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Becoming a Fitness Motivators Instructor

Minimum Requirements for being a Fitness Motivators Instructor

Hard Worker, VERY dependable and Reliable
Love to Help Others . . . Caring and Fun
Bubbly and Has a Great Sense of Humor
Outgoing . . . Fun to be Around and NOT a "Diva"
Not a "Know-It-All"
Able to Work in a Team Environment and Willingness to Learn From Other
Teach and Motivate to the Best of Abilities
Learn the Z-Box Fitness® Program and Other Formats of Fitness

Training/Pay Process

Completion of the Fitness Motivators Instructors Training Program (time-frame depends on experience) and Classified as an Intern Instructor
Attend any Fitness Motivators Classes Free
Encouraged to be Group Fitness Certified by AFAA or ACE
Once the Training Program is Completed and Intern Instructor Successfully Leads a Fitness Motivators Class, Location(s) Will be Assigned and Pay-Rate Determined

Fitness Motivators Team

Fitness Motivators is dedicated in offering our community quality fitness programs (since 1989). The Team love to help and motivate people achieve their goals (check out a sample of events). Most fitness companies hire Instructors "sight-unseen". They do not know their Instructors and mainly care about how many classes they can offer. Fitness Motivators does not look to fill hundreds of classrooms in every city like most fitness companies. In fact, Fitness Motivators has turned away numerous requests because they believe in quality and not quantity. The Fitness Motivators Team is a special Team (visit Meet the Instructors page). Fitness Motivators is a very small company and takes pride in selecting Instructors that will will do well within the team.

"We are a multiracial company. We have all ages in our group and all body shapes... We will not tolerate racism or any type of negative behavior from anyone that has contact with our group. We are a peaceful, yet fun group and will walk away from negativity. (Trust me, it has happened in the past!)" - Debbie

Easy to Teach, or Not?

It may look easy to teach a fitness class. However, once you are facing your students, it is a completely different ball game! It will take time and practice to know how to cue, hear the music change, talk, think, and move all at the same time while smiling and motivating the students. It takes dedication and the Will to learn something new. It is something that you will learn with time . . . you will get better and better with each class that you teach.

Zumba Fitness®

Instructors that are interested in teaching Zumba Fitness®, Instructor will pay and attend the Zumba Fitness workshop on their own. Fitness Motivators will pay the Instructors for the Zumba classes that are taught at the going-rate or above. Taking the Zumba Fitness® workshops will not automatically mean you will teach Zumba Fitness® for Fitness Motivators. You will have to go through an audition before being accepted as a "Fitness Motivators Instructor that specializes in Zumba Fitness Only". If you plan to offer more classes via Fitness Motivators, you must take the Fitness Motivators Training Program.

Still Interested? . . . Please Read On

If you have the desire to become a fitness professional and think this is the way to become rich, find another profession now. Your first and utmost goal to wanting to become a fitness professional is: Your desire to helping others.

The key to becoming a successful Fitness Instructor should not be because of how much money you can make or how popular you may get . . . It should be about witnessing the successful goals of your clients . . . because of you.

As a good Fitness Instructor, you should be able to design moves that will help your students get the most out of their workout - whether a beginner, intermediate or an advanced fitness participant.

As a good Fitness Instructor, you will want everyone to feel welcome. Making eye contact, smiling, and keeping the students motivated during the session is VERY important!

As a good Fitness Instructor, you should be able to demonstrate each movement and make modifications for the beginner to the advanced students. You must also explain the benefits of each exercise and demonstrate how to do the exercise to prevent injury. Your main focus should be on helping your students understand the importance of improving (or maintaining) their health and not just on looking better from the outside!

As a good Fitness Instructor, you should focus on making sure the class is fun, making their workout the best it can be and keeping them motivated. Remember . . . They are paying to participant in your class.

As a good Fitness Instructor, everyday you will have to keep up with your knowledge in fitness, stay connected with the industry at all times. You will need to keep your certification and CPR up-to-date at all times too. You are not a medical professional, but you are a fitness professional that should be able to share your knowledge of fitness with your clients.

If you feel you can be a Fitness Instructor, these links below will help you. A great start would be with either AFAA and ACE.

Teaching Zumba®

Zumba® has introduced a variety of workshops to their program. Please do not be fooled by how many of these workshops the Zumba Instructor attends. Just because a Zumba Instructor attends additional Zumba workshops, does not mean the Zumba Instructor is more qualified to teach a fitness class. It is the experience of the Instructor in the classroom that matters the utmost!

A Zumba® Instructor IS NOT a certified Zumba Instructor especially after attending an 8-hour workshop. Those that attend a Zumba® workshop are ONLY licensed to use the "Zumba®" name and Logo for their classes. You are literally buying the rights to use the Zumba® Logo in your advertisement. Too many Zumba Instructors (with only the Zumba® workshop on their fitness resume) are telling facilities that they "are certified Instructors". This is far from the truth!

Those that want to teach Zumba Fitness®, MUST attend an eight-hour workshop to teach Zumba Fitness®. Unfortunately Zumba LLC© does not require one to have a Group certification or CPR certification. At the workshop, the Presenters express that it will be "nice to obtain, but not mandatory". This may change soon, but for now, it is only an "optional" to have any type of fitness background.

With the lack of prerequisite (e.g., to have a group fitness teaching background before teaching Zumba) to teach Zumba classes, there are Zumba Classes and Instructors popping up everywhere. In Farmington alone, there are OVER 900 classes within ONE week being offered and well over 1000 Zumba Instructors!

Please read an email from a concerned Student....

"I am very surprised and concerned about what I am seeing in my local Zumba classes which I have taken simply for my own exercise enhancement. At my [name removed], in [location removed], [name removed], there are several Zumba classes. In the classes that I have tried, the instructors did NOT do a warm-up at the start or a cool-down at the end. They also did NOT do any static stretches at the end whatsoever. They also did NOT instruct us to continue moving our legs between songs and I noticed everyone (except me) coming to a complete STOP between songs, after the heart rate was quite elevated.

They also neglected to mention a thing about correct breathing techniques ("exhale on exertion", etc.). And there were NO modifications given for various physical abilities. There were many people well over 50 in these classes. To me, this way of teaching, violating basic rules of group fitness instruction, is a injury waiting to happen. What is going on with this anyway?

Are the teachers taught to give safety and body alignment cues? I am already registered for a training with [removed for privacy]. I am happy to have read that she is AFAA certified and excellent. I am very excited to have this chance to learn from her, as I do LOVE the Zumba moves and I am a dancer. But can you please explain why I am seeing so much of this problem in Zumba classes? Thanks very much."

You are probably seeing more and more Zumba Fitness or "Zumba Inspired" classes being advertised all around the country. These workshops do not require the Attendees to have a fitness background. Because of this, they are producing Instructors that does NOT have the experience as a Group Fitness Instructor. Unfortunately, this could cause some injury to the participate and the overall experience to the participate could become jeopardized. In addition, cueing and the overall preparation of the class could be unprofessional. The inexperienced Instructor lacks knowledge in the fitness industry and the facilities hiring these Instructors is taken a huge risk! It could be very unpleasant for those attending these classes.

Just because someone has a dance background and they "love to dance", or even a Latin background, does not mean that person will be an excellent Zumba Fitness Instructor! One who seeks to be any type of fitness Instructor will need the training and especially in Zumba... you will need to practice the routines every day to get real good at teaching Zumba!

It may look easy up in front following the instructor, but it takes skill and motivation! It takes MANY hours of practicing and learning new routines.

For the Instructor:
The Instructor that makes it look easy to teach Zumba and you feel, "oh I can do that", is an excellent Instructor. If you are able to teach, give out verbal cues before the next move, give out visual cues before the next move, listen to the next beat and stay on beat, show/instruct/cue all the safety moves before doing that move, teach by facing the students and NOT look at yourself in the mirror, and smile ALL AT THE SAME TIME . . . then you will be a top-notch Instructor!

For the Participate:
Please be sure to check the Instructor's qualifications before signing up for any Zumba or other class format. Does this Instructor have a nationally, recognized group/fitness certification? Is this Instructor authorized to teach only Zumba Fitness®? Is he or she CPR Certified? The Instructor MUST be authorized to teach Zumba.

Still interested in being a Fitness Motivators Team Instructor?

Click here and in the Comment area, tell us why you think you would be a good fit on the Fitness Motivators Team and your fitness background (not a criteria to teach).

Fitness Motivators - Be Free. Be. Beautiful In Your Own Skin.