Becoming a Fitness Professional

What is Fitness Motivators looking for in an Instructor:

Someone who works hard and has a goal in life.

Someone who loves to help people...caring and fun... Bubbly and has a great sense of humor... outgoing... fun to be around and NOT a "Diva".

Someone who is not "a know-it-all". We work as a team and learn from each other.

One who is willing to learn and not quit.

Someone who can take on something and take it to the best of their ability.

Someone who is willing to learn our Z-Box Fitness program and willing to take it to the next level. This program is going nationwide.

You will go through training and attend as many classes as you can (This is free to you). You will not receive pay until you are a nationally certified Instructor and after our training.

Since we are not in charge of the Zumba Fitness workshops and if our Instructors attend and pay for the Zumba Fitness workshop on their own, we pay the Instructors for the Zumba classes that they teach. However, 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 will have to go through our training.

We are dedicated to helping our community. We love to help and motivate people achieve their goals. Please check out a few events that we participating in, by clicking here.

Our team is a special team. We are all very close... We are family. Family is very important to us. All of us have very busy lives too. We have full time jobs and teach fitness. Please visit our profile (under the Instructors Link) and get to know us. We are a very small company. We take pride in selecting Instructors that we think will do well with the team.

We are not looking to fill hundreds of classrooms in every city like most fitness companies try to do. In fact, we have turned away numerous requests because of how selective we are. We believe in quality and not quantity.

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.

Side Note: It may look easy to teach a fitness class. However, once you are up there facing the students, it is a completely different ballgame! I can assure you that 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. We have trained a few people interested in teaching only to have them quit half way through the training process because they did not realize how much effort and work there is becoming a Fitness Instructor. We truly need someone who has the time and the interest to becoming a quality Fitness Instructor.
If you like what you have read so far... please read on!
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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.

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.

I highly suggest that you do not go through FiTour for your main certification. FiTour offers continuing education credits and it is inexpensive, but they are not recognized as one of the top fitness educators like AFAA and ACE are.

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 you.

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.

Donna and I have been in the fitness field for over 31 years. We love this field because we have the desire to motivate and help others. You will hear success stories because of your involvement in your clients’ lives or hear the benefits your clients/students will have in their everyday life, because of you...one way or another!

We have our own fitness cable show, had our share of media attention throughout the years, and many events involvement, but we feel our main success comes from hearing the wonderful stories from our clients!

If you have the desire to help others in fitness...What are you waiting for?

In Better Health & Fitness,
Debbie

lim761@gmail.com
or
donna@fitnessmotivators.com

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Updated January, 2011

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 after attending a workshop. Those that attend a Zumba® workshop are ONLY authorized 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 a 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. Please read an email that I received 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 Wareham MA, [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,

I replied in detail to this person. I have received MANY emails like the one above.

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. I feel (remember, this is my personal view) this could cause some injury to the participate and the overall experience to the participate could become negative. 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 has 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!

I cannot tell you how many times I hear from people who had taken a Zumba class to only be upset with the Instructor... "because of how they taught... how unorganized and horrible the experience was.... the Instructor stopped at each song, etc". So please, if you plan to teach Zumba, get your group certification first and gain the experience of a class setting before you teach your first class!

It may look easy up in front, but I assure you, 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!

With that being said, for the Participate... Please be sure to check the Instructor's qualifications before signing up for any Zumba Fitness class (or for any other class for that matter). 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. For more information on the integrity of Zumba or Zumba classes, click here

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