My guest in this PRO Podcast episode wants to help you develop a 1,000 Watt Presence & express yourself brilliantly. It starts with“taking a personal inventory” of yourself interacting with and teaching your class.
Listen as communication expert Alexa Fischer explains why recording yourself interacting and teaching your class is the first step to making small improvements to how effectively you present to and communicate with your participants.
About Alexa Fischer
There’s nothing like a 1,000 Watt Presence to ignite and inspire everyone you meet. In case you have lost touch with your own star qualities, Alexa Fischer knows how to bring out your inner light. She has transformed normal civilians into confident, dynamic speakers. The results? Less Fear. More FUN. And maybe some fame if you’re a really dedicated student! Alexa is a graduate of Northwestern University, B.S. in Speech, and The Yale School of Drama, M.F.A. in Acting. She has appeared on countless episodes of hit television shows and national commercials. Beyond the television, her audiences include entrepreneurs, non-profits, corporations and teens.
Listen to my interview with Alexa below or you'll find it in the ICI/PRO members only iTunes feed.
Here is a past Podcast that explains an easy way you can record your own class, using your iPhone or Android phone.
Click the image for more information on Alexa's course
I spent the morning thinking of some overwhelming wisdom to impart for 2018. I thought about clever phrases that would sum up the entire 2017 in 4 words or less, and power phrases that would inspire us all to be better, stronger and faster.
As I was doing this, I thought back to my the last class I taught in 2017, It was Thursday evening at the Robinson LA Fitness here in Pittsburgh PA that I was subbing, and it was a 4:30-5:30 class that only had about 8 participants. It is always a challenge for me to maintain my excitement and enthusiasm for a smaller class, but on that Thursday there were a few people in the group that I had ridden with before, so I felt connected and had a great ride. Actually, I am not sure there is such a thing as a bad ride, the worst ride is still always better than not riding!
I will pass along what I told the class: “We are about to embark on January, you know the time of year when the gym is busy, really more than busy, it is packed. It is our tendency to get a little aggravated because our routines are off. There is now someone on ‘My' bike in the spin room, and I can not find a bench to use for lifting. I get it, I have been there for about 30 years now. But….I challenge you to breathe deep and be patient (not one of my talents). Let us welcome these new fitness enthusiasts into the gym and into our classes. Help them out if needed, and let's show them how to be a respectful and courteous member through our example.
Just think, the few minutes we give up waiting may change the life of someone else for the better which is a gift that will continue for a lifetime. Maybe, just maybe, they will stick with it and pass along the same joy of exercise to someone new next year.”
Are you still as deeply passionate and in love with instructing as you used to be? If the answer is yes, good for you! If it is not, then good for you! You are about to be reminded of some things that perhaps you have forgotten.
It was the spring of 1985 and I will never forget the first time I saw someone teaching an “aerobics class”. Yes, that’s what we used to call what is known today as a “Group Fitness” class. It was absolutely intriguing. So much energy, rhythm and sweat! The music was playing (yes, sweatin’ with the 80’s) and my body starting moving. I was a junior in high school, and even though I was an athlete I had never done (or seen) this type of workout. I asked the owner of the gym how I could “do that”? She told me I could join the gym and start taking classes. To which I replied, “No, I don’t want to take the class, I want to teach the class.” She smiled, as she asked me if I had ever taken a class before. I told her no, but that I wanted to learn how to teach like the instructor that I was watching. She responded by telling me that the first place to start was by taking classes. I signed up and started training. Several weeks later I became certified and the rest is history. That was 32 years ago, and it seems like just yesterday that I put on my red unitard (yes, that’s what we called them), and white leg warmers as I began a journey that has never lost its passion for me!
When you are truly passionate about something, not only will you keep coming back for me…year after year. But your followers will do the same.
What is passion? Although I use this word a lot, I decided to find out what my trusty pocket dictionary had to say about it. (Thank you “Dictionary App”) “Any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling…” “The state of being acted upon or affected by something external, especially something alien to one’s nature or one’s customary behavior…”
That led me to the words, powerful and compelling. What do they really mean?
Powerful: “physically strong…producing great physical effects…having great effectiveness…having great power, authority or influence…”
Compelling: “having a powerful and irresistible effect; requiring acute admiration, attention or respect…”
Wow…by nature, when you are genuinely passionate about what you are doing, you will have the capacity to do something alien to your previous nature or customary behavior.
Naturally, you will also become physically strong(er), produce great physical effects (in yourself and others), have great effectiveness, and great power (previously mentioned), authority and influence! Would you like a little (or a lot) of that?
Passion equates to power. Being passionate equals being powerful. This leads to you being compelling, which ultimately will draw others (your students) to you. This is magnetic and multiplicable (Is that a word? Well, if it’s not…it is now. And it means that your magnetism will lead to exponential multiplicity. J) That means that you and those around you will experience expansion that comes from a rare and organic source deep within you. Thus, gaining you the “acute” (not “a-ugly J) admiration, attention or respect that you deserve (and let’s face it, quite possibly “DESIRE”).
Don’t you just love the power of words? I do too!
But these are far more than just words; they are a representation of the value (your core) that resides inside of you and every passionate leader. If it’s just “lip service”, then it really isn’t passion and therefore you will continue to seek something that seems distant and unattainable.
So let’s talk about this for a moment. What if you had passion for being a fabulous instructor, but somehow you seem to have misplaced it? Perhaps it’s hidden somewhere with your thong leotard and headband? OMG…has it been that long?
Thank God we don’t have to go back to move forward, but sometimes we need to go within so we do not have to go without. What do I mean by this?
Sometimes when it seems as though we have lost something that we thought we once had, we long for what some may refer to as “the good ole’ days”. It’s something we may long for, but is not possible to attain. Come on, would you really want to go back to using tapes, choreography, thong leotards, and leg warmers? O.K., maybe the thong leotards…they really did make our butts look smaller, don’t you think? JK! J Do you really want to go back to the stationary Air-Dyne bike that pumped your arms as you pedaled with your legs?
If you want to long for something and fully attain it, long for discovering your true passion. What compelled you to become an instructor in the first place? Do you remember it like it was yesterday? (I do!) Do you remember how excited (and nervous) you were to teach your first class? Do you remember the first time a student told you what a huge difference you had made in their life? Do you remember how great it felt to proudly tell your friends and family that YOU had become a fitness instructor (or perhaps an aerobics instructor…or cycling instructor)? You had a goal and you accomplished it. Why?
It’s time to tap into the reason you started in the first place, and give thanks for a dream fulfilled and a goal accomplished. It’s time for you to awaken the passion within you, and move ahead as you “make love” with what you are doing every time you do it. Let the sizzle inside you penetrate those around you. Then you, my friend, will be the instructor that your students cannot wait to see again!
Experts say that “sex sells”…well true LOVE not only sells, but it also pays…and it pays big! Pay yourself what you’re worth by investing your heart and soul into every class that you instruct, and watch what happens to not only your class…but also your own personal CLASS!
When you do what you love and love what you do…you will love YOU, and so will everyone around you! This is exactly how to be the Instructor (Inspirer) that your students can’t wait to see. It begins with being the instructor (Inspirer) that YOU can’t wait to see!
The program manager made that comment when a participant in our weight loss program didn’t get results. I was both an athletic coach and the lead nutritionist.
His comment exasperated me. Of course she trained well. She was an expert at that because of her food issues. She’d junk out, then “train well” to burn off the unwanted calories.
It wasn’t always the same ‘she’ — but she was typically a sugar addict. Sugar addicts don’t necessarily have difficulty training.
Training is the easy part. Early classes at the gym, hitting the weight room, weekend runs, core strength, scheduling with a trainer. No problem.
They don’t refuse to cooperate with the instructor. Workouts don’t threaten their addictive behavior.
The sugar addict wants to eat junk, work out to compensate for it, and keep the addiction going.
Nutrition Rules Push Sugar Addicts’ Buttons
Food guidelines, on the other hand, meet with stonewalling. My nutrition program — highly successful with most participants — annoyed the “resisters.”
I’ve posted about resisting weight loss, but one client kept demanding more and more specific instruction. Our guidelines were never good enough.
First, she claimed not to know what to eat. She wanted menus. When we provided those, she wanted more: exactly which foods to eat, exactly when to eat them, and precise quantities for her calorie and weight-loss needs.
The program manager saw this as our problem. I immediately recognized it as a smokescreen. “Until we provide those things,” he said, “she feels as if her program hasn’t begun.”
His comment was profound — but not in the way he thought.
Registering for a robust weight-loss program looks like a sincere desire to lose weight. Asking for more specifics seems like part of that sincere desire to lose — if you don’t know the games people will play to avoid doing the necessary work.
I’ve been around the defiance of resistant weight-loss clients a long time and see it differently: As long as we didn’t supply what she requested, that was her excuse not to change her eating. Not to give up pizza, margaritas, wine, or nachos. (All of these were in her seldom-kept food log.) Not to move forward — to any degree — until things suited her to a T.
If we had done everything she wanted, she would have had more complaints and more demands.
Bottom line? She saw the lack of personalized info as the chink in the armor, the point of attack. A good friend of mine who works as a life coach said, “It’s better for her if the program fails than if she does. Again.”
This life coach friend disliked many of her weight loss clients because of the games they played. Guess I’m not the only one who has noticed this nonsense.
Not all of you are coaching weight-loss clients, but if you are, here are a few suggestions.
– Encourage them to be honest.
What do they want? Whether their weakness is sugar, alcohol, butter, or something else, their goals should be what they really want.
It’s no crime for them to decide they don’t want to lose weight or end their food addiction.
– See the finish line with no time element.
I learned that from my ultra-endurance athletic coach. Don’t worry about fast results. These days, some people push rapid weight loss. That’s fine if the clients prefer, but there’s no race.
If it’s more comfortable to “set it and forget it”, they can decrease their calories by, say, only 200 to 300 per day. It will take longer to reach the goal, but that’s the only drawback. So what?
They do it daily, forget about it, and let the pounds melt slowly while they go about their business.
– If your client is addicted to sugar or other food, concentrate on the addiction first.
If the client takes on too much at once, it could sabotage the effort. Dealing with addiction first is a strong, solid step toward weight loss. Once eating is under control, the other goals will fall in place.
– Recommend qualified help and a proven system.
Everyone seems to have ideas on how to get rid of sugar cravings, and some of them are almost ridiculous. With the right help, it’s a straightforward process. The wrong advice can make it agonizingly difficult.
Suggest that your clients find a solid system and stick with it.
If you've followed indoorcycleinstructor.com for any length of time you know that I'm a huge fan of the 2T/3Z method of Heart Rate training which is the basis for Zoning. That simple Blue/Yellow/Red response from my Blink Heart Rate monitor is (to me) the perfect way to introduce zone based heart rate training into your class.
Here's some proof of it's success – OK it's a bit rough, but Diana presents a powerful truth that Zoning has worked for her in this video. Your students are in your class to lose body fat and Diana losing 100 pounds and finishing the Danskin Triathlon is a testament to the effectiveness of 2T/3Z Heart Rate training.
By Jennifer Lintz, Registered Dietitian and ICI/PRO Member Soigneur
One of my colleagues recently asked me if I ever feel like a broken record on the instructor bike. Of course! I have definitely fallen into ruts where I find myself using the same cues over and over. In a class where variety of all kinds is important, it can be challenging to be clear and motivating without relying on the same words and phrases class after class. I do think it is possible to keep our word choices fresh and new, but it requires effort. Here are a few of my thoughts on how to give your cues a makeover if you ever feel like you're in repeat mode.
1. Become self-aware.If you don't realize that you say the same cue 12 times in an hour-long class, you probably won't see the need to do anything about it. The next time you teach, pay attention to your word choices. Make a mental note of anything you catch yourself saying multiple times. You might even record yourself to get a more complete picture of your teaching lingo and speaking habits.
2. Ask: “Is there another way?” Once you identify your go-to phrases, start brainstorming other ways to communicate a similar message. If you catch yourself saying “Push it!” multiple times in a class, jot down other ways you could ask participants to give a little more effort. Here are a few examples that might get your wheels turning:
“Show me what you have left.”
“Can you add more resistance?”
“For the next 30 seconds, I am giving you permission toget uncomfortable.”
3. Ride on your own. Cycling for personal enjoyment — and not on the clock — gives us a chance to see and feel things from our students' perspectives. When we go breathless at the end of a time trial or struggle up a seemingly unending hill, we become better able to coach those same scenarios to our students. If you ride up a hill so steep that makes you want to get off your bike and walk – but you don't – use that same language when talking your students up a long climb.
4. Share personal stories. Real-life examples are a great way to break up the monotony of the same old cues. I remember riding with my husband this summer and thinking “Man, he is way ahead of me. But, then again, he is usually ahead of me.” And then I realized “This isn't very difficult. I could probably get closer to him if I work harder.” Sure enough, I was able to catch up to him; I just needed a little kick in the pants. A few days later, I shared that story with my class as a reminder that, while our comfort zone is usually pretty cozy, we may be impressed with our abilities if we are willing to step out of it.
Making friends with a thesaurus is also never a bad idea :-). What techniques do you use to spice up your coaching?
