Great at Group Fitness: How to Provide, or Look For Better Group Classes.
Yoga classes get so packed, that they don't even have room for shoes.....Maybe that's not why they're barefoot, but that's why they can have such big classes! No equipment needed besides hands and feet! Try that with a Pilates reformer class.
1. Larger the class, less complicated equipment, and vice versa.
Whether looking to create or take a class, there needs to be an intended number of participants. This is essential for the business owner for budgeting equipment, and determining pricing. As classes get smaller, it’s easier to provide more valuable, customized exercise for all the participants. Because of this, the price will and should typically run higher. If that’s the case, then the value should be there in the equipment. It’d be better to have unique, higher quality equipment for a small, tight knit fitness tribe.
As the group gets bigger, this gets harder to execute in price, and instruction. Businesses do become more profitable with more members, especially in the fitness and training services industry. Congratulations, the business grew. Now, do you expand, or do you cap the class? At a certain point, there is a tipping point. Minus the crowded hot yoga studio, where more bodies equal more heat at a lower budget, usually more participants will require some more costs.
Those may be in equipment, structures, size of space, and other areas where the capacity can be increased. Regardless, if the service needs to improve, so might the cost. If you attend a class that seems neglectful, understaffed, and understocked for your needs, move on to somewhere else. If you teach that class or own that studio, think big, and fix it!
Can you keep it to three cues or less? Extend both legs. Bring one into your thigh. Reach forward.
2. Simplify.
Class can have a flow, class can have a beat to it, but people sometimes don’t move on beat! Instead of choosing complex movements with multiple challenging steps, the group should work on concrete, easy to grasp movements. Doing lunges is difficult enough, don’t add multiple steps and directions until people are doing the original lunge flawlessly. If instructors force you to get out of hand with the lunges, modify them yourself.
Unless the class is entirely complex movement and flow, in something like yoga or pilates, don't make strength and conditioning incomprehensible. A burpee is powerful enough. Why would the participants burpee over a box? Or a rower? Instructors have to ask themselves the point of the complexity. Does it make the movement more effective? If it doesn't, stick to the basics. Effective training doesn't have to rack the brain, keep the burn on the body. A squat can be difficult enough without the BOSU ball. If the participant can't do a pushup, adding dumbbell or medicine balls to the movement is unnecessary and dangerous.
If the crowd likes complicated, train that niche effectively, and own it. There are learning curves to getting customers or enjoying class, no matter what side of the transaction you sit. At the end of the day, the class should cater towards the participants goals, but the instructor should know the line between realistic and idealistic. If you are the participant, realize that you may not know what is actually best for your fitness goal. If you feel like you're moving slow, remember that simple is often the most effective way to fitness.
"And continuing with our month's goal of better climbing abillity, move your hands to the low handlebars and stack your shoulders on top of your hips." There can be a 4-week/monthly progression, even with an endurance class.
3. There must be periodization, and training blocks.
Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu have provided an unlimited variety of content as well an amount of it. While the fitness industry tries the same tactic, it’s a terrible idea. CrossFit, HIIT classes, and other group fitness sweat shops embody a principle in testing the body at limitless capacity to limitless modalities. If you do this with a TV series, you won’t finish the series, if you do this with fitness, you won’t get any more fit, and possibly injure yourself! If a fitness class looks more like a summer variety camp for adults, than realize that it is everything the most horrible word for your training program: babysitting. Variety is great, but don’t fall victim to the instant gratification era, and stick to a skill set until you improve!
Yes, you can in fact do this as a group. This involves using those previously mentioned basic movements, and letting the participants adjust the intensity (weight, suspension angle, body weight angle). If you don’t pick movements that baffle clients with the sequencing alone, it’ll help minimize the risk of learning curves. Nothing will kill a class vibe more than having to teach one person a choreographic movement while the rest of the class can’t receive any attention. If there is a demand for more advanced classes, specify it, and designate a time to it on the group schedule.
Likewise, it may be beneficial to build lower intensity classes and schedule them accordingly. Many studios place late afternoon classes and training times in time slots that only retired or underemployed people could most likely attend. It's a great way to service more people at a studio, and build another full class. Know what is in demand within the community, and attack it. Whether it's more strength, more balance, more endurance, or more fat loss, it would make MORE sense to actually find a problem, and focus on it.
If group fitness company owners run it like a simple machine, they will pump out the results like one. That business will then pump out customers like a machine too, and that's the name of the fitness business game, delivering results.
There is a term in audiovisual production called "Signal-to-noise ratio." When the kettlebell participants are hearing the "signal"(instruction) clearly, they will be more likely to do the movement properly. When the rest interferes with the signal, that is "noise." (Talking, music, slamming, equipment and fans.)If there is too much noise, and not enough signal, participants might do something stupid, like grip the kettlebell incorrectly.
4.Loud Music Can Help Keep the Focus, but bring a loud microphone.
People love talking. As social as group fitness gets, it shouldn’t get to the point of distraction. This is where drowning out the room with intense music can actually be a good thing. People talk, and people get lost. Don’t let it happen, the group has to be on drive mode, no distractions. What makes group fitness ineffective and dangerous are the distractions. These distractions lead to bad technique, missing the point of training, and making workouts worthless. Don't damage eardrums, but don't allow others to talk over the instructor, and kill the focus. A badly led, unmanaged class can derail the instructor in the same way a heckler does a comedy show.
Don't ever be surprised at adults ability to act like children. This is great for adults to have the youthful energy, but terrible if it comes with a juvenile attitude. However, as long as the instructor is able to deliver the content and drown out the "noise" mentioned in the photo above, there won't be many outbursts besides an enthusiastic "Woo." Get lost in the music, it can create flow, and drown out the minds negativity.
5.With great crowds come great responsibilities.
Know the difference between group training and small group training. Whether you are providing or paying for it, there is a clear difference. Small group training is supposed to be big enough to create a tribal energy, but small enough to keep you as an active part of the “tribe.” If the instructor will never be able to learn your name, and equipment runs out, get back to smaller group focus. Some people don't like to feel like they are a part of center stage, and some people do. If you try to please everyone in a group environment, you're going to run into trouble.
What really aggravates customers is promoting a physically inclusive environment, and not actually delivering one. If you advertise that all levels are welcome to the class, and the customers first day is a crossfit WOD with ring handstands, do you think they're going to have a great time? Do you think they would come back? You'll realize very quickly that you need to make decisions, and above all things, have a vision!
Nothing sucks more than shamble, rickety classes that lack direction. At times, it may not be the instructors fault. There may be somebody so uncoordinated, or unmotivated, or unhappy, that it could pose a risk to the continuity of the class. That may not be the instructors bidding, but that's there responsibility to avoid letting it derail the big picture. Think about the service as a whole. Would the service be better if it had an average rating of 4 stars, comprised of mostly 5's with the occasional 1 or 2, or would you rather have a 3 star rating composed mostly have people that are only adequately satisfied? If you're any bit wise about the business, you'll say screw you to a couple of the 1 and 2's, and help the ones that you can. It's nothing personal, it's only the what you sign up for when you choose to be a part of the group fitness business.
Expectations are everything. Set them, and meet them.
David Corrado BS, CSCS, TSAC-F
Founder and Owner of Trainathlon
David Corrado began his training career at age 18, volunteering as a fitness coach for students with intellectual disabilities in the Gainesville, Florida area. While at University of Florida, David became certified, and worked as a trainer and coach at the UF campus rec center. Having been certified through multiple curriculums including PTAG and the NSCA’s CSCS and TSAC-F certifications, David now trains in Boca Raton, Florida, specializing in functional strength training for working adults. He trains his clients at the Institute of Human Performance, in Boca Raton, Fl.