{"id":7947,"date":"2019-10-11T10:09:52","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T10:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fitproblog.mysites.io\/instructor-pre-choreographed-or-freestyle\/"},"modified":"2019-10-11T10:09:52","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T10:09:52","slug":"instructor-pre-choreographed-or-freestyle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/instructor-pre-choreographed-or-freestyle\/","title":{"rendered":"Instructor: Pre-choreographed or freestyle?"},"content":{"rendered":"

FitPro speaks to international presenter, Helen Carpenter-Waters, and Personal Trainer and Group Exercise Instructor from Pendle Leisure Trust, Elaine Adams-Gilligan, to hear their take on the great choreo debate.<\/h3>\n

Helen Carpenter-Waters<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that many instructors lack confidence in their ability to create a safe and effective class, plus the time and energy to market it and make it successful\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Described by convention organisers and colleagues as an \u2018industry icon\u2019, renowned for her original chorography and exceptional teaching skills, Carpenter-Waters is the founder of health and fitness academy, DYBO, and is incredibly passionate about independent fitness.<\/p>\n

My training as an independent fit pro, combined with my experience, has given me the confidence to personalise my teaching. I offer a variety of levels and intensity within a class, and provide different content across all classes. I\u2019m sensitive to my clients\u2019 needs and I respond accordingly. I don\u2019t see this happening in pre-choreographed programmes.<\/p>\n

I think the familiarity of content offered within pre-choreo programmes can provide comfort and confidence to the participant. However, this familiarity may also lead to boredom if participants become overly familiar with a particular format, style and structure. A regular participant may not feel challenged if too few, or any new, challenges and progressions are offered.<\/p>\n

I know that many instructors are time poor and so the prospect of someone else taking responsibility for all aspects of a class appears to make life easier for them. I also believe that many instructors lack confidence in their ability to create a safe and effective class, and have concerns regarding the time and energy it takes to market it and make it successful.<\/p>\n

I prefer to experience independent education from a variety of sources since I think this helps develop a broad base of understanding. I\u2019m always listening out for great tracks, wherever I am. I also find that Dean and Dex of MyGroupFit provide a fantastic variety of mixes from past and present, along with special playlists suitable for all types of freestyle classes.<\/p>\n

The freestyle community <\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the early days, health clubs invested heavily in pre-choreo products and the independent ETM\/group X freestylers were either pushed into (or happily transferred over to) teaching these programmes. Those of us who already worked in the community often stayed independent. Interestingly, dance-based fitness teachers and the Pilates, yoga, mind\/body teachers seem to have remained independent for most, if not their entire teaching timetable.<\/p>\n

In addition to my own weekly DYBO classes, I run regular \u2018independence days\u2019 and invite presenters of freestyle dance and fitness to join in for a day of original and creative dance.<\/p>\n

dybo.co.uk<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Elaine Adams-Gilligan<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people get more \u2018gains\u2019 from doing a certain pre-choreographed class, a certain amount of times a week. Clients like knowing what they are going to do and what they will have to tolerate\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

What\u2019s great about pre-choreographed programmes is that they always deliver a balanced routine. I don\u2019t think they restrict personality \u2013 the personality is what you bring to the class.<\/p>\n

I do think clients like knowing what\u2019s coming. I teach both freestyle and pre-choreo, and have used pre-choreo step, but in a freestyle format. This helps to break down the movements and transitions.<\/p>\n

I really love freestyle and also enjoy teaching aerobics and aqua aerobics. It gives me great freedom and allows me to pull from the elements I\u2019ve done in the pre-choreo sessions. You can bring out combinations that you haven\u2019t done or seen before, and you can cut together transition steps. I think by teaching both freestyle and pre-choreo, I get the best of both.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Why pre-choreo gets a thumbs up <\/strong><\/h3>\n

The pre-choreo programmes follow trends extremely well and that\u2019s a big plus. A lot of education also comes with these programmes. Many instructors teach as a second job so can\u2019t always remain on top of what\u2019s happening in the industry, and pre-choreo keeps you a little ahead of some of the things going on.<\/p>\n

For many people, choreography can be frightening. If you start to throw a load of choreography at the average person, they start to back off. Instructors need to consider the days when they just want to have a bit of fun with their clients.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Why is there a divide?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Instructors can be put off if they have to go and subscribe to a particular genre or if they have to go on a training course. I do think that pre-choreo instructors should still freelance; it makes for a better instructor all round if you aren\u2019t tied to one thing. Pre-choreo gives you a hell of a lot of material to work with in the future.<\/p>\n

There are some instructors out there who are great, but they just can\u2019t put a routine together. That\u2019s where pre-choreo is brilliant; it\u2019s inclusive. I\u2019ve seen some fabulous pre-choreo instructors who have never worked in freestyle. There aren\u2019t many people teaching freestyle anymore, and I do think that\u2019s a great shame.<\/p>\n

pendleleisuretrust.co.uk<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you enjoyed this article and would like to enhance your group exercise skills try our CPD course HERE<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FitPro speaks to international presenter, Helen Carpenter-Waters, and Personal Trainer and Group Exercise Instructor from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[2136,541,542,2137,2138,2139,303,2140,2141,1957],"class_list":{"0":"post-7947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news-features","8":"tag-creative-dance","9":"tag-dance","10":"tag-dybo","11":"tag-elaine-adams-gilligan","12":"tag-freestyle","13":"tag-helen-carpenter-waters","14":"tag-mygroupfit","15":"tag-pendle-leisure-trust","16":"tag-pre-choreographed","17":"tag-zumba"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7947"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}