4 things you might be surprised to learn about your nb instructor
You might have a love/hate relationship with your NEIGHBORHOOD barre instructor….one minute you’re silently cussing her for putting knee dancing on the schedule and the next minute you may be hugging her for bringing the heat, and maybe a killer music mix to boot after class.
But there’s more (actually a lot more) that goes on behind the scenes, or should we say behind the mic, in the instructor world. Here are 4 surprising facts about how we train and teach our staff, to deliver the best barre class in your neighborhood.
Timing is essential. In fact, your class is planned literally down to the second! You might be wondering why your instructor always has a watch on while teaching, although you don’t necessarily hear a consistent ‘count down’ with each exercise. It’s actually incredibly intentional and a foundation of each class format. Each section of class, from warm-up through cool down, is timed. This ensures we’re giving each target muscle group appropriate attention and that we’re also resisting muscle imbalances by keeping things even and consistent from side-to-side. Did you ever notice how the music is “perfectly timed” to traditionally end with the warm-up, the end of thighs, seat, and then of course the beats slow down and become low key for the cool down? That’s right, it’s all synchronized to each section of class. We even consider the bpm’s for each portion of the class, as we want you to literally move with the music while working out. And total brownie points if your studio has the chromotherapy lighting changing with each section in class. After all, this is dance-inspired fitness!
There’s a method to the madness. As mentioned earlier, we design each class format to follow a structure from beginning to end. But we take it a step (or several steps) further by hand-picking each exercise to target core muscle groups, cumulatively. For example, you’ll never take a class doing all, quad-only thigh exercises, or all hamstring, glute-focused exercises. This strengthens your body effectively and efficiently from head-to-toe. When you have dominant quads, they’re likely compensating for weak glutes or hamstrings. This can throw off your front-to-back body balance and make you more prone to injury. Some methods of fitness that over-exercise one muscle group (like long distance running or cycling) can lead to some of these imbalances.
In an nb class, you’ll effectively tone your biceps, shoulders, lats, triceps, chest, inner and outer thighs, quads, high seat, low seat, hips, outer seat, transverse abdominals, lower abs, obliques, and even your postural muscles – all while improving your flexibility and heart health. Pretty great, right?! Not only that, but we’re super intentional about not repeating the same class set. In face, you may never take same nb class twice! Always keep those muscles guessing so you never plateau.
There’s a specific formula we use to teach. Have you ever been to a fitness class where the instructor did the entire class with you or maybe barely spoke while teaching? Or perhaps the class was really motivational, but the instructor didn’t demo the exercises or provide instruction on how to actually execute the move? We’ve been there, and done that, and it’s not effective or fun in our opinion! We have refined and perfected our instruction to include both visual and verbal alignment; body cues; muscle activation; progressions and modifications; physical adjustments; musicality; and of course encouragement to provide a well-rounded experience. We even have cute little acronyms and rhymes to learn these techniques during training!
The training never stops. We have a pretty comprehensive “level one” training program, that includes an intensive training weekend, typically at our flagship studio, as well as weeks of practice, feedback and additional training with senior instructors and/or the studio owner in the days following. On average, it takes 10 – 12 weeks to complete the initial training program, which equates to about 75 hours of in-studio practice and training. But we don’t stop there. Did you know your instructor goes through additional, ongoing trainings? This includes certifications to become “level two”, specialized class formats, equipment training, and more. Not only that, but we distribute a monthly instructor-only newsletter, along with a monthly release that focuses on new exercise releases, new warm-ups, specific sections of class, new sprint options…you get the gist.
We always want our instructors to have endless resources, so there’s a plethora of video libraries, training documentation, and even quizzes to ensure we provide a uniform, consistent, and top-notch experience for our clients. Each studio is also assigned a “master trainer” that is the go-to expert for any and all questions, at any time. YOU are the reason we do what we do, and we strive to continually improve and build upon what we offer – providing an unbeatable barre experience and community for our neighbors. Don’t worry, we totally have fun too. Studio staff also congregate to review a lot of our releases either monthly or quarterly, and typically there’s some great food and the occasional Truly present 😉
Think you have what it takes to command the mic and coach our amazing community?! We want to hear from you! Fill out our brief online application here and someone at your local studio will be in touch.
