Planning a mat class and planning a reformer class feel similar until you realise: the reformer sets the tempo for you. Spring changes, carriage direction, box position - each takes time, and that time is either part of the class or a gap in it. A class that starts sharp can bleed away five minutes in dead transitions if the plan didn't account for the machine. Good reformer planning isn't harder than mat planning - it just asks one more question: what does the equipment need?
The reformer class shape
The same four-part structure that works for mat - warm-up, build, peak, wind-down - applies here. But on a reformer it has a physical spine running through it: footbar position and spring load. These aren't decoration; they're the structural grammar of the class.
Open on the footbar height and spring setting you'll use longest. That first adjustment happens while clients are arriving and orienting themselves to the machine - it should be the only one they make before you start teaching. From there, each change should feel like a deliberate shift of gear, not a pause to figure out what comes next.
A useful mental model is to think about the class in two halves. The first half - footwork, supine series, short box - anchors to a single base position. The second half opens into variety: long box, side-lying, standing. Structure it this way and your equipment changes cluster naturally between sections rather than scattering between every exercise.
Planning spring changes
Every spring change is a transition. It breaks the physical flow, resets the room's concentration slightly, and in a group class it costs any student who moves slower than the instructions. Budget 30–45 seconds per spring change - more if you're also adjusting footbar height or repositioning the box. In a 45-minute class, four or five changes is a realistic ceiling. More than that and you're spending more time adjusting equipment than moving through it.
If you're resetting springs between every exercise, the class doesn't have a plan - it has a list.
The fix isn't narrowing your exercise choices. It's grouping them by spring setting before you finalise the order. Write the plan in columns: springs 3, springs 2, springs 1, springs 1+1. Pull exercises from each column into a run. You'll find footwork clusters naturally, the long-stretch series clusters, the hip and arm work clusters - and your spring changes land between sections rather than within them.
- 2–3 changes - lots of teaching time, narrow variety
- 4–5 changes - good balance; this is the target
- 6+ changes - transitions are eating your class
Organising by position
Body position on the reformer is its own organisational layer. Supine, prone, side-lying, kneeling, standing - each requires a different relationship to the footbar, the carriage, and the shoulder rests. Every time a client needs to reorient fully, you pay a transition tax: time, momentum and the thread of the class.
Cluster exercises by position. Supine covers most footwork and the abdominal series. Prone covers back extension and pulling straps. Side-lying covers hip work. Kneeling and standing bring the class to its feet for the finish. If you can run each position cluster in one block, you've traded six small interruptions for four purposeful shifts of pace.
The simplest reformer skeleton is: supine → prone → side-lying → standing. Each move from one position to the next feels like the class progressing, not stalling. Footbar up for supine work, footbar down for standing and kneeling - two adjustments across the whole class, not six.
Foot bar and box: the two big decisions
Before you write a single exercise, settle two questions: where does the footbar go, and does the box come out? These are the structural moves everything else hangs from.
Footbar positions are binary for most classes - up or down (some reformers have a mid position; treat it as a variant of up). Most footwork happens bar-up; most standing, kneeling and long-box work happens bar-down. Decide your opening position first and stay there as long as the programming allows.
Box work is a section, not a seasoning. Long box, short box and seated box each require a real setup - box placed, springs adjusted, sometimes footbar repositioned. The mistake is scattering box exercises across a class as though the box were always available. Treat it as one block. Short box sits naturally mid-class, after the footwork and before prone work. Long box can bookend the class - start supine on the long box for a gentle opening, or close prone for back extension. Either is cleaner than pulling the box in and out twice.
Planning cues for equipment
Reformer cues are different from mat cues because the equipment is always present in the sensation. Carriage return speed, shoulder rest pressure, strap tension - these aren't class-wide themes; they're micro-cues that belong to specific exercises and specific moments within them.
Write them at the exercise level. "Return slow - don't let the springs pull it" is a footwork note. "Keep the straps taut at the top" is a pulling-straps note. "Press lightly into the shoulder rests, not heavily" belongs to long stretch. If your plan only captures exercise names, you'll reach those moments and improvise, and improvised cues are the ones that disappear between classes. See also: Reformer cues that actually stick.
A sample 50-minute reformer structure
Here's a clean run with positions, spring settings and rough timings. The point isn't the minutes - it's the order, and the way spring changes land between sections rather than within them.
- Footwork series - supine · springs 3 · footbar up · ~10 min
Parallel, V-stance, wide V, arches, heels. Carriage return cue on every variation. - Short box (abdominal series) - sitting · spring 1 · footbar up · ~8 min
Round, flat back, side-to-side, twist. Spring change: 3 → 1. - Chest expansion / pulling straps - prone · springs 2 · footbar down · ~6 min
Spring change: 1 → 2. Footbar down. Strap tension cue here. - Long stretch / down stretch / elephant - kneeling/standing · springs 2 → 1 · footbar down · ~8 min
Run in sequence; drop one spring between long stretch and elephant. - Side-lying hip series - side-lying · spring 1 · footbar down · ~8 min
Both sides. No equipment change needed between sides. - Standing series - standing · springs 2 · footbar down · ~6 min
Spring change: 1 → 2. Lunges, squats or single-leg variations to your level. - Stretch close - supine or seated · springs off · footbar down · ~4 min
Spine stretch, supine twist, breath. Let the room settle.
Spring changes across this class: four. Footbar adjustments: one (down after short box, where it stays). That's a clean plan.
The check before you teach
Before you walk into the studio, know three things: your spring changes, your footbar positions, and your transitions. Those three - not every cue, not every rep count, not every modification option. Those adapt to the room you find. The equipment decisions don't. They need to be settled before you arrive, because mid-class is not the moment to work out whether the box comes out before or after the supine series.
If you know those three things, the rest of the class follows from them. You'll spend your attention reading the room - adjusting, cueing, connecting - instead of mentally solving a logistics problem while someone is mid-carriage. That's where reformer teaching actually lives: not in the plan, but in the space the plan frees up.