Tuesday, May 17, 2011

To Observe and Learn

As you know, Kelly and I love to teach group fitness classes. At my gym, the instructors have been tasked to observe other instructors classes for two reasons; to provide constructive criticism on their class, and to maybe learn some teaching ideas from other instructors. So, I took the liberty of taking our local master Spin instructor’s class this morning between my BodyPump and yoga classes. It was such a great experience. He gave me some great music ideas and awesome new ideas on working with that music. After class, he gave me some additional suggestions about taking the class through all of the resistance levels during warm up to, in a sense, calibrate the bikes for the ride. About a month ago, I learned that something like this was needed, as I had a student come up to me after class wondering why she wasn’t getting a workout in class. She looked around the class and saw everyone sweating, only to be barely huffing herself. We determined, that her bike had been so loose that, even though she thought she’d cranked up the resistance, she didn’t have any through the whole class. I think little insights like this can only help to improve my teaching ability. I took many things from his class today and I intend to attend again in order to glean even more.

Do you find it helpful in your profession to take some time out to observe your peers? What have you learned from observing your peers?

Things for which I’m thankful:
~ Drop top weather
~ Amazing ways to prepare vegetables
~ Surprise Discounts
~ Free MLB.com game of the week – even though my team lost!

1 comment:

  1. I think it's always important to learn, no matter what it's at. It's easier to learn from others than from your own mistakes.

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