Question from instructor to instructor

[fitgirrrrl]

Hi question,

I am a fitness instructor and have been doing your advanced tapes to help me get into better shape to teach for years. I love teaching fitness classes more than anything and always to find ways to improve myself as an instructor, so i have to ask you about your teaching style.

I am curious as to how you break down real life classes. I understand that you go a little bit fast on dvd because most folks can rewind, pause, or do tape over if they don't get a combo...but how quickly do you break down a combo in real life?

I've got classes mixed with basic plus advanced exercisers....I find it hard to find a good balance between making a combo easy for beginners/Intermediates to grasp....while not boring the advanced crowd.

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Fitgirrl! Congrats on becoming a fitness instructor. Finding the right balance to challenge the new and keep the old from being bored will be an ongoing challenge. I have found it easiest to offer an advanced class for the true die hards and then any other class I teach that is not labled advanced will cater to a mixed crowd.

Strength and circuit classes are much easier to teach to a mixed audience since the material is more basic. Choreographed classes are the biggest challenge. What I do is teach a few 32 count combos per class. I start each combo (the first 8 counts of the 32 count combo) with the base moves (as a foundation for newcomers and a mental breather for advanced). Then I layer on changes and tell new people to stay with the easier version if they prefer. I keep doing this pattern of base moves plus layer changes until I have taught all of the 32 counts of the combo. Then I put the whole thing together. The beginners have a version they can enjoy and the advance have a version they can enjoy too.

I hope this helps. Good Luck!