Tag: group fitness tips

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Group Fitness Instructor Tips for Small Class Sizes

Group fitness instructor teaching a small class

Sometimes beyond all of our control, we show up to teach our group fitness class only to find just a couple participants ready to join in. I know firsthand that this can feel embarrassing and stressful. But, when there are holidays like Presidents’ Day, or it’s the first beautiful sunshine-y Saturday after months of gloomy weather, it’s hard to fault your regulars that decide to skip class. Here are a few group fitness instructor tips for making the most of smaller class sizes.

  1. Do not focus on what (or who) is missing.

A natural reaction to walking into a seemingly empty room is to ask, “Where is everyone?” However, you do not want to call attention to the fact that your class is small today. If you focus on what’s missing, you make it seem like the participants that did show up are not important. Why give any extra energy or attention to the folks that aren’t there when you could be instead focusing on giving the ones that did show up the best workout of their lives?

  1. Frame the small group fitness class size as a positive.

What can you do with this group of people that you couldn’t do with a larger group? Can you play that song that you love that one of your no-show regulars always complains about? Can you do those leg exercises that you normally can’t do because they take up too much room? Is there any equipment you can dust off because there’s now enough to go around?

Take advantage of the smaller class size to do some of the things you normally can’t do.

  1. Throw in some of those all-time favorite exercises.

If folks usually love the arm exercise routine you do, then use it as an opportunity to please the participants that showed up. Crowd favorites are my go-to on days where the class size is smaller or I’m feeling off for some reason.

  1. Above all else, give the class a challenging workout.

Participants are willing to overlook a lot as long as they get a good workout. Maybe they are the only ones who showed up, or maybe you led the same routine you did last week with the same playlist, but as long as they leave feeling like they got the workout they wanted, it’s all good.

It can be unnerving to walk into an almost empty group fitness class. As long as you try to spin it as a positive, and focus on giving the folks that did show up the workout they want, everyone will be happy. It also makes me feel better to think that most people probably won’t remember this class in a couple months, maybe even weeks, and we still get paid no matter how many people show up.

For more tips and tricks, check out the group exercise ideas page.

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How to Bounce Back from a Bad Group X Class

How to Bounce Back from a Bad Group X Class

True story: I taught a pretty rough Group X class recently. Here’s what happened — I tried to mix it up by having participants go across the floor, and there was a lot of time wasted trying to get everyone coordinated. I take full responsibility in the fact that I did not cue the activity well, so it’s safe to say it was utter chaos for the first few minutes.

We finally were able to find our Group X groove, wrap up the across-the-floor portion and transition back to the center of the room when I realized we had been listening to the same song for the past 15 minutes. The stereo was on repeat and when I took it off repeat, it didn’t work at all. So, I had to manually click to the next song after each one ended.

It was the sort of group fitness class where I never really felt like I found my rhythm (no pun intended :)). It’s really hard to leave an exercise class like that and not feel down on yourself. A thousand bad thoughts ran through my head. Did I just lose all of my participants? Is everyone going to be talking trash in the locker room? Did I ruin everyone’s night?

Well, the short answer to those questions is “no”. But, how do you squash all of those terrible thoughts in your mind and not let a bad class ruin your night?

Here’s what helped me: I thought about how I would react as a participant of that Group X class. I thought back to all of my favorite Group X instructors, and asked myself how I would react as a participant if they taught a chaotic class like the one I just led. And you know what? I wouldn’t bat an eye.

What I would do is make sure I got a good workout by modifying or adjusting, as needed. And, I wouldn’t think twice about the stereo problems, because it really wouldn’t be a big deal to me.

I tend to magnify my mistakes when I’m the instructor, and it’s refreshing to remember that everyone else will go on with their day as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Sure, maybe I’ll lose a participant or two, but if I come back to the next Group X class with tried-and-true, challenging activities and (hopefully!) a working stereo, everyone else will be satisfied.

I hope this serves as a reminder to cut yourself some slack as an instructor. We try so hard to give our participants the very best group fitness class each and every session, but we’re all human.

For more lessons learned, check out the group exercise ideas and tips page.