I got my pilates certification at Equinox and here is my pros and cons list
How did I choose which certification to pursue?
Once I had decided to embark on this career, I chose one that I could start right away, and I relied on my gut to pick the one that, I think, would give me the best experience. I had no idea what Classical was or that I’d be hanging upside down. Ultimately, I went with Equinox and believe I got a lot of value out of it.
The cert tuition at Equinox was steep, but I would say it’s worth it if you are able to take advantage of everything offered and do more than the minimum.
No two certifications are the same, so anyone pursuing one should pick the program best for them. Unless you strongly gravitate toward Classical or Contemporary, I don’t think the style of pilates you learn matters. Personally, I appreciate learning the Classical repertoire, for many reasons, but I’m not “locked” into teaching it. I believe programs are a foundation from which to expand your learning and pursue your own style.
*Update (January 18, 2024): Equinox has raised tuition for the comprehensive pilates training to $7950 at the start of 2024.
TLDR these are my pros and cons about pursing a 500-hour pilates certification at Equinox.
Pros:
Cons:
Pros
Reliable and transparent communication from start to finish
My #1 praise for the Equinox Pilates Training Institute (EPTI) is the start-to-finish professionalism and communication skills. From my initial call with a pilates instructor, to fixing a scheduling issue right before my final exam. 99% of the interactions I had had with someone representing Equinox—managers, instructors, teachers, program admins—were overwhelmingly positive and/or successful. “Successful” meaning the interaction fulfilled my learning goal or expectations without delay.
Our learning and exam schedules were decided well in advance. The seminars started and ended on time, many opportunities were structured in for practice and questions.
Of course, not everything was rainbows and sunshine. A teacher trainer forgot to attend a supervised teaching hour. A (non-teacher) trainer occasionally sent passive aggressive emails about sharing the studio with students. Studio managers weren’t always transparent about studio availability.
But such is the ordinary chaos of life.
This may seem like heavy-handed praise from the get-go, but let me contrast this experience with one I’ve had with another pilates training program.
Prior to my final decision, I debated between Equinox and Polestar. For the latter, the program representative would request to reschedule our calls at the last-minute, and the studio managers and trainers were difficult to get in touch with. I had many questions left unanswered and a decision that needed to be made quickly. Truth be told, Polestar was my first choice because of cost, and I thought I’d like something more contemporary.
But it felt like I had to wrangle chickens just to get clear answers about what would be a major life decision. Comparatively, the human interface experience with the other pilates program was mediocre. My gut told me to go with Equinox.
That’s not to criticize the quality of education or the people, but the experience left much to be desired. And that’s what I’m paying for after all—an experience.
First impressions are everything. EPTI felt like a well-oiled machine, and that’s not something to take for granted. Given the international scope of their program, training instructors in the USA, Canada, and the UK, staying coordinated is no small feat.
Dozens of compassionate, engaging, expert teacher trainers
I don’t think any program will give you access to as many teachers as Equinox. During my ten months, I worked with fourteen senior pilates instructors directly. By “directly,” I mean that I learned in real time from them, received feedback, practiced in front of them, or had the chance to ask questions. I’m not sure how many instructors in total are part of the training program, but I know there are many more instructors behind the scenes contributing by grading homework, leading in-person practices, and proctoring exams.
My home studio teacher had a huge, and positive, impact on my experience. She was the pilates instructor with whom I took privates and supervised my practice sessions. She was eager, compassionate and highly aware about how to offer feedback. In our program, they taught us that it’s important to time-release feedback and corrections to clients so as not to overwhelm them. I would argue the same holds true when training future instructors. My teacher’s feedback was like a consistent trickle that, overtime, filled up a glass.
Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on how you look at it—I know the experience of being on the receiving end of a firehose.
I’ve taught in front of instructors (Equinox and non-Equinox) who would interrupt me every two minutes. I’ve been in situations where I went from being the teacher to observer because the more senior person couldn’t help themselves from commandeering the whole session.
There are some situations, but not all, where being interrupted is appropriate. I believe that as long as interruptions are communicated, it can be an effective teaching tool. In the worse cases, when I’m not expecting it, I would second guess my ability and future as a pilates instructor.
All that is to say that finding the right mentor, instructor, elder—whatever you want to call them—is important for your development as an instructor, and you’re bound to find one that fits with you at Equinox, either in-person or online. Luckily, almost all my teachers at Equinox set expectations for every practice sessions and were kind when giving feedback.
Access to multiple well-equipped pilates studios
An Equinox pilates studio
The one of the main advantages of the studying through a big-box gym like Equinox is the well-equipped and well-maintained studios. The larger the city, the more Equinox gyms there are and the more pilates studios one could access—and hopefully, find one close to home.
In fact, you could say this is the perfect program for the frequent flier, the out-of-state college student, or anyone who splits their time between two (big) cities.
One girl in my cohort says that she ended up traveling to a total of thirteen locations. She says at first it was tricky to navigate the logistics because she was driving to different studios to meet and practice with other students. When she figured it out, she attended as many supervised sessions as she could, worked with fellow students in-person and online, and ultimately enjoyed working with a variety of people and places.
Rich, organized, easy-to-use online learning platform
I commend the program developers and trainers for always improving and adding new content to their online learning platform.
All seminar recordings are available online along with a wealth of other video content: coaching calls, teaching special populations, and actual client sessions.
Every week you must complete the homework in order to open the content for the following week. I know the mention of homework isn’t going to excite anybody, but I have found it valuable for keeping me accountable no matter how busy life got.
Flexible, self-paced learning
Ten months isn’t a long time to complete a certification, but luckily Equinox will work with you if you need an extension, within reason. What I like about Equinox’s completion requirements is that, at the time of writing, it is quite flexible, in comparison to other programs.
You’re still required to complete homework, study anatomy, and get in a minimum number of practice teaching hours. Aside from that, you are in charge of your learning. You have an abundance of trainers to work with, you can work remotely, catch up with coaching calls offline, and train with an instructor even while traveling.
New York City street
For example, while visiting New York City for a week, I scheduled private sessions with trainers there and worked with local students, which was a fun and different experience.
Cons
Cost
$7250.
That was how much tuition was when I pursued my certification at Equinox. It’s okay if you gasped because it’s a big figure. It’s about double the cost of other “comparable” programs.
I use the word “comparable” loosely because every program is different.
There are three things about EPTI that may explain the cost of tuition:
The cost of employing so many teacher trainers to run the program
The cost of an all-access gym membership
The cost of hosting an ever expanding library of video recordings that requires more storage space with each cohort.
Then there’s the additional cost of private training. In order to receive your certificate, a student must complete twenty-four private pilates sessions.
After applying the forty percent student discount, a private session is $69.
At the time of writing this, twenty-four private sessions costs $1650.
Is it a way for Equinox to make money? Yes.
Are private sessions worth the investment to becoming the best pilates instructor you can be? Absolutely yes. In fact, the student discount is one of the reasons why I chose to enroll at Equinox.
This is how I see it: if you are serious about becoming a fantastic, hands-on pilates instructor, private training is essential. It will be part of your umbrella of training expenses. Chances are you will inevitably complete at least twenty-four private sessions now or in the future as you continue to grow as an instructor.
Twenty-four sessions might seem superfluous, both in time and expenses, but you’ll be thankful to have that weekly private to keep you accountable to your practice and learning. Might as well take advantage of whatever student discount you have now because nobody will offer that kind of discount post-certification.
Here’s the good news:
These are tax-included figures.
You can save a little money by doing a combination privates and duets as part of the twenty-four required sessions. Just make sure you hash out the logistical details before purchasing a duet package.
Tuition is almost entirely inclusive of everything you need: digital manuals, tests, access to select pilates studios for self-practice, all-access gym memberships across USA and Canada. There are only two additional books that need to be purchased.
Access to studios might be hit or miss
Don’t expect to be able to waltz into the studio whenever you want. Equinox still prioritizes giving space to paying clients, so you might come to find that the hours open for students are not ideal for your schedule. This is especially true the busier and smaller a studio is.
When you submit your interest on Equinox’s website and you’re connected with a pilates instructor, ask a lot of good questions. Then ask if you could be connected with a trainer in your city, if you weren’t already, to find out more about studio hours for students. I live in Chicago and was connected with a trainer in Miami, but I was fortunate that I did not have issues with studio access in my city.
We were only allowed to teach employees
Because Equinox is a members-only institution, you can’t bring whoever you want inside for practice. In fact, we were only allowed to teach fellow students or employees.
That meant we had to become friendly with everyone at the club.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most gregarious or outspoken person. I have some social anxiety and prefer the security of being a wallflower. As much as I would categorize this teaching restriction as a con, it was also a blessing in disguise because it forced me to be able to talk to strangers.
In the end, I ended up teaching front desk associates, trainers, and an assistant general manager. Not everybody was interested in doing pilates, but I latched on to anybody who was.
Even though I could only teach on employees to build up my real world teaching experience—and they might not be representative of my actual client base—I was able to start working on the teaching and communication skills I need to make it in the real world.
No group class teaching experience
One thing that makes the Equinox pilates training program unique is that there is no curriculum structured in to gain experience teaching duets or group classes. You will only ever be required to teach in a private one-on-one capacity, and that corresponds to what being a studio pilates instructor at Equinox is like.
I don’t have the exact details, but it is very unlikely you’ll teach group pilates classes if you work at an Equinox pilates studio. They seem to prioritize private sessions in their business plans and, frankly, many Equinox pilates studios don’t have the capacity for small group classes.
That’s not to say you can’t practice teaching group classes, but it will have to be additional work outside your program requirements. I like teaching group and privates, but they are completely different beasts. You can make a career doing one or the other, but as reformer pilates becomes more accessible and common practice, there will be, and maybe already is, a greater demand for teaching group pilates.
Equipment is almost entirely Peak or Gratz
This is probably one of the least important things to know about the program, but I’ll include it because it is relevant.
If you’ve never paid attention to the brand of pilates equipment, or, like me, have never touched a reformer before starting a pilates certification, this isn’t going to make any sense. This is not a conversation starter about which equipment brand is better or worse. Just know that if you plan on working outside of Equinox, you will most likely use and have to become familiar with other brands, like Balanced Body.
Because I chose not to work at Equinox, I spent, give or take, four weeks before I became comfortable working with Balanced Body springs and straps and adjusting to a new studio setting.
