HOW TEACHER TRAINING CHANGED MY PRACTICE AND MY LIFE

By Richie Altmanshofer, exhale’s Marketing Coordinator

I’m a fitness junkie who is lucky enough to work for a national wellbeing brand that offers the highest quality workouts in the industry, created by some of the most respected professionals in the business (I’m looking at you Fred DeVito and Elisabeth Halfpapp). On any day of the week I’m sneaking away from my desk to sweat it out at the barre. It’s become a staple, it keeps me in tip-top shape, and quite simply— I love it.

Now, since I write copy for exhale, and often about our teacher trainings, it only seemed logical that I experience it for myself! (The better to write about you with, my dear.) So I signed up for exhale’s 40-hour Barre Teacher Training. And WOW were my eyes opened.

Research, experiences, evidence, changes, more research, testing things out, more research, experimenting and more research. There are years and years behind the work we do in the classroom. Every second of the 60-minute workout is thought out to the maximum and my level of appreciation went from zero to sixty. Truly understanding the “why” of what we do in class, and just how safe, yet effective our classes are, blew me away. I instantly wanted everyone around me to know that this isn’t just some workout to get six-pack-abs — it’s an insurance plan for a healthy, mobile, strong and flexible body for your whole life! I want my parents in the curl, my friends holding a plank, my boyfriend doing one more rep at the barre, and…well, you get the idea! It feels that much more important.

Another huge takeaway was learning about our positions, alignment and movement. Truly delving into these details has improved my workouts when I’m in the classroom. It’s actually really fun to be “in the know” so to speak, about what we are doing, and how I can be improving my form. It kind of makes me think of the saying, “knowledge is power.” There really is more power once your eyes have been opened to the world of proper positioning and knowing every detail of how it should be done. It intensifies my workout, and streamlines my results. (I mean yeah, I respect the process, but I also want those abs gurl!)

Oh, and then there was the teaching and getting up in front of a room to see if I could guide a group of people through a section of class. Talk about a shocking level of instant respect for my teachers… they make it look so easy! And believe me…it’s not. To fitness teachers everywhere…I tip my hat to you! (But not really because I look terrible in hats. “You can’t have everything,” says my boyfriend.) But I was surprised at how FUN it was! I’d only just met this group of people, (my fellow trainees), but we had this instant bond of “if we’re doing this, we’re doing this together!” It was all smiles and laughter as we traded off teaching sections of class. I really enjoyed it.

So maybe teaching isn’t for me (I’m lucky to be able to say that I love my current job)…and I was so relieved to find that I wasn’t the only non-teacher in there. A lot of barre-lifers were in there right along side me, falling more in love with the workout we thought we knew, and finding out there was SO MUCH more to love.

So all in all, if you’re like me, and you love barre, and you love working out, then I promise you will walk away from our Barre Teacher Training inspired, thankful and ready to keep hitting the barre as long as you live! Or hey, maybe…just maybe…I’ll even see you teaching one day!

Inspired by this story?
Click here to check out exhale’s Barre Teacher Training schedule and for more information.