What do I need to know about different types of group fitness classes?

Well, for the test the answer would be ‘not a lot’. For your professional career, however, that can vary. The ACE Group Fitness Instructor Certification Exam focuses on the learning the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to teach safe and effective group fitness, regardless of the type of modality. These knowledge and skill areas include:

• Anatomy
• Kinesiology
• Exercise Physiology
• Instructional Techniques
• Class Design
• Cueing
• Injury Prevention

All of these topics can be applied to any group fitness modality you wish to teach, from Pilates to step aerobics. The intention is that your ACE Group Fitness Instructor Certification lays the foundation of your professional growth. Once you have that foundation laid, you build upon it with continuing education – workshops or distance learning – in areas or modalities you are most interested in teaching.

Skills such as class design and cueing often require practice to perfect. And although the fundamentals will stay the same, the type of cueing you use for yoga may be different than the cueing utilized in a boot camp type class. This is where your continuing education and experience come into play. Your continuing education courses or workshops can focus much more intently on your modality of interest.  

Appendix D of your ACE Group Fitness Instructor Manual has more information about different modalities/specialties that may provide direction for your future studies. If you don’t already know the types of group fitness you might want to teach, that would be a great place to start.

Questions? Contact an ACE Education Consultant at 1-888-825-3636 x782