You know that one instructor who has a huge following? Wouldn’t it be great if you could just pop her name on the schedule twice a day, every day? Then you could get some great numbers in all of your classes, right? You could bring in the people who worship her, or the ones who hate her because they think she is perfect. It doesn’t matter why they come, as long as they come, right?
Be careful, because it’s a trap. Don’t fall for it. In addition to variety in your classes on the schedule, it’s really important to offer variety of instructors. That’s not to say that you don’t want your popular people to get classes — but you need to keep your eye on the schedule so that it doesn’t get too instructor heavy, for a variety of reasons.
First of all, there are people who don’t want to take that instructor’s class. It might be hard to believe, but it’s most definitely true. There are always those members who don’t like your most popular, most fit, most inspiring instructors.
But forget about that. Let’s be selfish. What if your heavy-hitter instructor gets sick, or injured? Suddenly you have two classes every day that need to be covered. Now what? Brush up on all of your teaching skills and dust off your mic, because it’s you all the way.
It’s also not a healthy situation for the instructor. I’m not going to lie, we instructors have this sickness where we want to teach every class that we can — and not just for the money. There is this secret need to teach and workout like a fool. You know that it’s true. It’s how we got into this career to start with.
Honestly, when I have a week where I am covering a variety of classes (usually in July or December), I am secretly excited to see how far I can push myself. Until Friday rolls around of course, and I’m not sure which way is up anymore, and I’m wandering around the club asking random people if they have anything to eat. (But that’s another blog for another day).
That’s when I realize nobody should be teaching more than 7 to 10 hours a week in my book. And even that is pushing it. As the Group X manager it is my job to keep my eye on my instructors and ensure that they are being smart and healthy, as well as doing their jobs.
The moral of the story is don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Do some recruiting (see my blog on recruiting) and get your team up to speed. If you recruit well you will have a basket full of “eggs” that are all popular, and you will bring in the numbers, which in turn will change many people’s lives.
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Kerri Miano has been working in the fitness industry for over 10 years. She is currently the group exercise director at Meridian Fitness & Wellness in Hazlet, New Jersey.
