Yes You Can

The Coaching Skill No One Talks About (But Every Instructor Needs)

• Hannah Pratt

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In this episode, Hannah pulls back the curtain on one of the most overlooked skills in group fitness: how to coach different types of learners in the room. Drawing from her dual career as an indoor cycling coach and a college instructor, she explains why some cues land instantly—and why others don’t.

You’ll learn:

  • Why coaching is more than cueing choreography
  • How different learners absorb effort, challenge, and instruction
  • The simple shifts that create more connected, confident, in-sync rooms
  • Why numbers alone aren’t enough (and what to do instead)
  • How expectations build trust and eliminate effort-rationing

She also shares how this approach strengthens community, improves retention, and helps every rider—from first-time guests to 1,700-ride veterans—feel seen, supported, and successful.

Want to level up your coaching abilities? The Black Friday Sale is HERE for all Instructor Magic courses, including 1:1 coaching! Get up to 40% off online education with lifetime access in the Instructor Magic Academy and suite of courses for instructors who want to level up, fill classes, and change lives.


SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to the Yes You Can Podcast, a soft place to land for fit pros and aspiring entrepreneurs looking for a motivational cheerleader who's been through it all and believes your best life is about being brave and tapping into your magic. Hi, I'm Hannah Pratt, an online coach and vulnerability queen. I'm here ready to share my experiences through grief, life, and finding my place on the podium to help you level up. So grab a latte and a notebook and get ready to be inspired through the Yes You Can podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

Hello, friends. Welcome to another episode of Yes You Can. I'm always excited to chat with you, but definitely excited now because it's been a f it's been a minute. It's been a minute. And what I love about podcasting is that it's longer form. I usually feel inspired even if I'm not excited about posting on social or like the algorithm, which honestly is a lot. It's a lot to be a content creator and feel like you've posted about things for so long. And honestly reminding myself that a lot of you don't know the content I posted in 2021 when I first started launching Instructor Magic and this community and this podcast really in a more intentional way. You don't see those posts. So I've started to bring them back and redo them, um, just update them a little bit and sometimes even flat out repost because it is. I have to remember that you all don't know everything I've ever done. You're not that interested in me as a creator all the time and every single piece of content. So I'm bringing back some concepts that I've spoken about in different ways because I think they're important and they're really valuable. Um, right now I'm actually teaching coaching and training to different studios and their instructors of varying levels. Some instructors have been coaches for years, others are brand new. Um, some have been on the podium, some haven't. And it's it's a fun challenge for me to make sure that what I'm delivering can be useful to all of those different levels of experience and tailoring what I can offer to them as an educator, because I don't know everything, but there's certain things that I do know how to do really well, um, to make sure that they're valuable and they're actually actionable and tangible. And so this what I'm bringing to you today, talking about coaching is something that's inside instructor magic. Definitely what we're talking about today and how we're going to be speaking about it is not the same level. So if you don't know what instructor magic is, a reminder, it's my six-week online course. I've been running it um since 2021. There's thousands of people who've gone through my webinars and hundreds who are inside instructive magic because you also get lifetime access. So it takes around six weeks to go through. Um, there's more than 80 video lessons, there's templates, there's playlists, there's a community of people who lean on each other and ask each other for support and questions. There's studio owners in there, there's aspiring instructors and current instructors. And so when I draw from my curriculum for episodes like this, of course I'm gonna give you what I can in a 20-minute podcast. But if you want to dive into getting two-way feedback or feedback from me, uh, if you want to have access to me for questions, if you want to send me videos, if you want a full strategic curriculum, that is what you should be doing, is enrolling inside instruct magic. And I'm gonna be very unapologetic about saying I think it's it's the best online course for sure, um, in terms of indoor cycling or group fitness, especially around professional development. So today we're talking about coaching. Now, I th I don't see anybody else posting about this type of stuff. And it's probably because I don't know many indoor cycling coaches or instructors who are also teachers in a classroom. I have learned so much since becoming a college instructor, aka a professor, we just don't call them that. And learning about how people absorb information differently. I have classes of 20, 25 adults who absorb information differently, who learn differently, who are sometimes neurodivergent, who are sometimes disabled. And the way I communicate information, concepts, theories, strategies, even assignments is so challenged by the diversity in the best way of how people are so different. I transparently would have thought that slides and videos and and a step-by-step instruction guide would be exactly what everybody would need, but it turns out that's not true. And so sometimes when I adjust myself in terms of how I teach, I learn a better strategy, a better way of doing things because I'm learning from somebody who thinks differently than I do. I bring that exact same theory or experience, if you will, into how I coach in indoor cycling studios. Now, this leads into coaching. So coaching is the stuff that is on top of cueing choreography. Coaching is not about putting together a playlist, it is not about motivation, although it's a it's a really great sort of partner in motivation. It's accelerating how somebody can take in what you're asking and understand the challenge and how they can rise to it. So when I like the first level of coaching is cueing in a sequence. Four, three, two, one is usually how we recommend doing that. Some people do the three, two, one. Music is an eight counts. So when you when you cut something in half, four, three, two, one makes the most sense first than then withholding the the four and not saying it and just saying three, two, one. Unless you're doing a waltz, right? Which isn't a three-count sequence. It's a one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three. But usually a song is one, two, one, two, or one, two, one, two, one, two, or one, two, one, two, right. So we're whatever the BPM, it is in an eight count sequence of of music. So that's why we have 16 sound count sequences for choreography, 32, you're just sort of like multiplying the eight. Um, and so the first level of coaching is is cueing in choreography, cueing in sequence, cueing in effort in some way alongside a music track. The second level, and I'll just sort of instead of like saying second, third, left, fourth level, because we don't have time for all of that, is actually going beyond that and cueing not just the choreography or the challenge or whatever it is, but really speaking to the different types of learners in your room. So when I think about the different types, I I usually categorize them into three. One is visual learners who love imagery, who love a story or a metaphor, who love to see you do something, and they they see, they, they learn by seeing that or visualizing it in their mind. So when you say climb, that is kind of a neutral term almost. Everybody would assume that means to get up out of the saddle and have some level of resistance on. But when you start to go into things like climb, as if you are ascending the steepest mountain you have ever seen, that indicates a higher level of resistance is needed than if they're just sort of going along in a slot, a small incline. So just by giving those visual learners in the room a metaphor, a vision of a mountain, you are implying a level of resistance without needing to say two to three turns. I'll just say it like as a side tangent. When somebody says two to three turns, it's kind of meaningless because everybody starts with different resistance, even if you tell them exactly what to start with. So there's going to be people who've been there for 1700 rides who are going to start at a higher level of resistance, right? So if you're only using numbers to indicate amounts of turns, you're not actually speaking in a way that is that is impactful because it's kind of meaningless. It's like it's like assuming everybody's at the same spot and they're not. They're not going to be. So we'll get into numbers in a second, but visual learners are ones who who can who imagine images in their mind and then things make sense to them. Metaphors are fantastic, stories. So what a lot of people will say is like climbing through mud or sand or something like that. You can be more creative with that. And I have a lot of tips inside instructor magic, but those are easier ones to uh to think about, especially if a climb. But the steepest mountain you've ever, you've ever climbed. So visual learners love to see you demo something. So when you're doing choreography, you're gonna want to show them first, is one of my biggest recommendations if you have a ton of different people in the room, different levels, is two pumps. And I'm like, so I'm demonstrating this. Obviously, you can't see me. But if I'm queuing choreography, I'll go, looks like this two pumps, two tapbacks, two slow dips. Let's go right here. And then immediately we're into it. And so even just seeing that quick little demo gets them more on top and more sharp in terms of responding to your cue. The reason that that's this is important is all of this coaching leads to your room being more sticky, more together, more in tandem, more in sync. And that's where magic happens, when group fitness feels like you are on a team and everybody is together. So it's not a bad thing if somebody doesn't get it right away, but it certainly takes away from their confidence, which is something that we want to continue to build. So, visual learners, let's demo it. Quick demo, let's give them a metaphor, let's give them an image. Now, if we're to say to you, um they have a seated race for three minutes, this is a time when maybe you describe an open highway with the sun shining on them, the wind at their back, they have complete stability in the saddle. Their feet are slightly tucked forward, and you can feel like the momentum going when they hit down on that lead leg. Um, so we're talking about like sort of zooming around a hillside or something like that, right? Now, physiological learners are are the ones that I most attribute to being like former athletes. I am somewhat between two of these. And to be clear, you don't have to be just one, right? You can be different, different types of uh learners on a different day. But physiological learners can probably get the audio instructions. Audio instructions are really hard for people with ADHD, by the way. Really, really, really hard. Um, but physiological learners, body learners are like your former athletes who once they feel something and they see themselves do it in the mirror and they know that it's right, they know the feeling in their body. And then they get whatever it is that you're saying. So they might, you know, understand the mountain stuff and that's whatever, but it's not really like laser focusing in on them fully mastering whatever it is you're saying. So that's when you bring in the physiological um body science, that sort of stuff that really helps them understand. So when you're saying dropping your elbows, um, allow your chest to fall, push up with your triceps. And you're you're literally describing things in a different way. So allowing your chest to fall versus maybe giving like a pardon my language, half-assed like dip, whether out of the saddle or in the saddle, really allowing your body weight, or if you want them to control it, I want you to control down for four, up for one, down for four or up for one, or down for three, up for one, whatever the count is. So down, two, three, up, down, two, three, up. And you can start to describe how it should feel. So the tension, the you're gonna feel like your triceps are on right now and um going more into whatever it is that you're cueing. So if it's a if it's a single arm dip, maybe you're describing how it should feel in their obliques, and that as they squeeze in, their elbow drops. As they squeeze in their obliques, their elbow drops. And so this is giving you more stuff to say on the microphone, which is sort of the the the hook of this whole episode. Is if you feel like you were saying a lot of surface level, vague cues that is the same stuff so strong. Keep it going. Yes, you can even push, go, grind it out. Like all this stuff is great, but it's not really coaching. It is sort of the sideline parent who's watching their kid do a soccer game. You're not giving the coaching that a coach would give them, right? So we've got our physiological learners, the people who love to understand how it should feel in their body. Lungs should be burning. Your legs are gonna feel heavy, you're going to be out of breath. I need you to take a deep breath in through your nose, out through your mouth. Even this could be cued more efficiently. I need you to fill up your entire chest cavity as big as you can get those ribs, expanding, take a huge breath, and then exhale after holding it for four seconds, and you're gonna hear yourself. That is so specific and so much more effective than simply saying, take a deep breath in. Now, my analytical learners, these are the folks who love their metrics, they love to know how they're doing in a ride. They probably close their rings, they might have an Apple Watch. They are the folks who love to know the plan, who love to know by numbers where they're at in terms of success or where how they're measuring up, if you will. And they prefer numbers in terms of describing an effort. So if I'm describing an effort to the visual learners, we talked about a mountain climb, right? A really, really steep, the steepest mountain you've ever climbed. The the challenge needs to grow as we progress towards the end of this track. You need to add more on because you are about to reach the top. Physiological body learners, you're gonna be dropping your heel and feeling that challenge in your quads as you climb up. Your legs are gonna be feeling, you know, it describing how it should feel in their body, shoulders and hips moving as one, all of those sorts of things. And then your analytical learners are gonna want to know on a fullier about how two turns is sort of meaningless, three turns is sort of meaningless, um, because everybody's starting from a different spot. So if somebody has no resistance on the dial, asking them to give turn three turns is really just getting them into actual basic work, not any real challenge. So for an analytical metric-based learner, let's talk about that and how they could um understand the effort. This is where you can use things like this. Should feel like an eight out of 10, 80% of your max effort. You should not be able to hold this effort for more than 16 seconds. That is super clear in terms of how much of a challenge it should feel like in their bodies and what should be on the resistance dial. And that's really the sort of key about all of these different learners is it's giving them clear instructions, depending on how they learn in their own way of understanding information, what should be on the dial instead of you cueing at a turn, at a turn. So the analytical learners, the metric learners, they also love to understand how many times they're going to be doing something. And I think this is actually great across all of them. Managing expectations is really, really helpful. So when you're saying 16, uh, you shouldn't be able to hold this challenge for 16 counts. After this, you have one more push. 100% max effort. We are going all the way up that mountain. You are gonna feel gas. You are going to feel like you have nothing left, and that's exactly where you should be. Vault Cycle Club, are you with me? So, really quickly, I went into all three types of learners, and it was almost motivation, not quite, but it was really giving everybody the expectation and getting them on side. Now, this also helps with them not rationing their effort because when you manage expectations, when you tell them what's coming up, and I don't see as many people doing this in rhythm cycling anymore. It used to be like I started riding in literally 2008, 2009. Um, not quite rhythm cycling, but what was offered at our Good Life Fitness. And I loved when when instructors would tell me, okay, we've got three pushes. You don't need to know that they're 32 seconds each or a minute each or whatever. But sometimes when you tell people what's coming up ahead, they then feel like they can trust you more in terms of what they have on their dial, how much effort they're gonna give you, unless um, if you make it a surprise, they're always gonna be holding something back. If somebody gets me to jog out of the saddle and says we're jogging out of the saddle this whole track, my immediate question is how long is this track? Especially if it's like 100 BPM or something like that and quite fast. Um, to me, I want to know how long this is. If it's, and usually I know the track, but sometimes I don't. And if it's six minutes, get me bought into the challenge. Get me like to buy in, to commit to the challenge, to say, we have a six-minute jog ahead of us. Immediately I know that you're thinking, how am I gonna do this? Immediately I know there's people in this room who are questioning whether they're able to finish. I'm gonna answer that for you because every single person in this room will finish. We never leave a single one of you behind. What I'm going to challenge you to do is to hold the jog for three more seconds. Hold the jog three, like a beat longer than it feels comfortable in your body. Hold the jog as if the finish line is right in front of you. Again, visual learner, physiological learner, and numbers learner in three. And I got them all bought into the challenge. So I hope this was really helpful. I know that it will be for a lot of folks because I don't see this happening in a lot of classes, or at least described in this way of the different types of learners. And it's one of the foundational principles inside instructor magic of making your room, no matter if it's somebody's first ride, their 17 to 100th ride, whether there's instructors in the room, everybody feel like they're a part of your roster and your team for that day. And that's what builds passionate communities. When people feel like they've been seen and validated and they understand what you're asking, it's not about creating an exclusive club where people have to earn their way in. Um, but once you start to understand how people absorb information differently and tailoring what you're saying to those people instead of the ones who just think like you, it is the there's a whole world of more effective coaching that comes out of this. If you are interested in joining Instructor Magic, there is a Black Friday sale going on. I know everybody's doing it, but I have a lot of things planned for Instructor Magic. I also have workshops, live workshops coming up. So make sure that you are on my email list. The live workshops will be paid, i.e., there'll be a smaller investment than for say uh Instructor Magic. Everybody who's in inside Instructor Magic will get access to them. And I'm because I am wrapping up um some of my studio training in the next month or so, I will have more spots open for online virtual workshops with studios. If you're interested in uh chatting with me about any of those or doing some professional development with your team, it's my favorite thing. And dare I say it's it's more of my favorite thing than actually leading classes because I love to see people thrive. It's why I'm an educator in a college setting. It's why I teach instructor magic, it's why I teach studios and I love being a part of training groups. If this was helpful, I would love it if you would give me a rating on with your Apple Music or or um Spotify podcast. It really does help. And I would love it if you would share this episode with a friend. You can also DM me and let me know if this was helpful for you. Really, I love to create content like this. I love to revisit stuff I've talked about and see it re-inspire or explain it in a new way, because as I just talked about, everybody learns differently. And I hope that you learned something today. Have a fantastic day, everyone, and we'll see you on the next episode.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks for listening all the way to the end of the SPAN podcast. If you loved this one, I would so appreciate a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts. That lets others know that hey, this is a good podcast and it's worthwhile to listen to. If you really loved it, make sure to share with somebody you love who could benefit from the magic information. Thanks so much, friends, and have a great day.