Speaker 1one of the things i've found over the years uh is that i look at any kind of fitness space that i attend in a different way than i used to and i think it's given me a lot of a lot of different ideas about what i wanted to do sometimes you see stuff and you think i don't want to do that and sometimes it seems to be like that's a really good idea i want to do this and other times it's just noticing how i responded to something or a space and how it's made me feel and whether i feel like i fit in or whether i feel like i don't and all of that kind of stuff i don't know you recently went to some different spaces on a on a bit of a break and it felt like a good chance to have a little chat about how we get influenced by our own experiences with with fitness even whilst simultaneously you know creating our own experiences for our clients so maybe we start with your recent trip and kind of what you did and how how you felt from that
Speaker 2yeah so it's interesting because i think people would assume that as a pt you find it really easy to walk into other fitness spaces but that's not actually necessarily the case um you're still a person who's completely new to the space doesn't know what to expect and can feel a little bit nervous about it um i don't i don't think from the beginning i felt nervous about this i was visiting a friend um she loves her gym and she got me a session there um with her in the morning whilst i was visiting um and um it made me think what worked to make me feel comfortable before i got there like even though i knew her um and that was a good question as well they asked that how did you hear about us um which is obviously useful to know what your marketing is working but then what they did to follow up was they sent well they tried to call him but i was obviously like busy i barely ever answer my phone i'm always doing something and i miss it calling um but they followed up with a text message which was great um and i i do always think regardless of whether it's a fitness space or whatever it is please follow up with a text message because i generally don't have a chance to answer my phone and if you don't i will just assume that you were one of those spammy callers so like i'm constantly on who called me on the internet googling if i should call this person back because they might be a potential client or whether it's just someone offering me energy again um but essentially they followed up with a text message or whatsapp message um from one of the coaches who would be taking the session very welcoming um just saying you know really looking forward to meeting you i know that you know your friend um and so they worked that into the message which was really lovely because it made you feel like oh they've taken notice and they've had to look um gave some really key information in that message we um you know bring we have water and we have cups of water but you know feel free to bring your own water bottle a towel um if you want if you have a if you need a shower afterwards we have showers towels are available blah blah blah blah so it was kind of very much like this is what to expect this is what you might need and if you know if especially if i hadn't been going with my friend the kind of information i absolutely would have felt much more confident about rocking up to that space on the day that i went um and then when we did go that was followed up by that same coach who had messaged there the next morning welcoming and saying hi i'm you know the i'm the guy who messaged you so immediately i knew that was the person i was talking to and they were really friendly and really welcoming um and made sure as the other people came in it was a small group situation that everyone was introduced to each other even though they and that's a hard one max they all knew each other and so even though they were my friend they all know each other they did a this is my girl you know she's here with a friend and and this is so so so so so um and i'm like i'm not gonna remember any of your names thank you very much um and then even down to like showing me the boards with the session on it so i knew what to expect there showing me around the gym so i knew exactly where the toilet was and exactly where the um there were some lockers we could use it to like everything was shown to me so i didn't i didn't have any questions at the end of that i was just like i felt like great i know where i am and what i'm doing brilliant and i felt like everyone was really lovely and friendly so it was a really welcoming experience and i think if i lived in the area a hundred percent i would have been going yep this is the place for me that i'm going to stay here and i'm going to do more um so yeah it was it made me think what do we do similar things what could we do more of to make people feel that way because i'm always a little too conscious on the other side of things that i don't want to pressure people but i think what they did was just perfectly align that to um feeling as though you are just being welcomed rather than any kind of pressure
Speaker 1there's always that element where it can feel like pressure and as you say you don't want somebody to feel like there is uh an ulterior motive for everything you're doing uh when you are on that other end of things and there is that kind of element of being unsure how things work and where things are and what as you say what do you need to take and stuff like that which yeah i mean generally i'm sure we're all similar if i go to a fitness space i tend to make sure i've got some water just to kind of cover up is there isn't there and will i need it won't i need it kind of situation it's normally a bit of a safe bet but just those little things are saying we've got this and you yeah you can bring it but it's all under control and and almost starting that conversation before someone gets there so they're not you're not sort of meeting someone for the first time even though you are because you've already had some kind of communication with the same person i think that's a nice touch because again quite often it can be somebody different and it can be somebody different and it can be somebody different that's messaging you to the person that you then see and there's sometimes a disconnect between kind of what information's passed around and that kind of stuff so you kind of think i've already had this conversation or i've sent this stuff in before and now you're asking me the same things and and it feels like there's always that have i just wasted my time did you did anyone read what i said was that just a complete waste of my time or has it gone anywhere so i think all of those kind of things and that you say personalization taking the information they knew and showing that they'd listened and that it had been read or heard somewhere rather than yeah fine i'm just going to tell you what i tell everybody and it sort of feels very generic that way so that all sounds like a really positive experience and i think it is good to kind of use that to to review we get into ruts don't we we get into our routines and let's face it when you've been running something you you tend to have you most of the people you see every day are the same people so it falls into patterns and then when someone new comes along it's almost like you don't want to make a big thing about them being new so you kind of let things flow but there is stuff that you can do that just helps ease them into it rather than kind of assuming that they're just gonna relax into it and we've all got different personalities don't we so i'm definitely a kind of a watcher when i go anywhere new i'm very much a kind of watch and see it takes me a few visits before i kind of start to relax and feel like i'm in something or part of something whereas other people will just walk in and be kind of straight in the crowd a bit jealous about them somebody just like turn up and they're one of the crowd and i'm like still observing from the but when you've had somebody been introduced and somebody that potentially introduced you with a bit of a a connection with that person rather than just here's the names that kind of stuff i feel like it it really can help i know we had uh somebody recently when they joined um the dance class that i go to each week the instructor then sort of introduced them to me and just asked whether they liked um musicals or shows of some kind and then she said yes and she's like well you know claire's your person because we've been talking about there's always something it's quite often on a wednesday when i'm like i have to miss dancing because i'm going to see something or there's something coming up and it just tied that together which then gave us a conversation that we in the five minutes or whatever we had before it started we just talked about shows so it was just something really easy and i think that's something that you can do quite easily not necessarily shows and without even knowing people you can sometimes open up conversations about what music people like or books or tv programs or something like that that kind of doesn't feel like a test doesn't have a wrong answer is just a chance for people to connect in what is typically only a few minutes really before you're starting because you don't want people chatting about all those things throughout the session you want them listening to you and paying attention to what they're doing what you want them to do but to have those bits where they leave feeling like they've sort of maybe met a potential new friend rather than just turned up and been one of a crowd going through the motions doing what they're doing and then leaving again without any feelings of belonging or connection to what they've experienced
Speaker 2yes and i and i think that also comes into play throughout the session so if i think about my experience there versus my experience at another place i went to a few years back that i never went to again the key difference was so i i try and avoid telling anyone i'm a pt but generally speaking when i go with someone else it's the first thing they announce she's a pt i'm like oh my god why did you say that so
Speaker 1i must say i keep crying i don't know nobody needs to know inevitably it comes out i mean i've had it here even because i attended pilates for ages and i kind of very very carefully you know made no mention of it at all until the instructor and we were having a chat one day the instructor was running slightly late and just chatting um with somebody else and i said well you know worst case scenario i could teach it and they went yeah yeah i think i could remember and i went no no i am actually quite into it and actually i've covered a few times since and now when i'm covering the first thing i say is i know i'm normally sat in that corner and quite often this is where it got a little bit embarrassing because you know my face is not looking particularly overjoyed to be in the session because it didn't matter before i could just be a nameless person who was just an attendee and of course the switch to being the instructor when you're at the front smiling and enthusiastic about stuff felt like a bit of a personality change so it's something i'm a little bit more aware of when i'm somewhere where it could end up i might end up teaching somewhere because that was a bit of a learning curve but generally i'm yeah in the background and i'm kind of like you don't need to know this at all about me you have no reason to know this and inevitably at some point something comes up like even with dancing i ended up i did a podcast with the the two ladies that run it and so at some stage along the lines i obviously had to come clean to what i did he said that it would be relevant and then invited them to come along and so yeah i have found that sometimes it backfires the whole you don't need to know thing but uh it definitely makes life a lot easier if you kind of go along and just be a normal attendee as opposed to somebody that's it might know what they're talking about
Speaker 2and that's it and i just feel like sometimes people make assumptions and whether that's an assumption that you're going to be amazing and you're going to they're going to push you really hard or you're gonna you're they're going to ignore you because you know what you're doing like there's there's always this it's it's just not always worked out as well as i would like it
Speaker 1to um and sometimes there's a there's a pressure as well isn't there and you don't want to put the person you know the person feeling self-conscious because they're worried that they're going to be judged and all of that because having done it the other side when you're instructing and somebody comes in and sort of maybe mentions it or you know anyway um that's that can feel a little bit awkward so you don't want to put people in that position yeah and one of the weirdest ones i did was when i covered a class for a woman because it was her birthday and she asked me to cover but she attended and that was very strange because obviously all the attendees then appreciate you know she's here and i have a cover instructor and that felt like pressure because normally if you're covering you don't have the other person but yeah i've always been conscious that i don't want somebody to start thinking that i'm going to be judging them uh even though i mean based on what we're discussing here it's not necessarily judgment but you are kind of picking things up and and taking them away and and sort of you know i'll do that differently or whatever because i don't think you can switch it off completely
Speaker 2no that's it and and the really lovely experience the most recent experience was that the coaching was great like it was excellent um and i really appreciated being on this because actually i love to be in a room being coached and i find that really hard owning my own place because i spend most of my time here and people are always like oh you get to work out all the time i'm like no i don't i get to run the place and i get to be coaching the sessions um but the times i have attempted to go into the sessions that are run by my coaches i am aware even if they don't say it i am aware that it makes them more nervous so it's just it's not the same um so i don't tend to do it because it just feels unfair on them so the opportunities to go into other spaces and to get that kind of coaching that um you know feels like you are being coached is wonderful um and so i really enjoyed that and put on me and it was very much spread within the group that the cues were really helpful but also light-hearted and fun and I just felt like the vibe was right and of course that part of that is just whether something matches who you are you know that's not always going to be that something you can control there are right places for people and wrong places for people and I think this kind of just hit the nail on the head for me but the place I went to a few years back completely the opposite so they also knew I was PT because my friend blurted it out thought it was really funny and because she was kind of like so push her really hard but actually it was majoritively the opposite they just let me get on completely ignored the fact I was there almost until one point at which I was doing press-ups and I was doing press-ups with hands so I would well with elbows relatively close to body so kind of a bit more tricep focused um and she just came over at that point and went oh no they're man press-ups don't do those they're really hard do it like this instead and got me to flare my elbows out to the side and I just looked her and went no I'm not I'm not doing that I'll just carry on doing what I'm doing that do
Speaker 1you and that's I just kind of hopefully see through that's died a death and gone away I'm like okay well
Speaker 2maybe I enjoy man press-ups maybe I'm a man I don't know like whatever let me get on with my press-ups it wasn't like I wasn't doing
Speaker 1them in all the all the controversy about gender and everything like that it's all down to how you do your press-ups uh-huh totally
Speaker 2that's what it is yeah yeah that's what they should be writing into the EHCR right anyway um my word so um but that that was the only interaction she gave me that was it everything else was like basically told to the class or she was supporting other people but the only interaction she gave me was telling me not to do my press-ups so I was doing them because they're too hard and yet I was doing them so they obviously weren't so there was just so
Speaker 1many things wrong with that the statement isn't there I mean putting aside what it was actually said but just even starting with a an issue with what you're doing and pointing out what you are doing wrong yeah is not a way to make somebody feel comfortable in your space uh if that's particularly that's the only interaction you have with them but it's there's so many better ways to do it even if it was something you were doing that was potentially going to be injurious or something like that I mean that's that's the only time you absolutely need to change something and you can still approach it a different way that means the person doesn't feel like they've been
Speaker 2picked on absolutely and I think that's it like if maybe maybe those press-ups weren't good press-ups and I could have injured myself and she could see that right maybe well there was an entirely different way of approaching that that would have been actual coaching rather than criticism and would have been the right cues would have maybe involved asking me questions um or coming over and just being kind in the way that she did it um and and that really that was the key difference was the feeling then I left with right from each space which space am I going back to the space that has made me feel welcome introduced me to people given me good coaching and cuing respected the fact that my body looks different to other people's bodies and I might move differently but also given me really good tips on how to improve things or the space that has largely ignored me hasn't introduced me to anyone has left has given me one correction and that's what it was a correction rather than any kind of way of like coaching um and just left me feeling like well I'm not going back there because that felt flat and awful um and my friend actually interestingly she didn't go back after that because she had a different experience with me receiving that kind of interaction than she'd had or seen before and I can only assume that that person felt awkward about me being in the space because I was a PT didn't really know how to handle it rather than just being relaxed and continuing to be themselves. I don't know.
Speaker 1Yeah, I think, and I think that's a really common thing. And I mean, I've felt it before, and I think it's quite normal, particularly if you're still sort of relatively new to the industry, and you're already kind of potentially not feeling wonderfully confident all the time anyway. But maybe this is a great point to make. Now, in hindsight, what I would absolutely do is ask, there's nothing wrong with when that conversation comes up, or somebody says, I'm a fitness professional of some kind, this is what I do. If you can, I mean, one, there's nothing wrong with treating them like anybody else in the class. I think that's absolutely always fine, because otherwise, they wouldn't be there if they didn't want that experience. But the alternative is to ask and just say, obviously, I appreciate you know what to do, and you might want to make adjustments yourself. But how much do you want me to get involved in that? It can be enough. I know, for example, I mean, I'm quite happy in Pilates or whatever, or anything I'm in, I will just adjust if I need to, because I mean, nine times out of 10, if I'm doing an adjustment is because my knees don't bend that far. They have a limit to their flexion. And that means that certain things have to be adjusted. If I know what I'm adjusting, I'll just get on and do it. But that doesn't mean to say that if somebody comes over and suggests a different modification, I won't change to that as well. But I tend to think it was easier you focus on the other people if you need to. But if somebody asks, you know, how much kind of coaching do you want? Or how much interaction? What are you looking for from this session? And that can be a good question with everybody, whether they're fitness professionals or not, right? Just sort of what are you looking for from this session? How do you want to feel at the end of it? And that can really help give you a bit of a framework for how you're approaching stuff. And by asking, you get kind of some of the awkwardness out of the way. And then almost forget that person's a fitness professional and carry on as you would. Yeah. And just because
Speaker 2they are fitness professional doesn't mean they necessarily know how to do something. So actually, in the most recent one, that gym that I went to, there are way more machines than I've ever worked with because I've never worked in gym spaces with a lot of machines. And I mean, I mean, that most simplest of machines, I had a cable machine, and we don't have one. I've never worked in a gym, the only time I've ever used a cable machine was when I was doing my personal training qualification. So that was like 10 years ago. And we were doing cable flies. And, and I did feel a little bit like, Oh, what am I doing? And it was obvious the coach noticed that the approach was very different. The approach wasn't stop doing that. Oh my God, what are you doing? That's going to, Oh, it was, Oh, okay. That's, that's good. Just keep, just do this. If you try a little bit of, it works. If you, here's a coaching cue that you might find useful. Like it was much more of that kind of approach, but I don't think anyone ever minds being given helpful advice on how to do something better, no matter how long you've been training for or how experienced you are with something. But absolutely. Well, no one wants is to be told they're doing it wrong. And that's two different ways, right? And I think that was the key difference between the coaching and the environment I wanted to return to and the environment I didn't was one of them was very respectful, accepting of the fact that they were teaching me something and it was really compassionate. And the other one was a straight no wrong. You're not doing it right. That's how it felt anyway.
Speaker 1Those kind of helpful suggestions. How would it feel if you changed? I mean, the other thing that nobody really wants somebody that's not paying attention in their class, but I have to admit there's times where I find my mind has wandered. And I don't realize till afterwards. It's like, I've been watching. I'm sure a part of my brain is present, but not the part that then needs to know what I'm actually doing when they stop talking. And I've definitely been there. This possibly is worse now. It might be more of the perimenopause thing, but I've definitely been there sometimes. And then be like, which version of this am I doing? Or where were my hands meant to be? It can be a simple thing. I don't know. It's like tricep extension or something. It's like, oh, hang on. Was this this version or this this version? Because different people kind of sometimes use the same name for a variation. And it's like, well, I know roughly what I'm going to be doing to do this extension, but what position was I actually meant to be in? And where were you putting my hands? Or what attachment was meant to be on the cable machine or whatever it is? Because unfortunately, I zoned out a bit or the worst bit. How many of these are we doing again? You told me that at the beginning and then you told me more stuff. And now I'm like, what was that again? So it is stuff where you do need to kind of continue to coach people and just check in with them and make sure that they're happy. Because quite often, as I say, the variations on things or my interpretation of what you've just said, based on what I've usually done in those circumstances might be different to somebody else's when you're in their space and the way they do it. Which I think is always a place to, again, just part of making somebody feel comfortable and like they know what's going on. I think one of the things I found as well with experiencing different coaches has been, it really helped me work out what I wanted my coaching, I don't know, philosophy, that sounds very grandiose, doesn't it? Personality, maybe, to be. And it was by experiencing different people that sort of guide your own, it helps identify your own pet hates, as it were. And there's nothing wrong with the way different people do things. It's just sometimes where you go, well, that's not for me. I think one of the first, one of the things where I saw it most was something as potentially simple as a spin class. And there were so many different ways of doing it. And it's something I used to do a lot. And I had people who I was friends with. And I really liked them as a person. I could not stand their classes. There was something about the way they did it. Sometimes it was their music choices. Sometimes it was one person had something that is a bit of a pet hate of mine where they do the whole, you know, one more of these or one more minute. Oh, I lied. It's now two minutes or whatever it was. And I would be like, if you tell me I'm doing this for half an hour, I'll try. I can't guarantee that I'll manage it, but I'll try. But if you tell me it's a minute and then you change that, I'm going to get really grumpy really quickly. So I very much felt that was something that, you know, for me, then I was kind of like, right, well, as a coach, if I tell you it's something we're going to aim to do that. Sometimes, you know, things outside your control or something comes out of your mouth that's maybe not accurate. There's always mistakes. That's fine. I'm not trying to be perfect. But yeah, in terms of a coaching tool to get me to do my absolute best most and then get me to carry on. I like, no, we're not, we're not playing that game. So it's the things like that, but I've definitely used, I know another thing that, that bugs me a little bit was when coaches would say, do 10 of these. And then they'd give me time to do, I don't know, five. And then they'd be like, right now, moving on. I'm like, you told me to do 10 and you didn't give me time to do 10. And the way my brain works is very much like I want to do what I've been told to do because I'm good. And I try and do what I'm told mostly. Unless you annoy me and I get grumpy and stubborn, but in a class situation, I'm trying to do what I've been told to do. And yeah, the number of times when coaches, I think, because when you're from the flip of that, when you are coaching, sometimes it's like, it feels like I've been, you know, we've been doing this a really long time when it isn't really. And that's where sometimes there's a little bit of a disconnect between how long things actually take when you're doing them. Or if somebody is doing something in a more controlled manner versus when you are kind of stood watching. And particularly it's even worse when it's like two sides and they seem to give you like really long time on one side and then a really short time on the other side. Can we line this up? This is annoying me now. So there's definitely been things like that over the years that I've been used and gone, this is the way I do things. And I'm sure there's people that would come to my sessions and go, I don't like that thing you do. And that's, that's fine. And I think that was one of the things that again, kind of gave me confidence because I could look at all these spin teachers and go, there's people that love what this teacher does. It's just not for me. And there are other, other teachers that I prefer, um, that other people were avoiding. And it kind of, again, it just, I think it's like, okay, this is fine. We can all be different and that's okay. We'll all get our, our kind of crowd of people, our tribe, as it were, who go, yeah, I, I enjoy your, your sessions and I like your style of coaching and this is all really good. And there might be others that go away going, well, I hated what she did there. I didn't like the way she did this thing and they won't come back to me and that's okay. Cause they're not my, my type of person. But have you had other things that you've kind of, I don't know, experienced and gone, well, that's not for me or that you feel formed your coaching, a personality?
Speaker 2Well, that's a good question. Um, - Yeah, I think my coaching personality is more straight from my personality i don't think there's enough thought in that um but i am i am very aware um having been in spaces where i felt singled out not to do that to people so i think that's very much informed the way that i would um support somebody in a group situation for example if i did want to give them a little bit coaching or feedback or something um not calling it out in front of everyone making them feel like everyone's staring at them like i am a very confident person but that that will send me under if everyone's going to turn in a room and look at me whilst you're giving me instructions i will not be returning um and then i think as well the way that coaches have helped the group that i'm coming into um um have helped me to integrate into that group because i think that can be really hard so recently a really good example is last year i started doing dance classes uh ballet and tap um with a group of women who are majoritively in their 60s and over and literally have been doing it with each other since they were younger um and their kids used to go to dance classes and they started an adult version of it like they've been together for years and that felt like more of an intimidating situation and i think that's what i'm trying to do and i think that's what i'm situation to walk into because they obviously very very much knew each other and they're lovely ladies i only knew about the class they don't advertise it i only knew about it because um two people i train at their house their next door neighbor is the tap teacher and they mentioned it one time like to her when she was coming back and i was training them they were like oh come back from tap class i'm like hang on a minute she does what uh because i've been looking for one um and so it's it's almost like i've been looking for one and i've been looking for one and i've been like a secret ballet and tap class uh kind of like that um they're not they're not looking for more people but more people turn up all the time um but you'd think that might be difficult to walk into because obviously not actively advertising for more people uh they have been together really long time they're obviously really great friends with each other and they um you know communicate and do things together outside of class and all that sort of thing that can be pretty intimidating but i over time and it didn't happen straight away they let me be quiet in the first one she'd ask me like little questions she didn't like put me on the spot i never fell at any point like it was like here's maggie which i needed um and then over the next few weeks or so um she she would the coach particularly would just always make sure that i was involved so there was a conversation that could be quite clicker because it's about stuff that you know they've always i think there was a talk about guides at some point and when they were in guides remembering guides and then she just simply went were you ever in the guides maggie and i was like oh yeah i was but i had different experience too i hated it they're like oh no and then it went on from there but just that little moment of realizing that somebody could be left out of a conversation it could be clicker because everybody already knows each other but just drawing you in in that moment in time to make sure that you know you can also join in this conversation because you don't i don't think you always know you can not when people know each other as well as that um and that was a really good example i think of of how it's possible to make sure that people always feel a part of a group even if they're joining a group that has been together for a really long time and that that did that did make me think like intentionally um because i'm always worried about that here um i know what it feels like to be coming into something where everyone knows each other and how hard that is and i think that's a really good i'm also aware of the fact that we have people who've been here for a really long time now people stay which is great but does that create a fearful situation when you come into it new and so now i'm really intentional in the way that i i also try and do that just the odd question bring someone into a conversation if it is one of those conversations where they might not want to feel like they're interrupting so to speak but she did that really nicely yeah
Speaker 1it sounds like it i think that it's it's like across coaching and conversation isn't it that i always try and keep almost uh not necessarily a tally that sounds far more far too formal but there is a little bit of an awareness around sort of almost how much attention everyone's got and that can be in a conversation or it can be in coaching so it doesn't feel like you're picking on an individual as you say because you're always correcting one person or talking to or on the flip of that sometimes it sort of feels like one person's getting all the the praise about how good something is so you want to kind of make sure everyone goes away and they all feel like they've been recognized in some way when you're coaching but in the same way with conversations because as you say there can be like i don't know in jokes or not even jokes but just like this shared history that means that the shared experiences get referenced sometimes and i've seen that happen as well sometimes in situations where you've got more than one coach there kind of those throwaway comments between them that really aren't important and they're not anything that's you know derogatory or negative or anything like that but because it's it's like alludes to something that's this shared experience between them it puts you automatically on the kind of outside of this like in group so i think it's something it's really easy to fall into as well because we naturally sort of turn to catch the eye of the person who knows what's going on what this experience is or what we're thinking about or what's happened and it's making sure that doesn't always happen with the same people and it doesn't create this kind of clique or this in crowd that the people that don't know about it or even knew about it but don't get the eye contact or the comment to them so they don't feel excluded and i think that works across like everything whenever you're doing anything in a in a group it is being aware of what's where's my kind of attention and how's it been split in both that sort of throwaway comments but also the positive praise the corrections the sort of attention to detail about what somebody is is doing and it depends on the size of the group let's face it i mean when you if you're teaching like big classes which i've done you can't give everybody in the class the same attention because you've only got like a couple of people in the class and you can't give everybody in the class 45 minutes to an hour and you're trying to coach and move them through different movements or whatever it is that they're doing so every now and again you get to do it you get to do it but it's making sure that yeah over time nobody feels like they're kind of excluded um as well as they don't feel like they're being picked on or anything like that so i do think that that attention thing is quite a good thing to keep an
Speaker 2eye on that attention can happen even just when you first walk into the room so like walking into the room where people are chatting and then turning around going that immediately makes you feel welcome and they can go back to the conversation but they've shown that they've noticed you there and they've said hello and and and and then i don't think it doesn't necessarily need any more than that i don't need someone's complete attention throughout the session or the lesson or anything like that what i do need is that someone has acknowledged that i've been there and i've been there and i've been there and i've walked in because if i walked into a space and nobody acknowledged me and they just carried on their conversation without even looking up or they looked up didn't say hi and carried on their conversation i am going to feel rejected now i know that's a me thing i'm perfectly sure i'm certain that's a me thing but i need just that moment of it's okay for you to be here welcome hello that's all it takes just that moment of a little bit of attention and and i think it doesn't necessarily need any more than that if i think about my dance class sometimes there's a lot of people in there sometimes there's only two of us it completely depends but sometimes there's a lot of people in there sometimes you walk in it's like 12 people um and it's quite a big hall and there's a lot going on and i'm i'm quite an intermediate in terms of dance um and so she knows she doesn't need to teach me how to do a move or correct the things that i'm doing or things like that she knows i'm quite happy just to get on and dance and maybe have a chat with my neighbor but there's about three other people in the room who do need a little bit more coaching and they need the move slowing down for them and stuff so i might spend the rest of the session not really getting much attention from the coach at all that's absolutely fine because she said hello and was happy to see me and that matters it's okay you're here that says to me and kind of
Speaker 1session management as well being aware of keeping things moving at a pace is quite important as well i think because she's obviously although she's giving extra attention to move to help people that need the extra help she's obviously giving you enough and those people that know what they're doing enough to still be getting something from it because i've also been in situations where it feels like everything is reduced down to the level of the sort of least capable person in the room and that can just be really frustrating because you feel like you've wasted your time because you're going over the things all the time and you you've got to you've got to keep that balance right because you've got to provide stimulation people are there whatever it is we're doing as fitness professionals there's some kind of benefit to the movement trying to get out of it which means there's got to be movement you can't spend the hour mostly chatting about the technique or going through sort of like real basic movements unless that's the purpose of that's that session but mostly you've got to make sure that they get whatever outcome people come to that session for so in the case of dance you want to do some dancing you don't want to spend your entire time going over how to shuffle there you go i used to do tap um but it's sometimes that can be a challenge when you're taking the class as well right because sometimes you're kind of thinking that person over there really needs a bit more one-to-one attention and you have to just let it go and move on to keep the flow of the class and make sure that everybody's getting what they need out of that session which again comes back to the that sort of um attention thing about where is my attention going because the people that tend to draw it are either the ones that are struggling or the loudest ones because whether they're they might not be struggling but there's there's pretty much always in a group session there'll be somebody quite often who's got some sort of opinions and therefore draws the attention that way and i think as somebody who tends to be on the quieter end of stuff and has definitely been in rooms before feeling completely overlooked in in things like when you do have a question or you are struggling with something and you just need a little bit of could you just and there's nobody you know the instructor's nowhere to be seen then you you kind of feel that rejection and that kind of well i don't know i don't think i want to go back as you say there's there's got to be sort of what's the benefit to me being here i don't go anywhere to come out feeling worse about myself than i went in i'm hopefully coming out feeling better or certainly in the fitness spaces um but that as an instructor i think is it keep it needs a little bit of a constant awareness because particularly in sessions that we do all the time we do get comfortable we see a lot of the same people it's easy to kind of fall into habits some of which are great and some of which are you need a little bit of a review and a shake up occasionally so making sure that we're we're not getting too comfortable with stuff that that is potentially detrimental and that other people sort of coming in then feel that they are excluded in some way and and this is where i think trying different things and going to stuff ourselves which doesn't have to be in the fitness space let's face it i've also picked things up from doing rock choir or other group situations where you kind of go into something and you come away and you go well i like that or that's not so great or actually that reminds me i really need to start thinking about that more when i do my session yes and it's it's quite good because you definitely come away normally inspired but you're not going to be able to do that because you're not going to be able to do that because you're not going to be able to do that because you're not going to be but also with a little bit of that yeah i need to check a few things and just refresh this approach yes i think it
Speaker 2helps you i think about it in terms of like what's happening that you can't see clearly her planning is really good based on the people that she has in front of her she knows she's got a wide range of abilities she's already made a decision as to whether she splits those abilities because she could do beginner intermediate advanced that's possible a lot of dance classes do that um but she's made the decision that it will be a little bit more a mixed ability group and she's also then in her planning made sure that the moves that she's included are moves that a beginner can do but also make someone who's more intermediate advanced feel as though they're actually getting something out of the session as well so i think there's also something behind the scenes there that you can't see necessarily but it's absolutely most definitely been taking place and it does make me think sometimes i if i've got people in a session in front of me and there's a situation where i'm not able to do that i'm not able to do that i'm not able to do that i'm not able to do that and there's a struggle there i need to go back to the planning stage because at this point i've got somebody who needs more support so maybe actually i need a wider variety of levels of accessibility for example at that point you know maybe going straight in with swings in this particular kettlebell class was not a good idea because i've got someone who's new and they don't know how to swing and i don't want to take that much time out of that session to be able to teach that one person so instead we'll have some levels that they can choose to develop that's quick to do so and i think that's a really good idea in a class situation so on and so forth so it's also that level isn't it what you don't see when you're there but actually you know absolutely is taking place and i think that those well-planned sessions are very evident you feel them in a different way when you're the participant because that you said you feel as though the pace is right in the class and you're not waiting on anyone but also you're not feeling lost or left behind and that's such a skill to
Speaker 1manage yeah absolutely and the other thing you know all of this can equally apply when you're doing one-to-one stuff i mean you'd like to think it would be uh difficult or impossible to just ignore your client but let's face it it does kind of happen you see coaches get distracted by somebody that's that's walked past and having a completely different conversation whilst um a client is kind of you know doing their own tense purposes doing the session on their own or just waiting so it's it all applies it's easier to keep focus on one person you don't have to worry about anyone feeling excluded or left out as long as that person does have your attention and you're not distracted by a colleague or somebody else or something else going on on the other side of of the gym but also it's about not falling in too much into the kind of ruts and making assumptions and just thinking well you know this person always wants to do this so we're going to carry on and just being open to the idea that things change people have different days weeks months whatever and so making sure that the awareness is there again and it's just always worth that kind of fresh look at stuff i think um and now's a great time of year to do it i think it's yeah yes we tend to think like spring but also that change into autumn i think can be a good time to just have a little bit of a like where am i what's going on is everything running how i want it to be running is there anything where i've kind of relaxed into some some patterns that maybe aren't what i wanted to do or where things aren't coming across in the way i would like them to come across and is there anything else i can can do to improve it or to switch things up a little bit and and take that inspiration from other things around you or if you're not doing new things you know speak to the other people in your life about when they're doing new things and how was that experience and what did they like about when they attended that that thing what didn't they like about it because we can always always learn from these different environments which is great and it's good to keep us on our toes a little bit and and everything and keep keep improving yeah
Speaker 2definitely i don't think there's ever any harm in being on the other side of it um and seeing it from that perspective it can always give you a new perspective if you use it in the right way on what it is that you're doing and where it is maybe you can make new decisions about things that you hadn't thought of doing before
PodcastTranscript AI