How to Avoid Instructor Burnout

As fitness instructors, we often find ourselves at one point or another in our career, burned out. Whether you have been teaching for one year, or ten years, it can happen to any of us! But if you want to continue doing what you love, it’s important to know how to spot the burnout and how to prevent it in order to have a long and fulfilling fitness journey. The longevity of an instructor’s career is based upon listening to your body, changing things up and accountability.

1.) Listen to Your Body. Just like what you tell your clients, it’s just as important for you to also listen to your body. Don’t be afraid to find a sub or cancel your class if you are injured or ill. And don’t feel like you have to be sick or injured to take some time off. To avoid burnout and keep your love of fitness and teaching alive, be sure to schedule in vacation days throughout the year. To make the transition to a sub for all involved (you, your class and the person covering your class), it’s beneficial to have potential replacements come and take your class and team teach with you periodically. I try to check-in with my schedule twice a year to see how many classes I am teaching, if it’s sustainable and what classes I might need or want to add or delete.

2.) Change Things Up. If you are starting to feel any sort of dread, resentment or just simply un-inspired, try changing things up! A change of scenery is a great way to trick the brain into thinking you are doing something different! Take your class outside on a beautiful day, or even think about just changing the direction you teach in the group fitness room. Another way you can change things up is try teaching a different format. By taking a training in something other that what you are used to teaching can help inspire you and reignite that flame.

3.) Accountability. As fitness professionals, we know how helpful accountability is for our clients to maintain any fort of fitness program and it’s just as helpful for us instructors! If you are starting to feel burned out, get plugged in to a community of fellow instructors and share your thoughts and concerns. I can guarantee you they have all felt the same way at some point in their careers and will be a great space to bounce ideas off of. Even coaches need to be coached - find a coach who can help guide you along your instructor journey and encourage you on your next steps.

As fitness instructors, we give a lot of ourselves to our classes and clients physically, mentally and emotionally. Just like with any living organism, it’s important that we replenish ourselves so that we can continue to give our best. By making sure that we listen to our bodies, change things up and hold ourselves accountable, we are able to avoid the instructor burnout and keep on keeping on!

If you are a fitness instructor who would like change things up and are interested in barre, join me for our next Barre Instructor Training! Already a Barre Instructor and ready to take your classes to the next level? Our new Raising the Barre Workshop is just for you!

Hope to “see” you at the barre soon!

Cheers,

Heather McCreight