Spring selection is one of the most consequential decisions a Reformer instructor makes, and one of the least taught. Most new teachers inherit a set of defaults from wherever they trained, apply them across the board, and quietly hope they’re right.
This post gives you a framework for thinking about springs deliberately, understanding what you’re actually changing when you adjust resistance, and making loading choices that serve your clients rather than just filling the session.
What Changing the Springs Actually Does to the Exercise
Springs don’t just make things harder or easier. They change the fundamental nature of what the exercise is asking of the body.
Load
More spring resistance increases the load through the working muscles. On pushing exercises like Footwork, heavier springs mean more demand on the legs. On pulling exercises like Rowing, heavier springs increase the demand on the posterior chain and scapular stabilisers. The direction matters as much as the amount. Adding springs to an exercise without understanding whether you’re loading a push or a pull pattern leads to choices that don’t match your intention.
Tempo
Spring resistance affects how the carriage moves. Heavier springs slow the carriage and give the client more feedback through the movement. Lighter springs allow the carriage to move faster, which can increase the demand on control rather than strength. Research indexed through PubMed on resistance training tempo consistently shows that tempo is a meaningful variable in resistance training outcomes. On the Reformer, spring selection and tempo interact directly. Understanding that relationship changes how you programme.
Control
Counter-intuitively, lighter springs often require more control than heavier ones. On exercises like Long Stretch or Elephant, reducing spring resistance removes the feedback and support the carriage provides, asking the client’s stabilising system to do more of the work. This is why lighter springs can be significantly more demanding for clients who rely on the carriage’s resistance to organise their movement.
Where to Start With Beginners
New clients on the Reformer need enough resistance to feel the equipment and organise their movement, but not so much that the load overwhelms the pattern.
The Moderate Resistance Principle
For most beginners, starting with moderate resistance on pushing exercises and slightly lighter resistance on pulling exercises gives the client enough feedback to feel what the exercise is asking without the load interfering with their ability to find the pattern. On a standard Balanced Body or Stott Reformer, that typically means two to three springs for Footwork and one to two springs for arm work, adjusted from there based on what you observe.
Watch Before You Adjust
The most common mistake with beginners is adjusting springs based on assumptions rather than observation. Let the client attempt the exercise at your starting setting, watch what happens, then make one change at a time. A client who is compensating through the lower back on Footwork may need less resistance rather than more coaching. A client who is rushing through the movement may need more resistance to slow them down. What you see tells you more than any default setting.
Teach the Client What Springs Mean
Clients who understand that spring changes affect the nature of the exercise rather than just the difficulty tend to engage more thoughtfully with their own practice. A simple explanation, “I’m reducing the spring here because I want your stabilising system to do more of the work,” builds the kind of body awareness that makes every subsequent session more productive. This is part of what separates intelligent Reformer teaching from choreography delivery. For more on where this kind of thinking breaks down in early teaching, the common teaching mistakes new Pilates instructors make article covers the spring-related ones specifically.
The Spring Mistakes I See Most Often and How to Fix Them
Most spring errors fall into a small number of categories. Recognising them makes it easier to course-correct in the moment.
Too Heavy, Too Soon
Loading a client with heavy springs before they’ve established the movement pattern produces compensated movement that looks like effort but isn’t producing the intended outcome. The client grunts through Footwork with a posteriorly tilted pelvis and walks away feeling like they worked hard. They did. Just not in the right places. The fix is to reduce resistance until the pattern is clean, then build load progressively from there. The WHO guidelines on physical activity and rehabilitation support progressive loading as a foundational principle for safe and effective exercise programming.
Keeping Springs the Same for Every Client
A spring setting that works for one client may be entirely wrong for another with different strength, body weight, or movement patterns. Springs should be client-specific, not class-default. This requires knowing your clients well enough to make individual adjustments, which is one of the reasons smaller class sizes produce superior outcomes on the Reformer than packed group formats.
Changing Too Many Variables at Once
If you reduce spring resistance, increase range, and add a new arm pattern in the same exercise, you don’t know which change caused the compensation you’re now seeing. Change one variable at a time. It takes longer. It also tells you something useful every time you do it.
Not Adjusting During the Set
Springs can and should be changed mid-session if what you’re observing tells you the current setting isn’t working. Waiting until the next exercise to fix a loading problem means the client has spent several repetitions reinforcing a compensated pattern. The ability to make adjustments is one of the most valuable skills a Reformer instructor can develop.
Matching Springs to What You Are Actually Trying to Achieve
The right spring setting depends entirely on what the exercise is for. Clarity on the goal makes the choice straightforward.
Strength
For strength outcomes, you need enough resistance to create meaningful demand on the target muscles through a controlled range. This generally means heavier springs on pushing patterns and moderate to heavy springs on pulling patterns, with enough resistance that the client is genuinely working in the last two to three repetitions of each set. Research available through the PMC open access database supports the principle that progressive resistance is necessary for strength adaptation. The Reformer is a tool for delivering that. Use it like one.
Control and Inner Unit Training
For control-focused work, lighter springs that require the client’s stabilising system to manage the carriage are more appropriate than heavy loading. Long Stretch, Elephant, and Knee Stretch series on lighter springs demand significant inner unit activation and scapular control. This is not easy work. It just does not look heavy, which sometimes creates the mistaken impression that it needs more resistance to be effective.
Mobility and Movement Quality
When the goal is mobility, ease of movement through a range, or establishing a new pattern, springs should be light enough that resistance is not a significant factor. The client’s attention should be on how they’re moving rather than on managing load. Arm work, spinal articulation exercises, and hip mobility sequences in the Long Box often work well with minimal resistance for this reason.
When to Change the Springs Mid-Exercise
Knowing the signals that tell you the spring setting is wrong is as important as knowing how to set them correctly.
Breath Disappears
If a client’s breath becomes held or shallow mid-exercise, the load is likely too high. The body prioritises managing the demand over maintaining the breath pattern. Reducing springs often restores the breath immediately. That is a useful diagnostic in itself.
Compensatory Movement Appears
A pelvis that lifts off the carriage, a lower back that arches under load, or shoulders that creep toward the ears are all signs that the springs are creating more demand than the client can manage with good organisation. Reduce resistance before cueing the compensation away. Most compensation on the Reformer is a loading problem, not a cueing problem.
The Carriage Is Banging
A carriage that bangs at the end of the range means the client is not controlling the return. This is usually a sign that resistance is too light relative to the client’s momentum, or that the client is using speed rather than muscle to move the carriage. Either increase resistance slightly or cue a slower, more controlled tempo before changing anything else.
The Client Reports Joint Discomfort
Wrist, knee, or hip discomfort on the Reformer often has a spring component. Reducing resistance changes the load profile through the joint and frequently resolves discomfort that cuing alone does not fix. If discomfort persists after adjustment, that is a signal to stop the exercise and assess further rather than continuing to search for the right spring setting.
FAQs
Is there a universal spring chart I can follow?
No, and be cautious of those that exist. Spring charts give you a starting point, not an answer. The right setting for any exercise depends on the client’s body weight, strength, movement experience, and what the exercise is specifically trying to achieve. Use a chart as a reference, not a prescription.
Should heavier clients always use more springs?
Not necessarily. Body weight affects the load on pushing exercises more than pulling ones. A heavier client on Footwork may need more springs to create appropriate resistance. The same client on Rowing may need the same or fewer springs as a lighter client, because the pulling demand is not directly affected by body weight in the same way. Assess by observation rather than assumption.
How do I know if my spring choices are working?
Watch the client. Is the movement pattern clean and consistent through all repetitions? Is the breath organised? Is the pace controlled? If yes, the spring setting is probably appropriate. If you’re seeing compensation, breath-holding, or rushing, one of those is usually a loading problem. Adjust the springs before changing anything else.
Can I teach spring logic in a group class setting?
You can apply it. Teaching it explicitly requires time that a group class does not always have. The most practical approach is to know your clients well enough to set springs individually before the exercise begins, and to make adjustments as you observe rather than waiting for a client to tell you something is not working.
When should I refer a client rather than adjust the springs further?
If a client is consistently unable to perform a Reformer exercise without significant compensation, regardless of spring setting, that is worth investigating further. It may indicate a strength deficit, a movement pattern issue, or a condition that benefits from physiotherapy assessment before continuing on the Reformer. Knowing when the equipment is not the right tool is part of being a skilled instructor.
Confident Reformer Teaching Starts With Understanding the Equipment
The Ultimate Reformer Course at Polestar covers spring logic, exercise sequencing, and programming decisions as part of a structured learning pathway that builds genuine Reformer teaching competence. It is available across all states, delivered as a combination of face-to-face and online learning.
If you want the full qualification behind your Reformer teaching, the Polestar Pilates Diploma combines Matwork, Studio Rehab, and academic units into a nationally recognised AQF qualification. For 30 years, we have been helping instructors build the kind of understanding that holds up in the room, with everybody, every session.
