7 Mistakes to avoid while teaching Zumba®
To err is human, so one should learn from his/her mistakes. If you do these, don’t panic. You should abstain doing these mistakes right from your next class, just intend to fend yourself off them. Some of these things probably occur because many instructors are inexperienced at the beginning. So, it’s good to help out our newbie instructors.
1. Taking too much intervals
Having longer gaps can decrease your class’s passion towards music especially when you pause between every song. Going over the choreography piece by piece would make them frustrated.
You should aim for about 55 minutes of music, including warm-up and cool down songs, so you need to learn to be really fast with the choreography breakdown. Don’t worry, it won’t get tough, your students will pick it up.
2. Not having a Playlist Setup
Pre-plan your playlist in advance and have it ready to go. Otherwise, it will take you so long, long time to find the song you’re looking for
If you’re looking for updated playlists every week for your Zumba classes, you can get them here.
3. Not keeping Accessories
You must keep your extras like extra socks, hair pins and hair ties in your bag. You may eventually lose them and then trying to keep your hair out of face with a stray ball point pen etc. Try to keep extras in your car or gym bag and inventory your supply from time to time.
4. Focusing too much on yourself
Usually, new instructors before teaching, use to follow people in dance classes, so watching other people can be confusing. Most of us used to be students and copying the teacher. It may happen that for an instance you’ll forget that you’re supposed to lead and you may start following a really convincing student in the front row. Funny but strange though!
You must keep an eye to the people who are turning blue and are about to faint and tumble. That doesn’t happen normally but who knows?
5. Stressing upon just Fitness, not on Party!
Remember, Zumba is supposed to be fun like a party. Zumba’s slogan says it all, “Ditch the workout and join the party!!” So you shouldn’t emphasize on its fitness outcomes only.
Make sure people are having fun, they are smiling and sweating. Noticing how people respond to the music can completely change how your classes are put together.
Put on the songs that make people smile and brings out their mega-energy and skip the types of songs where they don’t take it easy.
6. Using Genre you weren’t good at
You shouldn’t teach those moves, no matter how cool they are in theory that you can’t do convincingly. Like if you can’t do samba, you shouldn’t teach samba, it’s your class, do what makes you look good. If you look good, you’ll have fun. If you have fun, your students will too.
7. Making your Class Monotonous
Very few people are amazing at every single type of rhythm, and that’s ok. Have one that you hate or is just a weak point? Skip it. About 70% of class should be Latin-inspired beats, but there are so many out there. If you aren’t a merengue fan, choose something else.
Conclusion
Practice makes you perfect, and experience can make you shine! You must try to improve no matter what your profession is. But for Zumba and other fitness instructors, an AFAA or ACE group fitness certification is something that can only make you a better instructor, so add that to your list too.
