Most reformer rooms are mixed: a regular who wants more, a newcomer, someone who asked you to go easy on their knees, someone tired today. Planning twelve classes in your head doesn’t work. Planning one class with a few prepared options does.
1. Know the room before you plan the detail
Look at who is booked and what they have told the studio — ongoing, and anything just for today. Note it as what to be careful with, in the client’s own words, not as a diagnosis. If something is new or unclear, ask before class, privately.
2. Start from one flow
Write the class you would teach to a room with no special requests: warm-up, blocks, cool-down, timing. This is the spine everyone shares, and it keeps the class feeling like one class.
3. Prepare options for each block, not for each person
For every block, decide in advance what the alternatives are. Typical patterns instructors use:
- Position: kneeling → seated or standing; lying → a supported or reduced range.
- Load: a lighter or heavier spring, fewer repetitions, a slower tempo.
- Range: a smaller movement, or a static hold instead of a moving one.
- Rest: a held position or a breath while the rest of the room continues.
Choose options you can teach and cue clearly. Which option suits which client is your professional judgement; when in doubt, keep it simple and check in.
4. Group the options into two or three lines
Most rooms need at most three: A — the class as written, B — an option for people who should avoid one kind of position or load, C — a gentler option. Give each line a neutral name or colour. Clients only need to know their line, never anyone else’s reason.
5. Cue the line, not the person
“Yellows, standing variation” lets everyone hear their option without anyone being singled out. Demonstrate the main line, then show each option once. Walk to the people on B and C early in each block.
6. Pain means stop
If something hurts, the client stops and you offer their option or a rest. Nobody pushes through. How to run the rule →
7. Close the loop
After class, note what felt hard and what hurt, and what you changed. The next instructor should not have to rediscover it.
Round Connect Reformer does steps 1, 4 and 7 for you: it remembers what each client should be careful with, groups options into lines for the people in the room, and keeps the notes. The instructor still leads the class and has the final say. See Round Connect Reformer →