Unleash the Power of Group Fitness

Step aerobics is to group fitness what the immigration issue is to politics — divisive.  Members either love it or hate it, walk out if the instructor taps, get confused if she doesn’t, one bench or four…  As for me… I’m one who loves to take a highly-choreographed, super-advanced, prancing all over as many benches as we can fit in the room.  But teaching it?  Holy crap, I can barely cue one move every four counts and I seem to fall off the step at least once a quarter.  (I’d like to blame my clubs slippery floors, but alas, I am that clumsy.) 

So I admit it, I am a weak Step instructor.  How, then, does one explain why one of the more popular classes at one gym where I teach happens to be my Step class?  Is it possible to teach Step using the K.I.S.S. forumla and still keep die-hard Steppers satisfied?  I dare say it is.  Here are my secrets to satisfying all ends of the Step Spectrum.

Continue reading A Word About Step…

Here is an easy, but fun vertical step combo that I used last night.  It is simple to follow and teach, but criss-crossing the step gets the heartrate up nicely.

Combo:

Note: Start on the left side of the step, towards the back.

4 - Over the Top, R Lead

4 - Diagonal Over the Top, L Lead.  Move to the front of the step.

4 - Over the Top, R Lead.  Stay at the front of the step.

4 - One knee:  Use it to back up again.  I usually cue it as “One hop back”

6 - Two-knee Repeater

2 - Two bounces in place, like jumping rope

4 - Rocking Horse: One hamstring curl (2) One knee (2)

4 - One Jumpshot

Reverse.

 I usually teach this one by doing three of everything, then shortening it up; therefore, no fancy layering techniques.  :) 

Have fun!

Yesterday, using Cadence Revolution Show 20, my early morning class did a Pyramid Ride.  Usually a pyramid ride means that you start with a basic movement then start adding movements to build a chain that you repeat every time you add a movement.  There are an infinite number of ways that you can do a Pyramid; I opted for the “Member’s Choice”/Rolling Build option today.  The “Member’s Choice” means that I had each rider choose a movement to add to the sequence.  The Rolling Build means that we will only repeat a few of the segments before dropping the one at the beginning of the sequence to add another to the end.  This method allows every person in the room to contribute without running out of time, even when the room is full.

In a 40-minute ride minus 10 minutes for warm-up and cool down, there are 30 1-minute segments.  We divided those segments up for a class of 9 attendees and 1 instructor, telling us to only have three segments in the chain at a time.  For our Rolling Build, the segments get added on in this manner:

Continue reading Member’s Choice Rolling Pyramid Ride…