If you haven't yet, I would encourage you to listen to our latest Podcast that features 26 year old Cycling Studio owner Jessica Bashelor. If you're short on time, you really only need to hear the lead in where she describes her vision for her studio.
I knew that I wanted to have a really strong brand, that was based on; work and fun and music. And those are things that I sort of live by myself as a 26 year old.
Something about this interview has been bugging me until this morning. While riding in Amy's class it hit me. Jessica's brand doesn't include anything about education - zero. Just work/fun/music. Oh, and she throws in; taking life a little less seriously 🙂
Aren't studios supposed to be all about; coaching and purpose and threshold heart rate training and power training and weight loss and healthful living and fitness knowledge and, and, and?
Obviously not for Jessica or the rider's (I'd guess she'd never consider calling them "Students") who pack her studio.
My generation wasn't any different.
I was 18 years old in 1979 when Pink Floyd — The Wall dominated the the charts and captivated me and many of my friends. The album's most popular track Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2 spoke to me as a teenager; we don't need no education... we don't want no thought control...
http://youtu.be/zcevYuG3j7M
I didn't want anyone, telling me anything... I wanted to be heard and understood at 18, and this hasn't changed much now that I'm 52.
The Wall is a story about how we build metaphorical/emotional walls around ourselves. As a young person, or old for that matter, one way we build walls is we learn to tune-out people like our parents/spouses/bosses or teachers, when they talk at us, instead of communicate with us. As the father of two daughters, I know all about how ineffective it can be to try and "educate" them about what I wanted them to know and accept. It almost never worked. Often it had the opposite reaction and it wasn't hard to see them constructing their own wall to shut me out.
Sometimes the walls we create are small.
Have you ever had someone tell you; "I just answered that ten minutes ago" ? Chances are you created your own "wall" and it prevented you from hearing what could be plainly heard by others.
I was in a class last week where the Instructor talked nearly nonstop. While he rattled on about mitochondria and slow twitch muscle fibers, I found myself in my own little world - missing many of his cues. I'd come back to reality and find myself down when everyone was up or surprised when he announced the end of an interval, that I hadn't even realized we were doing. As I watched the rest of the class in the mirror it was obvious I wasn't the only one with a wall around me and my bike 🙁
Here's the second part to this; In your haste to educate, are you completely missing the question?
Here's a great remix of Another Brick In The Wall that you can download for your music library.
https://soundcloud.com/narek-davtyan/proper-education-radio-edit
Originally posted 2013-10-19 12:37:06.
John is a member on the AFS (Association of Fitness Studios) Advisory Council.
Holding certifications from; Schwinn, Heart Zones, Team ICG and Life Time Fitness, John's held regularly scheduled cycling classes between 1998 and 2015 when he moved to Florida.
When the weather permits, you'll find him riding and leading outdoor groups by himself or with his Tandem partner (wife) Amy.
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If I ever referred to the people in my classes as ‘students’ in my posts, I’m sincerely sorry! Every person in my class is just that- a person, worthy of respect. I never assume they need to ‘learn’ from me. Rather, I consider it a privilege to guide them in their training regimen. I’m certain I get over zealous and my educational ‘sound bites’ get too long once in a while, but I always try to convey an attitude of respect and equality to everyone in the room.
Doesn’t calling them students sound arrogant and make them sound subordinate?
I am usually awed at who’s in my classes, and, tying in with your last article about asking questions, I find out so much about them when I ask questions such as, “Are you new to the club, where are you from, what brought you here, how long have you been training?” etc.
One of the most memorable times was meeting Dr. Stanley Jacobs- world-renowned facial plastic surgeon. He was in town filming at Shop NBC for his facial serum. While on break from filming, he popped over to the studio for a quick IC class (and asked very insightful questions during the class about heart rate and power). We had a lovely conversation, and long story short, I had the privilege of representing him and his serum on Shop NBC when he couldn’t be in town. All I did was ask questions. Thank goodness I didn’t assume I could educate him…imagine! I learned so much from him and all his medical knowledge.
I’ll bet we all have CEO’s, COO’s, CFO’s, PhD’s, Presidents of various companies, MD’s, Rocket Scientist’s, etc. in our classes everyday. I have Olympic marathon runners that train in my class. It’s extremely humbling. What do I have to ‘teach’ them? Au contraire, I love to get their feedback every time they’re there and I’ve made great changes to my class profiles based on their feedback.
Sorry for the long comment, but I know I’m a much better IC and group fitness instructor (and person) when I consider myself less and others more.
The education portion of a spin class, in my opinion, comes when somebody asks a question about why we are doing what we are doing.
I agree with Jessica’s statement. Spin class, should be an hour of good music, fun and exercise.
I always tell people that they should “work as hard as you want , or as light as you can. Whatever you do, DON’T OVER DO IT!”. I do that because I want to make sure that they are comfortable within their levels of fitness. Let’s keep in mind that every individual attending class has a different goal in mind and our classes should allow for that.
The education part is usually optional and comes at the end when I tell people to feel free to approach and ask me any questions about the class.
Good point Alan – at the end when people communicate their specific needs. The Instructor I described above (which prompted this and the following post) left me with the impression that he was reciting verbiage that; A: he felt he was supposed to tell us or, B: felt he needed to tell us / we needed to hear. Either way it just became noise to me.