57: Conquering Burnout: Essential Strategies To Sustain Your Passion For Group X

In this critical episode of Group X Appeal, Kimberly and Terry tackle one of the biggest threats to instructor longevity—burnout. But this isn't just about physical exhaustion. Discover why burnout encompasses emotional, mental, and creative fatigue, and learn how to recognize the early warning signs before they derail your career. 

Whether you're feeling the first hints of exhaustion or you're deep in the burnout spiral, this conversation provides practical strategies to protect your energy, reclaim your passion, and build a sustainable teaching career.

Key Takeaways:

• Recognize the Full Spectrum of Burnout - Understanding that burnout goes beyond physical tiredness to include emotional depletion, mental fog, and creative drain
• Spot Early Warning Signs - Learning to identify subtle indicators before burnout becomes a crisis that threatens your career and wellbeing
• Master the Art of Boundaries - Why saying no is not only empowering but essential for maintaining the energy needed to serve your participants effectively
• Prioritize Strategic Recovery - Implementing self-care practices, mindfulness techniques, and proper nutrition that actually refill your cup instead of just managing depletion
• Reconnect with Your Purpose - How staying anchored to your "why" fuels motivation, reignites passion, and provides the resilience to push through challenging seasons

Essential listening for group exercise instructors and yoga teachers who want to build careers that last decades, not just years. Burnout is manageable with the right strategies and support—you don't have to sacrifice yourself to serve others.

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Stay Connected with Kimberly:
- @kimberlyspreenglick on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube
- email: kimberly@theinspiredlifeuniversity.com
- website: www.theinspiredlifeuniversity.com

Stay Connected with Terry:
- @terryshorter on Instagram & Facebook
- email: terry@rippedplanet.com
- website: www.rippedplanet.com

Transcript

Burnout isn't just about physical exhaustion. It's emotional, mental and creative fatigue. Many instructors and participants push through when they hit a wall,

Kimberly/terry (00:09)
teaching multiple classes, juggling schedules, and always being on. Sound familiar? Burnout is real, but it doesn't have to be the end of your passion or your career. Today we're sharing how to protect your energy and thrive for the long run. Let's go.

Kimberly/terry (01:00)
Hey, welcome back to group X appeal. Kimberly Spreen Glick here with Terry Shorter. We're so glad you're here because today we're talking about burnout. Woo. You see, why are you excited about burnout? I'm excited because we're helping to overcome it. But what is it? do you see burnout?

isn't just about physical exhaustion, it is emotional, mental and creative fatigue. Many instructors and participants push through until they hit a wall. In reality, sustainable practices can keep that fire alive for years. This episode is about spotting burnout early and building resilience for fulfilling group exercise experience long term. Yeah, so we've got five tips for you.

Sweet thanks for tossing it over here. Thanks for tossing it off over here ⁓

Pull yourself together. Get it together girl. Way more smart. So you know the first tip to avoid help avoid burnout. First of all is spotting the warning signs early. So what would be some of those warning warning signs? Well, ⁓ I shared with Kimberly before we hopped online here to push record for me personally. ⁓ I recently went through this burnout phase working on a project.

for our program called Rumble. Every three months, every quarter, we release brand new music, brand new moves, brand new, a brand new system or workout that we deliver to our instructors who take that program and they learn it and they turn around and teach their participants at clubs or fitness studios where they're at. And so ⁓ we're working on the 25th release and I was like not very ⁓ motivated.

I felt like there was a lot of low creativity going on. want, and there was a lot of being really hard on him. Yes. Yep. There was even some resentment going on, not to you, but to the project. There was not necessarily irritability, but frustration for sure. And, um, even some mental exhaustion and, uh, maybe a little bit of physical exhaustion, but mainly mental exhaustion. And so.

You know, all those things are happening, but I didn't really realize that I was experiencing burnout until I finally knocked the project out. So point being was, was I was not paying attention to those early warning signs ⁓ until afterwards. kind of asked myself in retrospect, what was going on? What, why was I stalling on this program to get it out? and a part of it was, you know, wanting to make it as perfect as possible.

to release to our instructors who again, which in turn would release it to their participants. ⁓ I was already looking ahead to the next project and stressing out about that as well. And so that actually helped me ⁓ move, I think a lot smoother into the next project was reflecting on that bout 25th release of Rumble to help me realize, okay, there's some burnout going on. And I made some changes, which we'll talk about in the next four tips here.

think realizing those warning signs early irritability, low creativity, frustration, exhaustion perhaps, resentment, all those things I was feeling.

Right. no. Absolutely. Absolutely. Right. Yeah. I did not want to experience that again. It was not fun.

It wasn't that bad for you, was it?

I do remember you being really hard on yourself and being a bit of a perfectionist. I was a jerk. He was such a jerk. Only to yourself. That's the thing.

Yeah. Because the first thing is understanding is just admitting that you have a problem. We'll call the boys perfectionist Paul. Yeah. There we go. out of here, Paul. So I know this played into it as well, but it's just important that you, as a second tip, prioritize recovery.

You know, so often we just focus on what are the things I need to do to accomplish what I need to accomplish and we focus on it being the work because that's something that we can kind of hold up and get a gold star for in our mind. But back to the matter is you're not gonna be able to do the work for the long haul if you don't prioritize recovery just as much, if not more, honestly, sometimes. So things like good sleep, which we talked about being an important part of ⁓ even

Recognizing the signs early if you're not getting good sleep like ding ding ding. That's a problem You need to make that more of a priority. We should talk about that one day. Just sleep and rest But having rest days not pushing yourself full tilt seven days a week Every day for long periods of time your body has to have those rest days and then nutrition often We think about nutrition as what we need to fuel us up to go do the thing But what about nutrition as a way to allow our body to to recover?

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more effectively and more efficiently. You talked about a little shift in your nutrition too. Yeah, for sure. yeah, leading up to that release, I just did not care about what I was eating. I love, you know, during the summer, this is during the summertime and I love lemonade. I love boba teas and they are just packed, just pumped with all kinds of sugars. And, you know, as you know, that's just like one of the number one killers out there is, you know, your sugar intake.

And so, you know, everything from inflammation, I was putting on a little extra poofiness, you know, feeling I was feeling fluffy. And so, you know, basically eliminated that and you know, just this part of the nutrition part and focus a lot more on my protein intake as well, getting it back up to where it needed to be and gut and so changed big time right away.

Things like foam rolling, stretching, foam rolling, if you have a massage therapy ball, and you can go with all different ⁓ levels. If you don't want to put too much pressure, if the muscles and soft tissue aren't ready for that, the myofascia, then start with the tennis ball. Those are a little mushy. I like how you squeeze it.

And then you can get the more traditional massage therapy balls like the trigger point or tons available on Amazon for reasonably inexpensive. And those are kind of medium pressure. And then of course you have the lacrosse balls. Those are kind of hard as rocks, but they will help you get a deeper release. Or you can just use rocks. Or you could just use rocks. They don't roll as well necessarily. Clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk.

that you can get from stretching, foam rolling, rolling with massage therapy balls. And then don't forget mindfulness. Don't forget taking those opportunities to not just rest, but to really come into the present moment.

I start and end my days with a mindfulness practice. I call it my mindfulness sandwich because even five minutes before you start the day, five minutes before you go to sleep, just getting yourself in a place of appreciation, fully present, just in the moment, and appreciating even the smallest of things, like the body you have, the bed you get to sleep in, just bringing that mindfulness in. So some will do breathing practices, maybe meditation, gratitude journaling.

So many different things that kind of fall under that category. Mindfulness is a big thing, but just pick what works for you. If it's a few minutes of meditation or if it's just breathing or just listening to soothing music, but give yourself the gift of being able to settle into the present moment and feel better. Smart. Love it. Recovery, baby. So tip number three is setting your boundaries without

guilt. So setting boundaries. So what does that mean? Well, you know, a lot of, ⁓ if you're an instructor, group exercise instructor, just a fitness professional, we have the tendency to want to serve. have the tendency to want to say yes, you know, any, any opportunity to help out, right? ⁓ there's nothing wrong with saying no to extra classes, to extra workouts. If you're a participant, right?

Listen to your body listen to how your heart's feeling listen to your mind what your mind's telling if you need to give it a rest Give it a rest, you know and don't feel guilty about it. There's nothing wrong with saying no at all ⁓ During that that challenging time recently coming up to the rumble ⁓ Release I didn't take on any other classes where I typically I have no problem covering people's classes

But I had to tell myself, no, don't do it. No, don't do it. As much as I wanted to, I had to say, no, don't do it, because you've got to focus on getting this other thing done. That was the priority at that time. Whereas now, I don't have a project coming up. So I'm taking all more classes and feeling really good about it. So ⁓ that, would have to say, is one of the key things is just learn to say no and be OK.

Mm-hmm

Absolutely.

we were talking about before we started.

you say yes to something, you're no to something else. Absolutely. And so you're saying no to things whether you realize it or not.

Oh no!

culture, the number of times I have a member, like I just had a member took your class before me this morning. she's like, I'm so sorry. I'm not going to be able to stay for your class. I'm just like, I'm done. Like that's it. And my response is what my response always is. And that is, that's okay. You're here. Absolutely. That's my same response. You made it today. Give yourself props. Exactly. And so don't ever, ever. And you instructors listening. my goodness.

those participants. Don't shame them. Who cares whose classes they take? They're something good for themselves. showing up. So I don't know. just got a little bit of a sub box. No, I love that. No, that's yeah. That happened literally. was her name? Sasha. Yeah. had said that right after class. Yes. So, um, I think that's a great point. Thanks for pointing that and sharing with the folks who take the classes and enjoy the classes. Uh, you too deserve to be guilt free.

Set your boundaries.

All right. So the fourth tip we have for you is to make sure that you're refilling your cup outside of the classes outside of the gym. I'm emptying my cup right now, ready to refill it again. And of course my cup is way full. Your Starbucks cup is always full.

That's like a big gulp.

about the whole idea being on an airplane and they tell you to put your oxygen mask on before you try to help someone who has trouble getting it on themselves and so it applies in your day to day life. If you really want to be a proponent for other people.

And I learned this, as you know, from Ayanna Van Sant. You have to be a first, a proponent for yourself. Whenever I'm working with, you know, instructors and fitness and wellness coaches, and they tell me they're feeling burnout. My first question is, well, what are you doing to refill your cup? Or are you just burning yourself out trying to fill everybody else's cup? Because if you really want to be at full bandwidth, is what I often say, at your greatest potential to be able to help others, you have to make yourself

a priority or else you're not gonna be able to be at your full potential. And so I challenge people when they say that they're burned out because they're there for everyone else. I hate being so blunt, but sometimes I'm like, well then clearly being there for everyone else isn't such a priority after all. And they're like, What? I can't believe you just said that. How dare you? I just sound like Veracosa. I can't believe you just said that.

You should use that voice for the rest of the video. Okay.

Don't, no definitely don't do that. Don't do that.

You never know, some Viracosa fans out there. ⁓

So what are some of the ways that you fill your cup or you recommend to others to fill their cups?

Just like the mindfulness, you find what works for you. So, you what fills my cup is getting out in nature, ⁓ taking yoga, time with friends and family. I love to escape at a good movie or a show, a comedy show, the opportunity to kind of be witness to someone else in their flow. In their greatness, yeah. It's so cool. It is. passion for what they're doing, like all of that fills my cup. I have made...

my cup being full. the quote from Ayanna Van Sant is, may my cup, I won't tell the whole story, but her quote is, may my cup run over so that I may give freely and be in service to others. But what's in the cup is mine and don't you touch it. Don't you dare touch it. And that stuck with me hard. You have to be the guardian of your own time and energy. You have to protect what's in the cup so that

you can continue to give freely and be in service to others and be the nurture and the uplifter that of course we know you want to be so and avoid that burnout. Make sure you keep that. That's what we're talking about the burnout, the burnout. So yeah, and you keep that cut full too so you can dump it on the burnout. So that's that's what you do. Extinguish I did I did you hear what I just did?

extinguish the burnout by filling up the cup. ⁓ All right, so tip number five, I digress. So tip number...

No, that's a dad joke. I'm a dad. It's okay. That stuff's okay these days. So And don't show anybody ever again so number five Stay connected to your reason why your reason why is everything? Going through the process of burnout staying connected to that is going to be fuel to your fire and and it just gonna

It'll remind yourself why you started doing it in the first place, why you started teaching if you're instructing, why you started coaching if you're a coach, why you started taking the classes in the first place. You're not just doing it to go through the motions, you're doing it for a much greater reason, much more a greater purpose. And so tap into that because purpose really does not just feel better, but it really fuels sustainability. It keeps you in the game longer.

And when you're in the game longer, that's when you as a participant, that's when you're going to get the results. When you're tapped in that reason why as an instructor, when you're tapped into that reason why you're able to give more, you're able to give more of your passion, give more of your heart, give more of, yeah, without, without burning out.

It that that feeling of purpose knowing your why is what shifts I have to do this to a get to. Yeah. So, ⁓ you know, going back to, keep using the season 25 example, cause 25 to me is a milestone and I was in my head about it and I was just thinking, you know, I had to keep thinking, why am I doing this again? What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Who am I doing it for? Where am I? What's my name?

⁓ But no, really, why am I really doing this? And I had to get out of myself, put my ego aside, and remember, I'm doing this for the other people, for the instructors, and ultimately, the end user. ⁓ That was my reason why, is to make sure that I was making good on my promise of delivering and delivering my best that I could possibly give. So that's what it came down to, is the folks that we're serving.

So.

is a signal. Okay, it's not a sentence. And with the right tools, you can keep thriving in and out of your group X classes. For sure. And we would truly, truly, as always, we'd love to hear your strategy, some of your tips that you have that work for you. Perhaps one thing that you do to prevent burnout, what is that you do? Please comment if you're on if you're on YouTube, or you can message us, you know, through Instagram or Facebook where we're at.

Kimberly Spring Glick on Facebook and Instagram, Terry Shorter on Facebook and Instagram. Be sure to please share this episode with your fitness family and let's just keep the conversation going. I think it's important. Yeah. Definitely. Let's avoid burnout. Let's extinguish it. Let's keep our cups full.

like it. That is a really good visual. That's solid. I think we need to. Starbucks, we're gonna have to get a license though. It's gonna be Starbucks cup.

Thank so much for spending time with us. By all means, spread the good word. Pass this on to others that could use the message. And we'll look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Yay. And until then, I'm Terry Shorter. I'm Kimberly Spreen Glick And we encourage you, as always, to make it a great day. And why, Kimberly? Because it is a great day to have. Yes, it is. Much love. Peace out.