A great question to ask yourself at the moment is:
How can I run sessions online that are different to and perhaps even better than my face-to-face classes?
In today’s drill, Janice Ainsworth does just that by using the Brady Bunch style Gallery view on Zoom to run timekeeper workouts.
Grid Lock
Set Up
Before class begins:
- Create a hand drawn depiction of your ZOOM screen in gallery view. Label the Columns A to E and Rows 1 – 5 (my screen, at max, has 5 columns across and 5 rows down. Yours might be different)
- Write all possible grid coordinates each on a separate piece of paper. (A1,B1. C1—E5, etc) and place these in a bucket, bag, box, envelope, etc. You could also do this in an app on your phone that randomly picks names/numbers.
- When class starts, make sure to set your Zoom call to “Gallery View”.
How it Works
Randomly choose a coordinate and identify who is in that CELL on your screen. That person becomes the timer for the rest of the group.
For example, C3 is Greg. Greg must complete 100 Jumping Jacks while the rest of the group does Squats. When Greg is done, everyone is done.
Select another coordinate and identify the next timer.
Exercises can vary for the timer and the group. You can choose to only select one coordinate, one time only (if you have a large group) or put the coordinate back in to possibly be selected again. You can choose to include YOUR coordinate and make that a penalty for the group or for you 🙂
This can be used for an entire workout, part of the workout or as a finisher. Exercises are your choice, make sure to pick about a dozen exercises for variety.
Bonus Variation
A few days after sharing this on BootCraft Janice added another variation to the BootCraft private community.
I used the GRID concept again this morning. I had 4 rows of 5 people on my screen.
Each row was a TIMEKEEPER for different rounds.
Timekeepers had to do:
- 15 toe taps (L+R=1) & 15 calf raises;
- 25 toe taps & 15 calf raises;
- 35 toe taps & 15 calf raises;
- 50 toe taps & 15 calf raises.
The rest of the group did one exercise until the timekeeper row was done. When one person in the row was done, everyone was done. The average round took about 2:45.
Thanks Janice for another awesome workout!
If you would like to collaborate and share ideas with other trainers write now, consider joining our private community, BootCraft.
Kyle Wood created Bootcamp Ideas in 2010 when he was hunting around on the internet for workout ideas. He ran a successful bootcamp in Victoria, Australia and spends his spare time managing this site, adventuring (or lazying) with his wife and find new ways to make bootcamps even better.
Janice, you are so wonderfully, workout, wise. What an ingenious way of approaching Zoom. And hearts out to you for the share.
Thanks Bill. I passed this on to Janice and she really appreciated your comment 🙂
Sorry, I don’t quite understand. What if the timer (Greg) perform the exercise so slowly that the rest of the group are burned out while doing theirs?
This is where knowing your group is important Perry. If you’ve got a newer member assign them half reps or similar. Keep the timekeeper exercises simple so that everyone of all abilities can do them.