Transcript: 14 Years at the Front of the Room: What a Real Fitness Instructor Actually Sees

What's up, you guys? Famous Ashley Grant here, and welcome back to the More Movement Please podcast. We are right in the middle of a very special week of episodes, and before we get into today's conversation, I want to just take a quick moment to set the stage. More Movement Please is participating in the fourth edition of Podcast Thon. This is a global event where thousands of podcasts have come together in one week to raise awareness for a charity of their choice.

The organization I have the pleasure of spotlighting is the Humane Society Animal League for Life of Madison County, Kentucky. It's a local organization in my area that's doing genuinely important work for animals in our community. You can find their link in the show notes, and if you'd like to support them with a donation, please do. The main goal of Podcast On is awareness, but every bit of support counts. And as I mentioned in episode one, Rhonda Good isn't back on this show just because I adore her, although that is absolutely true. She's here because when I asked my community which charities they cared about, She's the one who spoke up for the Humane Society Animal League for Life. I put all the nominations into a random number generator and hers is the one that came up. The universe picked her and I just did the recording. Now on to today's episode. This one is for anyone who's ever walked into a gym class

and wondered, is this instructor actually good? Is this a real workout or are they just going through the motions? Rhonda has 14 years of experience under her belt on the inside of this industry. She has watched instructors come and go, seen trends rise and fall, and she has some very pointed opinions about what separates the ones who build real community from the ones who don't. We're getting into what she looks for when she scans a room, what drives her absolutely crazy in her profession, and what she's learned from watching others that she either adopted or actively ran away from. I think you're going to love this one. I surely did. Let's get into it. Okay, so we're going to shift gears just a little bit because I want to tap into 14 years of watching the industry from the inside. You've seen a lot of instructors come and go, good and bad, and I think you have opinions and I want to hear

them. In the 14 years that you've been doing this, what's the single biggest mistake you're seeing fitness instructors make, the one that costs their students results and costs them the loyalty of their class? Oh, always not showing up and canceling. That's always the case. Yeah. And, you know, especially... When you're starting out or you're not established or you're teaching a format that people aren't familiar with, I mean, and as far as your students and costing them, I mean, if you don't show up, they don't get anything. So, you know, it's the biggest one, obviously. Yeah, it's my biggest pet peeve and the reason I don't do it. Yeah. Well, there's a big difference between an instructor who teaches a class and one who leads a class. And you're definitely one of those people who leads a class because you actually do the work with us. In your opinion, though, what separates the two?

And be specific. What does it look like from where you're standing at the front of the room? Well, I mean, you have to know your folks, you know, and there are formats where it's much more important to lead with form than others. I mean, clearly. But when you see people. Doing things that, you know, are probably not the best for them or more at risk of getting hurt. You know, that's why I say to the entire class, whatever we're doing, keep your back straight, whatever.

And so when you're leading, you keep an eye on everyone, though. You know, and sometimes I just give some people the side eye and they know what that means. Especially the front rowers. Because I don't know what you're talking about. And then sometimes I just look at them and say, don't do that. Because I know every single person's injury and body part ailment. And so if I say, you know, we're going to do this and then they start, I'm like, not you. That's got to feel like a lot of pressure, though, doesn't it? I mean, it doesn't after you've been doing it a long time. At the beginning, it does. Yeah. But but you've also got to have a good memory. And that's not intuitive to everyone. So unfortunately, you have too good of a memory. Now, what about the flip side? Are there things you've seen other instructors do really well that you thought I need to steal that? Really and truly the main

thing with, I think no matter where you're at or how you're instructing is you got to promote yourself. And so some people do that really well. And the reason I started my own page in 2012 was because everywhere I was at, I didn't find that people necessarily communicated things to people when we had to. Because sometimes like a Berea class was canceled because the room was going to be used and I had no choice. Yeah. But after I was there for a while, I was like, there's a gym downstairs. There's no reason to cancel my class. We can move downstairs. You know, but when you start, you can't say that. Yeah. So communication with just your audience is the most important thing. But word of mouth is your biggest seller. That always is the case for this.

I mean. Because there's only so much that you can do and there's only so many people you can reach. And if you don't have a lot of people to draw from, I mean, like myself, I mean, I'm an only child. I don't have any, I don't have family to, you know, come support me, sisters and brothers and all this sort of thing. So I had to just build everything organically. And get people to tell other people about you. So do you think you're still learning from your peers after all this time? Honestly, no. Okay.

Not locally anyway. No. I mean, are there still a couple people that I follow -ish? I mean, I'll check their stuff occasionally just to see if they have something different. You mean on social media? Yeah. On, you know, a couple of YouTube channels that I actually look at. People that I know that know what they're doing, you know. So I used to spend a lot of time when I was thrown into classes that I didn't know how to teach at all, which happened a lot at the beginning.

Yeah. Like Pilates. You know, I would spend a whole lot of time. and stress about it. Like, cause I was like, even if I, I mean, I'm not going to be the best at this, but I also don't want to be really, really bad. I mean, it's not my fault that I've got thrown into teaching this class that I'm not trained in per se, but you know, so I used to spend a lot more time looking and, but as you learn things, you know, you don't need to, I mean, I used to stress about, and even just formatting Tabata classes. I used to spend 30 minutes at home and write out every single round of what I was going to do because I couldn't do things off the fly. I mean, it was too stressful to think about, you know, but once you're doing it for a long time, you can make a workout out of anything. I can imagine.

And what kind of amuses me is that, you know, you mentioned the Pilates and I've heard some people say like, well, she doesn't teach real Pilates. And it's like, yeah, she does. Like, cause I've looked it up. Yeah, you do. All right, another student -inspired question. Here's something I've been thinking about since I started coming to your classes, and it kind of ties into something that this particular student raised. She talked about how you can tell almost immediately whether someone is really trying or just going through the motions, whether they want to be there or they're just checking a box. Can you talk about that? What do you actually see when you look in the room with people? Oh, you can always tell when people are there to work or just there to check off a box. You can tell it with their eye contact. You can tell it with their movements.

Everything about them. I mean, it's written all over their body language. And so, which I'm whatever, but I don't waste any time on people that are just there to check a box. Or there to chit chat. Yeah, that too. And I know that's another pet peeve of yours. Yeah, it is. I mean, people come to the gym for social. That's why I give you all plenty of time before I get there to get all your chit chatty out. So that's why you're late. Yes. Is it really? Yes. Oh, my goodness.

I always try to go five to seven minutes. Yes. Because that should all be out, just like at church. That should all be out by the time we start. Oh, my God. I never knew it was intentional. Oh, yeah. I thought you just didn't have the ability to be punctual. No. It's intentional. Oh, wow. Because you'll see when I get there, like, early. Yeah. Like, yesterday, I was there early. So we all walk in together. And then I'm waiting for everybody to trickle in. And, you know, and it's time to start class past time, time past talking time. So I just turn on the music so they'll shut up. Because otherwise they'll just keep going. Yes. Yeah, you will. Absolutely.

Yeah. Because that's the signal. That's right. Music's on, shut the hell up. It doesn't bother me. Like, I don't mind it because, I mean, we've got plenty of time and I only need a solid 40, 45 minutes to absolutely kill you. So the country need less than that. No, I know. So but I mean, so, you know, whatever. But yeah, I mean, so everyone, for the most part, comes to the gym to socialize. But the people that, you know, in the middle of class just keep on. No, I don't get that. I mean, I don't care. I mean, I don't take it personally. Nothing offends me. I could care less. But it's just a really bizarre thing.

If I was going to just go to socialize and chit chat, I'd do it somewhere else. I think. So you would never actually go anywhere to socialize and chit chat? No, I would not. Other people do. Go somewhere else. Where you look cuter. I don't know. Well, it depends on the outfit you're wearing. So the fitness industry, it's flooded right now. There's social media instructors, online certifications, people that don't have many followers, no real experience, but they're standing in front of the class. What is your honest take on where the fitness industry is headed? I actually think it's gotten away some from a lot of the formats that, you know, are just so little specialized. click type things that don't produce a whole lot of real results and because for a long time it was something like yearly it was the next big thing you know and I think that people have gotten away from that and really stick to more just foundation

stuff because there's just foundation stuff that works for everyone And so I actually think it's gotten better as far as what I see. For a while, it was nauseating because, you know, everywhere I was at was like, hey, do you want to get certified? No. I mean, no. Like I told you, I went to see the first Pound class. I mean, I drove an hour and a half to go check it out, the format out, before it became a kind of a thing. And I was like, well, I mean. this could be workable. I mean, it's it's OK. You know, and then I called and talked to the company and I was like, oh, no, never mind. No. With their requirements and all that, I was like, no, absolutely not. Complete waste of my time. Well, some of the certifications and stuff, because I mean, I have been looking into a little because it keeps being crammed down my throat because I'm every time I post this podcast, the ads are just obnoxious. But

it seems like the whole business of being certified. is just a business. And so it's just all money and who's actually being helped. Well, and because of, I mean, a lot of people are going to go get certifications and things and they're never going to use it. Yeah. I mean, that's just, but that's the case for everything. I mean, a lot of people decide they're going to pursue, is this another hobby for some people? I mean, they decide that they're going to do it. And then quite honestly, fitness center doesn't pay very well. Talking.

You know, when people really I mean, if you were really serious about it, once you really look into it, then you tend to back away from it. I mean, they may go get certified in something, but you're not going to live off of it. I mean, it's not going to be some sole income for you. So between that and the amount of time that it takes, you know, just like when I started teaching Zumba. And the only class, the only songs I had were from the other instructors. I didn't have time to do anything yet. I mean, so, and I told them, I was like, I'm going to use your material.

Oh, fine, whatever. You know, they didn't care. But gosh, then you were like, do you, and I would tell people, do you realize how many songs it takes to build a class? Like, you don't have to think about it. Do you realize how many songs you have to have to fill the class? It's like 16 to 17. You know, and it's, oh, you know, they don't think about it. But. I mean, a lot of it is a lot of work. Well, and some of it, you wrote your own choreography. Oh, yeah, a lot of it.

Now I do. Yeah, because some of the songs, they don't match what's on the Zumba channels. Oh, yeah. No, no, absolutely. Because I don't really like anything that Zumba puts out now. Sorry, Zumba. But, no, yeah, no. And then, you know, I'll think of... when you've been doing it forever some things come to you like you hear a song you're like oh I know what I would do with that part but then I may go look for something to fill the part that I just can't figure out and then I'll go look at six YouTube videos for the song and I'll pick one thing out of it be like I'll use that you know and then the rest of it I'm like I don't like any of that is that how you came up with the Lady Gaga abracadabra yeah Choreography? Because that's really good. I like that one. Yeah, just pieces. I took like one piece from a YouTube video and then the rest of it. I was like, I got this. Your choreo is good. I'll give you that. If you could sit down

with a brand new fitness instructor before they taught their very first class and give them advice that nobody gave you, what would you say other than run? Oh, you have to be yourself and just let the chips fall where they may because not everybody's going to like you. And if you don't have a thick skin. Don't even think about it. I mean, don't even think about it. Because if you get offended and your feelings hurt, this is not the industry for you. Because people are going to walk out of class. People are going to tell you they don't like your class. And you're like, yeah, I mean, you know, I can care less.

But I mean, I tell everybody, I mean, the very, one of the first classes I subbed to the Y, it was Zumba at that point. But, and she's still in my class. She's not like there all the time because work. She's there rarely, but she used to be there more. And she came up to me after class and she was like, Rhonda, you know, you did a, that was a really good workout. I'm surprised because, you know, you're kind of big. That's not nice. And I was like, oh, okay. And I thought, you just wait. Yeah. I'll kill you. I'm going to get you. Yeah. So, I mean, people and because you're the up front. Yeah. You know, people will say anything to you. People feel like that they can say anything to you. They don't have any filter. And so they'll they'll give you their opinion about everything about you, whether you ask for it or not, which, again, I could care less. But if you're like tender hearted and soft

and all that or no, you don't even don't even be in a position where you're up front and in a leadership role. Because they're going to tell you exactly what they think, whether you want them to or not. You know, just like when I came in with a new hair color. Oh, my gosh. You cut all your hair off. I'm like, give it a month, y 'all. Give it a month. Yeah. I remember I'm in the Zumba subreddit because sometimes I read, you know, just random stuff for the podcast and whatever. And there was a lady in there and she said that. one of her students was fat shamed by another instructor. And I was just like, why would instructors fat shame their students? Like, I don't know, just I find that interesting. Well, younger instructors, the kind that tend to be the cheerleaders at the front. Those are the people typically that will do things like that.

Do they think it's helping? I have no idea. Or are they not mean? That's clearly why people, I think, over time. followed me because I've always been very straightforward about what I do, what I don't do. And I also have a weight loss story. And so, you know, they know that I preach it, live it every single day. Yeah, absolutely. I get there a few minutes late intentionally so you can get your chit chat out before we start.

Rhonda Good, everyone. I'll tell you what, this woman, she is a so no -nonsense, she tells it like it is, 14 years of calculated moves, and I add, no idea. But before you go, I want to remind you that this episode is part of Podcast Thon, and I'd love for you to head over to podcastthon.org to discover all the incredible charities being spotlighted by podcasters around the world this week. There are some truly amazing stories and organizations that are being highlighted, and it's worth a look. And as always, please check out my show notes with a direct link to the Humane Society Animal League for Life of Madison, Kentucky. Visit their page, share it with a friend, or make a donation if you're able.

Awareness is the goal of this week, and you sharing this episode for me, it's one of the best ways that you can help. Episode three is the final installment of this podcast series, and it'll drop on Friday, March 20th. In that episode, Rhonda will get into what she actually sees the moment a new person walks into her class, what tells her whether someone is going to commit or walk away, and what she'd say to the person who knows they need to make a change but hasn't made the move yet. It's direct. It's real. It's raw. It's Rhonda. And some of you need to hear it. I hope you'll check in with us on Friday.

Onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you worked out today?