Principles to being a successful Group Fitness Professional
You have your Mic on, your equipment is all set, you have new killer choreography, and your class is packed! You head over to hit play and start class… What’s going through your head? For me personally when I head over to my IPOD to hit play, I take a deep breath, clear my mind and focus in on what, Don Miguel Ruiz calls, THE FOUR AGREEMENTS: Be Impeccable With Your Word/Don’t Take Anything Personally/Don’t Make Assumptions/Always Do Your Best. When I do this, I know that the class that I am about to teach can change lives and inspire people to be better than when they walked in to class.
Be Impeccable With Your Word, say what you mean and mean what you say. This is so important when you are in front of your class because your participants are hanging on your every word and every word needs to mean something. Try to avoid filler words and repetitive motivational cues, like some of my favorites, GOOD, LOOKS GOOD, and KEEP GOING. Although some of those may seem like okay phrases to use, they really don’t provide and significant feedback that will help participants during class. Instead try being stronger with your phrases; Keep Going For 20 More Seconds, Your Form Looks Good, and Excellent Job With That Drill. These cues are letting your participants know exactly what to do and how they are doing at it. When your cueing is STRONGER and more EFFICIENT your classes are easier to follow and this will help grow your numbers!
Don’t Take Anything Personally. When your participants come in and want to criticize or don’t show excitement during your class, 99% of the time is has nothing to do with you. This is a hard thing for many instructors, including me, to understand but once you do, it will be that much easier for you to relax and enjoy your classes.
Don’t Make Assumptions, because not everyone in your class is going to tell you everything or always ask for help. When someone walks into your class, you are responsible to make sure that they get everything they need and are clear on the format and goals of the class they are about to take. Even if you have regulars in your classes it’s still very important that you not assume they know everything and make sure they understand and are clear on the set-up and goals for the class ahead. Great each person as if it’s their first time and if you know them or remember them, make the greeting more personal by using names or asking them if they are seeing progress on their goals. This small touch will keep people coming back time and time again!
Always Do Your Best, because people are counting on you to help them achieve great things! No matter what may have gone on in your day, you need to leave it at the door and do your best to help those who have come to achieve great things in your class. Make sure you come into class prepared and ready to motivate and inspire people to be better and the only way to achieve this is if we are doing our best! Best ways to be prepared is to plan out your classes well in advance, learn choreography fully before teaching it, rehearse your script of what you’re going to say and when, dress the part, show up early to check equipment and be available for participants, and the most important part, have fun!
Following these Four-Agreements as a Group Fitness Professional will ensure that you are always on top of your game and helping change lives every time you press the play button.
No, these don't include anything from Andrew Zimmern
This short post covers 6 relatively unknown — and odd — tips that can help us control how much we eat.
Odd Tip #1: Hide Your Breakfast Cereal
This first tip comes from Brian Wansink, PhD, who is well known for his work on food psychology and eating behaviors. His research has revealed that simply keeping breakfast cereal in full view throughout the day — say, on the kitchen counter — has an impact on weight.
Two facts came forward with this.
It didn’t make a difference if the cereal was junky (Fruit Loops, Cocoa Puffs) or more healthful (oatmeal). Just keeping it visible was the salient factor.
Also, the difference in weight between revealers and concealers averaged 21 pounds.
Since it doesn’t affect meals directly, keeping cereal in the kitchen cabinet seems like an easy way to help control food intake.
Odd Tip #2: Change Your Plate Color
I’ve come across this tip in two ways.
1) Using a plate that’s the same color as the food you’re eating encourages eating more food.
Of course, meals typically include several foods of different colors. A practical way to use this might be to think in terms of side dishes you’d like to limit. For example, if the side dish is white — potatoes, pasta, white rice — it might be a good idea to avoid using a white plate.
2) Then there’s the color blue. Eating from a blue plate seems to make people eat less. One theory is that the color blue is “off-putting.”
I wonder this matches up with the first part because there’s no blue food. (Yes, blueberries are purple.)
So if we want to keep eating lots of vegetables, maybe we should avoid green plates(!).
Odd Tip #3: Limit Your Food Variety
Variety seems to make us eat more. That could be one reason that a buffet-style meal encourages overeating.
But I’ve also heard that keeping too many different types of food in the kitchen could have a similar effect, prompting us to want to sample the different foods.
Maybe the best way to enjoy variety would be to change shopping lists from week to week, rather than buying lots of different foods at one time.
Odd Tip #4: Use Smaller Serving Spoons
The test study I read about used M&Ms to investigate how people ate from a big, full bowl of the candies in an office setting. Apparently, a large scoop invited greater M&M consumption than a teaspoon.
I wonder if there’s an unconscious link between the number of “spooning” actions and how much food we’re willing to take. One scooping action may seem less greedy than 5 teaspoons, even if the quantity is the same.
A practical way to make use of this at home might be to use a smaller serving spoon for the foods you’d like to limit (for example, mac & cheese) and a larger one for vegetables and other healthful fare.
Odd Tip #5: Change Your Eating Rate
Slowing down is a meal tip that’s been around for a long time, and it seems intuitive that eating slowly would decrease food volume. But that didn’t seem to work for women, although it did for men.
What worked for both men and women was to begin the meal at a normal rate of eating, then slow down to about half speed for the rest of the meal.
The article I read didn’t specify exactly when to slow down, so I’d suggest just after the initial hunger has passed.
Odd Tip #6: Eat Smaller Food.
Cutting food into very small pieces seems to limit the amount we’ll eat.
Again, I wonder if it relates to arm action, the plate-to-mouth action. If it takes more of those actions to eat the food, maybe we unconsciously limit the number of times, rather than the amount of food per se.
Whatever the reasons behind these odd tips, they don’t involve eating different foods or counting calories, just a simple shift in behaviors.
I’m for whatever works, so why not give them a try? And if they help with holidays meals, so much the better. Please let me know which, if any, work for you.
ICI/PRO member Joey, a Cycling Fusion Master Instructor and routine contributor to The Weekly Ride on ICI/PRO, delivers a ride. THIS IS THE COMBINED FILE THAT INCLUDES THE MUSIC AND THE VOICE. IT IS NOT AVAILABLE ON ITUNES.
This ride is from Joey!! – “This ride is designed as a decreasing cadence endurance ride with three repeats. The goal is to work through the various levels from primarily cardio work (cadences 90+) through muscular endurance work (cadences 70-89) and finish up with strength work (cadences 69 or less) to produce complete fatigue in the rider's legs by starting with the slow twitch fibers and progressing through the fast twitch fibers for total exhaustion.” Joey
Frequently, I recommend protein powder to supplement dietary protein, but my clients aren't always sure exactly what to do once they have it. That’s the topic of this post.
Why Protein Is Important
Protein has numerous functions in the body, starting with the obvious one that it can be converted to glucose for energy.
Because I’ve covered protein in previous posts, I’ll keep this part brief. Protein is used to form hormones, enzymes, blood, body tissue, hemoglobin, antibodies, transport proteins, and much more.
As protein enters the small intestine, it triggers CCK, a powerful satiety hormone. CCK curbs carb cravings significantly. People who don’t get adequate protein often have strong sugar cravings.
Protein provides the amino acid precursors for brain chemicals that have many functions. Those amino acids can, for example, raise dopamine and norepinephrine for alertness and improved mood. Eating sufficient protein can reduce the need for caffeine — which triggers the same brain chemicals. But while caffeine depletes those chemicals, protein increases their production.
Another example is tryptophan, used by the brain to make serotonin. Serotonin enhances satiety and mood.
And protein provides several B vitamins that act as catalysts in forming all three of the brain chemicals above.
Why Protein Powder?
I’m not suggesting that you give up real foods and use protein powder instead. But protein powder is convenient. It’s light and portable and needs no refrigeration. Here are some suggestions for specific situations.[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
Vegetarians / Vegans
Powdered protein is great for those who don’t want to eat meat. For vegans, who don’t eat any animal products, vegetable protein powder might be the best way to get high-quality protein in the diet.
Please recall that non-animal sources of ‘protein’ often aren’t. Nuts are not protein; they’re unsaturated fat. Beans, rice and quinoa are definitely carbs.
Vegans often experience sugar cravings. Vegetable protein powder could be a top method for vegans to stop cravings long-term.
Post-Training Fuel
As detailed in a previous post, refueling within 30 minutes is ideal. The best post-training meal is a combination of carb and protein in about a 3-to-1 ratio (the original research used 2 to 1).
Powdered protein will keep in a gym locker and mix with water as part of a solid post-workout “meal.” Just add good starch. Potatoes are excellent after workouts; other starches work, too.
Travel
Travel is an obvious time for the convenience of protein powder. A couple of years ago, I attended a 5-day seminar in a remote area. We were told it would feature only vegetarian cuisine. I brought 15 envelopes of raw vegetable protein powder and mixed one with water at the start of each meal. With my protein needs taken care of, I could enjoy the meal with no problem.
Conquering Sugar Addiction
For reasons explained above, having protein throughout the day can help you end sugar addiction by changing brain chemistry and preventing sugar cravings. Many brands of protein powder are out there, so find one with no junk — especially no sugar.
Don’t make the same mistake as a client of mine who had a serious sugar addiction. Instead of buying plain, unsweetened powder and mixing it with water (per my instructions), she bought French Vanilla and mixed it with orange juice. “The protein drinks are delicious!” she told me, but her sugar cravings got worse.
“Delicious” is usually a telltale sugar sign. Unsweetened protein — whey, pea, vegetable, soy, other — plus water won’t be delicious but will be helpful.
On the Go
Away from the office and a snack room, it might be difficult to find protein if you can’t stop for a meal. Depending on the hours you’ll be in the field, protein powder may help. Carbs are easy; we can find salads and other carbs almost anywhere.
Plan B
As suggested in a previous post, leave an envelope or two of protein powder in your car for emergencies. Take care of the protein and the rest of the meal will fall in place.
So skip granola bars, “energy” bars, chocolate-hazelnut spread, electrolyte drinks. The main benefit of protein powder is it’s a true protein source when ordinary foods aren’t available.
I got a question about a one week working fitness vacation.
Hi John,
I appreciate what you are trying to do with the contest but why would I want to work on vacation? How is that a real incentive?
That's a great question and it caused me give it some thought before responding.
Amy and I have heard “why would you want to work on vacation?” a lot over the past 15 years from friends and other Instructors. Depending on who's asking we tend to give two different answers:
If it's a friend who's asking (so we can be more truthful) we tell them that we could never afford to go on a similar trip if we had to pay what all the other guests at the resort were paying. These are the finest locations in the Caribbean and most All-Inclusive resorts cost $3,000 – $6,000 a week + airfare = completely out of our reach financially.
If it's a club member (most can afford to travel anywhere and do, frequently) we typically say something to the effect of; “I'm going to work out anyway… so why not save the money?”
But even though both are accurate; we really can't afford to travel at this level and we normally work out most days we're there, there's another reason Amy and I prefer to be that week's fitness professional… it makes us special 🙂
As Instructors we are used to being special. At the club, out for dinner or at the grocery store people recognize us as someone who's different from everyone else. You have no idea how many times I've heard; “Oh honey, come here… I need to introduce you to my Aerobics Instructor, Amy.
Amy tells a very funny story about running into a club member at a resort in Jamaica. A clothing optional resort. “Oh my gosh it's Amy from Life Time and I'm completely naked!” ” Honey it's Amy from the club… come and meet her!”
We also tend to be more easily connected with the other guests and more importantly the staff. We both love the Jamaican people and they tend to more open to us when they see that we are working while we are there, even if it's only for an hour or two each day.
Amy and I have meet some really interesting people, from all over the world, solely because we were the Instructors that week. Many resorts have a scheduled Power Walk each morning and you typically have the same 4-6 people each day. So you chat with them as you walk the beach or golf course – getting connected if only for the week.
They see you later that evening at dinner; “Oh Honey, meet Amy… she's my Instructor this week.”
Georgia Green is a regular participant in Amy and my cycling classes at Life Time Fitness. I'll never forget the first day she walked in > tall, strong, with a great big smile – she looks like a fitness instructor – and came right up to me, with her hand extended; “Hi, I'm Georgia!”
Georgia and Mark set to test their gear.
What she didn't share with me, during our initial meeting, is that Georgia has committed to training and planning to spend a year riding 10,000 miles with her friend Mark and their 2 rescue dogs; Junebug and Biscuit. Amy learned that a while later, after one of her Saturday classes. Once I heard this amazing story I knew I wanted to have Georgia on the show 🙂
I caught up with Georgia while she was in Alabama testing her new touring bikes and the other specialised gear they'll need for their trip. We discuss her motivation to commit to this adventure and all the planning they've done to make this ride a reality.
ICI/PRO member Joey, a Cycling Fusion Master Instructor and routine contributor to The Weekly Ride on ICI/PRO, delivers a ride. THIS IS THE COMBINED FILE THAT INCLUDES THE MUSIC AND THE VOICE. IT IS NOT AVAILABLE ON ITUNES.
