Beginner, Open Level, Level 1: What Pilates Class Labels Actually Mean

If you've ever stared at a class schedule trying to decide between "Beginner," "Open Level," and "Level 1," here's the honest answer: those words don't mean the same thing from one studio to the next. There's no governing body that defines what a beginner Pilates class has to contain, so each studio, and each teacher-training lineage behind it, builds its own ladder, and the rungs don't line up between buildings. The fix isn't decoding a universal system, because one doesn't exist. It's learning the handful of patterns studios actually use, and asking one direct question before you book, so your first class fits your body instead of someone else's guess at it.

Why There's No Single Standard

Pilates was never run through one certifying body the way, say, a lifeguard course is. Joseph Pilates trained a small group of teachers directly, and from them came several distinct lineages, classical, contemporary, and method-specific programs like APPI, each with its own curriculum and its own idea of what a new student needs first. A studio built on a classical mat lineage might run six numbered levels, because that's how its teacher training is structured. A studio trained in a contemporary or clinical method might use just three tiers, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, with a checklist of skills attached to each. Both are internally consistent. Neither one is "the" Pilates standard, because that standard was never written.

Mat Levels and Reformer Levels Aren't the Same Ladder

This is the part that trips up most new students, and it's the one I see most often from the reformer side of the studio. Reformer levels factor in machine mechanics on top of core strength: how you load the carriage, how you manage spring tension as you change exercises, whether you can control the footbar instead of fighting it. Someone who's genuinely advanced on the mat can still belong in a reformer studio's foundations class in week one, simply because they've never controlled a moving platform under tension before. Going the other direction, a reformer regular who drops into an unfamiliar mat studio's "Level 3" class might find it harder than expected, because mat progressions lean on endurance and precision with no machine assisting or resisting you. Level numbers describe experience within one system. They don't transfer cleanly across equipment.

The Few Patterns You'll Actually Run Into

Once you look past the exact wording, most studios land on one of a small number of patterns:

• Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced, sometimes with a "+": the most common scheme, where a "+" tier (Beginner+, Intermediate+) signals you've built enough strength to prepare for the tier above. Pilates Anytime's own guidance uses this exact structure, plus a catch-all "Suitable for All" category for specialty content anyone can join.
• Open Level, then numbered Levels 1 through 6: common in classically-trained mat studios. Open Level is designed to challenge a newcomer and an advanced student in the same room without either one being bored or lost, while the numbered tiers assume you've logged real mat time and want to work through the method's full vocabulary in sequence. Goucher College's Pilates Center runs levels this way, right down to apparatus classes that require a certain number of private sessions before you're allowed in.
• A three-tier skills-based system: some clinical and physiotherapy-adjacent studios, trained in methods like APPI, define each level by a specific skill set you need before moving up, with an instructor or a written checklist confirming you're ready, rather than a fixed number of weeks or classes. goPhysio's level guidance is a clear example: they hand new students a diagram of required skills per level and build in a one-to-one review before anyone moves up.

Notice what all three have in common: the label is a proxy for a skill set, not a fitness score, and every one of them expects some back-and-forth with an actual instructor rather than a student self-sorting from the website alone.

How I'd Pick, If I Were You

I own a studio, so I'll tell you what I tell people who call asking which class to book. First, email or call and ask one plain question: "I've never taken Pilates, what should I book?" A studio that can't answer that clearly in one sentence is telling you something about how it runs. Second, when a reformer studio and a mat studio both offer something called "beginner," and you're new to the equipment specifically, pick the equipment-labeled one over your general fitness level, for the reasons above. Third, expect your actual first class, whatever it's called, to spend real time on setup: how to adjust the carriage or the straps, how the breathing cues work, where your spine should be before anyone asks you to move it. That's not wasted time. It's the part that makes every class after it make sense.

A level is a sentence a studio wrote about a room full of exercises. It is not a verdict on you. If the first class feels too easy or too hard, that's information for your second booking, not a problem with your body.

Naoko Tamura-Webb

What to Ask Before You Book, and When to Loop In a Clinician

If you're managing a current injury, you're pregnant, or you're returning to movement after a long break, the level label matters less than telling the front desk or the instructor directly, before class starts, not during it. Most studios will quietly adjust what they ask of you once they know, and a good instructor would rather hear it twice than not at all. None of this replaces your own clinician's advice: if you have a diagnosed injury, are pregnant, or are managing a condition where exercise intensity matters, check with your doctor or physical therapist about Pilates specifically before your first class, and bring any restrictions they give you to the studio in writing if you can.

Where to Start

My honest recommendation is to stop trying to solve the label and start with whichever class a studio calls its true entry point, Beginner, Foundations, Level 1, Open Level, it doesn't matter which word they used. Go once. A competent instructor will watch you move for about ten minutes and know more about where you belong than any website copy could tell you, and most studios are genuinely set up to redirect you to a better-fitting class the second time around. The label gets you through the door. The instructor, and your own second visit, is what actually sorts you.

Frequently asked

Is 'Open Level' the same as a beginner class?

Not exactly. Open Level is usually designed to work for a total beginner and an advanced student in the same room, so it leans a bit harder than a dedicated beginner or foundations class. If you're brand new, ask whether the studio has a true beginner option before defaulting to Open Level.

I'm already fit from running or weightlifting. Can I skip the beginner level?

General fitness doesn't substitute for the specific skills Pilates levels are built around, like breath coordination, spinal control, and reading machine resistance. Most instructors would still rather start you at the entry level for one class and move you up quickly once they see how you move.

Do mat studios and reformer studios use the same level system?

No. Reformer levels factor in machine control, like managing carriage speed and spring tension, on top of core strength, while mat levels are built entirely around bodyweight endurance and precision. Being advanced in one doesn't automatically carry over to the other.

What happens if I book the wrong level by mistake?

Tell the instructor before class starts; most will quietly modify what they ask of you once they know. A single mismatched class isn't a setback, and a good studio will help you pick a better-fitting one for next time.