that they can incorporate the Pilates method into their corrective exercise services. There are, however, as many trained and experienced Pilates teachers offering the same types of services to their participants, after completing additional training and qualifications relating to injury and rehabilitation approaches.