https://www.allegrofitnesslondon.com/

Allegro Fitness London, Breathe Studio London, Suite 7, Islington House, 313-314 Upper Street, London (2026)

29/04/2026

I can’t believe how difficult and unclear pilates educations are about what they include and what they don’t.

The most expensive part of your pilates education will be the practise and observation hours if you don’t read the fine print!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - mentorship is dying in this industry. Even a lot of fully comprehensive certificates aren’t what they used to be as they have students on a conveyor belt of workshops then just get thrown out into the wild without any feedback aside from on the assessment.

Some pilates studios and education are still doing the good work but it’s important now more than ever to know what you’re paying for as it varies A LOT!

I’m here to help make the journey a little bit easier so don’t forget to give this post a like if you found it helpful and subscribe if you aren’t already for your one stop shop on navigating pilates education, professionalism and self employed life. And humour. Because I love a good trend 😊

Photos from

22/04/2026

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

18/04/2026

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

17/04/2026

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 😂

15/04/2026

I’m actually kind of confused how this article led to a conversation about education levels. Has anyone else read this and thought the same?

I’m starting to think on a personal level that instructors who had to “earn their stripes” are maybe slightly threatened or even angry that they had to train for years and now new instructors don’t. Honestly - believe me when I say I hear you. 10 years ago there was no level 3 pilates, no flexible or online learning. This article was about equipment yet the conversation became that instructors are unqualified.

I have not seen this mythical “you can get certified in a weekend” course that everyone talks about - where it claims you can actually teach after it. And I make my YouTube about education - so I’ve looked.

To be honest - the in person hours aren’t the ones that build good instructors imo. It’s the mentorship and feedback. And that’s what’s missing in even many big name comprehensive educations.

So blaming education length or duration isn’t really fair. But now things are bigger and less personal, then there’s no mentorship.

Injuries proportionally are not on the rise - and we should count ourselves so freaking lucky that the industry is growing.

Perhaps instead of blaming educations, studios need to realise that the industry has changed and the mentorship falls down to them now, not the education.

Give your more experienced instructors PAID work to mentor newer instructors. Build community, loyalty and a better industry. And new instructors, be open, receptive , try to go on other educations and seek mentorship.

The old model of education was built for the industry as it was 10 years ago. Let’s accept that, adapt to that, be excited for that - and pioneer a new version of the industry that everyone can be proud of

10/04/2026

Not sponsored. I swear to you this came as a shock to me too 😂

Cheaper does not mean worse or lower quality in the pilates world. These are both 500 hour + fully comprehensive educations with highly experienced instructors and master trainers and experts of the industry.

The amount of research I did for this one - there will be a future YouTubes about it too (as well as other nuggets I found on the way) as I also made sure to double check accreditation. The comprehensive courses of the big names are not registered with CIMSPA, EREPs or NCCA…if your brand is reputatable enough then you don’t need it (a Harvard law graduate you will trust knows a lot about the law).

Price is often a big deterrent from doing a fully comprehensive course and for the record fully comp won’t be for everyone - but for those who are put off by the £9k price tag of certain courses, this post is for you.

I wholly believe different educations will fit different people but I won’t pretend that price isn’t a big factor for MOST people I speak to on the subject.

07/04/2026

I wasn’t sure if I should post this or not. What swung it is that I feel I’m the only one doing it or having an existential crisis on fertility and female identity - and by not talking about it, I add to that problem rather than helping it.

I always wanted a family but the ideal we were told was attainable when we were younger (work hard do well and then have kids) is not the reality anymore.

I don’t want to give up my work (fully) for children, but I also want to be there for them.
I don’t want to resent children for sacrificing my career. But I might regret choosing career over family…

I don’t have these answers - but feel like while this process is stressful, it gives a couple of years to feel like I can breathe & think about it without feeling I need to do that now.

It’s been stressful with classes as I’m paranoid that studios won’t understand (they have - but my anxious brain keeps telling me they are mad at me), I’m paranoid that people will make assumptions about me as a person , me as a partner or me as someone who cares (so far no one has). I feel my soul crush every time someone says “oh are you ok you weren’t here last week’ and I lie to them because I don’t know if this is “too awkward” to bring up - but hate lying as I have a poor social filtration system (I can say it all or say nothing but I can’t pick and choose what’s appropriate on the spot)…but I simultaneously realise the convenience and expectation that sometimes small talk is expected in life.

I also feel this is one of the most unique jobs to be going through this with as the drs seem confused about the fact I can’t just call in last minute or reschedule my work 🤷‍♀️ fertility clinics if you’re listening…please can we have this as part of the onboarding …?!..there are some clients who will need extra levels of reassurance about the unpredictability of the days, make sure to let them know why it has to be this day, they can then communicate that to their work and helps them navigate that

If anyone is going through this or similar I see you ❤️ and I’m all ears if you need

03/04/2026

If that friend is your boyfriend I PROMISE he will never say the words “pilates is mostly stretching” ever again.

Pilates sisters stick together ✊

31/03/2026

Been seeing a lot of “day in the life lately” and they are so far away from my day to day so I thought I’d show mine.

As it is quite far from “Instagrammy” (I did not do my hair and make up, not did I take a hot girl walk or workout and had zero matchas or coffees - well not from a store anyway just the instant stuff) I thought I’d tally up the cost as well as the visuals on the commute which is EFFORT …which I do because I love you 😂

The uber is my Sunday routine - I don’t take it every day but so early on a Sunday I found the tube to feel dangerous as it’s lots of people still drugged or drunked up. Uber is “allowed” for this trip…although I often take more than one uber a week 😧 (working on it…)

While I enjoy looking nice, I don’t like the feel of make up on my skin so don’t wear it regularly - but enjoy it when I do 😊

My days look far more like this, there are 4 days I week I work 7+ hours and 1 day a week I work 4. Add to this other responsibilities such as an animal, a social media account I’m trying to grow and the planning and admin, my work week is definitely 60+ hours.

I am going to call it though - a lot (not by any means all or even most) but a LOT of pilates instructors are heavily financially supported by their partners or parents. I’m happy for them - seriously, we should all live in a way that makes us fulfilled and what resources we have to make that happen. BUT they don’t post “day in the life of a pilates instructor being largely financially supported to be able to do this job”.

It’s an amazing job, but it’s hard work - and I do ok for myself. But where some instructors have the luxury of working 2/3 hours a day 4 days a week, to get by in London that is not the reality. I saw a post recently that 54% of instructors quit in their first 18 months.

Do I spend £55 a day on “life”? No - but I do spend around that much each Sunday. This isn’t weird for me.

Hope this sheds a bit of reality onto what a real day sort of looks like 😊 I’d choose it every time

Where are my “my pilates life doesn’t look like the Instagram version” instructors?!

Allegro Fitness London

29/04/2026

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