In the course of the initial training, you get to know the key elements to being a good instructor, but our trainer did not want us to become good, he wanted us to aspire to being World class instructors. However, it's gonna be a long way to World class. First off, there's more elements than you'd probably think.
You got to know and master your technique to set a good example. Then you have to know your choreo to get people moving. You need to know how, when, and what to coach. Make use of your voice. And perform your heart out. Because yes, it is a performance meant to physically move your class as well as entertain them. But that also means your sports performance; you can't hold back on stage. You gotta go the full hog, because only about 60-80% of your intensity reaches your class. If you perform at 60%, your class performs at 40% the most. Gotta go all in. And you know what? Going at 100% for 50min is incredibly exhausting.
Now that I have been standing in front of a few classes, I have noticed, though, that you get so much positive energy back from a happy class that you really don't even think about reducing speed.
Back to initial training. We had a whole weekend filled with 6-8 hours sports and instructing. It was hard, but rewarding, and as a group we grew together and it felt like we'd known each other for years and not mere days afterwards. This is where Les Mills' tribe idea comes through, and I for one would love to pass this on to my classes.
After the weekend, I had to show our group fitness coordinator what I had learned and she gave me a pass as a shadow. With the old choreo still running, I couldn't have done anything else really, but now I got to speak on stage as well. I am allowed to instruct one track until I feel real comfy up there. Well, I am ecstatic to be on stage, but I still have these moments where I get overwhelmed by all the multitasking. So, it's going to be a while. But I already got some great feedback about my stage presence and movement, I have to put in some work into letting go and not trying to hide behind my team teach partner, though.
Let's see how this pans out, but I'm happy as a clam.
