For my Group Fitness Instructor Friends: Some suggestions to help us out!!

Teaching Bodypump to an awesome group of Girls!

I'd like to offer some suggestions for group fitness instructors who find themselves battling constant weight gain, injuries, and frustration.  I've been there and I've heard from others who have been in the same situation and the general consensus seems to be the same.

Training

Group Fitness Instructors should think of themselves as athletes.  You perform high intensity workouts daily and sometimes several times per day.  Therefore your training needs to be well rounded and you should be following an integrated training style which involves strength training, conditioning, flexibility, and mobility workouts.

I’m going to state my opinion on this matter and you can take it for what it’s worth:

I don’t believe any Group Fitness instructor should ACTIVELY teach more than 5 cardio classes per week (if that) and certainly no more than 2-3 High Volume Strength Workouts (such as Bodypump) per week. 

Any more than that and I think you’re entering into the land of diminishing returns.  Of course this all depends on formats but that is my general opinion.

I believe it is far too much stress on the body to teach 4-5 Bodypump Classes per week or 10 Cardio classes a week.  This isn’t enough time to let your muscles recover and also I think that it is too much stress on the joints.  With the cardio classes, you’re not burning as many calories AND you are stimulating your appetite which will cause you to eat more.

Not burning as many calories and eating more = Recipe for Body fat gain.

Nutrition

Now this is where things can get murky so I recommend getting a professional opinion in regards to nutrition.

For me, enlisting the help of someone well versed in sports nutrition has made a big difference. The first thing she did was to increase my calories. At first I thought, This is a lot of doggone food and I was so worried that I would gain weight and I immediately dropped 2 pounds. She increased the fat and protein in my diet, so you may be trying to eat “healthy” but most likely it isn’t enough. Just a side rant: Don’t listen to these social media people. One woman I follow said she eats 200 calories for breakfast. I’m on a diet and I eat way more than that. They will have you out here starving! Get a professional opinion.

We have several common scenarios when it comes to Group Fitness Instructors

1) The Group Fitness Instructor who uses classes as a method of weight control and is always on a diet and not eating enough to support the activity  
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2)  The Group Fitness Instructor who thinks teaching classes gives him or her the license to eat whatever they want

3) The Group Fitness Instructor who is confused because he or she is trying to eat a healthy diet, but keeps gaining body fat, and doesn’t understand why.

1) The Group Fitness Instructor who uses classes as a method of weight control and is always on a diet and not eating enough to support the activity

I’m going to use an example from the world of bodybuilding to illustrate my point: When it’s time to get contest lean, there are a few different methods, but one of the worst is for people to cut calories drastically and perform 2-3 hours of cardio per day.

Why is this bad?  

The short version is the body adapts to such a low caloric intake and when the person goes off of the diet, they psychologically and physiologically crash and burn.  After coming off of an extreme diet, the competitor usually binge eats and suffers a rebound in weight gain.  Remember though that their body has adapted to eating low amounts of calories so when they binge or even begin to eat normally the body will continue to chug along as if it’s on the low calorie diet.

Then of course we’ve discussed the law of diminishing returns when it comes to cardio activity.  Eating low amounts of calories and teaching a ton of classes is sure to cause a rebound weight gain if the person stops teaching.

Below I will offer some suggestions that worked for me in changing my composition.  Depending on your goals, you may need to follow a different plan.

First re-evaluate the teaching schedule. - Switch to teaching non participatory classes if possible. 

Focus on classes where you can COACH rather than actively participate.  Your class is not your workout.  If you want an awesome workout in a class, take another instructor’s class.  I always like doing this because I get to steal music and moves from another great instructor.

Second: Start to re-evaluate your diet.  

The first place I would go is post workout nutrition if you’re teaching a class like Bodypump or a weight training class:  Carbohydrate is ESSENTIAL to replacing muscle glycogen.  Fruit and a Protein shake are great when you’re between classes.

Also begin to add in calories slowly but surely.  Adding them all at once is not a great strategy.  What I would do if you’re a chronic under eater is to start with Post Workout Nutrition and then focus on adding more protein to the diet and then carbohydrates.  

I don’t think it’s wise to add in a bunch of carbohydrates right off of the bat because most people can’t handle the psychological effects of seeing what happens when you add in carbs to the diet.  Every 2 weeks I would add in more carbs.

2)  The Group Fitness Instructor who thinks that just because he/she teaches class this is a license to eat whatever he/she wants.

Teaching classes does not give one free reign at the buffet.

Not much needs to be said about this, but you learn very quickly that this is not true.  Especially when we’re talking about the law of diminishing returns when it comes to teaching as your body adapts to the activity over time.

As a matter of fact, I think it’s even more critical that you pay attention to your nutrition if you’re teaching class.  Eating craptastic food is going to catch up with you not only visually, but it’s hard to teach a class really well if your fuel is nutrient deficient food.

Be mindful of the type of food you’re putting in your body.  Like it or not, you’re a role model for your classes.  There’s nothing worse than seeing an instructor who is huffing and puffing because they can’t keep up with the class.  Yes, I believe poor nutrition is a factor in this as well.  You also will not recover as quickly if your nutrition is crap.

3) The Group Fitness Instructor who is confused because her or she is trying to eat a healthy diet but continues to gain body fat

This was my story.  I’m sounding like a broken record, but it’s the truth.  You can continue to teach a bunch of classes, keep gaining weight, go on diets, lose a little, but go back up...OR you can start to branch out and change.

First re-evaluate your teaching schedule

Look at how many classes you’re ACTIVELY teaching and then begin to do some serious re-evaluation.

Yes it is hard to say goodbye to classes, but chances are if you’re actively teaching classes, teaching too many will eventually catch up with you in the form of injury and/or burnout.

Keep teaching enjoyable and limit active teaching to no more than 3-4x per week. These days there are plenty of opportunities to teach non-participatory classes such as boot camps and small group trainings. (The compensation is usually better as well)

Second Evaluate your own workouts

First question to ask is:  Are you working out on your own?  

If you have no time for your own workouts or are too tired, sore, or in pain that’s a surefire sign that you’re teaching too many classes.

As a Group Fitness Instructor you should be keeping your product in good condition.  This means you should be doing flexibility and mobility work 3x per week MINIMUM.  This would include

1) Foam Rolling
2) Dynamic Flexibility Work to improve your range of motion
3) Corrective and Balance Training to improve joint stabilization

Raise the Bar

The problem I see with instructors and participants who rely on Group Fitness for their workouts is that they are not doing any strength training.  People may work up a good sweat, but they are still soft and gaining body fat because they are not strength training. 

Classes like Bodypump are outstanding, but the problem with this class is that most people are not pushing themselves in those classes for fear of bulking up so they don’t overload the muscles and receive the true benefits of the class.

As an instructor, you should be actively teaching a class like Bodypump a maximum of 2-3x per week.  Teaching Bodypump (correctly) is intense , but don’t forget to get your own strength workouts in.  Depending on your goals, they can be split workouts or total body workouts in the form of metabolic circuits.

JUST STRENGTH TRAIN.  You need muscular strength and endurance  to push through your classes and also to support your joints.  

Metabolic Workouts

I'm also a big fan of 20-30 minutes of intense circuit training.  Not only is this awesome for a time crunched instructor, but the calories you burn during and after the workout will be sure to get that metabolism fired up and ready to go.  

Conclusion

I wrote this piece because I see so many instructors struggling with the same issues I did for years.  We would teach lots of classes, call ourselves eating healthy, and continue to gain body fat.

Awesome Birthday gift from my Cycle Class!

The more I learn about metabolic adaptation and adrenal fatigue (due to my involvement with competitive bodybuilding), the more I believe many of my instructor colleagues are suffering from those same issues.

Sounds crazy but  I didn't see changes until I stopped doing what I was doing and did something different

I hope you find this helpful and let's continue to encourage and inspire more people to get up and move!  Our classes are counting on us!

A Post for my Fellow Group Fitness Instructors: Information to keep us teaching for years to come!

I was compelled to write this blog post because after writing a status on Facebook about Group Fitness Instructors and over training and weight gain, I received a lot of feedback from fellow instructors wanting more information since this topic isn't covered and there isn't information about it. Many instructors are battling constant weight gain, injuries, and a myriad of other problems and don't understand why.

I had to learn the hard way that 

GROUP FITNESS SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR WEIGHT CONTROL.  

Many of us teach because we love the energy of teaching, but I think many of us also do it as a means to stay in shape and the truth is that as instructors we need to:

EAT, TRAIN AND BE IN SHAPE TO TEACH

NOT

TEACH TO EAT AND BE IN SHAPE

Let me start by saying this is not an attack on Group Fitness or the instructors.  I love group fitness because I think it serves a great need by making exercise tolerable and even enjoyable for people.

As an instructor I can tell you that the community we build in group fitness, the stories we hear, the transformations we witness, and just the energy of working out in a group is incredible.

However after seeing group fitness instructors and participants become injured, deconditioned, and overtrained, I have come to a new position on Group Fitness.

Instructors should not be using Group FItness classes for weight control or as their own workout.  They should also limit their ACTIVE TEACHING classes to no more than 3-4 week (depending on the class of course).  Instructors also should be training and eating as an athlete would to keep themselves in condition and stave off injury.

Participants should vary the classes that they take.  Most commercial gyms are helpful in this regard.  They offer high volume weight training classes such as Bodypump, sport conditioning classes such as Bodyattack/Boot Camps, Cardio Classes, and mind/body classes.  Participants should also challenge themselves in classes and not simply go through the motions.

As an instructor and as a gym regular, I see the same people and same instructors in class from year to year and in many cases each year the people and the instructors either look the same or gain more body fat.  If you look at many instructors who teach lots of classes each week, many don’t look like it.  

Teaching Bodypump in 2012

I teach one class a week now and I look far more athletic than when I was actively teaching 9-10 classes per week.  As a matter of fact, as soon as I got involved with Bodybuilding and started letting classes go, my body composition began to change.

Why is this?

Chunky Aerobics Instructor Syndrome 

World Renowned Strength Training Coach Charles Poliquin coined this term because he noticed that aerobics instructors had high levels of body fat despite teaching aerobics classes 3 hours a day.  He found that the body quickly adapted to all of this training and the instructors would maintain high levels of body fat despite training for 3 hours a day which is equivalent to a professional athlete.

Why does this happen?

Your body loves adaptation.  Your body loves to adapt to whatever it is that you’re doing, so that it can be more efficient. This is helpful for muscle memory and performing tasks more easily and efficiently.

However this isn’t the best news when it comes to fat loss.

With adaptation comes the law of diminishing returns.  As I coach my clients, as your conditioning improves and your body ADAPTS to your training

For example

Jane does a Zumba class for 60 minutes and burns 200 calories.  She continues to attend this class for 3 months and she becomes better conditioned and Zumba is starting to get easier.  After 3 months, Jane may not burn 200 calories, she may burn 150 calories because her body has adapted to the training.

I have known Group Fitness Instructors who teach the same class for 150 years.  Is there anything wrong with this?  

No, but their bodies have adapted to that type of training and most aren’t burning nearly as many calories as they think they are because their bodies have ADAPTED to that type of training, but I imagine they are eating the same or more since their bodyweight has begun to climb upwards.

As an instructor I was so frustrated that I was doing all of this working out and gaining weight. I figured the more I did, the more I would lose. Eat less/Move more right?

WRONG!!!!

As soon as I ate more and moved less, my body fat began to drop.

I'm going to keep saying it: DON'T USE TEACHING AS A METHOD OF WEIGHT CONTROL! IT WON'T WORK!!

If you don't believe me, then look around you or look at yourself. You've been doing it for years and things are getting worse. Get off the teaching too much train and try something different.

In my next blog post, I will be discussing some strategies and solutions to get things back on track.