S11 Ep01 Pilates at the Intersection, with PAA President Kimberley Garlick

In this opening episode of the Pilates at the Intersection series: An honest stocktake of a profession choosing its future of standards, identity and growth, PAA Podcast host Bruce Hildebrand begins a new weekly conversation series with incoming PAA President Kimberley Garlick, asking whether Pilates is becoming too fitness-focused. Kimberley brings a balanced and credible perspective, acknowledging her own roots in the fitness world while clearly distinguishing Pilates as something deeper than sweat, burn or intensity. The discussion frames Pilates not as a rejection of fitness, but as an intelligent movement method centred on embodiment, awareness, precision, sensory feedback, functional movement and lifelong connection to the body.Bruce and Kimberley explore how fitness language — “burn,” “sculpt,” “tone,” “shake” and “fast results” — can subtly reshape public expectations and studio programming when it becomes the dominant way Pilates is marketed. Kimberley argues that the issue is not intensity itself, because Pilates can be highly demanding, but the danger of intensity becoming the only measure of value. The conversation also examines group Reformer, social media influence and teacher identity, making the point that the apparatus or format is not the problem; the real question is whether teachers are still observing, adapting and educating, or simply delivering a pre-set workout.The episode closes with a strong professional call to action for teachers, studio owners and the PAA. Kimberley encourages teachers not to become defensive, but to ask better questions: am I teaching with purpose, can I modify for the person in front of me, are my clients learning something about their bodies, and am I continuing to grow? For studio owners, the challenge is to decide whether their culture rewards sweat and full classes, or client progress, teacher development and long-term outcomes. The central message is clear: Pilates can evolve, but evolution is not the same as dilution — and if the industry preserves attention, control, breath, individualisation and the mind-body relationship, Pilates has an extraordinary future.PAA Course Competency Criteria standardsVisit the PAA website Find us on  Facebook Join the PAA Member Forum (Members  only)Find us on InstagramEmail us at [email protected]