Shannon Fable, 2013 IDEA and 2006 ACE Instructor of the Year, is a sought-after speaker, author, and thought leader in business development and strategic innovation. She has spent more than two decades helping impressive brands such as Anytime Fitness, Schwinn®, Power Systems, ACE, Silver Sneakers, FIT4MOM and BOSU®. Fable served as Chair of the ACE Board of Directors, co-founded GroupEx PRO®, a cloud-based group fitness management tool, and is the Director of Content & Production Strategy for Intelivideo. As a certified Book Yourself Solid® Business Coach, she helps fit pros navigate the industry and make more money.

*Trigger warning: disordered eating, bulimia

Show notes

From ballet to cheerleading (and why dancing and cheerleading never felt like “fitness”)
Cheering for the University of Florida in college
Shannon’s journey from disordered eating and excessive exercise to finding joy in movement
Shannon’s cheer teammate dying of bulimia
Infertility
Disordered exercise
Being on bedrest for over two months during pregnancy
The moment Shannon realized she needed to change the way she cued her group fitness classes
The toxic group fitness class cues that instructors should never use (and what we should say instead)
Trying to raise a daughter with healthy body image
House rules: Food is not labeled as good or bad
Being mindful about conversations around food and body image with her daughter
How Zoom has made us more self-conscious about our appearances since the pandemic started
How gymnastics and dance can lead to an unattainable pursuit of perfection (and how it feels to have her daughter in gymnastics)
Why fitness instructors need to acknowledge that each participant shows up to class with their own motivation and why it’s important not to make assumptions
Why we need to get rid of group fitness classes with names like “buns and guns.”

Quotes

“Fitness has always been a joy. It’s never been a chore” -SF

“I had been teaching [group fitness] from a place of baggage that many women have.” -SF

“The words we use as group fitness instructors are very powerful.” -SF

“Now I’m concerned about what I’m passing on to my kid, not my classes.” -SF

“The minute that I had awareness that my baggage was on display [as a group fitness instructor] with a microphone, I got really conscientious about what I was saying” -SF

“We need to stop having classes with names like ‘Turkey Burn.’ Just eat.” -SF

“You need to figure out what your baggage is before you start teaching classes” -SF

“Sometimes you just ride the damn bike” -SF

“To me fitness equals movement and falling in love with what your body is capable of versus judging it for what it can’t do… It’s about appreciating your body” -SF