Trusting your instincts to success
It’s not as common to start your Pilates journey from a Physiotherapy background. But for Elena Collins it definitely shaped how she approached her Pilates teaching and helped her find a new trajectory for her career path.
“Due to my background as a physiotherapist, I definitely have a deeper understanding of the body, pathologies, and what clients present with and how to best manage a diverse range both in a group and private setting,” said Elena.
“I didn’t learn these skills in my Pilates teaching qualification, but they’ve definitely set me apart, in the profession, to others in the field. I use my ‘physio head’ every single day, and consider this an invaluable asset to have on board throughout my career. It’s also provided me with the confidence to ‘lean into discomfort’ and to ‘not always know the answer’ straight away, but have the necessary tools to always be able to figure it out thoughtfully. It enabled me to provide progressive rehabilitation plans, as well as progressing load in group classes, while remaining specific and goal focused throughout.
“Being qualified in this way was one of the confidence boosters which propelled me to want to share my knowledge with other instructors worldwide, not only through my Instagram, but with workshops and seminars,” she said.
Elle’s Pilates education began when she enrolled to study as a Physiotherapist back in 2013 at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. “We dove into all things anatomy, movement and how the body works and Pilates was a form of movement frequently brought up as a useful tool that could help our clients. I found myself falling in love with matwork pilates during my studies and I started to increasingly incorporate more body weight movement into my own fitness practice. I was at a point where I was struggling mentally with my studies so I took a break from university and during this time focused on my own personal health and wellness. Pilates was an important part of my recovery,” said Elle.
“Being so accustomed to the demands of learning every day, I wanted to provide myself with something that was just for ME during this time and so I enrolled to become a Pilates instructor. I did my Pilates studies with Breathe Education to become a Matwork and Reformer Instructor, and have never looked back. While I was on my self-discovery journey, I created an Instagram called ‘perks of elle’ which I used as a diary of all the things that made me happy, gave me purpose and essentially filled up my cup. Having followers was certainly not my goal, but it was created with the intention of being able to visually see my progress during this time and reflect on it later.
“Overtime 99 per cent of my content became about Pilates, so it made sense to change my Instagram name to ‘perks of pilates’ which I have kept to this day. My goal from the very start has been to provide useful content, that helps my learning and others – it provides value, joy and fun through authentic ‘real’ content. I believe this is how I was able to organically grow my page and be able to connect with so many like-minded people in the industry.
“While I was studying, I worked casually at a reformer studio and did Matwork classes sporadically. Once graduating from university, I started working five or more days a week as a physiotherapist and clinical pilates therapist, while creating and producing my e-products and e-books. Yes, it was way too much. I started to feel that my creative brain juices slipped and my attentiveness in classes declined from lack of energy and available head space. It was tough to recognise that I couldn’t ‘do it all,’ because I knew how much I loved it. I’ve now learnt to find more balance in my approach over the last 12 months.
“This year I decided to take the plunge to dive head first and go all in on ‘perks of pilates’. Many said not to do it, and that I would be throwing away all my studies and hard work for ‘something less than’, but I can’t help but feel the complete opposite. It has led me to teach many workshops all across Australia either in person or virtually, as well as hosting some in the USA in April this year.
“My workshops are focused on supporting Pilates Instructors, to help with their professional development. Either by levelling up their skills, developing their knowledge, or opening their eyes to new ideas or perspectives when it comes to teaching. The name ‘Studio Slayer’ was one I felt encapsulated the workshop as a whole. This particular workshop dives into all things that encompass being a brilliant studio instructor and slaying every part of the role. From your communication style, to client interactions, technique, flow builds, thoughtful class designs, getting results, understanding load principles, how to adapt on the spot, and touches on injury management in a group setting,” said Elle.
In Elle’s workshops, you might also hear the term ‘mini-flows’ being used so she explained more about this approach to teaching.
“I describe a mini-flow as being like an exercise set, like at the gym – for example, it’s around six to eight movements performed in a set with maybe three to four layers/sets/versions. There are so many benefits to understanding flow and by simplifying our approach to a mini-flow, we can design our class approach to ensure it has a warm-up, goal and a cool-down phase. On average, there would be around four to five mini-flows in a 50-minute class. I strongly believe that understanding this approach makes class planning effective, easy, quick and specific to the class goal on any given day,” she said.
Elle also spends time talking to the importance of goal setting in your classes. “Having a specific and targeting workout to me, describes having a goal in mind. Whether that is a specific muscle group like glutes or thoracic extensors, or maybe a style like cardio or strength. After knowing what the goal is for that given workout, only then are you able to direct specific exercises and combinations in a thoughtful way to complement this.
“Goal-Orientated movement also relates to knowing the population you are teaching. A massive tool for Instructors to use, that is often overlooked, is understanding how the exercises we are doing in a class are going to impact our clients when they leave the room on a functional basis. For example, if I have a class full of new mums, I would communicate that through this draw-a-sword exercise, we are strengthening the muscles needed to hold baby up, and avoid any poor postural-related back pain down the road! All of a sudden, this client then thinks, far out, that’s awesome, I might push a little harder here, they feel more motivated, they’re more aware of the benefits they are getting for class and then ultimately, it boosts their motivation and compliance overall as they have a meaningful WHY behind their exercise efforts that’s specific to them.
All of my recent work has made me realise just how much I enjoy teaching group classes, which is why I’m opening my own studio at the end of the year - POP Fit Pilates in Perth. I’ll run group classes, tutorials, host and record workshops, treat physio clients and be able to connect with my community. I’m so excited about the future!”, she said.
Pumping up pilates instructors to tap into their 'firey-flow' superpowers is what Elena Collins does best. She’s a Pilates Instructor, Mentoring Coach and Physiotherapist from Perth Australia. Her instagram is @perks_of_pilates