YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED: QUESTION OF THE WEEK

At Drummond Education we love the challenge of a great question, especially one that gets our expert team discussing and thinking together.

This week’s question, answered by Gill Cummings-Bell BA (Hons), MSc, PGCE, MBA, ACSP.

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We think this is a great question. Don’t all great teachers do that, we hear you ask? Don’t we all offer individual adaptations suitable for the body or person in front of us? We hear the phrase frequently in Pilates and fitness teaching. At its simplest, it means recognising that everyone is an individual and that our teaching should reflect those differences rather than expecting everyone to move in exactly the same way. This may involve offering appropriate adjustments and adaptations to individuals in our classes.

But does teaching the body in front of you mean we abandon our lesson plan and adapt as we go?

No. We still need a well-reasoned plan so that we understand the intent of an exercise and the movement principles involved. Once the individual presents themselves in that session, we can make reasoned decisions from the plan. Individualisation should inform our teaching decisions, not replace our reasoning.

So perhaps the phrase in the question needs a little development. Let’s unpick it. Let’s challenge that thinking.

Are we teaching the body in front of us, or the person in front of us?

Research into motor learning, exercise prescription and pain supports the importance of considering the individual. However, it does not establish that every movement difference needs correcting or that every person requires a completely different exercise adaptation. The evidence does not consistently demonstrate that individualised exercise adaptations produce better outcomes than well-designed, standardised approaches. The value of an adaptation depends on its purpose, appropriateness and the individual’s response.

We are teaching a person whose movement is influenced by physical, psychological and environmental factors. Every person’s movement is influenced by more than anatomy, physiology and biomechanics. Add in experience, confidence, expectations, previous injury, physical capacity and even how someone feels on a particular day, and a movement can look and feel quite different.

So what does it mean to teach the body in front of you?

It means recognising that the person you are teaching is an individual, not a template of how movement should look. It requires us to observe movement, understand the intended purpose of an exercise, consider the person’s capabilities and experiences, and make informed, reasoned teaching decisions. What needs correcting, if anything, and why?

We are not simply teaching a body. Good teaching is not about making everyone move in exactly the same way, nor about changing every movement that looks different. It is about knowing what we are trying to achieve, observing and understanding what happens, exploring what might be influencing it, and reasoning what matters. We adapt when there is a reason to do so. Just because someone moves differently does not necessarily mean they are moving incorrectly.

Consider a person performing Reformer footwork or a Standing Squat

You notice that one knee moves slightly inward during the carriage return or as the person lowers into a squat. A purely body-focused approach might be to immediately correct the knee position. But a movement reasoning-based approach asks:

  • Is this movement causing a problem, or is it simply variation that does not need changing?
  • Does the person have sufficient control for the intended task?
  • What might be influencing this person’s movement, and what further information would help us understand it?
  • How is this person presenting today?
  • Could it be equipment-related — for example, is the spring tension appropriate for what we are trying to achieve?
  • Does changing the foot position or cue alter the movement?
  • How is the person experiencing the exercise today?
  • Is intervention necessary at all?

We aren’t ignoring biomechanics. We’re applying our understanding of biomechanics alongside observation, communication and an appreciation of the individual to inform our movement reasoning.

We should be able to explain why we are intervening, even when we cannot fully explain why a particular movement is occurring. Safety and comfort may sometimes require an immediate modification, but our decisions should still be reasoned.

So rather than “Teach the body in front of you”, let’s develop the statement:

Understand the person in front of you. Observe before you correct. Reason before you adapt.

And remember, just because someone moves differently doesn’t necessarily mean they are moving incorrectly.

A question to take into your next class

Are you adapting an exercise because you have identified a reason to do so, or simply because the movement looks different from what you expected?

Drummond Education’s Philosophy: Reason what we teach. Evidence-check the reasoning. Teach what we can defend.