While teaching group fitness classes, one of the most important things to be aware of is the safety need of your class participants. However, when teaching public classes, you often do not know the entire class’s limitations prior to creating your class. It’s vital for all group fitness instructors to have a few tricks up their sleeves to make a class acceptable for all students. Regressions are changes that decrease the difficulty of a move, without changing the foundation elements of the actual exercise. Let’s explore how to use the Barre Bands to create regressions.
There are numerous variables that allow the participants to complete the same exercises as the rest of the class, but with minor changes to make the exercise more compatible with their ability. For the purpose of today’s blog, I want to talk about how the Barre Bands can be used as external support and guidance to create proper regressions for your clients and class.
How to Use Barre Bands to Create Regressions
External support and guidance is the usage of an object to help perform the move correctly. For example, we know that pushing away from the floor is the crux of a correct push-up. So let’s allow our clients to wrap the band around the bar and the handles around the arms so that the handles are in the armpits as they perform the push-up. Then tension in the band will assist in bringing the client back to the starting point.
While using the Barre Bands, remember that the length of the band will also influence the regression of the move. The less tension in the band, the less support. For example, the supported squat. Squatting is also a difficult position for some of our clients. They don’t understand how to sit their hips back, and instead bend only their knees, and tend to be fearful of a large range of motion. My solution is the wrap the band around the bar, step away so that there is tension in the band and then have the participant squat so that they can use the band/bar combo as a counterbalance as they lower into a squat. Remember, the more tension, the more support.
As fitness instructors, your goal should be to make your participants feel successful! This is a positive feeling that will encourage member retention. In order to give your participants the best chance of feeling successful, you need to have a solution to their problems. These regressions are great ways to modify an exercise so that everyone in the class can accomplish the movements!
