In the future we can have Rosie sub for us.
By Team ICG® Master Trainer Jim Karanas
Every day, countless products, services, and people provide us with positive or negative experiences. Not long ago, one of my students confronted me to let me know that she was annoyed and frustrated with a substitute instructor I had used for a recent class.
Now, substitute cycling instructors are often well-trained, decent instructors. But however good the sub may be, he/she is not the instructor for whom he/she is subbing. As we all know, indoor cycling students grow attached to their instructors, especially their favorite ones, and are critical of whoever comes in to sub that favorite”™s class.
For 30 years, I was a program director in commercial clubs. Instructors sub out an average of 15% of their classes every month. A club that offers 20 cycling classes per week has a monthly schedule of about 87 classes. Taking 15% of 87, we can estimate that 13 classes per month are subbed. At $35 per hour, that works out to $456.75 a month or $5,481.00 per year spent on subs. Multiply that by 20 clubs.
If the students don”™t enjoy the class, that”™s a lot of money spent on a negative member experience.
The question is whether the cycling-instructor substitute provides a level of service that”™s beneficial for the club owner and a sufficiently positive member experience for the cost. Of course, there are exceptions, but consider the market as a whole. How valuable is the current instructor-sub system that”™s in place in most clubs? Could it be replaced or enhanced in any way?
My experience in the industry tells me that having an instructor in the room may be necessary for safety reasons. The substitute process is also a great way to check out and train new instructors. Yet, when you look at the cost, the aggravation and time spent dealing with subs, and poor member experiences, is the current system the best solution? Does it remain so in light of current technological advancements?
If you”™ve read my posts, you know that my position regarding the use of video and virtual programming in the club setting is very positive. The production of virtual programming for indoor-cycling classes is accelerating and improving. I don”™t believe that video will ever replace a quality instructor. But I do feel that a well-constructed video profile can do the job that many substitute instructors are doing. It could certainly leave a more positive impression on the students.
One of the reasons for this has to do with a change in expectation. An indoor-cycling student who sees that the class will be taught by a virtual coach has a completely different attitude about the situation. A sub will inevitably be compared to the favorite instructor, but no one could reasonably expect a virtual class to be as good as, or even similar to, the favorite class.
This “forced” opening of the mind almost guarantees greater satisfaction — or, at the very least, less dissatisfaction. The student”™s mind has to go in a new direction altogether. The student will walk away thinking different thoughts. Thoughts like: I liked it. I didn”™t like it. That was interesting. It was OK, but “real” instruction is better. That was kinda fun for a change. I can”™t wait till ___ gets back.
At least these are a far cry from, “I hated the sub and won”™t go to any class she/he teaches anymore.” Or “What a crummy way to start my day.” Or “Why can”™t my favorite instructor find better subs?”
So we should still retain subs, but what if they were used in more specific contexts, when video just won”™t do? Would this not ease the struggle of the indoor-cycling director, as well as save money for the club owner? Would it not reduce negative member experiences?
Teaching indoor cycling is my occupation and my craft. The time I spend preparing for it and doing it is equaled by some, not equaled by others, and disregarded by still others. My point is not that video is better than a live instructor, but that each sub prepares differently, is liked or disliked by individual students, and will be compared (typically unfavorably) to the regular instructor. If a well-done video can provide a good, solid class that is met with a better attitude for the reasons described above, wouldn”™t that make it a better solution to the “subbing problem”?
I hope this topic generates some discussion. I”™m interested in your thoughts and feelings. I see this as a real and viable possibility for the future.
Originally posted 2012-07-02 09:47:58.
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I’ve personally done this and it was accepted by the members.
One morning I woke feeling near-death with the flu. Knowing there was no way I could find a sub at 4:45 AM and feeling committed to the “A Team” (my early AM – A type students) I drove into the club. I started a video, cranked up the music and told the class; “you all know that I see you as self-directed endurance athletes… here’s your chance to demonstrate it.” I then curled up in a little ball in my Manager’s office for the hour.
I later asked a few participants and they all enjoyed the chance to lead themselves for the hour – many feeling accountable to the others in the room.
Thanks for the post John. We have likewise used virtual classes to fill in for last-minute instructor emergencies where we did not have time to find a sub with surprisingly positive results. This led me to wonder that as the production virtual classes increases and improves, could they not fill in as subs more of the time? Chuck said something a few months ago – the market will always move toward economic viability. If (for the reasons stated above) virtual classes provide member satisfaction at the level of, or better than, a live sub, that is a better economic alternative for the club owner. It also may have a effect on the quality of the teaching and the commoditization we see in the indoor cycling instructor in the big-box club market. You will work to become a better instructor if you realize that you can be replaced by a virtual class. That does not seem like a bad thing to me.
Jim,
If I had five bucks for every email I get from some poor instructor looking for a sub I’d not be so worried about my son’s college tuition.
Long before I was on Team ICG I was all for the video sub. There are several reasons, let me try to explain.
First, video takes the pressure off the never ending, nail biting search for a sub, that club management expects ME to find. I will be in San Diego this Friday and it took me two weeks to find a sub.
Next, I don’t really like having to hear about how the sub sucked. It puts me an awkward position. I actually try to get a sub I think cares, tries to connect with the class and will give a safe good work out. Sometimes the search for the perfect sub ends with having to go to plan B or C or D. Sorry but that is – as you all know – is the nature of the business.
Also once you know you need a sub you are caught between a rock and hard place.
If I don’t tell the class I’m not going to be there I get, what for. If do tell them I get, “why that sub or I don’t like her?” Then they suddenly have something else to do that night. I consider this to be unfair to the sub but somewhat unavoidable.
For some instructors I call it the DIVA factor. If you’ve done any subbing you what this is. For the record the DIVA factor is when instructors personally inform their riders ahead of time (often via text or email) there will be a sub. You show up to sub and there are two people in a class that you were told was a ‘large fun group that loves a good workout’.
Then there is always the possibility that they really like the sub and I start to feel the pressure to be like the sub. 😉
John’s example is the classic ‘Club Conundrum’. The timing makes it next to impossible to get a last minute sub, the instructor is incapacitated and in the absence of video the club is only left with canceling class. Hence the negative member experience. I am curious John, could the ‘front desk people’ have popped in a video if you had called in sick?
Indeed I have been suggesting that our club keep several videos on hand, ‘just in case’. I get less than enthusiastic responses from management. Their position on subbing is always to site the rules which loosely translated are, “it is your problem to solve not ours”
Indoor cycle instructing is also my craft and like Jim, I take great pride in what I do, how I deliver it and always learning to improve my skill. I’m not intimidated by video or that it will replace me. Indeed I wish more studios provided video as an option. It is another tool with which to ply our trade.
But in our absence, or even during those slow periods of the day, a good video system can pay for itself not only in real dollars but positive member experiences.
I see 2 problems with using video as sub:
1st safety and hazard concern, you will always need an instructor: what is a newbie is coming ? what if a health problem happen ? … you could still have a sub but who will be in the room just in case something happen, like that you avoid those problem.
2nd it is great but do not have to be used too much … it could be counter productive and at the end it could replace the instructor.
Subbing is really a big problem, I always have try my regular riders not be dependant on me and advice to try others classe but as I am the only instructor with cycling and training background the difference with other is to big.
My way to resolve the probleme was to train new intructors or retrain instructors to have sub that will talk the same language as me. I will try it for the first time next mounth and will see how it will be but I already test one of them she taught last week for me and I was in the back of the room just in case …
While safety concerns will always be mentioned as a reason to not use Video as a viable substitute, I find that it typically follows from an individual that also doesn’t care for the idea of it on other terms. The point of fact is that most health clubs have numerous scenarios where members are working out unsupervised or using equipment they have not been trained on. In fact, I think I could make a better case against clubs that encourage beginners to ride with advanced riders because they can just “not go as hard”. That seldom happens, and at the heart of both of these reasons given by management is a lack of desire to invest in alternatives.
They don’t want to sub-divide classes into level appropriate offerings because the logistics are messy and it may not be as lucrative at first, not to mention the entire concept of learning how to create level specific classes. They also don’t want to consider video substitutes because… wait for it… they don’t have any equipment that could be used for that purpose anyway.
From my perspective, I like all this discussion about video and its place in group cycling. The vision seemed so far off when we filmed for our first DVD targeting the Group Indoor Cycling environment in 2007. Video in a group setting back then was… well, about as regular as finding someone wearing a heart monitor. Beyond video though, the projector and screen can also be put to good use for other things like class profiles (a la Class Builder iPhone app), or for group Heart Rate (like Polar or Suunto) or group Power (like Performance IQ and Flywheel …uh sort of flywheel sports).
Anyway, technology and training tools now abound! Hallelujah! It’s going to be fun seeing how all this stuff shakes out.
Gino,
I was hoping you’d hop into the fray…
Every paragraph you typed is full of ‘the right stuff’ Especially the ‘safety’ argument.
It is very common for me to walk into the cycle studio 30 minutes before class and find someone alone doing their own ride. The door is closed and not a soul would notice this person hanging by the clips in their cycle shoes until the next class came in.
Sadly. video system installations may be outpacing heart rate monitors. 🙁
Guys:
Thanks for weighing in. Comments are appreciated. I agree with Gino that unsupervised members are fairly common in a club setting. Unless the cycling room is very isolated, this poses less threat to their safety then if, for example, they were bench pressing without a spotter. The only question may be a litigious one based on the “presumed” safety of the member following the virtual instructor’s cues. We are investigating this now and will let you know what we find out.
We have been viewing many Myride+ virtual classes at ICG Academy in SF and polling members afterwards with very positive feedback. The same has been happening with our Virgin Active accounts in the UK. Likewise, speaking with instructors and club owners at the IDEA convention and explaining the concept of video subbing, both echoed what we’ve been saying. Less trouble for the instructor looking for a good sub, less administrative hassle for the director in a pinch with a no show and less cost for the club owner. Couple that with the positive feedback we have been getting from members and it seems that the paradigm for using video to sub classes is ready for a change.
Training instructors to use similar language and techniques as the lead instructor as Pascal suggests is a good practice but it takes additional time and effort from the lead instructor for which they receive no compensation. Not everyone has the time to or energy to give to that kind of endeavor. Plus, instructors move on. You can spend a lot of time training someone only to have them move and no longer be available to sub your class.
I have said in other posts that it is my belief that virtual classes will BENEFIT the quality indoor-cycling instructor by reversing the view that big-box club owners have of us as a commodity. Good instructors will differ dramatically from video. Not-so-good instructors will not. Differentiation empowers us to receive increased compensation for our services. Club owners will VALUE us more highly and be willing to pay for it.
Gino, thanks for breaking ground in 2007. Likewise, I am very excited to see how this shakes out.