Instagram story viewer> @pilates.actually> Posts

Sam | Pilates Actually | PT + Pilates

@pilates.actually

154

followers

297

following

PT → Pilates instructor
I teach the WHY behind the movement
Real bodies. Real results.
⬇️ A new breakdown every day

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

Your low back hurts in Swan? It's probably your UPPER back.

Here's what I see as a PT every single week: Swan looks like a back exercise, so people chase HEIGHT — and they hinge it from the one place that hates it most.

Your thoracic spine has 12 vertebrae built to extend. Your lumbar spine has 5, and bending them backward under load is exactly what they complain about. When the upper back skips its share of the work, the low back gets the bill.

So stop trying to lift higher. Try this instead:
Press the floor away. Glide your ribs forward (long, not up). Gaze at the floor two feet ahead of you. Slide the shoulder blades DOWN, not back.

Taller, not higher. Save this for your next Swan set — and share it with the person in class who always grabs their low back afterward. 🤍

Follow @pilates.actually for the why behind the movement.

General info only — not medical advice.

#pilates #pilatesinstructor #pilatescommunity #swanpose #reformerpilates by @pilates.actually

5

3

23 days ago

If your hip hurts during Pilates, try this instead.

That pinch in the front of your hip? Usually not a flexibility problem. Your hip flexors are gripping because your deep core clocked out early, and the thigh bone jams forward in the socket.

The fix I give my clients: ribs heavy, pelvis neutral, cut your range in half. Let the back of the hip open instead of forcing the front. When it's clean, build the range back up.

Pain is information, not failure. Share this with someone whose hip always "talks" in class. 🤍

General info only — not medical advice.

#pilates #pilatesinstructor #pilateslovers #physicaltherapy #pilatescommunity #hippain #pilatesform by @pilates.actually

5

1

a month ago

Hi, I'm Sam. 👋

Physical therapist turned Pilates instructor — and I started this account because nobody ever explained the WHY behind the movement.

In the clinic, I watched people do their exercises perfectly and get nowhere. Not because they weren't trying — because nobody told them what the exercise was actually doing inside their body.

So here's my promise: a new breakdown every day. The anatomy, the cues, the mistakes I see on repeat — all in plain language. When you understand the mechanism, the movement clicks. When it clicks, your body changes.

Real bodies. Real results. (And the occasional vizsla.)

Tell me below: what's one move you've never been sure you're doing right? I'll break it down.

General info only — not medical advice.

#pilates #pilatesinstructor #pilatescommunity #physicaltherapy #pilateslovers by @pilates.actually

6

0

16 days ago

"10 more," my instructor said. She has never once meant 10.

Every pilates class ends the same way: she counts to 10, then counts to 10 again, and the second 10 has no bottom. "That was the warm-up count" is the funniest thing anyone has ever said to me mid-curl-up.

I'm a physical therapist. I've counted to 10 correctly for years. Pilates 10 is its own number system.

Send this to the friend who still believes her instructor when she says "just 10 more." 🤍

Be honest — is your instructor's 10 a real 10, or a vibe?

#pilates #pilateshumor #pilatescommunity by @pilates.actually

1

0

11 hours ago

I teach Pilates all day. These 10 minutes are for me.

By 9am I've already demoed a hundred reps for other people — and if I don't get into my own body first, I'm teaching from an empty tank. So before my first client walks in: 10 minutes, no phone, just these three.

1 · The roll-down (2 min) — chin to chest, peel down one vertebra at a time, hang heavy, rebuild slow. It tells my spine the day started.

2 · Cat-cow, slow (3 min) — hands under shoulders, knees under hips, ride the breath. Ten reps and I know exactly which segment woke up grumpy.

3 · Figure-4 reset (5 min) — on my back, ankle over knee, 2 minutes a side. I sit, I demo, I stand all day — this keeps my low back quiet till noon.

The instructor needs the workout too. Ten minutes, three moves, then I walk in ready to actually teach.

What does YOUR pre-day reset look like — tell me below. 🤍

Save this for your mornings.

General info only — not medical advice.

#pilates #pilatesinstructor #pilatescommunity by @pilates.actually

3

1

a day ago

Knees over toes isn't the problem. Avoiding it is.

You've heard it in every class: never let your knees pass your toes.

But your knees travel over your toes every time you climb stairs, stand up from a chair, or walk downhill. That's not a red flag — that's normal biomechanics.

So if lunges hurt your knees, the forward travel isn't the problem. The problem is the joint that's supposed to ALLOW it: your ankle. Stiff ankles can't bend, so the knee can't track — and load detours into the joint instead of into your quad.

The fix isn't avoidance. It's (1) giving the ankle its bend back — half-kneel, knee over toes, heel glued down — and (2) teaching the quad to brake under load with a slow 3-count split squat. Strength protects the joint. Dodging the range doesn't.

Send this to the friend who still guards her knees like it's the 90s 🤍

When do YOUR knees complain — lunges, stairs, or squats? Tell me below 👇

General info only — not medical advice.
#pilates #pilatesinstructor #pilatescommunity #kneeovertoes by @pilates.actually

3

1

2 days ago

1

0

4 days ago

What I say vs what I mean. Instructor edition. 🤍

I say: "Find your neutral spine."
I mean: please stop doing the worm.

I say: "Scoop your abs."
I mean: your lower back just filed a complaint.

I say: "Beautiful!"
I mean: one more rep and you've got it.

I'm a physical therapist. I'm licensed to say "scoop."

Send this to your Pilates instructor. They'll deny none of it.

Instructors — which cue do you say the most on autopilot? Students — which one have you heard this week? Tell me below. 👇

#pilates #pilateshumor #pilatescommunity by @pilates.actually

2

0

5 days ago

5 minutes for the shoulders that round all day.

If your shoulders live near your ears by 5pm, it's not bad posture. It's math. Your chest muscles get 8 hours of practice a day. Your mid-back gets zero reps.

So stretching the chest isn't the fix. You have to wake up the back side: the thoracic extensors and lower traps that actually hold you upright.

Two moves, five minutes, no equipment:

1 · PRONE T LIFTS — arms in a T, thumbs up, lift your chest one inch, blades slide DOWN. 8 slow reps.
2 · OPEN BOOKS — side-lying, knees stacked, top arm opens like a book, eyes follow. 5 each side.

The stretch won't hold if nothing back there is awake to hold it.

What's your posture by 5pm — tall, or one with the chair? Tell me below 👇
General info only — not medical advice.
#pilates #pilatesinstructor #pilatescommunity #deskworkout by @pilates.actually

0

0

6 days ago

The foot straps are the hardest exercise in the studio.

The instructor threads both straps in four seconds flat.

Me, three minutes in: one strap has achieved sentience.

I'm a physical therapist. I teach this for a living. The straps do not care.

Send this to the friend who's still fighting the straps every class.

Midweek Laugh, EP 01. Same time next Wednesday.

Team straps or team springs — which one humbles you? Tell me below. 🤍

#pilates #pilateshumor #pilatescommunity by @pilates.actually

3

1

7 days ago

What 10 years as a PT taught me about working out.

I spent a decade in clinics watching bodies break down — and the pattern was never "didn't work hard enough." It was dosage. It was recovery. It was ego.

The body keeps score of everything, including the workouts that were supposed to help. So here are the four things I'd tell every client on day one:

1 · More isn't better. Better is better.
2 · Soreness is not a report card.
3 · Strength is the foundation, not the accessory.
4 · Recovery is training, not an apology.

Save this for the week you need permission to do less.

Which one did you need to hear — 1, 2, 3, or 4? Tell me below. And send this to the friend who treats rest like a personality flaw. 🤍

General info only — not medical advice.

#pilates #pilatesinstructor #pilatescommunity #strengthtraining by @pilates.actually

2

0

8 days ago

The exercise every Pilates instructor demos wrong.

It's the Hundred. And the demo lies.

The demo in most classes: arms pumping big and fast, head cranked up, shoulders up by the ears. So we copy the arms — and our neck and traps quietly collect the whole exercise while the core watches.

Here's the PT lens: the Hundred is a breathing exercise wearing an arm-workout costume. The 5-in / 5-out forced exhale reflexively fires the deep core. The pump is your diaphragm's metronome, not your deltoids'. That's why the arms should barely move — long, low, driven by the ribs.

Slow the pump. Keep the breath. And if your neck fires first, drop your head — the arms keep working either way.

Hundred head up or head down? Defend your answer below. Save this for your next mat day. 🤍

General info only — not medical advice.

#pilates #pilatesinstructor #pilatescommunity #thehundred by @pilates.actually

1

0

9 days ago