Tuesday Night Spin

I'm recycling a playlist from 4 weeks ago because I'm lazy. I was going to do a Halloween-themed ride but I don't know... when I'm only ever "playing" to an audience of 4-6 people, I feel like it's a waste of effort. Maybe I'll go check out some others' playlists online and see if I get inspired.

The problem is, I'm still struggling to get people to come back from week to week. I don't know if it's the time - 6:45 PM - or the location, or a combination of both (thanks to Atlanta rush-hour... which is more like a rush-3-hour), but attendance is still inconsistent and I kind of feel silly up there, saying motivational things to such a small class and they're just looking at me like we're the only ones here... just shut up and play your music and then we can all go home.

Well, maybe it's my own head and insecurities that say those things. But I wonder, am I really serving a purpose?

I do know that when I was just taking classes and I carved out a time slot in my schedule for a specific date and time, I was annoyed when the instructor would cancel or have some sub in at the last minute who is normally a Zumba instructor or something and she's just gonna put on her dance tunes and make something up on the fly. No thank you. You all know how I feel about Gaga and Kesha (that's right, it's an "S" people, a dollar sign is not a friggin letter).

So needless to say, I don't want to do that to anyone who does specifically go to the gym on Tuesday evening for a spin class. But I'm not gonna lie - sometimes, especially right after a very low-attendance class, I just want to call out. I figure, they won't miss me much.

I wonder how other instructors have overcome this hurdle? I knew I was facing a challenge when I was told the Tuesday night class had not had a regular instructor for at least a year; that they were planning on doing away with it all together until I showed up asking to take it over. I think one of the issues is that members at this particular location are just locked into their own worlds, unwilling to break out of their usual routines and try something new. I can't tell you how many people I see just walking - no, STROLLING - on the treadmills while watching tv and clacking away at their mobile devices. I want to run over there yelling, "You can walk and talk all you want outside, you're in a GYM now! Get your butt in my class and do a REAL workout!!" But... I'm pretty sure that would get me fired.

Well, if nothing else I guess I should just hop over to amazon.com and check out some tunes to put me in a better mood. Screw everyone else, I am going to have a great class tonight.