Do you talk non-stop when you are teaching your classes? Do you feel uncomfortable when you see your students looking up at you with big eyes, and imagine they are looking for direction? Becoming comfortable with silence is a huge step in becoming an enlightened coach, and to helping your students take responsibility for their ride. This article is great for new instructors, as well as long time coaches who need a refresher. Do you talk too much when you are teaching?
Over the years that I’ve led Spinning® and indoor cycling workshops around the country, I’ve come to realize that many instructors feel uncomfortable with longer periods of silence, especially when the students look up to them with big eyes as if they are waiting to be told what to do next. They don’t know how long they should wait after giving an instruction to the class before they should speak again. How much is too much talking?
There are no hard and fast rules, but in general, a good indoor cycling coach doesn’t need to say that much during the ride itself. She has honed her skill in giving specific direction, and has trained her students to trust her and to ride without her commands for long periods. This is the case where less can mean more.
There are times I wonder myself if I am too quiet! Teaching for as long as I have, I bet there’s times where I zone out a little too much. But usually a glance around the room tells me I’m ok. At least, with my seasoned students. If I took on a new class I’d have to be much more vigilant, and gradually teach them to accept longer periods of silence.
Bryon says it best: using the least amount and most meaningful words to convey a specific notion or concept. Some of the most powerful are very short cues that inspire. Before using them though, you have to set the scene, and allow your students to ride on their own for awhile. That’s when you start throwing out the 1 or 2 word inspirational cues every minute or so. When you read them they may seem trite, but in the moment, in the middle of a long hard introspective climb, they are much more nuanced and are all you need; they say much more than the letters that make up the word. They become affirmations:
Breathe.
Relax
Focus
Connect
Drive
Onward
Remember
Zone-in
Power
Powerful
Strength
Consistent
Commit
Give-and-Take
Masterful
Control
Round (as in pedaling circles)
Peaceful
Be.Here.Now
In the moment
Exhale
Trust
Dig in
Unstoppable
Beautiful
I Can
I Am
i’ve been in a couple of classes where it was non stop talking and i probably did this too when i first started but have toned it way down given the help, tips, suggestions and confidence from jennifer and many other excellent masters i follow.
i know that the quiet gave me time to focus on my own breath, to really listen and hear it, to focus and feel what my pedal stroke was doing, what my entire body was telling me and to give me time to practice what the instructor was cueing without interruption onto something else. I know my riders get a bit edgy when i don’t talk. As i told them the other night “i want you to learn to be independent riders and not rely on me to tell you everything. if you can do that then i know you have progressed in your own riding level”.
To help take that awkward silence out i started with just a minute or two at first “asking them to listen to their breath and it’s rhythm. see if they could change it”
Oops, now i wonder if I’M too quiet. will have to ask.
trust yourself.
…The true art of being a teacher or instructor, using the least amount and most meaningful words to convey a specific notion or concept.
Very very valuable for me! My husband does my classes and he gets sooo irritated with the fact that i do not stop talking. Alot of my talking is driven my seeing members of my class nearly give up, or their form slipping – so i usually grab what i see and translate into words for the whole class… BUT this is usually constant and i realise that i am pretty much talkign for MOST of the class. This article has been good for me, and i will apply 🙂
Very very valuable for me! My husband does my classes and he gets sooo irritated with the fact that i do not stop talking. Alot of my talking is driven my seeing members of my class nearly give up, or their form slipping – so i usually grab what i see and translate into words for the whole class… BUT this is usually constant and i realise that i am pretty much talkign for MOST of the class. This article has been good for me, and i will apply 🙂