The Pilates Industry Is Unregulated

Why This Matters for You

Pilates is widely recognised for its ability to build strength, improve posture, support rehabilitation, and create long-term body awareness. But there’s something many clients don’t realise until they’re already invested:

The Pilates industry is currently unregulated.

And that reality has real implications—for your safety, your results, and your overall experience.

This isn’t about fear or criticism. It’s about understanding what’s happening behind the scenes, so you can make informed, confident choices about where and how you practise.

You Might Assume There Are Industry Standards

In many professions, there are clear, enforced standards. Minimum training hours. Required anatomy education. Supervised teaching practice.

In Pilates, there currently isn’t a universal governing body or mandatory framework that all instructors and studios must follow.

That means the quality of training, instruction, and safety standards can vary dramatically from studio to studio—even when the branding looks similar.

Two reformer classes can appear almost identical online and feel completely different in practice.

Anyone Can Call Themselves a Pilates Instructor

Because the industry is unregulated, there is no universal requirement for:

• Depth or length of training

• Anatomy and biomechanics education

• Supervised, hands-on teaching experience
  

Someone may complete a short course, attend a weekend workshop, or even transition from another fitness modality—and immediately begin teaching Pilates.

This directly affects both your safety and your results.

Pilates is subtle, layered, and precise. Without proper education, important details are missed—and those details matter.

Pilates Is Designed to Move Your Spine

At its core, Pilates is a system designed to support spinal health and intelligent movement.

True Pilates works the spine through:

• Flexion

• Extension

• Rotation

• Lateral flexion
  
  

When one or more of these elements are consistently missing, you’re not experiencing the full method—no matter how strong or sweaty the class feels.

Balanced spinal movement is what helps build resilience, mobility, and long-term strength. Without it, classes can become repetitive, limited, or overly biased toward one type of movement.

Good Instruction Is Interactive

Pilates is not meant to be a “follow-along” workout.

A well-trained instructor will:

• Observe your movement closely

• Offer hands-on corrections (with consent)

• Give cues that refine alignment and improve efficiency
  

This interaction is where progress happens. It’s how patterns are changed, weaknesses are supported, and confidence is built.

Without observation and feedback, Pilates becomes generic. With it, the practice becomes personal.

When Pilates Is Taught Properly, You Feel the Difference

Not because it’s extreme—but because it’s precise.

When instruction is skilled:

• The right muscles engage

• Movement becomes more efficient

• Your body feels organised and connected
  

You leave feeling stronger, taller, and more aware—not depleted, sore in the wrong places, or disconnected from your body.

That clarity is a hallmark of high-quality Pilates teaching.

Safety Should Never Be Optional

As Pilates grows in popularity, new studios are opening rapidly—and not all equipment entering the market meets high safety standards.

There have been reports of low-quality reformer machines tipping or flipping under load. This isn’t a minor concern. Equipment stability, build quality, and proper maintenance are essential to safe practice.

Your body deserves to be supported by well-built, professionally maintained equipment—always.

You May Not Be Doing the Pilates You Think You Are

Some studios market “Reformer Pilates” while actually teaching Lagree-style classes on Megaformers.

Both methods can be challenging and effective—but they are not the same.

Pilates focuses on control, precision, spinal articulation, and balanced movement. Lagree is a high-intensity, strength-endurance method with different goals and principles.

When the distinction isn’t clear, clients can feel confused or misled. Clarity protects clients and respects both methods.

Why This Causes Confusion

When marketing language is vague or inaccurate, people believe they’re practising Pilates—when they’re actually doing something else.

This confusion makes it harder for clients to understand what their bodies need, what progress should feel like, and whether a class truly aligns with their goals.

Transparency matters. Education matters.

This Isn’t an Attack — It’s Education

Asking questions isn’t controversial.
It’s informed.

Understanding an instructor’s training, a studio’s equipment, and the method being taught empowers you to make choices that support your body long term.

Choose quality.
Choose safety.
Choose integrity.

Because Pilates, when taught properly, is powerful.

— Runway Pilates