Mar 23, 2023 | Blog Posts, Podcast
How I found my tribe If you're like me, you love to feel inspired. You want to reflect on your life and feel you've made a difference. I recently chatted with a long-time friend (Sports science academic, Public speaker and PT genius), Nikki Ellis, on her 'Find your...
Oct 28, 2022 | Blog Posts
Have you ever really asked yourself why you teach group fitness? Why did you decide that this would be the career (or part-time pursuit) that you would follow over so many other options? This article published on the Network magazine. Often people will express...
Jul 17, 2022 | Blog Posts, Gymstick Articles
It's hard to let go of something that once worked for us, but it's even harder when we're not seeing the results we want. The biggest challenge One of the hardest things for a lot of people to do is admit that their favourite workout is no longer working for them. In...
Jul 11, 2022 | Blog Posts, Gymstick Articles
Keeping it Simple We've all heard the saying, "keep it simple, stupid." But as humans, we seem to be hardwired to look for complexity. So we are suspicious of things that are too simple – how can it possibly be effective? Fitness trainers tend to overcomplicate...
Jun 14, 2022 | Blog Posts
Tips on how to stay motivated with exercise. Have you ever started doing something and had the best intentions only to lose motivation and give up halfway through? Maybe you started a new exercise program and quit after a few weeks (or days). All along, you know that...
May 23, 2022 | Blog Posts
Wow! It’s really possible to make a career from teaching group fitness classes. Absolutely, it is. You can earn money and help people become fitter and healthier too. There are many opportunities to teach group fitness classes. If you have a personal passion for it,...
Apr 19, 2022 | Blog Posts
Teaching is a profession that is full of surprises. As instructors, we know that the best way to prepare for the unexpected is to go in with as much knowledge as possible. It's one of the reasons why you're probably reading this now. Ways to improve your teaching...
Mar 14, 2022 | Blog Posts
I have been in the industry for a long time, and I know how scary it is to start teaching group fitness classes! The fear comes from so many places and takes many forms. Some people are afraid they will be uncomfortable, some are afraid that they don’t have the...
Feb 17, 2022 | Blog Posts
Teaching a group fitness class can be an incredibly empowering and gratifying experience. It can also be challenging, daunting and downright terrifying. There’s always a little voice in the back of your mind telling you that you don’t know enough to teach a class, or...
Jan 13, 2022 | Blog Posts
mSwing is not an aerobics class. It's about learning to move your body in a way that will integrate into your life for the rest of your days. It's fun and it can be done by anyone and everyone. Why? Because since the beginning of time people have been swinging things...
Dec 27, 2021 | Blog Posts
When a comment on a social media post mentioned the name of a fitness industry colleague that I hadn’t thought about for a long time, it brought the power of the word ‘learn’ vividly to mind. Meredith King was my aqua coordinator at the Ivanhoe Aquatic Centre in the...
Dec 15, 2021 | Blog Posts
When we learn something new, we open the door to opportunity. To grow in this industry, you must keep continual learning at the core of everything you do, writes industry educator and group fitness guru Marietta Mehanni. When a comment on one of my recent social media...
Oct 17, 2021 | Blog Posts, Gymstick
The Gymstick is a very portable, easy to use fitness tool that enables you to do all the resistance exercises you can do in a gym and so much more. Costing less than gym membership, and taking up no space, it comes as a two-piece fiberglass stick with easy quick...
Oct 14, 2021 | Blog Posts, Gymstick
A stick and a couple of rubber bands took me by surprise when I first used the Gymstick in 2006. Having been in the fitness industry for 15 years by then, I thought I had seen everything and there was no doubt that I had a little more arrogance about exercise than I...
Oct 14, 2021 | Blog Posts
This blog was written by Carol Syer. In my 30+ years in the fitness Industry, I have seen it continue to grow and mature, we have become more aware and more inclusive. We have become more educated and with that knowledge we are becoming more welcoming for People with...
Aug 5, 2021 | Blog Posts
I have always enjoyed passing on things that I have learnt. I’m sort of hardwired for it. I remember, as child in school, that I would often help other students with understanding homework, and provide assistance during recess and lunchtimes in the school library. It...
Jun 29, 2021 | Blog Posts
You see some interesting trends and fads come and go when you’ve been a group fitness instructor for over 30 years. I remember when I first saw the step in 1991 and thought, ‘What’s this rubbish? You cannot make this interesting enough for a whole class.’ But here I...
Jun 6, 2021 | Blog Posts
Do you love being part of a group exercise experience, moving to music and setting your heart rate and happiness levels soaring? Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be on stage leading a class? You know that feeling when you’ve been inspired by an...
Apr 2, 2021 | Blog Posts, Muscle Conditioning, Technique, Workshop
For the last 15 years, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) have conducted surveys with thousands of professionals around the world, to determine health and fitness trends for the following year. The survey for 2021 had a 40% increase in responses and for...
Feb 28, 2021 | Blog Posts
From a young age at school, I enjoyed helping other children struggling with schoolwork. It was a way that I felt accepted. However, growing up in a community with little ethnic diversity, I didn’t really fit in. My parents were not comfortable with me having more...
Jan 18, 2021 | Blog Posts
Changes to the way we operate during lockdown have exposed many fitness professionals to social media-induced self-doubt. You’re worth so much more than fleeting clicks, writes group fitness guru Marietta Mehanni. Body image. It must be one of the most talked about...
Jan 5, 2021 | Blog Posts, Gymstick, Gymstick Articles
Resistance bands were not my thing I was first introduced to resistance bands early in my teaching career in the 1990s. This long piece of elastic was recommended as a portable and effective form of resistance training. Having only used weights for resistance...
Nov 12, 2020 | Blog Posts
Take care of yourself - no one else will do a better job. For the majority of people on this planet, the world went sideways in 2020. The new normal became a concept and words like pivoting and virtual became popular business words. Even words like lockdown, which in...
Sep 7, 2020 | Blog Posts, Instructor Issues
Let’s talk about an elephant in the room. The big one with its backside in your face. The one that you can’t miss, but trying to avoid looking at. GROUP EXERCISE INSTRUCTOR MENTAL HEALTH It is an interesting conundrum because as an instructor, you are not physically...
Aug 18, 2020 | Blog Posts
The Covid-19 pandemic has been the only global conversation in 2020 and the big question constantly being asked is have you pivoted? If you are in the group fitness industry, your gym most likely has closed or has reopened with a limited timetable. As Covid-19...
Aug 7, 2020 | Blog Posts
‘The best way to predict the future is to create it' a quote by Peter Drucker, whom is one of the best-known and most widely influential thinkers and writers on the subject of management theory and practice. His quote is something that struck a powerful chord with me...
Jun 8, 2020 | Blog Posts
‘Ah ha, I think I’ve got it right now!’ I say as I step off my chair, having positioned the phone way up on the top shelf in my kitchen. ‘No... it’s on an angle’ and I get back up on the chair, then on to the kitchen bench to realign the phone. This has been my daily...
Apr 10, 2020 | Blog Posts, Speech from the boss
I received an email asking what my secret is to maintaining positivity and showing up on Facebook daily. So, I'm going to share my answer with you all. I feel that mental health is very similar to physical health. If we think about physical health, we ensure that our...
Apr 8, 2020 | Blog Posts, Staff Training
You may have already heard this word, but if you haven’t, I predict that this word will become the 2020 buzz word. Have you pivoted? How did you pivot? What was your pivoting strategy? Well, what does all of this mean? Pivoting is a word often used to describe when...
Mar 3, 2020 | Blog Posts, Instructor Issues
Dear Marietta, Just wanted you to know that your attendance numbers have been lower than expected, and your class has been red flagged. What!?  Being red flagged The concept of being red flagged was introduced to the group fitness industry in the late 1990’s...
Mar 23, 2023
How I found my tribe If you're like me, you love...
Oct 28, 2022
Have you ever really asked yourself why you...
Jul 17, 2022
It's hard to let go of something that once...