Volo Innovations

Seth Godin wrote a recent blog on what to do if you have bad teachers that really struck me as an interesting topic. Since fitness professionals are consummate teachers and as personal trainers are required to do continuing education it made me think of what the fitness industry could learn from teachers.

First let's look at the similarities between teaching and training people:

1.  People are putting their trust in you that you have the latest and greatest knowledge
   
   
2. The people attending your class or appointment are more nervous then you are
   
   
3. Everyone wants to do really well and will sometimes try to impress you with their knowledge
   
   
4. There is not just one way to teach and each person has their unique way of learning
   
   
5. People have an end goal in mind when they sign up
   

So how do fitness professionals handle the student teacher relationship?

1. Remember that there is not one way to teach; people learn differently so it takes work to be a better teacher. Avoid systems and catch phrases that will make you one of the pack instead of a leader. The key to a great class or individual session is that the teacher or trainer needs to be more adaptive then the student. This will allow them to share their knowledge with a wider group of people

2. Grades are like goals; there will be varying levels of achievement the key is to encourage the student to learn more no matter what the grade or goal is. Find a better testing system that allows you to test on more than just reiterating knowledge. Fitness professionals will provide exercises that complement movements they then test the student in various ways to ensure they understand the fundamentals of application of knowledge

3. Create raving fans; every person has had the teacher they love as every fitness enthusiast has been blown away by a phenomenal fitness professional. In the fitness industry you create raving fans by providing exceptional service to each person you touch. Teachers around the country could benefit from this knowledge. It is not your subject that is boring it is how you teach it. I often say to clients that I cannot make the gym fun it is what it is steel weights and cable machines but what I can do is make the learning of the gym and exercises fun, so how to use these tools becomes less of a chore.

Most teachers follow a curriculum that is set by the administration this is a system style of teaching. In the fitness industry every trainer knows that this does not yield long term results. My Nephew is a very smart kid, as far as grades go, he got straight A's in French for the last 6 years yet if I ask him a single question about French he doesn't know a thing. This is because there is not an adaptive learning mechanism for him to learn how to speak French in the current school curriculum. He ends up with knowledge of only what the teacher want him to learn for the purpose of standard testing. If trainers took this approach everyone would do pushups and sit ups and nothing else!

My advice to all teachers and fitness professionals out there is to  find your passion that drove you to teaching or training in the first place. Any great trainer has one thing in common with the other fitness professionals; they love fitness and want to share this knowledge with as many people as possible. If you are stuck in a rut teaching the same old curriculum to class after class you will get burned out. Take some time attend different classes learn how to become an adaptive teacher and then go out and get some raving fans that will champion your classroom, Bootcamp or personal training sessions as the apex of knowledge, learning and FUN. You will find your passion and share it with everyone and in the end this will make you a better person and both you and your clients or student will have better success reaching the desired goal.