Teaching to the room: How to make every student feel like the only student
“The trick is to be able to offer these options in a way that doesn’t call out individual students. There’s enough judgement for our students and we don’t need to add to that. ”
-Ericka Thomas
Transcript
Ep 209 Teaching to the room
How to make every student feel like the only student
Group exercise prescription has become the faceless assembly line of the fitness industry. Branded plug and play format companies have taken the place of creative freestyle instructors in pursuit of a baseline of quality control. Instructors don’t even get to choose their music. So instead of connection, customization and results, students get performance choreography and instructors risk overuse injuries and a dumbing down of their talent to fit the masses. This attitude in the fitness industry that the person at the front of the room doesn’t matter, it’s the workout that matters and anyone can deliver it, is one of the things that drives instructors out of wellness. I want to change that. It’s time to elevate the fitness professional with gold standard skills. Our Work IN today is about how to teach to the room and make every student feel like the ONLY student in any format.
When I began my fit pro career I wrote every class out. Every series, every combo, every transition, even the playlists sometimes. I have bins and bins filled with notebooks filled with class plans. Some instructors don’t need that but I recommend it for new class leaders at least in the beginning because you have to start with something. Class plans give you confidence. You don’t get very far as a group fitness instructor before the inevitable happens. The perfect plan, the most beautifully designed workout, has to be tossed out the window because the people who are in the room that day are not the ones you planned for.
I have taught group classes with one person in the room and classes with 30+ people in the room and both situations have their challenges. But no matter what, no matter how many people are there it’s guaranteed that not one of them is the same as any other. Everyone there is there for a different reason. They each have different expectations of you, of the experience and of themselves. Everyone there has a different fitness level, confidence level, experience level. They might be fresh off the couch or amateur athletes. Serious about fitness or there just for fun.
For new instructors it’s so tempting to try to be everything to everybody in the room. But you don’t have to be. All you have to do is hold space for each person there to make it their own workout. It’s like setting the table for a buffet. You aren’t going to make your guests eat everything. Your job is to direct their attention and awareness to the options that are available and then let them choose. That’s basically what we do as group ex instructors - in almost any format. (I say almost because I think there might be some highly choreographed formats that don’t have a lot of room for variation. But even a step class can be done down on the floor. )
No matter what their reason for showing up in your class, most students even if they don’t want anyone looking at them still want to feel seen, taken care of and to be in community with other people. We can give them those things if we incorporate MVP into every class plan.
MVP stands for Modifications Variations and Progressions. It’s the formula I use to let every student customize their experience in my classes.
Instructors should know these for all their format exercises for safety and variety. The more options you have for your students the more creative you can be in your planning. With experience and practice you can make changes on the fly no matter who is in the room. So let’s break these down.
Modification:
This would be something that could replace another exercise. Marching instead of jumping. Keeping arms below the shoulders. No weights in the hands or bands instead. Modifications are great if there’s an injury or limitation. It also gives students choices for intensity.
Variation
This is similar to a modification: it stays closer to the shape of the exercise but done in a different way. Kneeling lunge, Static lunge, or dip. Down dog on the wall. Warrior 1 all the different arm variations you can do. All the variations of deadlift. Variations add spice, creativity and options for intensity.
Progression
Progressions are ways you can offer customization to your mixed level classes. These are a series of movements that build on each other in complexity or intensity but that can still be done all together. When introduced appropriately everyone feels included rather than singled out because they can’t keep up. Progressions are my personal go to in most of my classes because I never really know who is going to show up on any given day and most people coming into a group class aren’t going to tell you their exercise background. So a progression shows me where people are by what they choose.
There are some important things to remember in order to use MVP successfully.
The first is that we have to create an environment in the class that allows students to make a different choice than yours or everyone else in the class. We have to give clear permission and guidance that this is their class their time and they can make it exactly what they need it to be.
This is part of how we hold space in our format. We don’t want to embarrass anyone by calling them out so we make it part of the class culture to give options with an expectation that everyone can take something different. We have to articulate that.
I’m so proud when I can look out into the room full of students and everyone is doing something different. It tells me they’re paying attention to their body and giving it what it needs. That is our ultimate job as fitness instructors, trainers and coaches. To help students build a deeper awareness and confidence in their body so they can move with more awareness and confidence everywhere. Not just in your hiit class, or kickboxing or yoga class. It’s time to shift our focus from how many calories we can make people burn to what kind of long term health outcomes we can help people learn.
I think for years group exercise has been portrayed as a “follow the bouncing bimbo” that anybody who looks good in spandex can do. (Thanks Jane Fonda). That if you wanted to be respected in fitness you would be a personal trainer or athletic coach. This attitude has been reinforced by low expectations and low pay scales. But the truth is it takes skill to lead a group of 10 - 20- 30 people of widely varied experience and skills safely through an hour of movement. You have to know your format so well that you can do it on autopilot while staying engaged with the people in the room. You have to be able to read the energy in the room, meet it and shift it at a moment's notice. And you have to be able to do it all while being your fully present and authentic self. Oh and don’t forget, you should also be able to answer any health and wellness and fitness related questions at the drop of a hat. Or at the very least be able to refer them to current fitness science.
The trick is to be able to offer these options in a way that doesn’t call out individual students. There’s enough judgement for our students and we don’t need to add to that.
So it’s important to be mindful of our language when offering MVP’s. That’s where we can practice some skills straight out of the trauma informed world of instruction.
That’s the gold standard these days in wellness is to be able to integrate trauma informed principles into your instruction. Because whether we know it or not, whether we intend to market to this niche or not, when you work in any area of the fitness industry you are part of the mind body movement. And movement affects the mind. How we teach movement, how we communicate and hold space, no matter the format, can build resilience and mental health for our students in ways that have ripple effects throughout their lives. What we do in that gym and studio matters. When we elevate our skills we can be a force for good. Health beyond what the eyes can see. Fit pros can make more of a difference than they may ever know.
We’ll talk more about this next week on the Work IN. I hope you’ll tune in.
Thanks for listening!
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Until next time, stop working out and start working in
Hey there!
I’m your host Ericka Thomas. I'm a health coach and trauma informed yoga professional bringing real world resilience and healing to main street USA.
I offer trauma release + yoga + wellness education for groups and individuals…regular people like you.
Book a call to learn how I can help.