Photo of clapboard and digital camera in front of two people sitting

Lights, COVID, Action: Behind The Scenes Of Bringing You Digital Fitness Classes

Oh, the challenges and obstacles 2020 (and now 2021) presented for something as simple as taking a group fitness class. We transitioned from the comfort and ease of the group fitness studio to the great outdoors, in both warm and cold weather, to parking lots, garages, living rooms, kitchens – wherever – all in the name of fitness.

As class participants, this shift toward taking class outside the studio may have been different than you expected. Suddenly you’re using household objects in place of dumbbells or maybe taking more bodyweight classes than you normally would. You might have missed the live, energetic experience and camaraderie that comes with in studio live group fitness classes (nothing compares), but regardless, we all had to lean in, figure it out and keep moving.

Related: Stream On: How I Found Value In Leading Classes Online

As instructors, we had so many technical challenges to overcome when we first started streaming, and we had to learn quickly in order to keep you engaged, to keep you moving, and to keep you from not giving up. We know that making time for your workout is half the battle, so when you show up for class (whether in person or digitally), we want to make sure we’re providing you with a quality workout that helps keep you fit and helps give you that mental stability you may have been needing. We instructors quickly learned that this isn’t as easy as popping up the smart phone on a tripod, turning on the overhead lights and pushing “go live”.

Many group fitness instructors are performers – showmen and show-women by nature – and they bring an entertainment element to their program, workout or class. Transitioning to virtual fitness means the stage we once graced (the fitness studio) with its lighting options, mics and professional sound systems, is gone. These elements beyond the fitness program help create an experience for you and keep you addicted to your favorite class(es) and now they’re suddenly gone. So, we, the fitness instructor, put on a couple more hats as the director, the stage manager, the lighting technician, the sound engineer, and oh yeah, the location scout!

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We know the top priority here is the content and effectiveness of the workout, but taking class from home can be challenging because of all the distractions and potential loss of focus and drive. By putting on our “production,” we hope to diminish those distractions and make you feel like there’s nothing unusual about doing push-ups while your dog or cat climbs onto your mat.

When streaming live on Facebook and FFC On Demand or other streaming platforms like Zoom and Twitch, there are a lot of technical issues to overcome. Lighting is a big one that includes lots of trial and error: you grab a ring light, use indirect lighting, maybe add some color hues, light from the front, block out back light, and more because a bright, well-lit livestream is less grainy and has more clarity.

Next comes bandwidth, and boy this one is a huge challenge for all workouts – mainly your dance formats – as now we are working to bring you an image synced perfectly with our music. Weak bandwidth or Wifi inhibits a great experience, so what do we do? Well, we get an adaptor and connect our device to ethernet directly, maybe use a faster speed external camera…Perfect! 

Related: How To Find The Perfect Workout For You On FFC On Demand

Then we’ve got the sound. What happens when sound travels through a device through wifi? There’s often a lag or delay so we work on feeding the music directly to you with an interface, which can allow for a mic too, or maybe we share our music source directly with you to be better synced and avoid image delays.

And that’s just a touch on the technical!

Teaching live on camera takes a whole different set of skills than teaching live to a group of people who are in the same room. Cuing, exercise selections, body positioning in front of the camera and simply getting a message across can become a challenge. When we are left with no live physical class and a camera lens where you can see us but we can’t see you, a whole new power and performance level must take over.

Believe it or not, our in-person group fitness classes are powered by you, the participants. We feed off your energy and we work harder when we see you push yourselves in class. In a virtual class, our cues must be on point and pre-cuing is a must, including visual cues, motivational cues and choreography cues. Our internal dialog is moving faster than ever to prepare you for the next exercise as our bodies stay in the moment with you doing the current exercise. AND we want to simultaneously hold a conversation with you at home.

While virtual fitness wasn’t how we planned to spend our 2020, we all adapted and grew together. I believe so many of us have grown stronger in many ways over the past year, and now we are able to return to the group fitness studio to safely lead classes. We couldn’t be more grateful that you joined us for class from your living room, and we couldn’t be happier to be able to offer you the live in-person class experience once again. We hope to see you in class soon!

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Post written by FFC Group Fitness Manager Dominick DeFranco.

Photo of dumbbells on a weight rack

The Great Weight Debate

Our group fitness schedule at FFC features a wide variety of classes, including yoga, dance, indoor cycling and a number of strength training classes. Depending on the class type, these strength training classes may utilize bodyweight movements or the instructor may call for the use of dumbbells.

Most of the questions I receive from students in group fitness classes are about training with weights: Which dumbbells should I grab? Will lifting weights in class make me bulky? How should I schedule my weight training? I answer these questions and give my recommendations below.

What Size Weights Should I Use?

One of the most commonly asked questions when it comes to group fitness classes is what size weights should I use? With all of the different class formats we offer at FFC, I can understand why this can be so confusing.

I like to classify muscle conditioning classes in two ways; muscular strength and muscular endurance. Keep in mind, muscular conditioning classes do crossover between these two training systems. When a student asks me what size dumbbells should they should use, my answer is pretty simple: grab something you believe to be light and something you believe to be heavy.

Related: Are you performing these exercises correctly in your group fitness classes?

Here is where it gets tricky. A heavy weight to one person could be considered light for another, so it becomes a very personal choice. It can also change from day to day or week to week depending on what other forms of exercise people are doing. For example, if it is a Saturday morning and you’re headed to take Chisel and you have been training hard all week, you may need to go with a lower weight to accommodate how you are feeling.

Our signature class Critical Mass is considered a strength training class, meaning slower tempo, full range of movement, lower repetition range and heavier weights to build strength. As a student, your choice in weights would be determined by how well you can meet the demands of the class where the work is challenging and you feel successful. Conversely, our signature format Formula 94 is classified as a muscular endurance workout; fast moving, high repetition, non-stop high intensity. The size of dumbbells you choose need to be lighter to be able accommodate this style of training. My recommendation here is 2.5 – 5 lbs. 

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Will Training With Heavy Weights Make Me Bulky?

The truth here is that in order to build real lean muscle your nutritional requirements need to support such growth. Most people that use the word bulk are not considering the amount of body fat that still exists, giving the look of muscular bulk when in fact their body fat percentages are too high. With proper nutrition, training heavy will provide a dense musculature giving a lean sculpted physique.

If I Stop Weight Training, Will My Muscles Turn In To Fat?

The reality here is muscle and fat are two completely different entities. An apple will never become a bagel no matter what happens. Muscle, on the other hand, will increase the amount of fat burned during a training session. If you want to burn fat as fuel, trade out a cardio session for a strength workout.

Related: How To Choose The Best Classes At The Gym

Is The Best Way To See Results To Train One Body Part Per Day?

Finding classes that incorporate compound exercises which work more than one body part at a time will deliver a more effective workout within a shorter amount of time. This is where taking group fitness classes can be so valuable! Most of our weighted class formats at FFC contain different elements of cardiovascular training, muscle conditioning and core specific drills giving you a comprehensive total body workout all in 45 minutes. Check out our signature classes LOADED, Chisel, Total Body Blast, The Formula and #312 for a full body, fun workout. 

What Exercises Are Most Beneficial For Older Adults?

Any good trainer or group fitness instructor knows that we should not classify people’s optimal exercise program based on their age; we need to classify people’s training protocol based on their ability. There it is, I said it! Just because we have reached a certain age does not mean we cannot or should not run incline sprints on a treadmill or take a kettlebell class on the turf. Whether you are a beginner or a competitive fit athlete, your fitness game plan will ebb and flow. Our goal always is to provide safe, effective, results driven workouts that keep you engaged, healthy, with a continued path toward success and well being.

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Post written by FFC Group Fitness Director Lois Miller.

Notebook outlining SMART goals

5 Secrets To Keeping Your New Year’s Resolution

Welcome to 2021! Another year has come and gone. What a year 2020 was, am I right? With every new year comes new goals and possibly a New Year’s resolution. Did you know: research shows that only 8% of those who set New Year’s resolutions are successful in achieving them? If you’re looking to keep your resolution in 2021, continue reading to learn 5 secrets to keep your New Year’s resolution.

1. Set SMART Goals

“SMART” stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. When setting goals, you want to make sure that they fit all of the categories above. By setting SMART goals, you define how you’ll achieve your goal and identify why you are working toward it. An example of a goal that is not “SMART” would be “I want to lose weight”. An example of a SMART goal would be “I want to lose 15 pounds in 4 months while working with a personal trainer and dietitian”.

2. Start Small

When setting goals, you want to be realistic and honest with yourself. Start with a goal that is easy to achieve in a short amount of time. This will help you gain a sense of accomplishment. You can also break up goals into short term and long term goals. If your goal is to lose 15 pounds in 4 months, you may want to break that down into separate goals for each month.

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3. Make A List (And Check It Often)

Writing down your specific plan on how you will obtain and achieve your goals makes them tangible. Checking back on your goals and resolutions will help you keep on track to meet them.

4. Find A Source Of Accountability

By sharing your goals and resolutions with others, it will help keep you focused on meeting them. Find a friend or family member to help keep you accountable and support you through the process. By working with a personal trainer and dietitian, they can provide not only education, but accountability and support to keep you on track.

5. Don’t Beat Yourself Up And Celebrate Your Success!

Confidence grows with each goal you achieve. A broken resolution isn’t a failed one until you quit. As long as you keep working toward your SMART goal, you can still achieve it.

One of the biggest reasons people “fail” on their New Year’s resolutions is because they give up after one setback. Keep your head up, focus on consistency and stay positive! Just like you, your health is one of a kind! What works for another person may not work for you, so don’t compare your goals or success to anyone else.

Related: What’s the deal with Intermittent Fasting? Find out the scoop from a Registered Dietitian

Post written by FFC Registered Dietitian Chelsea Rice.