When testing begins, the entire group will be divided in half, and each person to be tested is assigned a number.  Your group will either first take the written exam while the other group does the practical or vice versa.  When it is time for your group to take the practical, you might be divided into smaller testing groups, depending on the size of your workshop.  Make sure your number is highly visible, like right on your stomach or chest.  I usually wait until the start of the practical to apply the number so that I don’t have issues with the sticker peeling up while I’m moving about.  You may notice the additional proctors who have been brought in to assist with the testing.

WARM UP

Once everyone has their mat and is lined up, the music will start.  A voice will say, “demonstrate exercises appropriate for a warm-up.”  A mad sort of organized chaos ensues.  You, and everyone around you is moving about, doing their own thing, warming up their imaginary class.  It can be distracting and a bit hysterical, so if you are prone to distraction, you should find a way to focus.  I recommend choosing a spot on the wall in front of you, above the heads of anyone in front of you, and imagine that you are teaching your class to that wall spot.  It will help you ignore what is going on around you.  Just be careful not to run into your neighbors. 

The warm up is expected to contain rhythmic limbering movements, movement rehearsal, and static stretches. It helps to have a game plan for your demonstration so that you don’t get lost or blank out.  I recommend that you pick 2-3 movements for each category, memorize and repeat the heck out of them.  The practical is not about showing off your amazing choreography skills.  It is about getting a passing grade, so pick basic, obvious, unassailable movements.  If you aren’t sure if it’s appropriate, leave it out.  Save it for your hard core body conditioning classes.   Here are some examples of movements you can use for your warm up:

Rhythm limbering:

Marches
Step Touches
Grapevine
“Reach and Pull” (Rocking forward and back with a lat pulldown)
Arm Circles

Movement Rehearsal:

Plies
Knee Lifts
Punches
Hamstring Curls
Bob and Weave

Static Stretches:

Cat back with hands on thighs
Standing hamstring Stretch
Calf stretch lunge
Shoulder stretch with one arm reached across the body
Tricep overhead bent arm stretch
Supported Side Bend

 CARDIORESPIRATORY WORKOUT

After three minutes, you are asked to demonstrate exercises appropriate for a cardiorespiratory workout.  You spend the next five minutes leading an imaginary “hi-lo,” kickboxing, or step class.  You are also expected to demonstrate a progression of intensity with your movements.  You accomplish this by adding impact or travelling or arms.  Once again, I recommend keeping it simple and sticking to your game plan.  You are going to see lots of action around you, and it will be easy to get distracted.  Keep your focus and just keep repeating!  I use the following breakdown to plan it out:

Your music will be, give or take, 130 bpm.  You have to teach for 4 minutes, which means you have 135×4 = 540 beats to fill which is 67.5 8-counts or around 17 32-beat stanzas of music to fill. 

If you choose 4 basic movements that have easy progressions to higher intensity movements, you can use a plan like mine.  Here is my example for a Hi-Lo Demonstration.

Move 1:  Step Touch.  Progresses to Lateral Skater Jumps
Move 2:  Step Heel:  Progresses to a combination of Plyo Heel Digs and Double-Time Heel Digs
Move 3:  Side-to-Side Squats:  Progresses to Jumping Jacks.
Move 4:  Grapevine:  Progresses to Lateral Shuffle Steps
Filler Moves:  Marches, Bob and Weave, just about anything from the warm up, except static stretches can be filler
 
Knowing that you have 16 stanzas, give or take you have lots of choices for layering and yes, TONS of repeating.  Remember, it isn’t about showing off.  It’s just about getting it done correctly and gradeably.

32-count phrases:
1:  Step touches
2:  Step heel
3:  Side-to-side squats
4:  Grapevine
5:  16-cts stp touches + 16-cts stp heel
6:  16-counts side squats + 16-cts grapevine
7:  Repeat 5.
8:  Repeat 6.
9:  1 8-ct of each movement
10: Add impact to stept touches and repeat skater jumps for 32 counts
11: 1 8-ct of each movement, using skater jumps instead of step touches
12: Add impact to step heels, by either adding plyo or double timing them, or both in combination
13: 1 8-ct of each movement, using skater jumps and plyo heels
14: Add impact to Squats, either by speeding them up or by progressing jacks or both in combination
15: 1 8-ct of each movement, using the impact movements already added
16: Add impact to Grapevine:  Shuffle for 32 counts
17: 1 8-ct of each movement, all movements intensified
18 and on:  Repeat until time to cool down.  How much time is left will depend on how fast the music was.

Is it boring?  Probably.  Does it work?  Yes.  Should you do it this exact way?  Maybe. But it is better to pick movements that you are comfortable with and know without doubt work for you.  But the concept works because it is an easy-to-remember plan of attack that is hard to mess up.  The game plan works no matter what style you are demonstrating or what movements you choose.   You could also pick completely different impact moves that are high intensity to replace your basic moves instead of progressing, but that’s just more to remember.  Your brain will already be full, so I suggest keeping it as easy as possible.  Also, notice I didn’t add the filler moves to the game plan, so what are they for?  Filler moves are for finding the beat, holding your place if you slip up, and all around saving the day if you lose your place.  Just some backup ideas to have in your pocket.  If you have to resort to your filler move, start over in your progression or pick up where you left off as soon as you get your bearings back.  Don’t panic, and if worse comes to worse, you can always follow what the girl in front of you is doing…. 

Also, you can apply a similar formula to your warm up:  135 bpm x 3 minutes = 405 beats or 51 8-cts or about 13 32-count phrases to spread your moves among.

COOLDOWN

Finally, at minute 7 you are asked to start cool down movements. You have a minute to progress back down to your starting intesity.  One minute equates to 4 32-count phrases, give or take.  Work your way back down to your simpler, starting moves, and even on into moves you used in the warm up.  Either way, they want to see you gradually lower the heart rate, so if you’ve been doing jumping jacks, don’t switch immediately to a cat back.    Cut out the jumping, cut out the travelling, cut out the arms, march it out.  Easy!

 Next time, we’ll discuss the other two sections of the Practical:  Muscle Group Demonstration, and the Individual Presentation.

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You’ve registered, got your CPR certificate, studied your text book, brought your number 2 pencil, a sweatshirt and snacks.  I hope you got plenty of sleep the night before, because you are in for a long day.  You will spend the entire day in a group fitness room or a gymnasium-type room.  You will probably sit on the floor, and if you’re lucky, the facility has enough mats/balls/Bosus to go around.  Bring your own if you are concerned that you might not get one.  That or be sure you arrive early.

The Intro

After check-in, and after all the participants have gathered in the room, the first presenter introduces herself and the team.  Then, s/he gives a rundown of what the day will include and other pertinent information like where the bathrooms are.  They will also provide reassurance that by the time you are tested you will have reviewed everything that will be on the test.  The presenters are there, after all, to help you succeed.  This certainly seemed to be the case.  With the exception of 3 questions, I heard the answers to all 100 questions on the exam at some point during the workshop.  The other three were probably mentioned while I was in my own little world or the bathroom.

The Anatomy Review

After the introductions, the first major section of information is presented.  A presenter talks and points and gestures you through basic anatomy, muscle names, joint actions, and planes of movement.  All of the muscle groups that are asked on the practical and the written exam are discussed.  It helps to have a working knowledge of these areas prior to attending, because they do move quickly through the information.   It takes an hour to an hour and a half to discuss this topic. 

The Group Demonstration Preparation

A (usually) different presenter will now come forward to help you prepare for part one of the practical — the group demonstration.  Advice and instructions are given on how to successfully pass the group demonstration section of the exam, where you are asked to show movements appropriate for warm up, cardiovascular exercise, and a cool down.  Our presenters were well aware that many participants are not “aerobics instructors” but instead are cyclists or kickboxers or yogis, but need AFAA to get or keep their jobs.  Because they are sensitive to people without strong aerobics skills, the breakdown and advice is very useful.  They tell you what the bare minimum is to get by and ensure you know what they are looking for.  The basic structure of this section of the exam is outlined in the Study Guide, which I encourage you to read carefully before you arrive so you can be thinking about what exercises you might like to demonstrate.  It doesn’t have to be fancy — in fact, simple is encouraged because it makes it easier for them to grade you higher — so avoid going nuts with choreography.  If you are one of those folks with little-to-no experience in a traditional group fitness class, like sculpting, step or hi/lo aerobics, I also recommend that you attend at least one of these classes or rent a video.  This will help you gain a feel for what style they are looking for.  In the next post we will discuss more in depth what you will be tested on in this area.

The second part of the group demonstration includes demonstrating exercises appropriate for each of ten major muscle groups, including two strength actions and one stretch.  Again, it helps to have prior working knowledge of your muscles and how to effectively implement weight training.  They give you tons of information, but you don’t want to have to cram it all in your brain on one day, so if you don’t have a background of weight lifting, personal training or teaching sculpt classes, I recommend taking a couple of sculpting classes or renting videos.

The Individual Presentation Preparation

Advice for passing the individual presentation part of the practical is sprinkled throughout the group demonstration discussion.  But they do set aside time for you to rehearse what you will exhibit when you are called up to demonstrate a single exercise.  Again, they are senstive to the “less-aerobically-inclined,” so they give plenty of tips on passing this section even if you aren’t experienced in general group fitness classes.  Again, we’ll get into more specifics as they pertain to the actual exam in the next post.

Final Review

After discussing the aspects of the practical exam you need to know, there is a review of the material on the written exam.  Here is where all of the questions/answers that haven’t come up yet are pointed out exclusively.  I was quite surprised by how blatant the assistance with exam questions was, but I certainly was not one to argue.  I like help where I can get it.  In addition to giving help knowing what actual questions and answers to look for on the written exam, they discussed some common methods to choosing the correct answer.  If you listen closely during this section, you are going to be in great shape for the exam.

The Grande Finale

The final two hours of the workshop are for the written exam (1 hour — 100 questions) and the practical (2 30-minute demonstration segments).  You will be given a number that is used during the practial exam for scoring purposes.  Make sure you put it someplace visible.  Depending on the size of the audience, you might divide into groups, so that one can take the written exam while the other takes the practical.

You have one hour to complete the written exam.  It has 100 multiple-choice questions.  That means you need to answer questions at a clip of no more than 40 seconds per question.  That is quick, so it is important that you brush up on your test-taking skills, especially if you ever suffer from test anxiety.  Basically, you’ll want to eliminate nonsensical answers, then choose the best answer from what remains.  AFAA questions are worded in a way that you can usually find the best answer using some easy observations.  One question asked, “What muscles make up your quadriceps?”  Well, if you remember that “quad” implies four and you notice that only one of the answers even listed four muscles (the other choices all had three) you can’t go wrong.  Many of their questions can be deduced using similar logic — you just have to read carefully.  And always go with your gut response.

The practical is the most discussed and most nerve-racking section of the exam.  We’ve already discussed how they assist you in preparation for the exam.  In the next post, we’ll disucss in greater detail what you will need to succeed in this section of the test.

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