How do you do it????

[staystrong]

Dear Cathe,

I know you are busy and currently on vacation but I feel compelled to write you. I would love to pick your brain for a while.

I am new to teaching aerobics and learning everything by trial and error, lots of research and asking questions wherever and whenever I can. Oh, I cannot forget practice, practice, practice.

It is coming along but I just think you are absolutely amazing. Your videos are the best hands down. You have everything, intensity, great instruction, a huge fun factor and awesome choreography. Question - how do you do it? What kind of materials do you use for research or back when you were learning? Do you have any pointers so that I can constantly improve myself and become better and better? I do not expect to become anywhere near your caliber but I want to give the people that take my class the best I can.

My husband thinks I obsess and spend too much time on it but how can you not. There is so much to learn, its overwhelming.

Any pointers?? I would love to hear any guidance you can give me. I am also in NJ although more central and have hopes of visiting you very soon!

Thank you for any help you can provide. Hope your having a great vacation! Thanks Cheryl

 

[Aquajock]

Hi, Cheryl! I'm not Cathe, obviously, but I've been a group fitness instructor for over 6 years now (water aerobics, natch, given my screen name), and I just wanted to give you a bit of encouragement myself.

I too am in awe of Cathe's creativity, and I think I can tell you that the skill and creativity come with practice practice practice and instruction instruction instruction. The hubbies of the world scratch their heads when they see their spouses "obsess" about instruction, especially newer instructors, but it takes a bit of obsession to get the Instructor Brain and walk into each class with confidence, knowing the class is just gonna roll out of you.

Re choreography: there are many online resources you can tap into, as well as workshops, magazines and professional associations for group fitness instructors. Go to the Turnstep website (www.turnstep.com); it has a whole Patterns section for a wide variety of group fitness modes as well as a good bulletin board where you can ask for more ideas. Go also to Vita's Vibe (www.vitasvibe.com) for similar choreography and forum stuff. But approach all choreography and suggestions with the notion of "use what you want and leave the rest behind"; the personal creativity that the instructor injects into her / his classes makes group fitness instruction one of the most satisfying activities around.

Hope this is of a bit of use to you. I too would love to get Cathe's bead on her approach to live group fitness instruction; given how innovative she is AND how dedicated she is to effective high-intensity exercise, I'd love to hear her Instructor Bio.

A-jock

 

[roe]

A-jock gave some great advice which I will add to and hope it helps.

In the beginning, it is best to have a plan before each class and choose a mentor, whether it be an instructor on video or a "live" instructor at your health club - to learn from. Choose about 3 to 4 blocks of choeography that you can teach well and feel comfortable to you. My motto is, "If I can't do it, I can't cue it!" The moves must feel comfortable for your own body in order to teach them well. For instance, as creative as Christi Taylor and Kari Anderson are, and they are phenominal instructors, I couldn't use them as mentors because their choroegraphy doesn't always feel right for my body type even though I can follow it well. It felt like I would be teaching the moves with poor technique compared to them. When I found Cathe, it clicked. She became my mentor because everything, from the choreography to her cuing style to the way she moved, made sense. I took some of her easier patterns in the beginning mixed with things I had seen at workshops, and put together blocks of choreography that I kept track of in a notebook. Participants care more about getting a good workout from a competent and personable instructor than they do about following fancy choreography. As long as you keep them moving they will be fine!

Most important is knowing your audience. Even now when I teach in new places there is a learning curve, you assessing their skill level and they assessing your style. Once comfortable, the creative juices start flowing and you will find yourself making up your own patterns based on something you saw somewhere, or just taking the same patterns you always use and combining them differently. Participants like to know what's coming, so they will not find it boring if you recycle old choreography in a different order or put some old moves into new patterns.

My best advice is to add on new choreography slowly, maybe one entirely new pattern every few classes so you don't feel overwhelmed. Teach some of it in the warm-up, or make the new pattern your warm-up if it isn't too intricate, and use it as the first block of choreography. With practice and time, you will be able to go into a class and wing a really great routine without a formal plan!

Finally, don't beat yourself up if you think you taught a bad class or made some cuing errors. Even the most experienced instructors have brain fart days. I've had plenty, and if you can laugh at yourself, or better yet, get your participants involved and have them cue with you or remind you of what's coming up next when you goof the move for the upteenth time, :7 you'll have great success in the field.

Good luck!

-Roe

 

[staystrong]

Thank you very much Roe and Annette I appreciate your advice.

I have gone on Turnstep and Vitas Vibe although I must confess I haven't been in a while!

I have been teaching for about a year now and six months at my current gym. I have a decent class format that I have been following - and yes you are right to add one block of choreography every few classes is the best advice!!!! In the beginning I was changing my class everytime because that is what everyone always says and learned that it was too much.

So now I have learned very small changes is all it takes. So far it is going good, but I guess I am in constant fear that my members will get bored. I have to slow myself down because I want to WOW them everytime but I am learning that everything evolves very slowly on their own.

This gym is extremely basic step choreography to a fast BPM. So options are limited - an around the world is too extreme for instance. So I need to keep my routine fresh and basic with power moves for intensity.

Everything unfortunately seems to be learned by trial and error which I guess is the best way to learn. Even my step buildup I kind of just follow what feels right to me. I start slowly write it all down and then practice it to make sure it feels right. I have been working out for so long I think I am doing it right but it is more by feel than anything else. Is there an actual format I should be following??? On Vitas Vibe and Turnstep it seems alot of the instructors teach pretty choreographed moves which would not work in my gym. I have found that what feels right has worked so far but then there is the nagging voice in my head saying is this right? Is this how others do it?

Anyway, I could go on forever. I have learned to try to take it one day at a time, one class at a time, otherwise I become overwhelmed. I figure it is better to master one thing at a time before moving on. Other instructors just seem so versatile. I am not sure I am there yet, ya know?

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[Aquajock]

Hi, Cheryl! IMHO, one of the biggest and most natural mistakes an instructor can make is to try to do someone else's best rather than your own.

Trust your judgment. If your instruction style, including simplicity or complexity of choreo, step BPM, blocking etc. work for both you and your participants, if you're able to make small incremental changes that your participants understand that refresh the class each session, and if they feel like they're working and having fun, then that's all you need. Put any 10 instructors in a room and they'll come with 10 ways of instructing a class. Do what works for you, and you'll evolve in a comfortable way.

BTW, I'm no fan of lattice-work intricate choreography or warp-speed BPMs.

A-jock

 

[roe]

Hi Cheryl,

I know the feeling of wanting to WOW your group. Most of the time those WOWS blew up in my face because I was teaching too much too soon. I have learned that the best choregraphy are simple moves combined into what feel like intricate, but very do-able - patterns. If you keep them moving around the step instead of in only one or two orientations, that helps a lot. Sometimes things I see in Cathe's videos that I know would be too much for my corporate group, spark an idea that would work and voila - I created my own piece of choreography with her inspiration!

Is there any way you can speak to the aerobics director about the pitch of the music? Is there room for negotiation or is this required by the health club? Early in my career I was dying to teach at this very popular gym in a nearby town - a very elite health club at the time. The most a new instructor could hope for was a place on the sub list, which I managed to get after "auditioning" several times (hee, hee!). I was called in to sub a few classes, and the members who attended liked my choroegraphy and mentioned it to the director, who eventually offered me my own advanced step class. Well, after teaching there for a month or so, there were complaints that my music pitch wasn't fast enough. The director's exact words were, "They want to go faster, harder and longer!" Mind you, most of these people, although advanced in following choreography, had horrible technique. After finding out that pitching the music wasn't a requirement, I told my classes that if they want the more intricate choreography I was offering, they could not have it at the expense of faster music. And I demonstarted that by pitching up a step tape and asking them to perform some intricate stuff with me. Most agreed that it felt awkward, and we found a middle ground with the pitch. Sometimes I would actually go back and forth to the stereo to pitch up or down for particular routines. I lost some participants, but was glad they found somewhere else to go where they would be happy.

Also, most participants - or fitness "professionals" in management posiitons, have no idea about the leverage factor - taller people with longer limbs take longer to move through space. Look around your class and you will see some of these people really struggling to keep up. And even those who can are usually shortening their range of motion to do it.

It really seems like the faster music pitch is stifling your creativity. Maybe you can mention to the class that you have some great choreography to share but it won't work with fast music, and see if they are amenable to pitching it down while they learn something new. Most will probably be very receptive! Remember that club management are in business to please their customers, and if the customers are loving your slower classes with better choreography, you will still have a job! :7

-Roe

 

[eminenz2]

An interesting conversation, but just a picky thing (please forgive the music teacher in me) - "pitch" is the highness or lowness of a sound or tone. "Tempo" refers to the speed of the beat.

At least that's how it is in music. Is it different lingo in the choreography world? I know a lot of times music I'm used to hearing slower sounds horrible when it's speeded up because, yes, the pitch goes higher then! It's awful!

Many times when I'm doing Cathe workouts, or whoever, I think about the kind of work that must go into planning out a routine to fit a particular piece of music. And the you have to memorize it - WOW!! I can really appreciate the effort.

Susan G.

 

[roe]

Hi Susan,

The stereo systems we use in the studios have what is called a pitch control knob, to speed the tempo both up and down. If pitched too slow or fast it will distort the sound of the tape.

Yes, I am familiar with the term pitch as it refers to the music industry, so in essence, we are playing with the tempo of our music via a device called a pitch control. :7

-Roe

 

[eminenz2]

Oh! I have one of those knobs on the CD player in my music classroom.

I hope I didn't come across as a know-it-all. I hate when the music is too fast - the voices get all Mickey-Mouse.

Susan G.

 

[staystrong]

Hi guys,

thank you for all of your advice and encouragement. I really appreciate it! I just got back from teaching a class and although I feel it went well noone said anything afterward. Does that mean that there is room for improvement or that they are getting bored?

I know I am crazy and torturing myself, I guess I am just not that good at reading them yet. Still trying. I am in constant fear that they are bored with my format and are looking for something else. How do you know when you should change the format? Or do you keep it the same because they come looking for this particular class? Right now I teach Versa Training and it is basically 3 step segments with an interval push at the end followed by recovery on the floor after each step segment that slowly builds up to another interval on the floor. when we are done we cool down and do some bodysculpting for about 15 minutes. I have been tempted to play with the format and add some kickboxing but I know in my head the best things is to keep it basic and simple so as not to confuse them. I am just wondering if they are bored with the step - although it seems to be the only thing they all want.

I am having a hard time building up my class at this particular gym. So far I have between 5 and 8 and its frustrating. I wonder why more aren't coming? I have been told very good things about my class, loved it, etc and then I do not see that person again. Is that a reflection on me or a person's busy schedule? For some reason Thursday appears to be a slow day at the gym but I can't help but feel that if I was doing everything right that I would bring them in anyway.

Should I question some of my regulars or does that undermine me or open up a whole new can of worms because I will not be able to please everyone.?

Sorry I have rambled a bit just trying to figure out where to go from here.

Take care all and have a good weekend.
Cheryl

 

[Aquajock]

Participants tend to vote with their feet; you'll know you're not reaching them when they stop showing up. And it's a constant frustration when you see a wall of noncommittal faces or lack of verbal response.

I don't think it would hurt to start throwing in a bit of kickbox or step-kickbox just to spice things up if you feel comfortable with the moves and cueing; you'll know whether it works or not for them fairly quickly!

Sometimes, in fact a lot of times, lower attendance is far more a function of the time slot than the quality of the instruction. What's the day / time of your class?

a-jock

 

[staystrong]

Hi Annette,

Thank you for responding. I appreciate your help.

I teach at 9:30 in the morning, and on most days this gym is packed Mond - Wed at this time slot but Thursday and Friday are slower.

I think I am going to check with some of my regulars on Thursday and ask if they want a slight change. Although I need to tread very carefully because this gym does not like change. The most popular instructor during the week in the morning has taught the same class for 3 years in a row!!!!!! Her group will not take my class because I took over Thursdays when she gave them up. She wanted 2 back to back classes on Thursday and when she didn't get it she dropped the class. But I understand there is some political stuff going on with her and the director and bang - I am in the middle!

They definately like to know the routine and like basic, basic, basic moves. That is why I am afraid to throw in Kickboxing. I am afraid the combination of step and kickboxing will be too much for them!

I agree with you that if they are not showing up they must not like my class. But the people that I have not seen for a while were ones that told me how great my class was? Doesn't make sense to me unless it is because of the summer as well?!

I am toying with the idea of instead of adding Kickboxing maybe doing regular step - no intervals for the first half and then easy power step16 counts repeated a few times and then an interval push and the weights for the last half. Sort of like Cathe's Power Intervals in Body Max. It's different without confusing them. I am going to run it by my whopping 5 regulars and ask them what they think. The last thing I want to do is alienate the only ones that faithfully come every week and seem to enjoy it.

Enough about me. How many classes do you teach a week? Is it primarily water aerobics? That sounds interesting. I have never taken that type of class before.

Have you been teaching for years? There is so much to know in this field I feel like no matter how long I teach I will still be learning. I guess that is part of the allure. The constant challenge! That's what keeps me at this particular gym. That and the time I have put in 6 months. There are easier gyms to break into but I need to conquer this one. The Director thinks I need to come to the gym and take as many classes as I can with other instructors so I can befriend the members. She says that is how it works at this gym and the only way they will take your class is if they know you. Unfortunately easier said than done with 2 kids!

I would love to go to Cathe's gym and take a couple of classes. I hope to do it soon since we are both in NJ! How lucky are the people that live near the gym and can take her classes all week long? That would be awesome!

Take care and thank you for your advice. I will continue to plug away.

Thanks again,
Cheryl

 

[Aquajock]

Hi, Cheryl! I'd love to correspond with a fellow instructor!

Why don't you e-mail me at this address: [email protected].

Then we can cyberchat all we want!

And keep trying! It takes awhile to get seasoned, and to know what you will and will not be able to do with a particular population.

A-jock