My Baby, Gym Fusion!
'Gym Fusion' created by me and continues to be one of the most successful fitness classes I do - unbelievable!! I shall now tell you of my little beauty..........
Many years ago I worked in a tiny health club. The studio would hold no more than 8 participants and the gym floor had enough equipment for about 16-18 - tiny! Lovely but tiny! The studio and gym were open to each other so it gave the feel of one unit although there were frequent complaints about the studio volume!
Anyway anyway, we had a fab group of ladies there in the mornings and were always up for something new. I think if I remember rightly that I may have been late arriving to teach and in the throws of panic I put the ladies on the CV equipment in the gym for their warm up. I believe we stayed in the gym for most of the session as I was bitten with interest for creating a group feel in what was and still can be a solitary experience. After the gym we hopped over to the studio, one hop, and did normal stuff, squats, abs blah blah.
When we shared a coffee after, conditional in the mornings, we were all rather excited about the birth of something new, something different, something endlessly changeable, something that would entice others, those solitary to join our merry band.
And that's where it all started! There are requirements within the larger clubs for all staff wishing to instruct on the gym floor they must be qualified in Gym Instruction so..... I took an at home study course in just that which opened many doors. It gave me the opportunity to Personally Train which I did for 3 years and was exceedingly rewarding and also meant I could, when I wished and with the consent of the club, start up my Gym Fusion program there. 9 months ago I did just that and my god, the class has been over subscribed ever since! Members turn up knowing their on the waiting list and look at me puppy eyed so that they can join in anyway - if the gym floor can take the extra members then that's what I do.
I'm 'allowed' 20 members for this class but 9 times out of 10 there are 22-24! On the gym floor I work them in groups of 4ish, each group on a different piece of cardio equipment - yes cardio equipment! Can you imagine instructing 22 people on single items of weighted kit!! Sorry, just having a smile to myself! Each group is given stuff to do beyond that of the norm for that piece of equipment - I spend time trialling new and innovative idea's, most of which work most of the time!
The overall idea is that the groups have time on different equipment depending on my goal for that mornings fitness approach - toning, fat burn, cardio fitness - I vary at least every 2 weeks. We have times when they start with their warm up out in the gym and then on to the workouts, times when I warm them up in the studio with a rake of stuff and class types options - sometimes we will do 20 mins in the studio, 20 mins in the gym and then back to studio for what ever takes our fancy - the options are vast, VAST!! I use every class genre I can other than aqua (!!) I use every type of CV kit in the gym with variations and activities you would not see anywhere else, believe me! I have not as yet in all my years heard of another professional who works this strategy as a weekly class format and yet, with the right qualifications, it is one of the simplest idea's to put into practice. Gym and studio fusion - simple!
I will, over the next few weeks, share with you an insight to our weekly activities - you wont believe its all possible! I know that it is! I have the class numbers to prove it!
Some of the lovely members!
