To think this is unprofessional in a Pilates class?

[MsMonday]

I attend Reformer Pilates regularly, and in my class yesterday, my instructor kept telling me to look at “Bridget” (another student) for guidance during certain exercises. She said it a couple of times when coming over to help me, instead of giving me direct instruction.

It felt like I was being compared to Bridget, which I found off-putting. I go to these classes expecting personalised guidance from the instructor, not to be told to look at another student. I’m fit and active, and I do other sports as well, so it felt a bit frustrating to not receive direct feedback.

AIBU to feel this comparison is unprofessional, and should I stop attending these classes?

YABU

I’ve never had a problem going to group classes before. Most of the sports and exercise classes I do are group sports and classes. So maybe they are?

I think it's fine, but ideally the instructor would have been more specific e.g. 'Look at Bridget, she's engaging her core and keeping her back in a neutral position whilst lifting her leg' or similar.

She's simply asking you to observe correct posture/placement.

This. It's perfectly normal to spot another's form in most sports. You'd surely know that?

Not being funny but why would I need to come online and lie about doing sports 4x a week?

Seriously. It makes no sense.

I've only done mat Pilates, not reformer . In mat Pilates the instructor would come over and help anyone adjust who didn't have knees etc in the right position. If they just told me to look at someone else, I wouldn't have known what I was doing wrong.
Though of course they likely fit in as many people as they can and don't have the time to help everyone to adjust for every set of exercises. Specific guidance though about needing to adjust knee / leg / pelvis etc would be more helpful to me than being told to watch someone else. But maybe that's a preference of teaching style .

I would find it off putting if I was Bridget!

Also not everyone learns by watching, different learning styles, etc.

The teacher may feel you will learn better visually rather than from verbal instructions.

It’s not unreasonable but I’d probably not like Bridget 😂

It might be more helpful if your instructor told you WHY to look at Bridget (ie her position is really good, so let's see if you can get your body to align like that) but I wouldn't say it's unprofessional. I'd say it's perfectly normal to use classmates as examples to demonstrate a point.

I can’t help it if i’m better than you 🤷🏻‍♀️

I do mat Pilates. The instructor never says to look at someone else for correct technique, she'll come over and adjust our posture or demonstrate it herself.
Except when some people are doing variants of an exercise she hasn't specifically suggested that week, she might say, X is doing the variant if anyone wants to try that (it's an advanced class).
Long winded way of agreeing with the OP!

😂

I think it's normal in that type of environment to look at others doing the moves correctly. If you can't see what's different in what you and Bridget are doing, then ask the teacher, do I need raise this leg more? Or whatever. But I think it's totally normal. It's not a competition.
If you don't like being with others and learning from them then get a private one to one.

Blimey! You might want to work on your attitude first, you've asked a question in AIBU and you're getting honest answers.

Is Bridget superior to you in some way? If you're too self conscious to look at someone else for guidance then maybe Pilates isn't for you.

Same, my pilates teacher is very hands on in our class. She demonstrates, then walks around the room correcting when necessary.

So funny!
OP: Q that clearly demands a specific answer.
MN: Gives ‘wrong’ answer.
OP: 👆Up there on the ceiling somewhere 😆

No-one has said you are lying.

I think it sounds like the instructor is being a bit lazy, particularly if she isn't saying precisely what it is about Bridget that you should be copying. My instructor demonstrates herself, then checks everyone. That said, stopping going seems like an overreaction.

Going against the grain, YANBU.
Admittedly I don't know much about Pilates, but I trained as a yoga teacher and would never give this directive in that context. It's not hard to see how this sort of thing could make students feel inadequate or insecure.

The teacher needs to either manage their time and teaching well enough that they CAN give each student guidance, or be able to give verbal guidance while doing something else. My first and formative yoga teacher would be physically adjusting someone, with great care and focus, while simultaneously telling someone a few mats away to raise their left arm/shorten their stance etc.
The OP isn't looking for an 'ego boost' or being 'fragile' – what silly comments.

I think I would get pissed off at being told to look at Bridget doing it perfectly if I paid for the class as it would be like paying to make myself feel like shit, but then again, I don’t go to group classes because you can do yoga and Pilates at home for free.

Poor bloody Bridget! Happends to be good at Pilates and the OP is harbouring sufficient resentment to start a thread on AIBU.

OP, it's not unprofessional, it's fine.

Oh really. Did you see the comment that said “You clearly don't do or haven't done as much sport as you are stating”. I guess not? That is very much saying that I’m lying, actually.