Matwork Programming and Progressions is an additional course which can be completed after the initial Studio Pilates Matwork training. 

In completing the Matwork Programming and Progressions Course, you’re learning how to progress your clients’ Pilates practise, their strength, flexibility and control to the next level. You’re also learning how to progress your own knowledge of instructing, become a better instructor and enhance your own Pilates skills! 

This course is absolutely invaluable for all Matwork instructors and covers a huge range of new information to take your classes to the next level. So let’s look at 5 reasons why every Matwork instructor should complete the Matwork Programming and Progressions Course –

1. MASTER THE FULL MATWORK REPERTOIRE

The initial Matwork Course provides you with the first half of the Matwork repertoire. These initial 88 exercises are absolutely fantastic, incredibly effective and give you a huge scope to program incredibly targeted Pilates classes. However, the additional exercises in the Matwork Programming and Progressions Course complete the full repertoire and allow you to progress your clients through to even more functional exercises and through full ranges of movement. 

As Pilates instructors, you can run really effective Pilates classes with just the initial 88 exercises learned in the Matwork Course. However, you will be surprised with how your classes reach a whole new level when you can incorporate the second half of the Matwork repertoire. This course also changes your focus as an instructor. Instead of just teaching the same 88 exercises your whole career, the Matwork Programming and Progressions exercises allow you to become an instructor who can take any client (injured or not) and progress them from basic core muscle activation, to functional movement, to their full range of movement. This course allows you to help each of your clients achieve their full potential, so that their bodies can move in more functional ways, with fewer injuries and more flexibility.

2. GAIN SUPERIOR PROGRAMMING SKILLS + MORE INJURY INFORMATION

A huge part of the Matwork Programming and Progressions Course focuses on programming. We do cover programming in the initial Matwork Course, however Matwork Programming and Progressions delves into programming in a lot more detail, providing you with the next level practical skills to program any type of class successfully. 

In this course, you gain a huge range of NEW programming resources to make your classes a smash hit. We also delve a lot more into programming for specific injuries. One of the tools we teach is how to program based on the “4 phases” of client development. With this approach, you learn how to progress any client (injured or not) from core activation to functional movement to their full range of movement. 

The Matwork Programming and Progressions training also covers a range of case studies so you can gain practical experience problem solving how to program for a range of different client types. For example, we look at how you would program a class for a 28 year old female runner with knee pain. What type of class would you program for her if she has a mild Lordosis, tight Hip Flexors and Quads, weak Glutes, and wants to strengthen the Glutes, loosen the Hip Flexors, TFL and ITB, and strengthen the Iliacus and abdominals?

Or what about a 30 year old hairdresser who struggles with a stiff upper back, neck and shoulders? What class would you program for her to improve posture and upper back strength, loosen the Pecs, Lats, neck and upper back, increase her Thoracic extension and rotation and improve her shoulder strength and Scapula stability with her arms in various ranges? 

Because you have already mastered the Studio Pilates Cueing Formula in the initial Matwork training, Matwork Programming and Progressions ultimately allows us to delve deeper into programming and learn even more about injuries and their implications for each exercise.  

3. HELP CLIENTS TO MOVE WITH FREEDOM AND SAFELY PROGRESS CLIENTS TO FULL RANGES OF MOVEMENT

With this course, you’re essentially helping your clients to move their bodies in the way that they were designed to be moved. You learn a huge range of functional movement exercises, teaching your clients how to activate the muscles in different positions which mimic real life movement.

For example, most people in normal life need to perform tasks like reaching overhead to get a cup out of a cupboard. Most people (especially pregnant or post natal women in particular) struggle to do this overhead movement without anteriorly tilting the pelvis and letting the abdominals go. In this course, we retrain the body to activate the correct muscles in different positions. So you learn how to train the body and mind to activate the abdominals as the arms move overhead and the spine extends. This leads to fewer injuries and a better functioning body. 

Ultimately, the human body is designed to move with full range of movement through the joints. However over time, our bodies can become stiff and sore from a range of lifestyle factors like poor posture, sitting at a desk all day and also from injuries. The Matwork Programming and Progressions Course is all about giving you the practical tools to help your clients regain their full range of movement and to move with freedom. You learn how to achieve this full body movement through set stages of development, so you can keep your clients safe and supported on their journey to full movement.

4. LEARN ABOUT ADAPTATION CYCLES TO KEEP THE MUSCLES GUESSING AND KEEP RESULTS FROM STAGNATING

The Matwork Programming and Progression Course also adds in a huge range of new exercises which place the body in different positions to keep the muscles guessing and prevent the body from adapting. 

When clients have been coming to classes for a while, the movements that they have been performing in every class can become less effective over time as the body adapts to the position and load. So it’s important as an instructor to have the skills and extended Pilates repertoire to be able to progress your clients through these adaptation stages to continually develop strength and muscle tone. Otherwise you may find that your clients experience plateaus in their progress due to the body’s ability to adapt to the exercises given.

Regardless of whether your clients are injured, elderly, pregnant, or athletes, being able to identify adaptation cycles and knowing how to utilise the beginner to advanced Pilates repertoire to progress your clients through these stages is incredibly important. So whether you are looking to progress your injured clients toward more functional movement, or are just looking to progress your everyday clients to become stronger and more flexible with enhanced results, Matwork Programming and Progressions is going to revolutionise how you program and instruct!

5. WORK MORE AREAS OF THE BODY FOR A COMPLETE BODY WORKOUT

The 88 exercises in the initial Matwork Course are predominantly focused on core strength (working the abdominals and Gluteals) because they are such important fundamentals for the body to function and move correctly. However with the Matwork Programming and Progressions Course, we add in a lot more Hamstring, Quadriceps, Hip Flexor and shoulder stability exercises. So with this course, you are getting another 76 exercises which complete the repertoire and provide that full body workout. 

These new exercises also focus on larger ranges of movement, working the body in different planes for next level results. In this course, you will experience more exercises in flexion, extension and lateral rotation, as we learn to train the body to stabilise and activate in larger ranges of movement.

For example, the abdominal exercises in the initial Matwork Course are predominantly in supine and plank positions. With Matwork Programming and Progressions, we work the abs in different planes of movement – with the arms and legs moving away from the body at the same time, in reverse plank positions and in V-sit positions. This ensures that we are training clients to activate the abdominals in all different positions, helping them to move the body safely and effectively in new and different ways. 

We also add in more exercises which work a larger combination of muscles at the same time. For example, we add in Glute exercises which also challenge shoulder stability and strength at the same time. We also add in more abdominal exercises which work the Hip Flexors and Quadriceps at the same time. This means that we’re training the body to effectively activate more muscles at the same time and your clients are learning to coordinate and activate multiple muscle activations at once, helping them to achieve greater results.

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