When an individual walks into a group fitness class, they have 3 important psychological needs. Competency, Autonomy, and Relatedness to their leader. When an instructor and program can meet all of these needs for multiple individuals, they can truly make an impact. This blog post is for my fellow instructor friends. How are you doing in meeting these needs? Are there any other needs that you feel should be included?
Competency: This is the baseline for a successful program. It is very hard for anyone to feel the full power, energy, and magic that comes from a fitness class if they don't know what the crap is going on and what to do. An instructor doesn't need to be a magic fairy to meet this need. Just tell them what to do and when. It's simple, it's clear, it's consistent, and it comes in plenty of time. I am soooo guilty of getting carried away with the fun and I have distracted myself from delivering the most fundamental and important part of class; to get my class moving.
If you are a new instructor, I suggest focusing on just this. There will be magic, personality, connection, and fun, but without a strong foundation in your basic body part movement cues, nothing else that you have planned will land or make any impact. So shorten your verbiage, make it clear, and practice spitting out your cues around 4 counts before it happens. Be so good at this that it comes without thinking. Think: Body part, direction, timing, and move name. This is level one. This skill takes time practice and experience. You might need a friend to watch you and help you identify any gaps you might have. Are your cues consistently coming in advance. Are there too many words being used? Are you team teaching with the music? How's your timing, and technique? What are the barriers keeping you from delivering a clear instruction of what to do, and when to do it? Identifying those things are the first step to improving and taking control over your instructor journey.
Autonomy: Members really like to feel like they have choices. It lets them know that they are seen as a person with individual needs. Your class is not a cookie cutter class. It is designed to fit their needs, and they have choices. Choices to modify, challenges specific to their level, and room for them to turn the class into what they want it to be, and what they came hoping to receive.
An experienced instructor knows there are so many different types of participants. Some are cautious, some LOVE attention, some want a challenge, some want details. Some want to be left the heck alone! When we honor those needs, we can deliver cuing and formatting that truly meet the specific needs of our participants. It allows us instructors to break the "4th wall" if you will. We are no longer just a robot spouting out base level cues, but we are offering relevant cuing and options to the people in front of us. When we do that tastefully, we are seeing the people in front of us. We are giving them choices so they can take full control of their workout. Oh how people love choices! Give it to them!
Relatedness: It doesn't matter how skilled you are in your technique, cuing, coaching, or performance; if you can't connect with the people in your class, you will lose client retention. A class participant wants to feel like they can relate to their leader. Perhaps it's through how you communicate your cues, or the relevance of those cues. It could also be what is happening before and after class. How can you create an atmosphere of belonging? Where the class is a team, or community. There's really no formula to making this happen. It's an art. Have you ever seen a football team joshing around between one another? A good healthy dose of lighthearted banter proves to increase comradery between players and coaches. How can you create comradery in your class? It doesn't happen overnight. It most certainly doesn't happen unless you know who is in your class. Start with their names. Then learn about who they are. In time, memories are made, and the magic of community starts to take form.
I hope that some of these insights puts a "why" behind why what we are cuing as group fitness instructors. I also hope it inspires some new thoughts or ideas on how you might better meet the needs of the people coming into your class. Remember that every instructor has different priorities and values than the next instructor. Sometimes they shift and change. It's wonderful that we have so many different kinds of people behind a mic teaching all sorts of classes. We need it that way so we can bring in as many people as we can. Your kind of people will gravitate towards you and your values, as they will to other instructors. If you're looking for more participants to gravitate to your class. Perhaps there's a need that is getting neglected in your class. How are you going to work on that?
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