What are the characteristics of a truly believable fitness professional? What makes one instructor seem more “real” than another? What are participants seeking in a trainer or instructor beyond credibility? Answering these questions can make an enormous difference to your success in this industry. All the information you might acquire could go to waste if you aren’t perceived as “authentic”. Most clients/participants are looking for more than information, they need inspiration. Role model instructors and trainers are more important than ever.

By and large, our customers are seeking pros who practice what they preach. Prescriptive exercise can sometimes become formula driven. Unfortunately, some trainers become disenchanted with the method themselves and forsake their own workouts in order to fill those slots with clients. If your purpose in fitness is more centered around money than wellness, your participants will know. Putting the needs of others first sounds like a wonderful thing, neglecting your own conditioning however, just makes you look like a hypocrite. You will be a more authentic instructor, healthier and happier person, and more satisfied professional if you make sure you continue in your own fitness quest.
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Recent trends show that trainers are getting creative with their schedules in order to make enough money to survive. Cramming in shorter sessions, working in multiple locations, and extending training hours are becoming common place it seems. In recent years there has been some skepticism about group training. Can group training still be “personal”? What if members of the group have different wants/needs? What if one group member fails to pay or show up? Creative solutions abound that make training affordable for clients and still enjoyable for trainer!

A simple option for group training is to allow a SMALL group (5 people or less) to purchase your discounted PT package and simply divide up the individual sessions based on the percentage they purchase. If your best “deal” for training is $500 for 10 sessions, for instance, you might consider allowing 5 clients to split the package each paying $100 and scheduling 2 sessions each. Normally, in a stronger economy, you would never do such a thing. The whole point is to keep those who only want a few sessions paying a higher rate. The discount is supposed to apply to faithful, long term participants. For now, however, making this exception might serve you well so that you at least keep working AND you may endear at least one member of the group to yourself and create a client relationship. Of course, all monies should be collected in advance and sessions scheduled immediately. [Read More]

by Gary Bertwistle

While we can be congratulated for our efforts to cultivate a healthy body, many of us neglect our mental fitness. Here are five simple strategies that you can use to achieve optimal fitness for your brain.

For ultimate health, mental fitness is just as important as physical fitness because mental fitness contributes to our over all emotional wellbeing. And as such, we should assess our emotional health regularly, and try to consider the particular demands or stresses we may be facing and identify how they are affecting our daily lives.

We need to recognise that we are allowed to take a break from our worries, concerns, work and relationships. We must recognise that setting aside even a short time every day to improve our mental fitness will reap significant benefits in terms of feeling rejuvenated and more confident. We’ll work more productively, smarter and feel more balanced and calm.

Society is only beginning to understand the value of the imagination and mental fitness, even though it is fundamental to so many parts of our life and contributes enormously to the quality of how we live on a day to day basis. [Read More]

Have you ever asked yourself what is the one thing that every fitness professional does on a daily basis with their clients? The answer – help clients perform to the best of their abilities. Fitness professionals help clients feel good about who and what they are no matter how physically fit they are.

Fitness professionals typically make recommendations to clients related to frequency, intensity, duration and mode of exercise followed by cardiovascular, strength, flexibility and body composition. However, one component that may be missed could be the single biggest barrier to client success – HOW DOES MY CLIENT FEEL? Pain and sore muscles can be a barrier to a client’s motivation to getting the exercise they want or need. What can a fitness professional do to help clients feel great each and every day? [Read More]