Kettlebell Pilates, taught for teachers

Picture a slow, careful hinge with a bell in both hands, and you saying the same things to yourself you'd say on the mat. That's kettlebell Pilates, roughly, and it's the idea behind Maddie's workshop: Pilates principles carried off the mat and into load.

Madeleine Conti, Maddie to most people, built her Mat Pilates Fusion workshop on that idea, and on Saturday, November 7, 2026, at PLTS+ Collective in Austin she took instructors through it in three parts over two hours.

It was built for both sides of your work: your own practice, and how you'd teach the same thing to a client on a Tuesday night. The workshop's own description says the aim is to widen your movement and teaching toolkit, which is about as plain as it gets.

Why a bell, of all things

Hold a bell overhead with a loose middle and it tips toward the window; the client notices that tilt in her own arm before you've even opened your mouth, so the bell ends up doing half the cueing for you. That's useful even for clients who will never go near a heavy one, and for the regulars who have done the hundred a thousand times it is a fresh problem that still runs on principles they already know.

Part 1, foundations

Part 1 covers kettlebell foundations, and the Pilates side shows straight away: alignment and control come long before anyone mentions speed or a heavier bell. If you've never coached a bell, this is the part meant for you, and it starts from Pilates principles you already teach.

Part 2, bridging and core

Part 2 moves down to the mat for bridging variations and integrated core work. Stability and the trunk-to-hip connection are the focus, which is what you're chasing in a plain bridge on a Wednesday anyway.

Part 3, up on your feet

Part 3 gets everyone standing. The sequences borrow from Animal Flow and lean on mobility, coordination and balance, and on control of the whole body at once. The program calls this taking movement off the mat, so it is the part furthest from a mat class, which seems to us like the best reason to try it.

Bringing bells back to your own studio

The workshop promises new movement options you can use in your own practice or teaching right away. Before your first bell class back home, settle the logistics: how many bells you own and in which sizes, and what the client without one does instead. Where do the standing blocks go so a dozen people aren't swinging toward each other? How do you explain a hinge to somebody whose only reference point is a roll-up?

We wrote up the planning side in how to plan a Pilates class, and mixed abilities in our guide for the group Pilates instructor.

When and where

It ran Saturday, November 7, 2026, 12:30 to 2:30 PM Central, right after the Networking Lunch, at 1809 Pearl St, Austin, TX 78701. The other workshops are on the PLTS+ Collective page.