It's hard to believe that it has been over seven years since I started teaching group exercise classes. According to my quick calculations, that means I've taught about 900 classes. While according to Malcom Gladwell, author of, "Outliers", I have a long way to go before I become an expert (approximately 9,100 classes), I have certainly learned a lot over these past seven years. It is often the highlight of my day, and a extra special class can maybe even be the highlight of my week. I've made such great connections with not only the participants in my class, but the other instructors as well. When you get a group of instructors together, you can't help but talk about your classes that week, and yes, sometimes we even talk about the participants (mostly good things, I promise). So, I put together a list of 10 group fitness instructor "confessions". ENJOY!
We like the music loud
| And I mean LOUD! In a perfect world, the music would be so loud that you couldn't hear me, even with the mic - you would be able to read my mind to know what we're doing next. I may have the music taste of a 12 year old girl (cue the Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift), but I like my music loud. It gives me energy. Some people drink Red Bull, I listen to my music loudly! |  music_w8themes.com |
We have bad days too
We all have bad days, but as a group fitness instructor, you check your day and everything that went wrong at the door. You put on a happy face for your participants because they paid to get a great workout in a happy environment. The beauty of it? By the end of the class, we usually forget what was bugging us that day.
We are not impressed by all the weight you can lift or pushups you can do if you don't have good form
| We put a lot of time into putting together a challenging workout for you. We aren't keeping track of your weight, so don't try to impress us. We will notice and correct you if you aren't using proper form though - we don't want you to get hurt! You want to put a ton of weight on your bar for the bicep track in Bodypump and then do bicep rows the whole track? Oh, that's nice, but we're curling over here. We're not impressed. |  |
We love it when you smile
 eofdreams.com | Just like loud music, smiling and happy faces give us energy. We're not comedians, and I know most of the time our jokes aren't funny, but humor us and give us a chuckle. It lets us know you're paying attention! |
We might not know you're name, but we know your capabilities, potential and preferred brand of sneaker
It sometimes is embarrassing to ask you your name for the third, fourth or even fifth time. It's even more embarrassing when we've had about ten conversations about your new sneakers, your upcoming wedding, your kids, but I don't even know your name. Personally, I'm terrible at remembering names, so I apologize. It doesn't mean I don't remember you. I remember that you did your first push-up on your toes last week, I remember you finally got that hamstring combo, but I most likely don't know your name.
We encourage feedback (good or bad)
Unless your feedback is that the music is too loud. Just kidding - it's your class and if you want the music lower, I will begrudgingly oblige. Some people wear earplugs to my class - just saying. But seriously, we want to make the class the best for you as the participant, so be sure to let your instructor know your thoughts!
We would rather you didn't bring your cell phone to class
I'm actually pretty lonely in the camp of "I don't care if you bring your phone into my class as long as you aren't disrupting the class", but most (if not all) of my instructor friends think you should leave your phone in your locker.
We take other instructors' classes
At least half of what I've learned about group exercise classes has been from taking other instructors' classes. It helps us develop as an instructor and also gives us an idea of what else is going on at the gym.
We sometimes prefer to workout on our own
We LOVE teaching group exercise classes. I mean REALLY REALLY REALLY love it! But, sometimes, we like to work out on our own too. It's a much different type of workout, and it gives us time to work on things that can't be addressed in a group setting (and time to come up with those crazy moves we're having you do during class).
You make our day!
| I've said it before and I'll say it again - one of the best part about teaching group exercise classes is the connections we make with other people. We watch people struggle, reach goals, smile, grunt - really every emotion comes out during our classes, and we're there for it all. This hour is often the best part of our day, and YOU are the reason why! |  |
Are you a group fitness instructor with a confession? Share below!
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