As a fitness instructor you have a responsibility to guide your class or your personal training clients towards their fitness goals the best you can. Of course you can only show them the path towards success as it’s up to them to put in the hard yards outside of that 45 minute session where you’re actually shouting at them to push themselves, but you can help them feel like they’re achieving those goals by making sure your class has an aim.
You can only do so much in the way of encouraging them, but by showing your clients exactly why or how the exercise can affect them in a positive way, you stand more of a chance of retaining your clients and encouraging them to come back for more. This is why it’s extremely important for your class to have an aim or a goal. Is it bums and tums or a yoga session? Are you working the upper body today or are you burning fat in that spin class? In any case, your class has to have an aim, whether it’s empowering your clients by making them feel like they’ve really worked hard by burning off that extra latte or relaxing them whilst stretching out those aches and pains in your yoga class – it’s all about showing the positive effects of exercise and meditation. Aim to address a goal in your class and make sure your class walks out feeling like they’re on their way to achieving that goal.
Today we’re going to look at some common aims of classes based and the importance of sticking to that aim.
Weight loss:
No one is going to lose weight in one class, that’s fairly obvious, but that doesn’t mean you can’t burn calories in your session. If the aim of your class is to help clients lose weight or improve their fitness levels, then show them that your spin class will get results if they stick to it, and more importantly, come back regularly. The aim here is to make your clients feel like they’re burning fat and that they’ve achieved something in the 45 minutes, so cardio heavy spin or kickboxing classes will really get people sweating, heart rates up and leave people feeling like they’ve worked hard and are on their way to reaching fitness goals.
Improve mobility:
Many people do not realise just how tight their muscles are and have absolutely no idea how exercise can improve mobility. Think back to how stretching helped you in a way that you never knew it could – the simple act of tying your shoe lace after a month of zero exercise is an effort compared to when you’re at you’re peak! With this in mind, you can tailor your classes to help people with their mobility and their flexibility. The aim here is to make people realise just how much they can improve on flexibility or mobility with your help. Yoga or Pilates is great for this as is boxing or kickboxing training. Not everyone can move around as much as a highly trained boxer but foot and pad work coupled with a great stretching routine will certainly allow people to realise how these exercises can help.
Toning up:
You’re going to get a lot of requests from your clients for exercises that will help them tone up. Whether they want that Kim Kardashian bum or Ryan Gosling washboard stomach, they’re not going to get there in one day, but you can sure put them on the right path. The aim here is to address those goals that your clients have and stick to it. They may be expecting to do 1,000 squats and wonder why you’re asking them to plank for 30 seconds at a time so explain the why’s first and get them working those areas they want to tone up. Is it bums and tums? Is it legs and thighs, or upper body? Either way, attack those areas and allow them to leave feeling like they’ve actually worked the areas they want to improve – you know that burpees help improve upper arm strength, but your clients may not, so finish on a killer abdominal exercise so your client feels like the six-pack abs are on their way.
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