As we move into another new year, I want to challenge you to reach new heights in your coaching. This may mean moving out of your own comfort zone. It’s something we ask of our riders all the time; how about ourselves? What can we do to push ourselves, to take risks, to put ourselves out there in front of our students and announce to the world that we aren’t afraid of growth?
Is this going to be the year you do it? Or are you going to settle back into the comfort of mediocrity? Every time you ask yourself that question, rephrase it as one of the cues you might give on a challenging climb in one of your classes. For example:
Is this the moment you will challenge yourself to stay committed to this long climb? Or are you going to continue to do what you normally do and hold back? Remember, everything you want is on the other side of your comfort zone; let today be the day you cross it!
I have a few ideas for you to stretch yourself this year. Let us know in the comments what you plan on doing to grow!
Top 7 Ways to Grow as an Indoor Cycling Instructor in 2015
1. Expand your vocabulary to include more mind-body cueing.
This can be a little scary for new instructors, and even longtime instructors who have a reliable quiver of cues they rarely veer away from. If you think about the most famous and most quoted coaches from all different sports, they all have amazing ways to get into the minds of their athletes to help them motivate themselves from within. This is a special skill and is one of the things that separates some of the best indoor cycling instructors from the rest.
You can become more inspirational! Be willing to stretch yourself to include mental strength coaching!
Read the following books: Flow in Sports, Body Mind Mastery, and Thinking Body, Dancing Mind.
We have just the tool to help you grow your vocabulary—it’s our coaching app called Cuez. Click here for a taste of the over 800 cues in 24 different categories now available.
2. Incorporate music that is different than your regular music choices.
This can be a challenge if we tend to box ourselves into a corner with our own preferences, or what we think are our riders’ preferences. You never know if one (or many) of your riders is/are secretly wishing to hear a wider variety of genres.
I know for me, a professed pop-music “disliker” (“hater” is too strong!), playing more mainstream music has been my challenge. But thanks to the incredible music choices offered by Kala and Jeanne in the ICA weekly Monday Mainstream Music series, I’ve discovered many wonderful songs I never would have considered! I sprinkle a lot more pop music in my classes than ever before. I bet I am in the minority though, and many instructors have the opposite problem…too much mainstream and not enough other genres that are often better to inspire intrinsic motivation, such as world, downtempo, psychedelic trance, etc. Whatever music genre challenges you, try it! You may discover a new world of music you hadn’t considered before, and a new connection with some of your riders.
If you have not taken our free course on how to use music to match your message, click here. It first provides 101 tips to become a better instructor, followed by a three-part video training.
3. Ask your students to evaluate you.
This will really stretch you, but it might be the single best way for you to grow. You will learn how you are perceived, how your music is received, and whether your coaching is falling on deaf ears. You’ll also learn how many of your riders really love you but haven’t taken the time to tell you. Do this in a way that their responses are anonymous.
Asking for student feedback also gives you the perfect opportunity to discuss why you avoid certain popular gimmicks if a rider requests them in their evaluation.
Our recent coaching series by Cori Parks discusses the rider-centric approach of teaching and running a studio. Asking for feedback is one way to remain rider-centered.
I guarantee that you will be astounded at the results. Humbled perhaps, but also proud of yourself for being willing to learn and grow. Like a business desiring to improve their customer service through surveys, you are showing your riders you care about their needs, while also caring about their success in meeting their goals.
4. Teach off the bike more often.
I still hear from instructors who say they never get off the bike, and I just don’t get it. They say their students don’t like it. I know that riders like to see their instructor working along with them, but if you are coaching them well, and teaching them to focus on their movement and not constantly on what you are doing, then they do not need to see you on the bike 100% of the time.
There is a time and a place to get off the bike; to encourage them to commit, to correct poor form, to fix poor setup, to inspire them to give a little more, to push them in a sprint, to gently suggest they hold back, to acknowledge excellent effort, to take their minds off of you and onto what they’re doing, and so much more. Learn how to judiciously sprinkle on-the-bike coaching with off-the-bike coaching and you take a huge step up as a masterful cycling instructor.
5. Learn how to use social media to promote your class/program.
When used properly, social media is a fantastic way to create community and promote your class/program/event. If you are still resisting this amazing method of marketing, what is holding you back? Set up your own Facebook page just for your classes. There are correct and incorrect ways to utilize social media; you just need to learn what to do. There are many programs that teach businesses and coaches how to use various social media platforms to drive traffic to their product or service.
The Indoor Cycling Association can be found on Facebook here, and on Twitter at @sagecycling. I follow a lot of studios as well as individual instructors on Twitter and am impressed with the way that some instructors promote their classes, commend their riders for excellent effort and for showing up, share their music, announce when they are subbing or have a sub, and generally engage with their students. I bet many of their classes are full!
(Note: the Indoor Cycling Summit includes a session on Social Media for Fitness Professionals).
6. Do no harm.
Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath when they finish medical school. There is no similar oath in the fitness industry, and unfortunately, there are few standards. But I certainly wish there were. We as fitness professionals have an obligation to know our craft and to make sure that we maximize results while minimizing risks. We need to know the exercise science behind what we do and even if you aren’t a cyclist, you must know the proper technique of riding a bicycle. (Don’t let anyone tell you that you aren’t really riding a bike indoors; that’s like saying you aren’t really boxing in a kickboxing class or not really running on an indoor treadmill.)
Make sure you aren’t resorting to gimmicks to keep your riders engaged. Stick to a foundation of the basics, fold in fabulous music, sprinkle in the fun, add a dash of excitement, and top it off with great coaching. Now that is the recipe for success!
7. Learn more physiology
What we are doing on a bike is not rocket science, but it is exercise science!* I know it’s scary…but you need it! After 18 years in the industry as a master trainer, I would say the majority of instructors do not know their physiology. Is this you? It’s easily remedied, you know. You don’t have to go back to school for it; you simply have to read relevant articles and take the appropriate workshops targeted to indoor cycling. Next time you go to a conference, make sure you are not just hitting all the HIT classes for a great workout; register for the lecture on lactate threshold training!
The easiest, fastest, and most convenient way to learn just about everything you need to learn is to register for the Indoor Cycling Summit. There is simply no greater collection of workshops anywhere in the world that is this targeted at indoor cycling instructors. Not just the science (there are workshops on every aspect of teaching), but it’s the science that is so desperately needed. Especially when it’s taught in such an easy-to-understand way as our presenters do.
POSTED BY JENNIFER SAGE ON DEC 31ST, 2014
http://www.indoorcyclingassociation.com/top-7-ways-grow-indoor-cycling-instructor-2015/
