If you couldn’t tell by my previous blogs, fitness is a passion of mine (as well as writing of course). Besides training for marathons and competing in triathlons, I have also been teaching indoor cycling for the past five years at local gyms.
This month the first stand-alone cycling studio, CycleBar, is opening in Louisville. When I first moved to Louisville, I was shocked by the lack of fitness options. There were only the traditional big box gyms, a few yoga studios and CrossFit boxes. However, slowly an increasing number of fitness studios have been opening across the city.
When I heard CycleBar was coming to my city, I was ecstatic. It has been my dream to teach at a high-end cycling studio like CycleBar. So I immediately applied for a job as an instructor. After making it through the interview and auditions, I got the job. However, before I could get too excited, I had to make to through four days of intensive training with my fellow instructors and a Master Instructor.
Out of the nine instructors who had been chosen, the majority of us had taught cycling before. To us, four days of training on the bike for eight hours a day seemed a little extreme. I had been teaching for years, how much training could I really need?
I could not have been more wrong. Watching the transformation of all the instructors, even the most experienced, from day one to day four of training was amazing. Not only did we learn the CylceBar method of teaching, but we were able to refine our skills, hone in on our strengths and address our weaknesses. We might have been good instructors at the beginning, but we are now top-notch instructors.
Another essential outcome from the training was the bonding that occurred among all of the instructors. It was a brutal four days that tested our physical and mental strength. We spent four straight days together and at the end we were a family. Every business wants that kind of supportive relationship among their employees.
So, while you may not be launching a cycling studio within your campus recreation center, hiring is an essential part of your operation. Running a campus recreation department requires hiring student staff, fitness instructors and professional staff and providing proper training to all of these employees is essential.
While it might be easy to take a few hours and go through a power point or hand out a guidebook, I challenge you to think of more creative ways to conduct your trainings. What are some ways you can really develop leaders and foster teamwork?
Do you already have an employee training plan that works wonders? Please share it by emailing me at Emily@peakemedia.com.
