the x-factor...

all this talk recently of how I got into teaching fitness brings to mind that age old question: What makes a good fitness instructor? I'm sure many of you readers have taken a fitness class at least once. Maybe it was step aerobics, spinning, a body sculpting class, or even a mind/body format like yoga or pilates. Was it a good class? Did the time fly by or did you find yourself watching the clock the whole time? Did you get a good workout? Was it way too easy or too hard for you or did the instructor give you options to make the workout more challenging or easier depending upon your fitness level? Did you think the instructor was a good role model? Did he or she use their speaking voice in certain ways that was good or bad? Did you feel like you could follow all of the instructions? Or did you feel like a complete fish out of water and felt yourself a beat behind or totally lost the whole time? At the end did you ask yourself "why did I come to this class today" or did you say "wow I can't wait to take this class again".

There are SO many things that go into being a good fitness instructor. Of course appearances are important. You have to dress the role by wearing good looking and well fitting (but not necessarily expensive) athletic tops and bottoms that fit the format you are teaching. You also have to have good shoes. It's never good to go into a class and see the instructor wearing a pair of shoes that looks like they just got done mowing the lawn in them. Ewwww. The instructor should also have a grasp of how to work with music. Not only do they need to choose appropriate music for the audience and format they are working with but they also need to understand music speed and how it plays a role with range of motion. They also need to comprehend and hear the upbeat and the downbeat, that music is put together in 8 count blocks and in the aerobics world, is formatted into 32 count phrases. So in general, things are done in 2's, 4's, 8's or even 7's and 15's sometimes (with an extra beat for an exit). For me it's *never* fun to go to a class where the instructor puts on music as "background" noise and marches to the beat of their own drummer, even for a weight lifting format. Studies have shown that the brain actually enjoys working rhythmically and a lot of the "x-factor" can be contributed to music alone. I know in yoga class sometimes just my choice of music will make a class more energetic, more mellow, or more flowing. I know instantly by the reactions and energy in the room if my music choices in cycling are good or not.

Instructors also need to know how to read a group of people. Half the battle is getting to know them. Their names, their fitness levels, what they like, even their health or injury status. More importantly in knowing how to read a group is being watchful and observant. I can't tell you how many times I've put a class outline together only to have to throw it completely out the window because over half of the class that day were complete beginners. It's also good to know "when to say WHEN"...and if the majority of the class is not getting a combination or is showing terrible form for a particular exercise it's completely okay to slow the music down or turn it off completely and take something slow...breaking it down into easier parts. Or even bag it completely for something easier to cue, learn, or understand. This is when that whole "instructor vs. participant" debate comes into play. Good instructors tailor the workout for their students' success and not their own.

A good fitness instructor also knows how to cue well. They give their participants plenty of time to process information. They tell them what they are doing, how they should do it, how long they are going to be there, and how they should be feeling during that time. Have you ever been to a step class where the instructor cued every so slightly too late? Either while they were changing the move or even a beat or two after they have changed their knee corner to corner to a kick corner to corner? Or how about the cycling instuctor that cues you into a seated hill climb but neglects to tell you how hard you should be working and how long the hill will be. Many people end up going all out too early or don't work at their potential because they have no idea of where they should be. To remedy this, I feel instructors should keep a constant running dialog going during their class. I know for me it keeps me on target and commits what I am going to do next to  memory. For instance if I'm warming up my water aerobics class I might put them into a high knee jog. As they begin to jog I talk about their posture, what their feet should be doing, how deep they should be in the water, what their arms should be doing, and how they should be working at water tempo (every other beat of the music). Then I'll give them a heads up that in 8 more jogs we're going to change our pattern to a front kick. At the 4th knee lift,  I'll give them a countdown and say "Okay in 4 more we'll change to a front kick, now last two, now all front kicks". Even if I forget to cue them exactly into that new kick pattern after 8 counts (or forget what I am doing altogether), I've already said it earlier and generally most the class will move into it anyway. I committed myself to it. This factor alone is very important for new instructors who have so much going on at one time and may lose track of what comes next. Hence my earlier story of getting stuck in a knee corner to corner pattern for 128+ counts ........

Another HUGE factor in being a good fitness instructor is knowing the body and how it works. I don't know about you but I can't stand to go to a class where the instructor tells me to suck in my "tummy" or squeeze my "bottom".  I'm of the mindset that people can come to class to learn something and using the proper names for muscles, joint actions, and body parts plays a huge role in that regard. Just this morning I was explaining to my muscle pump class how the bent over row exercise works and strengthens our romboids. That the romboids are those wings of muscles underneath our trapezius and they act to retract our scapulae (shoulder blades) to the rear. I also told them that in most of us our romboids are lengthened and weak due to how much sitting, computering, tv watching, driving, and slumping we do. By strengthening our romboids we can improve our posture or even prevent bad posture in the first place. Of course it's all dependent on the delivery as well. I remember going to a pilates class one time where the instructor's voice made it sound as if she was our mother and she was giving us toilet training lessons. That's never good either.

Having said all that, sometimes the x-factor doesn't play a role at all. There are always those classes that are just popular no matter what. Maybe it's the format. Maybe it's because that class occupies the prime time spot when everybody gets off work, is at the gym, and wants to take a class. There's also this bizarre phenomenon with male instructors. Time and time again I've seen huge classes for men no matter what time of day, what class it is, or how good they are. Gay, straight, or taken.....a guy can fill a room. I've also seen older than average, larger than average, or just not your typical fitness instructor looking type person completely pack a room at an "off" hour because they possess this "x-factor". They keep their music current, use it to it's fullest, have fun and fresh ideas, are inspirational and motivational, and have a certain sparkle in their eye or a spring in their step. On the other hand I've seen the cutest, most fit, barbie doll type instructors make an entire room run for the hills because they couldn't stay on beat, used music that was way too fast or innappropriate, or couldn't cue themselves out of a paper bag if they needed to.