Your first class, described honestly

Nobody is watching you. Everyone in the room was new once, and most of them were new more recently than they let on.

Book the basics class

Reformer Basics on Monday at seven is the one to start with. Same machine and same springs as every other class, run at a pace that assumes nothing. You do not need to have done pilates before and you do not need to be flexible.

Arrive ten minutes early

Not five. Ten gives you time to be shown the machine before eight other people need the teacher. If you arrive after the class has started we will not let you in, which sounds harsh and is about the springs.

What to wear

Something you can move in that is not baggy enough to catch. Grip socks, which we sell for six and lend for nothing if you forget. No shoes on the machines, and no jewellery that can scratch a rail.

What the machine does

It is a sliding carriage on springs. The springs make some movements easier and others much harder, which is the whole point. Your teacher sets them for you for the first few weeks and then shows you how to set them yourself.

If you want to stop

Stop. Sit on the carriage, drink some water, come back in when you want to. Nobody will ask you why and the teacher will not single you out. The only thing we ask is that you do not leave the room without saying so.

Afterwards

You will feel it two days later rather than the next day, in muscles you did not know were yours. That is normal the first three or four times and then it stops.