Good Things Come To Those Who Move Their Frame!
If you’ve been keeping up-to-date with my stories on IG (I’ve also created a highlight for ease) you’ll know that I had the pleasure of attending the Frame Fitness Teaching Training Course!
The appeal behind giving the course a try was for a number of reasons, firstly, health and fitness is a huge passion of mine. As is my love for helping others become happy and confident in themselves and their abilities. I’ve always had a desire to make it more than a hobby, and I’m hoping that by doing this course, I’ll be able to turn into something more.
A lot of my friends are now qualified PT’s and whilst they were revising I found myself wanting to get involved with it all. I’ve always been fascinated by the human body so learning about muscle groups, heart rate zones and energy systems confirmed my clear enthusiasm for it.
I’ve thought about doing a PT course, however I feel as though I want to gain a bit more of a knowledge base before doing so – and FTT provided the perfect opportunity for doing so.
More and more recently, I’ve found that people are reaching out about training tips and exercise ideas, and even though I feel as though I know what I’m doing, I find myself being particularly cautious because of not being qualified and would therefore hate to give incorrect information that could result in injury or worse!
About FTT.
Since 2009, the Frame studios have been on a mission to offer an alternative method of keeping fit, staying active and finding innovative ways to make fitness fun, inclusive of every body. The FTT course specifically aims to revolutionise the way in which Group Exercise is taught.
The course has been designed to meet the needs and demands of boutique studios, and the gym sector as a whole, with the intention of improving quality and standards in fitness instructing. The course goes above and beyond any of the current group exercise courses ensuring that there is an emphasis on assisting, adjusting, communication skills and developing the emotional intelligence of the instructors.
Frame really care about the quality of exercise class instructing; from the technical aspect to the choreography, the music and how to ‘entertain’ your class and we feel like we’re in the best position with our experience to raise the standard of instructing across the industry. It’s about bringing a fun ethos to classes but also knowing that your instructors are fully competent, qualified and enthused about teaching.
Why FTT?
Most teacher training courses have the same syllabus that has to be taught and this is the case at Frame. However, the different ways in which this is delivered really stood out to me. They incorporate as much of a practical element as possible meaning that when it comes to taking your assessments and trying to understand the theory, it becomes easier to understand. I’ve also been lucky enough to have previously tried a couple of the different locations across London and had such amazing experiences with classes and staff that I knew I’d be in safe hands!
The majority of the theory is also online. Online learning means that you can easily fit it in around a 9-5 job, so if fitness is a side hustle, it can still work for you. You can do it in your own time, and familiarise yourself with the anatomy, physiology and everything else when works for you.
This particular course that I’ve been doing has been spread across 4 weekends (2x Saturdays and 2x Sundays) in London. Being based in Bath, if this course was full-time it would have also meant that I wouldn’t have been able to attend – just another reason as to why it was so appealing.
Is the course accredited?
YES. It’s accredited by YMCA Awards and after completing the course, you’ll be able to design and deliver effective group exercise classes to music. Route 1 will gain a Frame CPD certificate endorsed by the YMCA.
What does it cover?
There are 2 routes. I’m doing Route 1, but I’ve also listed what route 2 covers for reference!
Route 1.
In-depth knowledge and skills development to safely deliver, fun and engaging group exercise courses and includes the following modules…
- Health & Safety
- Teaching Methodologies
- Progressions and Adaptations
- Dealing with Injuries
- Identifying Customer Needs and Motivations
It also gives learners insight into the Frame studio concept and students are able to experience its hugely popular classes and learn from some of their fab instructors.
Route 2.
Full Level 2 Qualification YMCA Certificate in Group Exercise to Music (more details can be found here).
THOUGHTS.
Week 1.
Wow. What a start. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in an educational situation so 8 hours was a long but brilliant day. It began with an informal introduction to our teachers and an ice-breaker with the girls on our course. Everyone was SO friendly! I was quite apprehensive as I’m not the most confident in large groups, but after 5 or so minutes, all nerves were gone!
Our lovely teacher Jenny took us through a workout that included elements of boxing, HIIT and dance aerobics.
Now as someone who has 2 left feet, I’ll admit this made me weary that the course would require a dancers background. It doesn’t I promise!! You get to decide what you want to teach and how you want to execute it. There are some dancers on the course but they assured me their routines would be simple.
Following this, we dissected the workout. Picking the warm-up apart. Why are warm ups important, what the purpose is. Relating all of this back to the theory. Pairing practical with theory really made it stick and questions that you had about the why’s were easily backed up with evidence. (I’m a real geek at heart and like to know what I’m doing and why I’m doing it!)
After a short break, we were straight back in but this time looking at the importance of music. Why music is crucial, how it makes you feel and how to teach to music. Lots of counting, stepping and trying it out for ourselves.
By the end of the first day, we had all successfully practiced and written our own warm-ups, taught in small groups and danced to Whitney Houston.
It’s face paced, but so rewarding. I felt 10 times more confident than I did when I first entered the studio and was raring for Week 2.
Week 2.
Nerve rating: 8/10.
I’m about to teach the first element of my planned workout to the class, so obviously I’m nervous. But I decided to channel those nervy vibes into #goodvibes and go with it.
Before that, we looked at the theory and written work.
We talked about health and safety, good instructor form – how to professionally start and end a class; why it’s so important to give demonstrations, progressions/ regressions and alterations before moving on to muscle groups.
As I mentioned before, the Frame course is different in that it isn’t hours of sitting and learning in a classroom. It’s been designed to carefully intertwine the elements. For example, when learning about the different muscle groups, we paired it with MSE (Muscular Strength and Endurance). That way, you’re putting into practice how and why you might perform a particular exercise or movement.
I’m one of those (annoying) people who likes to know the reason behind doing something so this was something I found particularly useful and enjoyable.
We practiced all types of MSE – endurance, hypertrophy, & strength by actually doing the exercise ourselves…AKA – we also got to workout!
It all starts to click in your head when you really begin to think about and know the ‘whys’ behind everything. Talking through the different energy systems in the body e.g. anaerobic vs. aerobic and why it is so important to structure your classes to ensure you work through both.
I left Day 2 feeling like a pro.
Week 3.
Probably the week I was most excited for, as our main focus was pre/post-natal and special populations.
There’s a lot of information out there about training and exercising whilst pregnant. Half of it says stay clear, while the other half says do it – making it pretty much impossible to know which side to trust.
Good news is, its 100% safe to do so, and I think I can vouch for all the girls on the course when I say this, but I think we’d all now feel comfortable taking a class that might have pregnant participants.
This part was more theoretical than practical, but it was so interesting and actually one of my favourite parts of the whole 4-weeks.
The Frame mantra is to ensure exercise is safe, effective, fun and accessible for everyone and including this element in the syllabus confirmed that.
Week 3 ended with assessment practice. It’s important to note that we were set ‘homework’ after every week, which was to plan, write and prepare for Week 4 – Assessment Week.
Assessment Deets.
Our assessment had to include the following components…
- Warm Up/ Mobility/ Pulse Raiser
- Dynamic Stretches
- Main CV Element
- MSE – Muscular Strength Endurance Section
- Cool Down
- Flexibility/ Stretching
All to music.
I was quite apprehensive about this because I was struggling with finding the beat and sticking to an aerobic style workout (numbers in general are not my forte!) but we could use music to enhance and compliment the workout.
For example, I chose to teach a Tabata style CV workout. So, I had to ensure that the music was up-beat, uplifting and fast paced. Other girls on the course did plan and teach to music, so it was really great to have the flexibility to do both.
Week 4.
Nerve rating: 9.5/10
Assessment Day. I honestly can’t believe how quickly the final week came around! All the hard work, planning and prepping for our class workout is here. If you asked me on Week 1 if I’d be ready to teach, I’d have 100% said no. But, after lots of learning, lots of practicing and most importantly lots of fun, I think we were all ready.
For one last time, nerves were high, but I really wanted to channel that energy into adrenaline and enjoy it. After all, nerves are good – it shows you care!
We were divided into 2 groups, then assessed by Jenny and another Frame instructor. Teaching to 6 is a lot easier than to 12! It went by so quickly – each teaching for roughly 25-30 minutes and being assessed whilst doing so.
And…I am beyond happy to say that…
WE ALL PASSED!!!
Every single one of us!! It was such a special and rewarding moment knowing that all our hard work, efforts and determination paid off!
The girls on the course were so lovely and it was so great to be able to celebrate collectively.
AFTER-THOUGHTS.
Upon finishing the teacher training, I really have realised that my passions and interests do lie within the health and fitness world. I’m so invested in it and find it so rewarding, so being able to share this with others would truly be amazing.
I’m still finding my feet when it comes to which particular area I’d like to specialise in, but completing this course has given me so much more confidence to actually pursue it.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I’d love to do YTT. I’m also toying with the idea of spinning as it’s always been one of my favourite classes to take part in, but who knows? Maybe 2019 will enable both!
Thank you again to the wonderful staff, teachers and trainers at Frame for allowing me to be part of this incredible course.
They’re doing another intake in 2019 and you can find out more information here!
Alternatively, please feel free to send me an email or a message on Instagram. I’d love to answer any questions or queries you might have and remember…
‘Good things come to those who move their Frame!!’
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