After attending the Club Industry Show in Chicago last October, I came home pumped to add some new classes to Personal Fit Fitness’ offerings. The conference had given me just the confidence I needed to implement some ideas that had been swirling around in my head for just over a year. Prior, other than one-on-one personal training, I’d only taught group exercise for one summer; however, I had offered couples personal training for years and expanded to small groups of three to four people on occasion.
That single group exercise class evolved after a run in the spring of 2015 when my friends and I talked about how fun it would be to do a boot camp together. I decided that I was up for the challenge and organized a weekly boot camp for free for my fellow MRTT friends. With the help of Google and Pinterest, I designed my camps with runners in mind. Once summer ended and it was too dark to workout on the track and infield at 6 AM, our boot camp ended and I didn’t start it back up the following spring.
In addition to training clients at my gym, I train a few clients at a nearby 55+ community. One day while chatting with the activities director about presenting my Staying Fit Through The Ages class, she asked if I’d be interested in offering a beginner’s boot camp. We were both so motivated by the idea that we planned out the logistics, set up the first six-week session dates, and wrote up the description for their email blast in that very meeting.
During one of those early boot camps, the activity director said that she thought a yoga style boot camp would be fun and widely received by the residents. From that idea, my Balance and Stretching Class was born. After warmups, we spend half of the class working on balance with circuits and games, and the second half of the class stretching using both traditional static stretches and yoga poses. The class is a big hit and it has been rewarding watching my students’ balance, flexibility, and confidence improve.
It’s been fun expanding beyond personal training and coaching this past spring and summer, and I’d love to add more classes this fall after everyone is back from their vacations!
- Questions:
- Do you take or teach group exercise classes? If so, which ones?
- How flexible are you? ~ Even after 18 months of consistent yoga, I can still barely touch my toes – on a good day.
- Did you like PE when you were in school?
I taught a strength training group ex for a few years and sport and health and loved it until I just got burnt out. The group atmosphere has so much energy it’s fun to teach. I always think classes never have enough stretching in them and I like you ideas
Deborah @ Confessions of a mother runner recently posted…What To Do When You Get Your Period On Race Day
Thanks, Deborah! I bet you were a great instructor!
Balance and stretching are so important! Great idea for a class. I haven’t taken a group exercise class in quite a while, but it was always fun. Loved step aerobics!
I did enjoy PE class as a kid. I think it’s my daughter’s favorite class!
Cyndi recently posted…Staying Active on Vacation
You are my idol if you were good at step aerobics – I had two left feet! It’s great that you daughter loves PE. It was my favorite class, too!
I can touch my toes, but not much farther. And I hated PE when I was in school because I was one of the shunned klutzes who the teachers discriminated against. They favored the natural athletes from the time I was in Kindergarten. Ugh #badmemories
Kimberly Hatting recently posted…Grandma’s Marathon 2017
Oh bummer about your PE experience. One of my PE teachers allowed her older basketball stars who had study hall at the same time to come into the gym and ref all of our games while she sat on the bleachers and read magazines. That prompted me to want to become a PE teacher because I knew I could do better. Even though I didn’t particularly enjoy teaching PE the two years I taught, I’m glad I have the degree because of what I learned and now use as a personal trainer.
I used to teach spinning classes but had to stop because of the poor management at the gym, but I do miss it!
Kimberly G recently posted…My Favorite Marathon Training Products
That’s a bummer.
I remembered I joined an outdoor bootcamp session, with my friend’s daughter as the instructor. It was winter time but we were sweaty when we finished. Loved it!
That’s great!
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