Will:  

The first step to really understanding how you can harness your superpower and use it to be the best version of yourself is understanding what you do well and how you do it well, but also where you can be tripped up and what you need to look out for to make sure you can connect with the most people every time. And once you know what these are, you can start to really embrace them. And this will improve your teaching performance in person, digitally, and also your ability to relate to your clients and customers on social media, in the community, wherever you are being an active fitness instructor. But it's not just about being the best instructor you can be. It's also about making sure that you can future proof your career for the long term. Because here's the problem: if you don't understand what your superpower is, if you don't understand your strengths and your weaknesses, if you can't sit in them authentically, you are not going to get the joy and fulfillment out of teaching that you could otherwise get if you really understood what makes you tick. And what makes you happy. 

Will:  

Hey, I'm Will Brereton, founder of Sh1ft Fitness. And this is Group Fitness Real Talk, a show about how to survive and even thrive in group fitness in 2021 and beyond. In a world with almost unlimited options for fitness, the one thing that you have to differentiate yourself is that you're unique. Now, we've talked a lot in this podcast about how the fitness industry has changed. And one thing is for sure, there are a lot more options for every consumer out there than there were six months ago, 12 months ago, certainly five years ago, people used to be limited in the fitness experiences they could have by their local geography, if they were going to do something for fitness, they needed to do something in that neighborhood in that suburb, in that city. Now, with the rise of digital fitness, and all the changes that have taken place during 2020, a consumer can log into almost any class with any instructor anyplace on the planet. And that doesn't even start to talk about the difference between whether they do it live stream, or whether they do it video on demand. Suffice to say the one thing that you as an instructor can really lean into is also the one thing that theoretically should be the easiest, and that's being yourself. However, we've all been conditioned to work on our weaknesses. And in doing so we've often learned to neglect the strengths that make us special. So today we're going to talk about instructor superpowers. And we're going to take it really, really high level. But it's going to start a conversation and a process for self reflection that I think will really really help you to develop and hone your skills in a way that will make you better at not only leaning into your unique strengths, but also understanding what your weaknesses might be. So in the superhero context, this might be your kryptonite, the thing that does always trip you up or the thing that might be stopping you from reaching a wider audience. So we at Sh1ft believe that every instructor has a superpower and by embracing it, you can become a better teacher. And when I say embrace, I mean, understand the fundamental drivers that are your specific type of instructor behavior, the things that you do really well the things that you lean into happily and really enjoy doing. And also the stuff that can come with that, the corollories of those behaviors that might not allow you to connect with every single person in your class. But the question is, do you know what your superpower is? I want you to take a moment and think about your personal fitness heroes. So this could be someone in your local gym, it could be someone that you've actually taken a class with, it could be someone that mentored you in the past, or it could be someone that you see on fitness content. So they might be a YouTuber, they might be a Les Mills instructor from the master classes, they might be a Beachbody Super Trainer, Shaun T or Chalene. I just want you to think of someone that you think really encapsulates what being an awesome instructor is about. And for the purposes of this sort of brain exercise. You don't have to think about someone who teaches like you, you can just think of anybody. Now think about that person and think about what makes them special and what makes them unique. 

Will:  

Chances are, if you've chosen someone who has been a success in teaching, you're going to be able to pinpoint one or two key characteristics that they have that they lean into that really make them special. Now I'm going to pull a couple that people for listening to the show probably know so let's think of Tony Horton. When we think of Tony Horton, what do we think we think that he is funny, he is personable in those p90x workouts when he was driving people hard. He had humor to inject to lighten the mood to make people laugh, and to help people take their minds off the very, very difficult workout that he was giving them, or staying with Beachbody when I think of Shaun T. Now what does Shaun t really have, that one unique thing that you can point to? That would be that he is absolutely supportive and motivational. And he brings everybody along with him. He makes sure that everybody feels supported that everybody feels like he has their best interests at heart and he has pulling them along with the rest of the class for the journey. All let's look to TV and think about some of the really successful trainers from television shows like The Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels. What is she known for? She is known for being hard and a bit of a slave driver when it comes to the workouts, but she is going to get the best out of her clients, because she is going to push them and motivate them, she is going to make sure that they are doing everything they need to do in order to get their results. So these are some examples of real superpowers that some fitness people have and harness to make themselves successful. So as I said, our context is superpowers. And if you're someone that reads comics, or watches movies, you're probably going to know that quite often a superhero can have a weakness, a signature weakness, the classic one for this is Superman with kryptonite. It's the one thing that is from his home world that always manages to trip him up. And this in the same way we can think about weaknesses as being associated with some of the signature strengths that come with our unique superpowers. Now, what do I mean by this, I want you to think of someone who is extremely motivational and direct. That really, really pushes people hard. And that's their superpower. They know how to motivate they know how to drive, they know how to deliver intensity, all of that is a massive strength. And if you can harness that and lean into it, you are going to be a successful instructor. But just like not every instructor is the same and not every instructor has the same superpower. Not every person in your class is going to react to motivation and to drive in the same way. And the same class taught by the same person using the same cues could motivate someone who is there to be motivated and be driven, but could also alienate someone who is new to exercise and who needs a little bit of a more white glove experience. They need to be nurtured. They need to be taken slowly through and they need to not be yelled at. Now, that's not to say that in that same class, the instructor with the superpower of driving motivation can't still harness their strength. But what they need to do is understand the weakness that comes along with that strength and how they can ameliorate that. Now what does that mean, it means make it a bit less. So for example, they may understand that they are very intense, and that they drive really hard. But they need to switch out of that characteristic. And get a little bit more supportive and a little bit more caring and check in with the newer people on the class before they switch back in to hyperdrive and take the class home. So we're talking about superpowers. And I know the question that you're going to have right about now, which is how can an instructor discover this superpower? Simple, it takes self reflection. And if you've been listening to this podcast, you will know that I always encourage you guys to take stock of what you're doing, whether it be videos, self appraisals. So actually watching yourself teaching and making notes about what you could do better, and what you're doing really, really well. And it's just the same for understanding your strengths and weaknesses, the only way you can do it is by turning that microscope around and looking inside, taking some time to think about what drives you, what you like, what motivates you, the types of teachers that you appreciate the types of teachers that don't vibe with you. Understanding that is going to help you to understand the characteristics that you want to curate in your own teaching. 

Will:  

But we do want to help with this. So for the purposes of helping you speed this process along, we have created a quiz called 'What's Your Group Fitness Superpower?' And the idea of this quiz is to help you discover your superpower. It's a quiz that anyone can complete in about two minutes. The URL if you want to look for it is www.gxsuperpower.com. But don't stress about writing that down because I'm going to link to it in the show notes of this episode. So let's talk about the quiz and the superpower archetypes that will come with it. So we've created this quiz to be a bit of fun for instructors. It's not designed to be massively in depth because it's impossible to carve people into four archetypes and have that apply to everybody equally. However, I am absolutely certain that you will see yourself reflected in your superhero character. The reason for this is because we've designed it using tried and true behavioral psychology principles. If you've ever had to do any type of psychometric testing before you've gone into a new job, or have you ever done it through your studies or your education, you'll know that we can break people down into certain subsets of driving characteristics of motivations of patterns of thinking of ways that they feel comfortable, and that's what we've done with group fitness. I've drawn on my experience from training 1000s of instructors over a couple of decades and also worked with some other prominent people in the fitness industry to put this quiz together. And it's this training and observation of instructors, it's allowed us to develop these various instructor types or superpowers. So if you do the quiz, you're going to get one superhero outcome. Now, in reality, you are going to be a blend of loads of different characteristics. And you're also going to have a whole lot of different strengths. Now if you've done the signature strength test from Episode Three of the podcast. And if you haven't done that, I really recommend that you go back and do it, you're going to know that your strengths are going to be unique to you, and then they're going to be ordered in a certain order of preference. So you're still going to have those strengths. But this superpower, this superhero test that you're going to do is more about your style. It's about the way you deliver information, the way you deliver your cues, deliver your motivation. And it's also probably a little bit about the way you accept information in so your personal preference on how you like to receive information or receive classes from other people. So what the quiz is going to do is it's going to identify your dominant type. And this is a fantastic place to begin, in order to really play to your strengths and improve your teaching. Your superpower is going to come with your super strength, these are the things that you can lean into and do well every time, the place that you feel good, the place where you can sit and deliver strongly. And it's also going to come with some things to watch out for. These are your kryptonite. These are the weaknesses that come along with those strengths. If you don't know how to make sure you don't get tripped up by them. The first step to really understanding how you can harness your superpower and use it to be the best version of yourself is understanding what you do well and how you do it well, but also where you can be tripped up and what you need to look out for to make sure you can connect with the most people every time. And once you know what these are, you can start to really embrace them. And this will improve your teaching performance in person, digitally, and also your ability to relate to your clients and customers on social media, in the community, wherever you are being an active fitness instructor. But it's not just about being the best instructor you can be. It's also about making sure that you can future proof your career for the long term. Because here's the problem if you don't understand what your superpower is, if you don't understand your strengths and your weaknesses is that if you can't sit in them authentically, you are not going to get the joy and fulfillment out of teaching that you could otherwise get if you really understood what makes you tick, and what makes you happy. Take the strength of humor, for example. If humor is your strength, and you know how to harness it, and really think about how you can use it to deliver connection and authenticity, use your classes, it is going to take you places every time people are going to like you for it, they're going to enjoy the moment. But if humor is not a superpower or strength that you have, trying to put humor into your classes, trying to use humor to connect with people is not going to work. And it's not just not going to work, it's probably going to be slightly painful for you and for them. Or conversely, think about the superpower of being ultra prepared. Always having everything down having your choreography perfectly memorized, having your playlist perfectly selected. If this is a strength of yours, then leaning into it is going to allow you to have the freedom to really connect when you're in your class, it's going to allow you to not be stressed and to find that flow. But if you're the type of person that feels restricted by doing endless prep, then the chances are that it's going to suck a little bit of joy out of your teaching to do so.

Will:  

Now, it doesn't mean that you don't prepare at all. But understanding where you sit on that spectrum. And understanding what level of preparation is right for you, is the best way of understanding how to ensure your longevity in your teaching career. Because there's no quicker way to suck the joy out of something than by making it a chore. So in the superhero quiz that we've created, you will going to find a result that is one of four primary archetypes. And we have provided a report which shows you the things that this archetype is amazingly good at and the things that they need to watch out for. What are the four archetypes? I'm not telling you, you're going to have to do the quiz. That's just the way it is. But as I said, you can go straight to that link that's in the show notes. And you can do this quiz in about two minutes, and then you can find out what your archetype is. So to any instructor listening, I really really recommend that you go and take the quiz. As I said, it takes two minutes of your time and you get the full report straightaway. Now, as I said, we've linked to it in the show notes. But you can find the quiz at www.gxsuperpower.com. Once you know your result, I want you to share it and feel free to tag me in your result and whether or not you agree with it, but I'm sure you're going to because this is science. Share with your instructor friends so that everybody can get the benefit. As I said, this is step one, in understanding how to harness the full potential of your strengths. This is going to be the first step in a conversation that you begin to have with yourself about how to be better, and how to watch out for things that could stop you from being the best that you can be. So I look forward to hearing what your results are and seeing what superhero you become. 

Will:  

Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying the show, don't forget to subscribe for all the latest episodes wherever you get your podcasts. And while you're there, please drop us a review. You can also get in touch with me at will@sh1ftfitness.com. I'm Will Brereton and you've been listening to Group Fitness Real Talk.