The Scene:
Class is warmed up; you gather all participants and begin your demonstration of the strength block. Everything goes great, you give them suggested weight recommendations, send them back to their space, you start a timer and they all get to work.
Within the first 2 minutes of the strength work, you immediately spot _______ doing the exercise EXACTLY how you told everyone NOT to do it!
You even demonstrated the bad form you didn’t want! Right?
The Ah-Ha Moment:
Did you demonstrate the bad form you wanted them to make sure they didn’t do? Is is possible that the member only saw that one rep and thought that was what they were supposed to be doing? Did they miss the memo you were doing it wrong?
Uh Oh.
Take a second, think of the fitness floor- music, people walking by, the lady running at 16.5 on the treadmill, the people laughing, the TVs are on. There is a lot going on. Now think of it from a mind that doesn’t spend ~40 hours there a week. There are a lot of distractions.
The Lesson:
Remember the bustle and hustle of the fitness floor the next time you say “Here is what I don’t want you to do” when demonstrating. Always remember, members can’t always HEAR us, but they can usually SEE us. When demonstrating exercises, only show them what you want them to do!
The Action:
Keep your demonstrations focused on the positive it can help prevent you from having to coach athletes on bad tendencies. Instead spend your time giving the positive affirmation on things that are being done right, keeping the positive energy in class.