17 March 2011 Newsletter

 

Hello and welcome to the choreographytogo Instructor Newsletter. This is a free weekly resource that I designed 9 years ago years ago to provide support, ideas and back up for all Instructors and Personal Trainers. I love to receive your feedback, so if you do have any comments or would like to contribute in any way please email lesley@choreographytogo.com or please use the very lively forum.

For website/membership/course bookings and general admin email Lesley@choreographytogo.com or call the C2Go office 07854 739285. Please add Lesley@choreographytogo.com to your address book as mail sometimes can go to your junk/spam mail box. You can also find the answers to many of your questions in the FAQ section and Help section of the site click here for FAQs

 

Rachel Holmes Snippets and updates

As I write this week’s newsletter I am enjoying a week teaching on International Fitness Week at the beautiful Playitas resort in Fuerteventura. We have a fabulous group of Swedish people here who are all enjoying the classes and the climate. I’ve been teaching lots of Fitness Pilates, Bootcamps, Power Step and 80’s Aerobics, and have even had the time to film some new downloads and continue to work on the new Choreographytogo website. There must be a thousand triathletes here this week all sea swimming, running and cycling everywhere, the sea is freezing and I’ve witnessed them running into it every morning, wetsuit clad looking cold!

This week’s newsletter has some great articles and new contributor Charlotte Ord, who is Personal Trainer of the year. Charlotte has a super successful studio in Surrey called Phoenix Fitness and is this week writing about adding the WOW factor. Katie Bulmer, who is busy organising her wedding, moving house and has a new baby and business has a really useful piece on concentrating on yourself and not worrying about what other people are doing.

Networking

A few week’s ago I wrote about networking.  Although a very basic and classic form of marketing it’s still a crucial piece of attracting new customers to your class. I’ve been on my own quite a bit this week in Fuerteventura as there are no other UK Instructors here and only a handful of guests from the UK, so I really have had to make an effort to meet people and introduce myself, otherwise I would be sitting on my own every night at dinner and having a drink in the bar, chatting only with the bar staff. It is tempting to work away in my room on my lap top alone, but putting myself out there this week I have met a circus performer from Bristol, A top Swedish female body builder who has invited me over to her gym, loads of new aerobics friends from all over Europe and a millionaire Swedish lady who owns the top gambling website in Europe..fascinating!. So, if you are thinking of going along to a networking meeting to raise your business profile but feel a little bit apprehensive then GO ALONG, forcing your self to network and make new contacts can be a real breath of fresh air.  Not only are there potential business contacts but it’s a great boost for your own personal confidence and self esteem.

The Freestyle HiLo and Step debate

I posed a question on Facebook last week about the future of HiLo and Step as more and more Instructors are teaching Zumba. Due to its amazing popularity and demand many freestyle classes are being squeezed off timetables. Of course, it makes perfect commercial sense, especially for the Instructor who at last is able to teach less classes and earn more money teaching Zumba. Hopefully this massive interest in group exercise classes will lead to many new people into attending other group exercise classes, but are we heading into a fitness future without HilLo and Step as we know it today.

There are some great points being raised and I would love to hear your comments, so please head over to http://www.facebook.com/Choreographytogo I

Personally, I stopped teaching HiLo and Step in the community many years ago as the classes dropped off in favor of Fitness Pilates, Dance, Conditioning and Bootcamps but there is still a big demand for Choreographed Hilo and Step in the clubs I teach in.  So there are definitely different markets in clubs and community. New Instructors coming up appear to go straight into teaching Les Mills and  Zumba because they are popular and offer a great way to get your foot in the door with employers, so you can’t blame them, but I wonder where step and hilo will be in 2 or 5 years down the road..

For the seasoned freestyler who loves teaching choreography, getting cover becomes harder and harder and  there are less newbies coming into class. BUT the clients that do attend, never miss, come every week and are super supportive. It’s an interesting debate with lots of issues and differing points of view and I guarantee it will continue to rage.

 

Jayne Nicholls Bootcamp

 

Building YOUR Business by Katie Bulmer

Hey everyone,

First please let me start with an apology…I’m sorry I haven’t written anything for a few weeks! Having a baby, buying another house, starting another business and planning a wedding all in a year has been VERY stressful to say the least! J

Over the past few weeks I’ve had quite a lot of emails from fellow fit pros across the country saying they are worried about competition, e.g. there is another boot camp down the road starting up, everyone is doing Zumba, and someone else is hiring the same venue I use!

My best advice…STOP worrying about what others are doing, and instead focus on YOU and YOUR business- almost blocking this ‘competition’ out!

So, in this article, I thought I’d bust some common mistakes that people make when faced with such situations mentioned above.

1. ‘I need to drop my prices if I’m going to compete with the boot camp down the road’

Dropping your price is the last thing you should be doing. Instead, keep or even raise your price, making you the premium option as opposed to the budget. After all, when you’re doing your weekly big shop, you buy the premium as opposed to economy brand option because it tastes nicer, right? Instead of dropping your price, just add more value e.g. nutrition packs, home workout videos and recipe hand outs etc. I think something that adds massive value to any fitness based service is a personal touch, e.g. personalised texts, emails etc. This will set you apart from the ‘3-T-trainer’ who simply Turns up, Teaches and Takes the money!

2. ‘I need to keep an eye on my ‘competition’ to allow me to stay ahead of the game’

How many hours a day/week do you spend checking out the so called competitions Face Book page, website or Twitter? Wouldn’t this time be better spent working in YOUR Face Book/Twitter/Web presence?

3. ‘I need to reach out to everyone’

Ever heard the saying ‘jack of all trades-master of none’? Instead of being everything to everybody, pick a client group, and become their guru or expert (this can come simply from only working with this section of the population). This makes you instantly more attractive than your ‘average’ trainer and people are far more likely to chose and stay with you. For example, I only work with pre and post natal women, and I get emails regularly that start something like, ‘I heard you are an expert in this area…’

4. ‘People will choose me if I slate the competition’

I have seen this so many times, and it makes me really sad, as I HATE bitching with a passion. You see it on Face Book, Twitter and even face to face; trainers slating fellow fit pros to try and make themselves look better. This simply makes you look unprofessional! If anyone asks me what I think of other local trainers, class instructors etc, I answer like this… ‘I’ve never been to their class but I’m sure they are great, the only way to find out is to give it a go’.  Oh and if you’re the one getting bitched about then chances are you’re doing something right 😉

I know it can be tough to block out what others around you are doing, especially if they appear to be offering something similar to you!

Be GREAT at what YOU do and you’ll reap the rewards!

Katie xx

Please follow me on…

Face Book: katiebulmer1

Twitter: katiebulmer1

 

 

Functional Spine with Marvin Burton

Last year’s newsetters I spoke about the spine. I would like to revisit this so that we can understand what is happening to the spine during human motion.

The motion that I will choose is walking. If you can understand what happens when we walk then you can adjust the motions to more complex tasks.

The spine motion is driven. This means other factors will cause the motion to be increased/decreased.

Below the spine the pelvis drives the motion up the body. The faster the bottom half of the body is working the more chain reactional influence will occur.

Connected to the spine are the arms. They influence the rotational force. This is moving opposite to the lower body.

As one leg steps in front of the other (right leg) the pelvis is rotating to the left, anteriorly rotating and laterally flexing to the side. This motion allows the lateral and posterior leg muscles to load in all 3 planes and decelerate the motion of the hips swinging to the side.

The effect on the Lumbar spine is that it needs to extend. If it flexed then we would be leaning forward.  It is also rotating right and laterally flexing right – because on the left the pelvis is dropping down.

This relative motion happens because the sacrum is moving faster then L5 so the angle increases. That’s why it is described as extending or going through extension.

The thoracic spine has to follow the reaction from below, but is also rotating right because from above the arms are swinging in front of our bodies (left arm coming forward).

The opposite reaction occurs because if they were to rotate and flex in the same direction as the pelvis we would lose balance. The transverse plane generates power for us to propel forward. This is called the transformational zone. The muscles load (coil) in 3 planes and unload causing a change over between the left and right leg.

The spine changes at the cervical section. This is because as we walk and our body moves in this twisting motion, our eyes stay on the horizon in front of us. The cervical spine moves through flexion because if it extended as the throcic does, we would walk and be looking up in the air.

I hope this has cleared up any previous misconceptions.

Something else we need to address is the motion at the lower back. Although the degree of motion isn’t as great as the thoracic spine – there is motion. The Lumbar spine is described as non – moving but without the motion and the assistance of fascia and spine erectors (as well as others) we wouldn’t be able to bent at all.

Don’t forget your back exercises during your classes. Especially if you are teaching Ab’s and Core classes. Try standing adaptations and multi-directional exercises.

Marvin Burton – We do not quit playing because we grow old, we grow old because we quit playing.

 

Wishing you all a fantastic Thursday

Love Rachel