Motivation Tips For Group Fitness Instructors

For today’s post, I wanted to talk about motivation tips for group fitness instructors: what I’ve found to work in my years of teaching, what only works for some people, and what falls flat, no matter what. I would love to hear your thoughts and experience as group fitness participants or fellow instructors!! Whether you’re leading through a screen, like many instructors are after Rona, or in person, motivation strategies are super important. You want to transmit energy and inspire individuals and group exercise participants both effectively and authentically.

What works (almost) every time:

Use great music with a diverse playlist.

This is one of my favorite things to do! Include a mix of music in your playlists, because someone in class will love the *weird song* you picked. For example, I’ll throw in a random oldies or country song just to keep things fun, and will also try to mix up top 40s music with more alternative and instrumental styles. If you make an entire playlist based on one genre (like EDM or top 40s) one person in class will love every song, but one person will hate every song and possibly never come back.

Call out participants by their names.

I think it’s so much more meaningful this way and shows participants that you care about them.

Acknowledge their hard work and push them to take it up within a safe level.

I talk more about this here! It’s SO important to encourage participants to listen to their body, modify as needed, and be proud of them for showing up!!!

Demonstrate proper form and ways to modify or progress an exercise.

When participants have confidence in the moves and know they’re not setting themselves up for injury, it’s more motivating. 😉

Emphasizing the muscle group they’re working.

Explain why it’s important (“a strong core helps protect our low back and support everyday movements”), and helping them put their mind to muscle.

Just be quiet.

Sometimes it motivating and powerful to be quiet for a bit and let the energy and music do the talking for you.

What works sometimes, depending on the vibe and your personality:

The more “woo” side of things, like visualizations.

During a spin class, sometimes I’ll say something like, “Imagine the people you love standing on the side of the road right now holding a sign to inspire you. What does the sign say?” Or “For our sprint, we’re riding against your biggest competition. Maybe it’s someone from work, or maybe it’s someone who doesn’t even know who you are.”

Hands-on adjustments.

Some people love these and some people hate them, so it’s good to ask at the beginning of class if there are injuries or if anyone is uncomforta

Hi friends! Happy Friday! How was the week? I can’t believe that we’re already at the end of March and fully into spring! I hope that you have a wonderful weekend ahead. It’s going to be a busy one for our fam. I have two choir performances – local friends, come and see Requiem. If you’d like to attend, I have a discount code I can email to you – and Liv has a dance competition!

I’m going to be singing in between the dance shuffle… wish me luck 🙂

It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party. This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.

Friday Faves 3.22

Life:

Vegas fun! The Pilot and I got to enjoy a Vegas weekend together with friends. We originally went up for the basketball tournament, but the Cats lost on Friday night. It was a bummer, but it freed up more time for Vegas adventures 😉

Some highlights from the trip:

We got an upgraded suite at the Venetian, which was a lovely treat.

Little room service pic:

Parents’ night out:

(dress is here from Amazon! Shoes are here)

Dinner at STK:

The famous Flower Drink from the Cosmopolitan:

We stayed out until 3am, slept in, and then wandered downstairs to the Canyon Ranch spa and had brunch there.

(I had this awesome lentil hummus with veggies, a latte, and a sesame salad with chicken)

Shopping at Fashion Show:

Dinner at the Wynn buffet:

(this was EPIC. We need to take the kids!)

The necessary sparkly Vegas dress:

(from RTR Unlimited)

and time chiling the hotel room watching Love is Blind, which also felt like an indulgent treat. It was the perfect mix of friend time, couples time, party time, and relaxation. My cup is very full after such an amazing weekend!

Read, watch, listen:

I haven’t watched Love is Blind in years – since the first season!- and this new season is SO good. 20 minutes in and I was hooked lol.

Read more

Hi friends! Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had an amazing week. We’re heading off on a little weekend adventure – I’ll share the fun over on IG stories!

I’m also diving into High Performance Health modules and am so excited about this content.

What do you have going on this weekend? I’d love to hear what you’re up to!

(sourdough and Mazer. The perfect combo)

It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party. This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.

Friday Faves 3.15

Read, watch, listen:

The great joy of returning to your childhood hobbies. I relate to this so much! I’m singing in the symphony choir, taking Spanish lessons, and who knows, maybe I’ll start playing piano again.

Tips to boost your joy.

If you’re looking for weeknight meal inspo, check out this post.

Excellent podcast episode about menopause.

Fashion + beauty:

Maybe my internet sleuth friends out there can help me. I got this dress in this week’s RTR unlimited shipment and I LOVE it. It’s classic, the color is fun, and I can’t find it anywhere online. To buy it through RTR is $300 and I don’t love it that much 😉 Any ideas?? The brand is Derek Lam.

(A little peek at the new floors! They look a million times better.)

New Vuori goodies! Vuori is my favorite spot to order athletic clothes right now. The quality is amazing, the colors are gorgeous, and they’re well-made and flattering.

I got this tank and this pair of shorts:

another energy tank (my fave out of all of them) and these bike shorts

and a new jumpsuit. I have a few Vuori jumpsuits and this year’s verison is even better. It has a waistband, built-in bra (!), and tapered legs, in the same dreamy fabric.

Fitness, health, and good eats:

New-to-me cookbook find. A friend raved about this one, so I ordered a copy! I’m excited to tr

Hi friends! Happy Friday! What are you up to this weekend? I’m looking forward to a yoga class, dinner with the fam, and having a *nothing* weekend after 4 weeks in a row of trips to Phoenix, Vegas, San Diego, and then back to Phoenix last weekend. Even though we had a blast, it will be nice to have a low-key weekend at home.

Last week’s adventure: taking Liv to see Olivia Rodrigo! This was one of her Christmas presents, and she’d been looking forward to it. (I felt bad that the four of us couldn’t go, but it was a fight for my life to get the two tickets when presale went live!) P had a daddy-daughter adventures to the bowling alley and arcade with friends.

Olivia Rodrigo was amaaaaaazing. I really like her voice – Liv is a HUGE fan- and I was blown away by the talent, production quality, and dancers. I liked it even more than Taylor Swift (don’t throw anything at me!)

We went with friends, which made the experience even more enjoyable. The rest of the week has been filled with house stuff – I can’t wait to show ya the final result – and the school/dance/work/chore/life usual craziness.

It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.

Read, watch, listen:

Listening to this podcast episode while I write this post.

Don’t forget to check out this week’s HRL episode with Udo Erasmus’ 8-step process for whole health. 

On a mission to help Mazer live foreverrrrrr.

How one small habit can change your life. 

Health + Fitness:

I put on a new CGM and it’s been fun

Hi friends! Happy Friday! What are you up to this weekend? The kids are on Rodeo break – it’s an Arizona thing!- so we’re enjoying sleeping in, fun adventures, and no homework (bless it). I’d love to hear what you have going on!

I’m on Day 5 of the CBO protocol and chugging along. It’s been very hard to live without garlic and onions, but I’ve been making lots of amazing veggie and protein-packed meals, in addition to the supplements. I’m going to be sharing my healing journey in an upcoming post; if you have any questions you’d like me to answer, please lmk in the comments!

It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.

Friday Faves 2.23

Random/life:

A little getaway to San Diego. The Pilot and I spent just over 24 hours in one of our favorite places for our good friend Jeremy’s 50th birthday. We’ve been friends with Betsy and Jeremy since Liv was in preschool and they’ve become like family. We’ve traveled all over with them, and will often meet up in various spots. We flew into San Diego on Saturday morning

and went straight to Liberty Station. We shopped, walked around, and got an awesome lunch at Tender Greens. We hung out at the hotel and then got ready