Starting your own mat Pilates classes

Who this is for

This guide is for qualified Pilates teachers who’d like to run mat classes of their own, either alongside gym or studio work or instead of it. It won’t cover how to teach or what to put in a class, since you’ve trained for that. It’s about the practical side, like where you teach, what kit you need, what to charge and how your first clients find you.

If you’ve only taught at a gym or studio, most of this was sorted out for you. When it’s your own class, it usually helps to settle the space first, because the room shapes a lot of the other decisions, from the price to how much kit you carry.

Teaching at a studio or gym, or hiring your own room

Teaching somewhere that already has members is usually the easiest way to find people, whether that’s a gym, a leisure centre, a Pilates studio or a physio clinic with a room for classes. The trade-off is that they tend to set the price, the class size and the time, and you’ll often earn less from each person who comes.

Hiring a room means you decide all of that yourself, but you also find every client and pay for the room whether three people turn up or twelve. The money can work quite differently depending on the arrangement:

Checking whether a venue will work for mat Pilates

Church halls, community centres, dance studios and the spare rooms at sports clubs all host Pilates classes. If you can, visit at the time you’d be teaching, to see how warm it is then.

Your clients will spend most of the class lying or kneeling on the floor, so a few things matter more than they might for a standing class:

• Enough floor for everyone to lie down with arms overhead and legs out to the side, and room for you to walk between the mats
• A clean floor and heating you can rely on, since people lying still get cold quickly
• Step-free access and a couple of chairs, because some clients find stairs, or getting down to the floor, hard going, especially with back or hip problems
• Somewhere to store mats and kit between classes
• Hire time that covers setting up and packing away, as well as the class itself

Mats and small equipment

Many people find a thicker mat more comfortable than a standard yoga mat for mat Pilates, especially when they’re rolling or kneeling. So one of the first things to decide is whether you’ll supply mats or ask people to bring their own.

Supplying them makes it easier for someone to try a first class with nothing but a water bottle, but you’ll need to buy them, clean them and get them to the venue. If people bring their own, it’s worth saying in your booking information that a thin mat probably won’t be comfortable, and keeping a few spares for newcomers.

Resistance bands, small soft balls, Pilates rings and blocks are all common, and a small cushion under the head helps some people. You don’t need everything at once, and a set of bands and a few balls is enough for a lot of classes to begin with.

What people tend to underestimate is moving it all. Twelve thick mats and a bag of kit can fill most of a car boot, and they’re heavy on stairs. If a venue has a cupboard you can use, that might be worth paying a little more for. Either way, allow time before the class to lay everything out and time afterwards to wipe it down and pack it away.

Weekly classes, courses or private sessions

A weekly class lets people come when they can, though your numbers can go up and down and it can be harder to pitch each class at the right level when regulars and newcomers come together.

A fixed course, like six weeks for beginners, suits mat Pilates well because so much of it builds on the basics. People pay up front, which tends to make numbers steadier, and everyone in the room starts from the same place. Plenty of teachers follow a beginners’ course with a weekly class for people who want to carry on.

Private sessions and small groups of two to four are a big part of many Pilates teachers’ weeks. They suit people with a particular injury, people who feel nervous about a group, and people coming to you after physio. They’re usually priced well above a group place, and you can often teach them in a smaller, cheaper room.

If you’re weighing up how people pay, there’s a separate guide on drop-ins, passes, courses and memberships.

Class size, prices and time slots

Mat Pilates classes are often kept smaller than other fitness classes, so you can see each person’s form and correct it. Decide how many people you can watch closely before you think about price. For some teachers that’s eight, for others twelve or more.

Then look at what similar classes nearby charge and work out what the room costs you each time. As an example, if the room costs £30 for the hour and you charge £10 a place, you need three people to cover the hire before you’ve paid for any mats or kit.

When you choose a time, think about who you’re hoping will come. Weekday mornings often suit retired people and parents after the school run, and early evenings tend to suit people with day jobs. If you’d like to reach people managing back pain or coming back from injury, a calm daytime slot may suit them better than a crowded evening one. If there’s already a popular Pilates class nearby at the same time, a different slot is probably a better bet.

To get people to try it, an introductory offer usually works better than a permanently low price. A cheaper first class or money off a beginners’ course gives people a reason to come, and it’s far easier to end an offer than to raise a price people have got used to.

Describing who the class suits and what to expect

Many people come to Pilates because of back pain, an old injury, recent surgery or worries about their posture. They want to know whether a class is right for them before they book, so your description has more work to do than it might for other classes.

Say plainly who the class is for and what level it is. “Beginners’ mat Pilates, a gentle start for anyone new to it or coming back after a break” tells people more than a list of benefits. If it isn’t suitable for some people, like anyone in the first weeks after an operation, say so, and ask them to check with their doctor or physio before booking.

It helps to describe a first class, too. Most of it happens on a mat, the movements are slow and controlled, and people will get up and down from the floor a few times. Some people expect a hard workout and others worry it’ll be too much, and a couple of sentences can help both.

Booking information to have ready

Before you tell anyone about the class, decide how people will book and pay, and what happens if they can’t come. Taking payment when people book saves you chasing them, and the bookings tell you how many mats to bring.

Your booking page can also say whether mats are provided, what else to bring (like water and a layer to keep warm) and that it’s worth arriving a few minutes early the first time.

Many Pilates teachers ask new clients a few health questions when they book, such as whether they have any injuries, recent surgery or conditions you should know about, and whether they’re pregnant. Keep it short so it doesn’t put people off, and follow up with anyone whose answers make you want to check the class suits them.

Finding your first clients

Your first clients will often be people you already know, like friends, people from classes you teach elsewhere and local groups you belong to. If you teach at a gym, check whether your agreement lets you mention a class of your own there.

Physiotherapists, osteopaths and chiropractors nearby are worth getting to know, because many of their patients are told to keep exercising once treatment ends. Introduce yourself, explain who your classes suit and what you’re qualified in, and leave details they can pass on. Not every clinic will refer people, but one that does might keep sending clients your way for a long time.

Local noticeboards, community groups online and the venue’s own newsletter are worth trying as well. Once you have a few regulars, ask them to bring a friend, since word of mouth is often how a class fills up over time.

Before your first class

How long to give a new class

The first few weeks of a new class often don’t tell you much. It helps to decide before you start that you’ll run it for a set run of weeks, like a term or ten to twelve weeks, even if only two or three people come at first. People hear about a class slowly, through friends and recommendations, and if you stop after a month, the word doesn’t have time to spread.

Plan for some quiet weeks, too. If you’ve worked out roughly what the room costs over the whole run, a week with three people in it is easier to take, because you’ve already allowed for it.

• Keep the same day, time and place, so people can fit it into their week
• Collect contact details, with permission, so you can send reminders and tell people about changes
• Let people know well ahead about weeks off, or find a qualified teacher to cover
• Ask a few regulars what would make it easier to keep coming

At the end of that run, look at how many people kept coming in the later weeks, more than how busy the first one was. Then decide whether to carry on as it is or change the time, the price or the format. Once one class feels steady, that’s usually a good point to think about a second, or a beginners’ course that leads into it.