Allegro Fitness London

It’s never about the moves you do - but how present you are for your class.
I’ve gone to structurally great classes but the instructor is on autopilot- and we all have those days don’t get me wrong.
But the point is - the classes I remember positively, can have mistakes, can break flow, can be super simple - if the instructor is present and cares, people know the difference.
#

I don’t get these comments. I BET if I were making content about sales jobs or nursing I wouldn’t hear this kind of crap.

There is something about the wellness industry that assumes privilege - and perhaps that’s the image that is portrayed on social media. But this job is HUSTLE culture - maybe even more so than some corporate jobs as you are way easier to fire when you’re self employed.

You can earn a living in this job. Just like any career paths there are better and worse looking versions of the role …and don’t get me wrong, there are SO many pilates instructors who are being supported financially by partners, and I’m so not against that at all! But if you’re not in that position, don’t let that false idea stop you from pursuing your dreams.

You just might have to work more than 10 hours a week, and not go to Bali for 3 months every year.

I don’t really take holidays abroad that much, nor do I own a car or have any expensive hobbies and have been living in shared accommodation the whole time I’ve lived in London. My biggest expense at the moment outside of rent is egg freezing.

You can earn more than this figure or less than this figure.

I think I’m going to p*ss a few people off with this one 😂

The reality is - we are in an economy where amongst everything failing, the pilates industry is set to continue growing over the next 5 years and 40% of studios say they need more instructors (I think 60% are lying or just teaching all the classes themselves btw).

With instructor burnout being a BIG topic on the gram, shorter, cheaper, educations make the role accessible to more people.

In an economic climate where cost of living is high and income is stagnant- what would you do to earn more money?

These short coursers are not going to get hired by the studios boasting an elite service and knowledge on day 1. But with puregym, Nuffield and virgin all offering pilates and reformer pilates at £20-£30 pay per hour - is it bad or controversial to say that these should be treated and seen more as entry level or apprenticeship roles?

Most courses have the bulk of the anatomy online - then go through exercises 1 by 1 in person. What made longer educations reliable was the mentorship and practise hours, but these practise hours are largely unsupervised.

I’m not debating you’ll learn more in 50 hours than 500. But I’m advocating we recognise there are too many open roles and even with every comprehensive education fully booked, we aren’t going to have enough instructors in time for the current ones to burn out.

A shorter education is a cheaper education- which makes it accessible to people who wouldn’t be able to afford it otherwise.

Instead of regulating the industry using CVs, we need to regulate it with mandatory instructor feedback and mentoring in their first year to check they are understanding of safety protocols. If a gym wants to take on new instructors they should be helping that instructor learn and grow.

Reward instructors who invest in more education as they start to have access to it through free or even better- the studio pays them, to attend CPDs.

I’m not saying every instructor who chooses a short education will be good , but we’ve all met a useless comprehensive instructor 😂

I’m tired. I want cover to be easy. Let’s not scare away passionate pilates ent

Was hard to narrow these down- what others did I miss?!

Any other full timers who get “oh you’re so lucky your job is so flexible”

It’s one of the LEAST flexible jobs. Sure I get to pick if I work evenings or mornings - but not week to week. And to be honest would you actually prefer my anti social hours to yours?

We aren’t nomad self employed founders who can schedule meetings when we like or work from abroad for 3 months.

I bet you my schedule is more rigid than yours. This work isn’t secure - if you deliver a bad service (classes, professionalism and reliability) they are well within their legal rights to replace you from one day to the next, and I’ve seen it happen.

When I’ve seen it happen (and it’s way more common than you think) I COMPLETELY get the studios side of it - and honestly the main reason I see instructors get let go is they treat their hours as “flexible” - they take permanent hours and then just get cover often as “so long as someone is teaching it’s ok”…well no not really.

We are wired to return to things that feel safe and predictable. Clients pay £30 a class, they want to know it’s someone they like. If it’s not you they are likely to skip it and that number shows and reflects in the attendances of that block as you never build a crew.

And then there’s the added element of - your time off isn’t paid. So sure, you can take a holiday but I see instructors either working double time the weeks leading up to a trip, or having to not only save for holidays, but income while on holidays.

If you want flexible hours- don’t do this job 😂