12 in 2012 — that wasn’t even planned. Cool though, I’m glad it worked out.

To say that this year has been monumental in terms of the growth of thePTDC doesn’t describe it.

In 2011, this started as my little blog. In 2012, it became much more. It is now the world’s biggest collaborative blog for personal trainers. The 1,000s of trainers who read it daily are some of the best people our industry have to offer. Up until last week I had not spent $1 in advertising. Every reader of this page was either told about it by a friend or found it while searching, in their spare time, for information to become a better personal trainer.

While this blog is my baby, it would not be here without the amazing coaches who contribute articles, connections, and act as a sounding board for my usually crazy ideas.I also want to take a minute to thank the personal trainers who have contributed articles over the past year, some are featured below. Over 50 different personal trainers have contributed content to this site. All have done so on their own time and were driven by passion, not profits. Thank you for your amazing contributions. Lastly, a huge thanks to David Wu and Lucas Pellan for their tremendous help. Without you I would have probably gone crazy.

Lastly a thank you to all of the readers who not only rabidly absorb the material but have been instrumental in helping this site flourish by sharing the site on their social networks, emailing people about the articles, and telling colleagues about this crazy Canadian dude who started a blog for personal trainers. Your passion continues to ignite my fire.

-Jonathan Goodman

The 12 Best Personal Trainer Articles of 2012

Below are the 12 best articles published for personal trainers this year on thePTDC, arbitrarily chosen by me. I organized them into 3 categories: Business, training, and miscellaneous miscellany.

Business

137 Reasons to Write for Fitness – 137 people

This isn’t an article per se but a compilation of testimonials from 137 amazing and passionate trainers. I decided to put a call out to aspiring fitness writers to help them get some exposure and also to answer my questions of why people wanted to write for fitness.

The onslaught of emails was wild.

A big thanks to Lucas Pellan (aka super-intern) for answering my frantic call late at night for help. I did not expect so many emails with submissions. I love this post because it’s such a good example of the power of a blog and the combined efforts of so many in making something great.

Selling Personal Training in 5 Steps – Jonathan Goodman

This article is an updated version of the system I wrote about in my book, Ignite the Fire. Inevitably whenever a book is published there are parts that the author isn’t 100% happy with after the fact. Because of that, and because selling is such a tough thing for so many trainers, I decided to update the section and put it out for free in a manual.

I also think the pic of Luke and Leia is hilarious.

These Are My Personal Training Secrets – Jonathan Goodman

I remember this article because it got me in trouble with my girlfriend at the time. I had promised not to work until 4am that night (which was normal at the time) and spend some time with her. My hammies were also sore. I didn’t have a foam roller so she decided to take a vodka bottle and do some soft tissue work on me with it.

After a minute I jumped up and, with that gleam in my eye that I had an idea, went to my computer. By then she knew the look and left me alone. I wrote this article in one go and hardly did an edit.

This list is a big part of my success. Some of them are funny and others, like the tip on how to unload a deadlift bar, will save your body.

What’s in my Desk – Jonathan Goodman

I used to take on 8+ clients in a row, often 10 or more. Thinking this was normal I went about my day, only to fall down exhausted at the end. I won’t pretend that I was 100% all the way through but I maintained my energy and passion throughout.

This article came about one night after 11 clients in a row. I was walking home with another trainer and she asked me how the hell I did it, after 3 clients she was wiped. As it turns out I had built an incredible system that kept me well-fed and prepared for anything. It started and ended with how I systematically laid everything out in my desk.

I love this article because it’s so personal for me. Since it’s publication there have been a number of trainers who have written about their desks or trucks. This article has helped a lot of trainers train more clients and it’s one of my all time favorites.

Training

The Death of “Functional” in Personal Training – Jon-Erik Kawamoto

Jon-Erik and I have become good friends and I have a tremendous respect for his writing, integrity, and knowledge. For the first PTDC seminar we held in Toronto Jon-Erik flew in and stayed on my couch. One of the nights we started talking about terms that we thought had lost their meaning.

I wasn’t surprised that this article was so popular. What so often happens in the fitness world is that terms become used and abused so much that their true meaning becomes lost.

Your SMAT Goals are Stupid – Jonathan Goodman

I’ll admit that this article comes off as a rant. That wasn’t intended but I believe my point came through. Over the years I have come to hate conventional goal setting. I believe that the pleasure is in the journey and setting goals pushes the journey to the side.

In particular I found that too much emphasis was being put on quantitative goals. Emotion is a strong driver of action than numbers will ever be. I still enjoy this article and am happy that the concept has been added to a lot of training manuals since it’s been published.

Personal Trainers Shouldn’t Periodize – Jonathan Goodman

If I had to pick one article that has contributed more to the development of this site it would be this one. I don’t think I’ve written anything that’s helped more trainers than this article or the accompanying excel guide which has now been downloaded more than 10,000 times.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t know whether I would get slack for this article. It goes against what I was taught and I never saw it published anywhere else. I knew I was onto something when I emailed the article to PTDC coach Nick Tumminello and received the following as a response, “this could be the best article on personal training I’ve ever read”.

I really don’t know where thePTDC would be if I didn’t ever write this article back in January.

10 Things Personal Trainers Need to Know About Kettlebells – Neghar Fonooni

This article has a funny story attached.

Neghar sent this submission to me and I immediately knew it was going to be a hit. I have a good idea what articles are going to be successful from a viral standpoint. Purposely, I publish a mix of viral and non-viral material. So, I emailed back Neghar and said it was awesome and that it would get 5,000 hits within the first 3hrs. I also said that I wanted to save it for the first blog post of the site redesign.

The redesign was a nightmare from day 1. For a week the site was crashing and we’re still working out some glitches that should never have happened. The entire site also got deleted and I was lucky to have a recent back up.

When I thought everything was good to go I published this article and the resulting traffic crashed the site 3 times in 1.5days. 12,000 hits later with the article still being shared I had to shut down the site for 3 days to get everything straightened out. So yeah, sorry Negs.

Personal Trainers and Obesity: 5 Things You Should Know – Mark Young

Mark doesn’t write often, but when he does, it’s awesome. His work on obesity and the barriers to exercise is some of the best out there. After reading this post please send him an email and urge him to write more. I want him to get an onslaught of emails. His email is admin@markyoungtrainingsystems.com. (Don’t worry, it goes to his personal mailbox.)

I asked Mark to give me five tips on obesity for a short blog post and he sent me back an amazing blog post. After 8 years of training I didn’t know some of the points and hadn’t thought about others. This short post is worth the read.

Miscellaneous Miscellany

Stop Thinking Personal Training is Black and White – Jim Kielbaso

I actually didn’t know Jim before posting this article. At the time I was in Kansas City attending a conference and desperately needing good content to post. Nick Tumminello emailed me and cc’d Jim saying that Jim had sent him an article he thought would do better on thePTDC.

I read it through and immediately emailed Jim asking permission. Once he responded I sent the article to David Wu (previous PTDC intern and wicked dude) who did some great edits and posted it up the next day. They saved my butt huge with this one and turned out a great a article.

From 1879 to Today, Nothing Has Changed – Chad Landers

I was staying in Chad’s house in Los Angeles at the time and he was proudly showing me his collection of bodybuilder memorabilia. For some reason I was attracted to William Blaikie’s book and started to read it.

I couldn’t believe how similar the book was (aside from the funny language) to workout advice we get today. Chad and I looked at each other and laughed before I told him that he had to write me an article on the subject. Usually I ask, this time I told him it was a necessity. The article turned out great and I’m excited to feature more of Chad’s work in 2013.

Personal Trainers Don’t Cheat on Their Girlfriends of Their Workouts – Josh Henkin

Remember when the CrossFit ad surfaced about cheating on girlfriends and the whole world was appalled? Well I didn’t care about it.

Josh Henkin and I recently met at a conference we both spoke at and he messaged me asking if he could write an article on the subject. This was my response: “Tell you what? If you can convince me that it’s worth my time to take action against stuff like that and give me a way that’s not supporting the company as opposed (the old any press is good press mantra) I’ll be happy to run it.“

He made me care and the article was fantastic (in addition to being one of the all-time popular articles on the site in terms of page views).

The Free Ebooks

Aside from the two published books I managed to get out this year thePTDC collaborative also produced 3 free Ebooks.

101 Personal Trainer Mistakes resulted from a Google doc I sent around to a bunch of top trainers asking them to tell me their biggest screw ups. After compiling a list I then sent out requests for solutions.

Facebook Marketing for Fitness Pros was written entirely on a week-long vacation I took during the summer at a cottage. I didn’t plan on writing it but decided to put it together on a whim.

The Start a Fitness Blog Blueprint was just released. In full disclosure, I just didn’t want to answer questions about how to start and make money from a blog anymore; I was getting way too many emails about it. So I took a week when I arrived in Hawaii and wrote it all down.

Download the entire package for free by putting your email in the box below:

Share/Bookmark

The post The 12 Best Personal Trainer Articles of 2012 appeared first on The Personal Trainer Development Center.

By now you probably know my two rules of success:

Rule #1 – Do a great job.

Rule #2 – Make sure everybody knows about it.

I’ll go on a limb and assume that readers of thePTDC already do a great job. Finding this site in your spare time in an attempt to better yourself personally, professionally, and financially shows your dedication to the craft.

Last week I sent an email to a portion of you (sorry I couldn’t send it to everybody yet, the list is too big so I’m doing it in segments) asking how I can help? I was floored by the 100′s of emails that poured in.

Unfortunately it seems that a lot of you are struggling to get clients. “If only I could get people in front of me I know I could sell them” one email said. Another guy complained, “my gym is different, I can’t pull people off of the floor because it’s private. Everybody already works with a trainer. How can I bring my own clients in?”

This is Not a Tough Love Post…

Because I struggled too until I read about the concept of a maven in Malcolm Gladwell’s, The Tipping Point. After the read, I went out and identified the mavens in my neighbourhood. From that moment on I was flushed with referrals and became the go-to personal trainer in my area.

But I didn’t go to the usual suspects — the doctors, chiropractors, and massage therapists weren’t of interest to me. My goal was to find the oft-ignored mavens in the neighborhood who had trust and connections and interact with a lot of people over the course of the day. I also wanted to find mavens who would be overjoyed when offered something in return for their recommendation.

A relationship is a two-way street so it’s pertinent to have something to offer the maven in return. I made some suggestions but I’m sure you can think of some offerings yourself as well.

The Secret Mavens

Coffee shop baristas

If there is a neighbourhood coffee shop I suggest you start to pay $2+ for your coffee and go there every day. Consider the insane mark up a work expense. Get away from the medium Dunken Donuts or Tim Hortons for the time-being and opt for the grande (that means big by the way, but not really big — really big is called vente, which means 20 ounces and makes you pee).

Wear your personal trainer shirt and walk in with a big smile. Say hello and ask how the barista is. Give them a tip and say thank you. Over the coming days you will see the same barista. After 4-5 visits he or she will ask if you, “work at that gym down the street” because she noticed your shirt.

Say that you do and mention that you offer a referral bonus if he or she sends anybody your way (note: do this whether or not the gym supports it. You can afford to pay 10% out of your own pocket of the first package a new client buys. The barista will be ecstatic. Leave a takeaway with the barista in the form of a business card or flyer.

Continue to go into the coffee shop and the barista will start to go out of his or her way to introduce you to other customers while they wait in line. Barista’s know everybody. Barista’s also serve everybody caffeine, so people love them.

Instead of reading in an office during your break go for a walk and read in the coffee shop; with your trainer shirt on.

A break during the day when you wish you were training should be spent either on professional development or on getting new clients — reading in a coffee shop where the barista is looking out for your best interests accomplishes both.Other people who are out and about during that time are prime candidates for training. If you want clients in the middle of the day go where people who have nothing to do during the day go, which is to buy a grande mocha frappe crappa chino with light foam medium hot with a dash of cinnamon.

Real estate agents

The ideal client is somebody new to the area with money. Real estate agents are the first line of contact with new members of the community which makes them a perfect secret maven.

Take 30 minutes tomorrow and walk around the neighborhoods that surround your gym. There’s probably 3-5 of the same agents who have signs posted in front of a bunch of different houses. In a notebook write down their name and phone number but don’t call them yet.

If you work for a gym try to arrange for a free membership for the agent. If you’re an individual trainer you have a number of different options that include everything from in-home training to offering them 8 sessions for the price of 10 to training them for free.

Call the number of the agent and introduce yourself. Tell them that you’re taking on new clients in the area and would be interested in hearing how you can help them with their fitness. Be persistent. Real estate agents are busy and over-stressed people. Keep calling and leaving messages offering to help and not asking for anything in return. If they aren’t looking for fitness help themselves think outside the box, maybe they have a significant other who you can train.

Even if training them isn’t an option you can ask them to include a welcome gift to new home buyers. This includes a certificate for a trial membership and some materials on fitness that you’ve written with an invitation to meet you. I suggest getting these designed which can be done cheaply on fiverr.com.

Hair dressers

Two people in a small space staring at each other through a mirror for at least 30 minutes is awkward. Hair dressers days are full of small talk. Find the local salons in your area (ideally the higher end ones) and introduce yourself at a time when they aren’t very busy which is generally between the hours of 2-4pm.

Tell them that you are currently accepting clients and offer a referral bonus to anybody they send to you. For a hairdresser I suggest leaving information that you know their clientele wants to read. For example, if the clientele is mostly 30-50 year old women write up a short article on post-pregnancy fitness. If you train dudes write up an article on mistakes guys make building muscle and leave it at the barber shop.

Have your contact information on the flyer and special code at the top of the form specific to the barber or hair salon. On the flyer make sure to mention that the potential client has to bring it with them in order to get the discount. This way you can track how good the ad does and pay out commissions accordingly.

I like this system because the hair dressers are getting 3 things:

1. A talking point. Instead of awkward small talk they can chat about the great trainer down the street.

2. Extra value to give to their clients. When people are waiting for their appointment or while they are getting their hair cut they can read your materials.

3. Another stream of income.

Naturopaths

In Canada naturopathic medicine isn’t covered by our health care system. So people who see a naturopathic doctor are either wealthy, willing to invest in their health, or both. Therefore a naturopathic doctor’s clients are ideal for your personal training business.

Naturopaths are also active preventative care practitioners and together you can form a good team. Putting on free seminars together for members of the community (while putting up flyers in the coffee shop to advertise of course) is a great way to build both of your businesses. Together you can hit both ends of the preventative care spectrum. A bonus with getting them on board for your talks is that companies are more willing to donate food and coffee to doctors. So you can probably get the event sponsored.

Nutrition store employees

Credit goes to Steven Jezyk for this point who commented on thePTDC’s Facebook page with a great suggestion.

The local health food or supplement store employees get asked questions daily about how to lose fat, gain muscle, and feel better. They even get asked questions about workouts all the time and, while some of them might be trainers, they usually aren’t looking at personal training as a career.

Similar to the hair dressers above I would go in to the store and introduce yourself. Mention that you give referral bonuses for anybody they recommend to you. Depending on the store you can offer to leave some information as well. Large chains like GNC likely won’t let you leave physical materials but neighborhood stores might.

Who not to go to for referrals

Doctors

Personal trainers have an advantage because when a client comes to us its usually under their own volition. A referral from a doctor is told they must exercise and might not be psychologically ready for change yet. In my opinion you have a limited number of hours to train and that time should be spent with clients who want to be there and are ready to change.

In terms of approaching doctors for referrals my experience has never been positive. Doctors are overworked and more concerned about emergency scenarios than preventative care. I don’t disagree as their job is to fix issues right away.

With the above in mind getting to know a doctor not in their practice but as an active member in your community can be a good source of referrals. Medical doctors opinions are trusted. Getting them to refer you at their dinner parties or when they meet friends for coffee is good.

The Biggest Mistakes People Make and How to Fix It

Creating relationships and building trust takes time. Making a connection with one of the aforementioned mavens (or anybody else) is a great first step but you must follow up. Too often when speaking with trainers I’ve found that they did a lot of the initial leg work and didn’t even make an effort to reconnect.

My solution is to create a spreadsheet on your computer with all of the names, phone numbers, and emails of the mavens you connect with. Once a week on a chosen day send an email or call them to say hi. Ask them how their business is and help them celebrate their success. This will keep you at the top of their mind.

Got any other recommendations for mavens? Make sure to “like” thePTDC on our Facebook page.

Recommended reading:

Your Personal Trainer Marketing Sucks: Features Vs. Benefits

47 Random Personal Trainer Tips

Photo Credits:

Dolkin Mike Tigas cuellar

Share/Bookmark

The post 5 Secret Neighborhood Mavens For Personal Training Referrals appeared first on The Personal Trainer Development Center.

I‘m a personal trainer, or I was a personal trainer. But somewhere along the lines I became a writer. This was never my intention, goal, or aspiration. But on Dec. 15, 2009 I glanced up from a business book I was reading and, in a trance, looked at the snow out of the window before turning on my computer and typed out, “Idea: A book about how to be a successful personal trainer from a personal and a professional standpoint stemming from my experience in addition to colleagues and other professionals experience.“

I don’t know at what point I started to classify myself as a writer or when I told people that I was both a personal trainer and author. I accepted the term grudgingly having the utmost respect for the writing profession. I’m angry when somebody does sissy squats on the smith machine and tells me that they squatted, so calling myself an author because I self-publish some stuff on the internet seemed like the sissy squats of the writing world. But as I wrote more and started to get paid for my writing, I accepted the term grudgingly, though I still hesitate when telling people what I do.

At first, the two disciplines of fitness and writing seemed to be completely separate — one for the intellectual and the other for the guy who likes to lift stuff up and put stuff down. Despite the obvious differences between the two, my mind inexplicable chose to pursue a passion in both.

It wasn’t until I found myself sifting through the one badly stocked book store in the airport in Cebu, Philippines that I came across the answer. An off-yellow tattered book caught my eye called “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running“. The title immediately sparked my interest. Speaking about exercise is a fine line between enthusiasm and narcissism. Imagine my surprise when I noticed that the book was written by Haruki Murakami, one of my favorite fiction authors.

Murakami eloquently, as he often does, compared his two passions of running (he has run 50+ marathons) and writing. The two feed off of each other because the disciplines are similar, not in the actions performed but the mindset of the person performing them.

Some of the following ideas started with Murakami and others are ones that I believe are originally mine. I think a lot about training, or in particular, why the hell I put myself through DOMS.

Rep by Rep

Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird tells a story of her brother who, overwhelmed with the massive task of both starting and completing a report on birds, realized that it was due the next day. Her father sat down beside him and said, “bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird”.

Want to know what it feels like staring at a 40 page chapter outline on your right while all that’s written on your computer screen is, “chapter 1″? The hugeness of the task is overwhelming and it’s the continual blocking off of sections and mental reminders to take it bird by bird that help me keep at it.

Why doesn’t everyone have a six-pack? The science is there and you would be hard-pressed to find somebody who wouldn’t have one if given the choice. Exercise is daunting. It’s hard to get started and even harder to keep with it when results are slow and not forthcoming.

Choosing an exercise program for the uninitiated has got to be one of the biggest hurdles to jump. With the constant barrage of new fitness secretzzz and magical fat loss elixirs, it’s hard to know who to believe. So some people try and far too many quit. All they had to do was take it bird by bird. If we could only communicate to them that it doesn’t matter whether the bird is a cardinal or sparrow, just pick one and get to it, it would make a big difference. But there’s too much money in marketing the next big thing in the fitness world for that to happen.

Kenshō

In Japenese Ken means “seeing” and Shō means “nature” or “essence”. Kenshō is the first state of Zen and here I, perhaps inappropriately, use it to describe the feeling of being in the zone.

The elusive zone in writing is something we all strive for. Many writers have their tricks to get into Kenshō on those magical days where they find 5hrs of continuous write time. I take a 10 minute walk along the water to clear my mind followed by sitting in my favorite chair, drinking my coffee with a drop of honey, and playing the Federico Aubele channel on Pandora. Proper state of mind is everything and my preparation towards attempted writing bouts could be described as superstitious.

Out of every 20 workouts you do, 15 are OK, 3 are terrible, and 2 are awesome. Those 2 are zen-like. Gracefully you breeze from machine to machine seeing the other people as if they are faceless drones. Your body seems to be working in perfect harmony and your iPod may as well have run out of battery as you can’t hear the music. You’ve found Kenshō, now go and repeat it.

When I prepare for a heavy squat I close my eyes for 4 seconds, tuning everything out. I picture myself performing two reps of the squat and take a deep but quick breath. The next steps are:

1. I flex my butt as hard as I can to remind myself it’s still there and I’m going to need it coming out of the hole.

2. I dip under the bar right shoulder first, then left, followed by a squeeze and a twist of the bar with my hands.

3. I take one step back, right leg first and adjust my stance.

4. After repeating “I GET KNOCKED DOWN” in the voice of Chumbawamba I grit my teeth and squat that shit.

All of this happens within 10s. I used to think it was pure superstition. Now I know it’s a way to prepare physiologically for the lift. At no other time do I perform this specific preparatory sequence. My brain knows that when it’s happening I’m going to attempt to sit down with a lot of weight on my shoulders and it’s going to have to help me get back up. It alerts the nervous system to start the squat pattern and fire all available motor units so I don’t get flattened.

Maybe I’m doing the same thing with my writing? Maybe.

Just One More book… One More Chapter… one more rep…

For the past 3 years I have spent too-many-hours-to-count typing. I’ve published two books, 5 Ebooks, and 200+ blog posts — and there’s probably twice that much material I haven’t published. I sit at least 8hrs a day and end up writing 3,000-10,000 words a day (note those aren’t quality words. That’s before the first edit).

Writing is for somebody who is obsessed with continual improvement for themselves, not for the accolades they receive from others. I do what I do because I crave the feeling of getting better. It’s always just one more book… one more chapter… one more word…

I was put in team sports my entire young life because of the lessons learned from playing nice with others. I never played nice. In hockey I was a puck hog — all I wanted to do was score goals. I cared about the name on the back of my jersey, not the front. So at 15 years old my Dad brought me to the YMCA and I became obsessed with the gym.

Team games never interested me because I never cared about winning arbitrary prizes in arbitrary competitions. Placing first at a tournament doesn’t mean you’re the best, it means you’re better than everybody else who showed up at that same tournament.

For that reason weightlifting appealed to me. It was an activity that I could do by myself to better myself. Kaizen means continuous improvement. You will find in the “about me” on my personal Facebook page (add me as a friend) it’s been the only thing written since 2008.

The gym is a place for personal development. It is a place for the individual to get better. The gym is not a place for extrinsic awards and fitness is not a sport. In training as in life it’s always just one more workout… one more set… one more rep…

Put your email in the box below for two free Ebooks that will help you recognize mistakes you might be making, teach you Facebook marketing, and tons of premium content.

Oh, and another massive free Ebook is coming next week on building passive income streams but only for subscribers.

Share/Bookmark

The post What I Think About When I Think About Training appeared first on The Personal Trainer Development Center.

Understanding recovery for group fitness classes

DDo some of your clients deal with nagging aches and pains which actually seem to get worse with exercise?

While we often discuss the need to “prehab” injuries and turn to the latest stretches and mobility drills for answers, the reality is that overuse injuries happen with a lack of recovery

No exercise, stretch, or massage is going to take away problems which are caused by over use. But what we can do is fortify our athletes and clients to deal with stress from both life and exercise.

After a hard workout, both our muscles and our nervous system require several days to recover. The problem with most training programs I see is the failure to recognize and address the fact that fatigue goes beyond soreness.

Here is an example of a program which may be designed to shred bodyfat:

√  Monday: Strength + interval training
√  Tuesday: Interval run outside
√  Wednesday: Strength + interval training
√  Thursday: Interval run on treadmill
√  Friday: Strength + interval training
√  Saturday: Interval run outside

Now this workout certainly looks a killer on paper but the question is whether it can be sustained for more than say a week without injury or burnout. This is the challenge faced by popular fitness programs such as Crossfit and bootcamps which incorporate up to five days of consecutive training.

The other factor we must consider here is the stress which daily life piles on the majority of our clients. Do I really want to throw fifty burpees or heavy back squats at a client who has just been chewed out by their boss?

Regardless of how you answer this question, the reality is that offering “unlimited” classes is a great way to increase revenue.

The key is figuring out how to offer effective daily workouts without pushing your client off the recovery cliff.

Monitoring large groups:

Stress manifests itself both physically and mentally in the way we present ourselves. While soreness is the most obvious sign of physical stress, symptoms of CNS fatigue include frequent cramps, involuntary trembling or shaking of the muscles after a workout, flickering eyelids, loss of concentration, sleeplessness, and general malaise.

Most telling of all is the fact that performance and technique de-grade as we encounter fatigue. For a new client or someone unaccustomed to this sort of stress, monitoring recovery is key to avoiding injury.

Undoubtedly one of the best tools in monitoring in larger group situations is a proper warm up. This begins by asking clients to form a circle around the instructor and leading the group through basic movements while watching their responses.

We will generally perform some variation of the following circuit to get a feel for the group (each drill is performed for 30-60 seconds to allow us to coach/observe):

√  Squat
√  Push up
√  Split squat
√  Single leg reach

While this may not be as sexy as HRV or vertical jump testing, it allows us to quickly spot potential issues with clients. From here, we will pull the individual aside and have a quick discussion about aches/pains or other issues.

This allows us to modify exercises and/or dial down intensity for the day based upon their response.

Defining workout stress:

Overall stress response to a workout does not require a high volume of work. In fact, any session in which maximal efforts or explosive exercises are involved can be considered potentially taxing to the CNS.

Some examples of high stress, CNS focused work are the following:

√  sprints at maximum speed or 100% Intensity (30 metre, 6O metre. 80-120 metre)
√  heavy weights allowing only a few repetitions (i.e. 2-5 repetitions)
√  bounding
√  stair running
√  explosive Jumping, hopping, skipping, bounding routines (plyometrics)
√  medicine ball work

Notice that we are grouping heavy weights in to the same category as explosive jumps, throws and skipping.

While these exercises are excellent training tools, their placement can literally make or break your trainee.

Famed Sprint Coach Charlie Francis subscribed to the concept of high/low intensity days in which high intensity speed and power workouts were alternated with bodyweight and tempo runs performed at intensities below 70%.

Francis believed that this type of training– in conjunction with massage and recovery modalities– improved recovery by promoting blood flow while maintaining a state of optimal readiness.

The difference between training athletes versus the general population is that our clients are constantly bombarded with stress and fail to utilize properly recovery modalities (when was the last time you took an Epsom salt bath?)

Looking at the picture of overall readiness of our client/athlete, this means that certain modifications are necessary for our general population client to address poor recover.

At our gym, we offer three and five day training options for our general population clients. We generally limit our strength and hard conditioning work to three days (generally Monday-Wed-Friday) while the other two days incorporate GPP circuit training and aerobic based runs to maintain general endurance.

Throughout the year our workouts contain the same general elements while either building volume or intensity. The rationale against abrupt changes in how we structure daily workouts (hello Crossfit?) is to avoid excess soreness by constantly introducing unfamiliar elements (another Francis concept known as “adaption stiffness”).

We will also undulate the intensity of our “hard” days–to account for fatigue build up which occurs throughout the week– via a modified version of Francis’s high/low concept.

Anatomy of a tempo day:

One of the questions I constantly receive from my more enthusiastic GP clients is what should be done to burn extra fat or improve fitness in their off-days?

While we used to assign detailed off-day program to all of our clients, this usually becomes an interval side show for the gung-ho client.

Out of this frustration, our five day option class option was born. We found that carefully modified circuits and intervals can still be a vital part of the recovery process. The key is getting the “tempo” right.

According to Francis, the general purposes of tempo training are to maintain aerobic shape, running rhythm as one of the nervous system abilities, and maintain leanness and low percentage body fat.

In practice, this amounts to continuous intervals and running drills which build general capacity. What this gives us the opportunity to do combine stretching and recovery modalities with circuit training to improve the recovery process.

With this in mind, here is a general layout of how our “tempo” or recovery day works:

Section #1: General Mobility (10-15 minutes)

Section #2: Static Core Training (5-10 minutes)

Section #3: Tempo circuit (15-20 minutes)

Section #4: Stretch circuit (10 minutes)

Photo Credits: Morning Calm News Stephen Poff

Make sure to “like” thePTDC on our Facebook page

Related articles:

Build Your Client Army: Becoming Unstoppable – Jonathan Goodman

Gym  Before Work.10 Habits that Help a Busy mom Cope with Training, Coaching and Life – Neghar Fonooni

Share/Bookmark

The post Upgrade Your Group Training Program appeared first on The Personal Trainer Development Center.

The following is a guest post from Mike Samuels

[Enter Mike]

Reality is very rarely like your dreams.

I started personal training with optimism and hope and rented space at a gym. For the first six weeks, new trainers didn’t have to pay any rent. Instead, we worked hours on the gym floor, cleaning, making maintenance checks and running inductions.

A year and a half later I hadn’t made much progress and was still struggling to make ends meet. My savings were dwindling and I started to second guess my career.

The mistakes I made helped me to become a better trainer and businessperson. While I think it’s important for everybody to mess up on their road to success I want to help you avoid the mistakes I made.

Rookie Personal Trainer Mistake #1 – Not focusing enough on people

Getting clients is a numbers game for new trainers. The guys at my gym who were doing well would talk to everyone. And I mean, everyone – even the people who you could tell wouldn’t sign up for sessions if you paid them. They knew that clients want to train and be seen with the popular trainer so they made themselves the most popular people in the gym.

Make sure everybody at the gym knows your name and learn theirs. Look at them in the eyes and smile. When you’re finished talking write down their name on a piece of paper and one or two details about them that they mentioned to you.

The people that I did get to know would often come to me and ask for advice on exercise technique, programming, nutrition, etc. Not all of them converted to fully paid sessions. What it did do was help me to become the expert in my gym. It also made me the most popular trainer. Others started to notice that people were asking me for advice and were intrigued.

Rookie Personal Trainer Mistake #2 – Not putting the hours in

You’ll hear top trainers and coaches talking about how they might do three or four sessions every morning, spend the afternoons writing and doing business development and take evenings and weekends off to spend time with the family.

In a couple years time you will hopefully have built your reputation. Once you’re in demand clients will work around your schedule and you can charge enough to only have to work a couple hours a day.

I used to get to the gym fairly early and stay for a few hours before heading home for the middle of the day. After spending the day daydreaming and watching Gilmore Girls (don’t judge me) I would come back to train a few more clients at night. [Editors note: I tried really hard to ignore this line and not make fun of Mike. But seriously dude? Gilmore Girls?]

I figured that my getting up early and going back to the gym at night allowed me the freedom to veg in the middle of the day. This is the time when I should have been making business plans, walking the gym floor, following up leads, writing articles, and generally being productive. Instead, I chilled out.

If that means taking your sleeping bag to the gym and staying there for your first few months then so be it. Put in the time now, and you’ll reap the rewards later.

Rookie Personal Trainer Mistake #3 – Not distinguishing yourself

In the gym I worked at, all the trainers wore black. Black shorts or sweat pants and a black tee shirt or polo shirt with a lime green stripe on the sleeve. From a distance, we looked no different to the members, and to them, they probably didn’t have a clue that we worked as independent trainers. In their eyes, we were gym employees, and one trainer was as good as the next.

At my gym we were allowed to wear our own uniform as we were officially independent trainers. After a couple of months I decided to get my own shirts and business cards made up to stand out. I was different and better and wanted to convey it.

In addition to this I attempted to specialize in everything. One of the trainers at my club listed his specialties as:

-        Fat Loss

-        Weight Management

-        Muscle Building

-        Fitness

-        Stretching and Flexibility

-        Nutrition

-        Pre and Post Natal Training

-        Sports Conditioning

-        Rehabilitation

Dude, you must have been in school for a long time.

To stand out I listed my one specialty as female fat loss. This was the biggest market in my club and by listing it as my only attribute I was considered the foremost expert in the area.

Rookie Personal Trainer Mistake #4 – Not following through with your ideas

I had hundreds of great ideas for marketing myself when throughout my time in the gym:

-        Start a class meshing Crossfit methods and strength training.

-        Develop a foam rolling workshop.

-        Offer weekly nutrition lectures.

-        Start a gym challenge, such as a triathlon, mini Olympics, or a powerlifting competition.

-        Develop and implement A six week transformation challenge.

-        Make a running club so the long lines of people waiting for the treadmills can meet each other and enjoy the beautiful area the gym is located in .

I didn’t implement one of these ideas. They only exist as an idea in a notepad.

Find something that’s missing in your gym, and fill the gap. If it doesn’t work, what have you lost? Perhaps a few hours of your time and the tiny cost of producing some posters and leaflets, but the potential business you can generate far outweighs the risks. Pick one thing and do it better than anybody else.

Rookie Personal Trainer Mistake #5 – Not selling Yourself

Sales always freaked me out and was one of the major reasons I couldn’t drum up any business. The gym I worked at was competitive and if I didn’t sell a client right away another trainer more than willing to scoop them up.

To quote Jon from Ignite the Fire:

“[...]selling doesn’t mean tricking someone into buying an overpriced product. Selling means getting a client to want to work with me—in other words, I am the product!

I was selling myself, and I wasn’t overpriced. I knew I offered value. Selling consisted of educating the client on that value.“

Understanding that I had value was the first step to learning how to sell. Instead of focusing on tricking clients I started to focus on how I could help them. This meant listening intently to their needs and responding back with a solution.

Clients aren’t buying sessions, they are buying a solution. – Click to Tweet

When you’re discussing how training works with someone, don’t spend ages going on about what you’ll do in a warm-up, how many reps they’ll be performing, what methods of periodization you’ll use, or how you’ll be implementing all the latest training tricks you picked up in the recent issue of Muscle & Fitness.

They have a problem and you must present the solution. The steps come later.

Have you downloaded 101 Personal Trainer Mistakes: And the Solutions to Each Yet? If not put your email in the box below and they will sent directly to your inbox along with tons of premium subscriber only info. In the meantime what were some mistakes you made and how did you fix them? Comment below.

Mike Samuels is a personal trainer and writer from Southampton, England. He’s passionate about all things health and fitness related, and loves training people to get leaner, fitter and stronger, reach their goals and generally kick butt.

You can contact him at www.mikesamuelspersonaltraining.co.uk or mike@mikesamuelspersonaltraining.co.uk

Photo credits: opensourceway Zellaby ohdearbarb

Share/Bookmark

The post 5 Rookie Personal Trainer Mistakes That Are Killing Your Business appeared first on The Personal Trainer Development Center.

Misplaced guidance, unfounded promises, lack of integrity, biased decision making, and money-grubbing:  unfortunately, all of these phrases have become synonymous with personal training. Perhaps it’s deserved. Misguided intentions run rampant. So does something even worse: dishonesty.

The fitness industry was worth $21.4 billion in 2011 (1) and is expected to grow by 24 percent from 2010-2020 (2). Buying personal trainers’ services is an emotional decision and one that’s often done without adequate thought. It’s not surprising that some people are taking advantage of consumers. Personal training service is arbitrary. Trainers don’t have a prescribed scope.  Nobody really knows what they should, or should not,  know.

“Buying personal trainers services is an emotional decision and one that often lacks adequate thought” – Click to Tweet

What’s funny is neither do a lot of trainers. I’m here to tell you that we’re just as confused as you are.

The industry is in disarray.

Terms like metabolic conditioning, functional training, core, muscle confusion, leaning out, and periodization are thrown around so haphazardly that  they have lost all meaning. Education for for trainers in North America is un-regulated. While good resources exist for trainers, the overall picture is not bright.  Anybody can call himself or herself a personal trainer, even without certification. And anybody can create educational platforms and designate trainers as “certified”.

Trainers are also duped into believing that the next best thing is better than the last best thing. The reality is that they get tricked into emptying their wallets just as much as the unfortunate clients they serve.  The trainers are trying to do the right thing. With all the noise, it’s difficult to get a clear and unbiased view of what the job entails and what methods work best.

I was a personal trainer. It was my career and I was passionate about it. My focus is now on giving trainers the skills they need to succeed. The prospect  that my generation won’t be able to support the raising health care costs for the baby boomers in the near future is scary. Preventative medicine must be a priority. Exercise has been well established to decrease/eliminate risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and even dementia. ^{(3 4 5 6)}

Personal training can change people’s lives.  It’s a fulfilling career and not a part-time job. Teaching proper exercise technique and theory is the greatest weapon in our arsenal to decrease pain and suffering from disease, help people live more fulfilling lives, and save billions of dollars in health care costs.

This is what personal training is all about:

We don’t all have six-packs.

Yes, even we sometimes have that  extra piece of cake and skip our workouts. Fitness is important,  but it isn’t  all we think about morning to night. I believe that life should be enjoyed both in and out of the gym. (A six-pack doesn’t hurt for those days on the beach, though.)

Sure, some trainers’ lives revolve around fitness. They eat a steady diet of un-flavored chicken and broccoli, work out twice a day, and are in bed by 9:00 PM sharp. I bet they’re ripped. I also bet you aren’t willing to mimic their lifestyle.

Judging a personal trainer solely on appearance is not the way to choose a coach. What they did to attain their physique probably took years of trial and error or protocols that the average Joe can’t follow. Just because they are in good shape doesn’t  mean they know how to help you. You’re different in everything from your daily commitments to body type. Even genetics has been shown to have a massive effect on adaptation to exercise. In one study, subjects followed the same protocol. Some subjects gained as much as 10cm in their biceps and doubled their strength, while others showed little to no gain. ⁽⁷⁾

While it’s important for a personal trainer to practice what they preach, their personal fitness level is not a good indicator of how much they can help you. Tiger Woods has a golf coach whom I’m comfortable assuming is a worse golfer than Tiger. This expert has taken years to study every aspect of the game and can help Tiger. Even if a trainer isn’t able to grate cheese with their abs, it doesn’t mean they can’t get you there. They know what it really takes and have decided to live a healthy life without the requisite dieting.

The best program is the one that you will follow. A trainer’s job is to mesh a quality workout program with your lifestyle, while understanding your limitations. They’ve done the same for themselves.

Our goal is not the make you hurt.

This might surprise you: my goal is to make you hurt less. I don’t get secret pleasure when you can’t walk up the stairs and my goal is not to make you “feel it”.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is the result of unaccustomed exercise and is modulated due to type, intensity, and duration or training. What this means is that anything different will make you sore. Making somebody sore is not the purpose for training; making the muscles grow is. It’s possible that the same things that make you sore also signal the body to build more muscle but powerful mechanisms exist in the body in the absence of soreness.⁽⁸⁾ The three primary mechanisms for hypertrophy (muscle gain) are mechanical stress, metabolic stress, and muscle damage. All of these occur in the absence of soreness.

So, yes:  I will see how you’re feeling and want to know if you’re sore. But I don’t pump my fist in jubilation when you tell me you can’t feel your legs. Soreness tells me how you’re adapting to the workouts and how well your recovery mechanisms are working. It allows me to adapt the training as I learn how your body functions (yes,  it’s different than mine). If you continue to get sore, something is awry. And my aim is to fix it.

You will get stronger, look better, and function better in the absence of soreness. You can also train more frequently and be less miserable. I’ll save my fist pumps for when you put on muscle, not when you suffer.

We care more about the why.

In 1981 George T. Doran created the mnemonic SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely). The system was first published in an issue of Management Review and has since gone on to become synonymous with goal setting.

The most important letter when it comes to adherence towards exercise is the “R” but most people focus on the S, M, and T.

Having a goal of losing 10 lbs for the summer may seem SMART. It’s specific (10 lbs), it’s measurable, it’s attainable, and it’s timely (the summer). Why is it relevant?

Does 10 lbs mean that you’ll feel comfortable going to the cottage with your friends and sun bathing?  Maybe it means that you will be able to fit into the red dress you wore on the cruise last year. ( You remember that cruise;  your husband told you that you were beautiful.)

You will stick with your exercise plan if you take the time to look deep inside yourself at the why — and stop focusing on numbers. Running a 5k is not a goal, losing 10 lbs is not a goal, and benching 225 lbs is not a goal. The goal is the reason behind why you want to do those things. So why do you go to the gym?

We get frustrated when you don’t do your homework.

Personal trainers don’t make millions. We’re hard working people doing a job that we love. Our greatest passion comes from seeing you succeed. That’s why we get frustrated when you don’t do your homework.

The average client trains one to two times a week. Occasionally, somebody will train three days and week,  and rarely will somebody train four or more.. That leaves 164 hours in a week for you to mess up your lifestyle, diet, or exercise.  A trainer will make sure you’re exercising well. But the onus is on you to want it badly enough to take some responsibility in your own hands.

If you’re working hard and not getting the results you want,  something is awry and we want to help you figure it out. Either the goals set are unreasonably high, or you’re not following your routine outside of gym hours.

Open communication is a must. Tell us. If you’re finding it hard to do your homework our job is to figure out a way to fit it into your lifestyle. It may mean your goals will have to be scaled back but expectations must be realistic.

We progress and regress appropriately.

Most new clients I take on can’t do a push up properly. There are people who boast 1.5x bodyweight bench presses yet they don’t have the requisite shoulder and mid back strength to support their own bodyweight. Most complex movements are done so poorly in the gym that they are ineffective.

This goes back to my point on SMART goals (more particularly the “R”). Is your goal to perform a heavy bench press or to look good? If it’s to look good, you probably need to take some weight off of the bar and focus on quality of movement. 99% of trainees aren’t looking to become Olympic lifters. They want to get ripped to feel like they’re more attractive to the opposite sex.

There’s a reason why bodybuilders flex constantly. And it less to do with ego than you think. The mind-muscle connection is a powerful way to recruit a higher percentage of muscle fibres. The idea here is to take a minute before you start the exercise to think where you should feel it. Flex that muscle and keep it engaged throughout the whole movement. The result is higher recruitment and more muscle.

This cannot be done if you’re doing quarter squats or pumping out low-quality reps quicker than Universal Pictures makes sequels for the Fast & Furious movies. Oftentimes, taking a step back and refocusing is the best thing you can do for your workouts.

We advise you on nutrition, to a point.

Personal training is unregulated. This means there is no scope of practice. Despite what you might think, it is generally okay for  trainers to advise clients on nutrition. In most places, they can even called themselves a nutritionist without repercussions. (Note:  you may only use the term “dietician”  if you have the appropriate  qualifications and the same caveat applies to the term  ”registered nutritionist” in many places. The only real no-no for personal trainers everywhere is to dispense “medical nutrition therapy” or to  claim to be something they’re not.)

It is the responsibility of the trainer to only advocate eating habits they know well. Nothing is black and white. Even common vitamins can be beneficial for some and toxic to others.  Supplements compound the issue. If your trainer recommends you take supplement,  I recommend you do your own research before buying it  – especially if the trainer is the one selling it to you.

Large commissions are paid to trainers who sell supplements to trusting clients. Multi-tier marketing schemes are rampant in gyms across North America. Whether or not the products are effective is not up for debate here. What’s important is that full disclosure is given if the trainer is receiving compensation in any way for the recommendation.

The reality is that most trainers know just as much about nutrition as you do. When you break it down it isn’t complicated: eat breakfast and consistently throughout the day, eat lots of healthy fats, eat tons of veggies, and restrict carb intake to before and after your workout. I realize that I’m over-simplifying the point and the paleo/intermittent fasting crowd may be shaking their heads. Take a step back and think what’s really important. If everybody followed these very simple rules, the population would be a lot healthier.

So the crux of it is that a trainer’s job is to make sure you have adequate information about nutrition and helping you devise strategies to adhere to your plan. If there’s anything they don’t have advanced knowledge of, or if you have specific needs, it’s their responsibility to refer you to somebody who does.

A session does not need to be one hour to be effective.

Some protocols require more frequent shorter bouts of 30-40 minutes and others require 90 minutes.

The one hour  session has become standard in gyms across North America. But you may be surprised to hear that personal trainers hate it. If we end a session in 50 minutes,  it’s not because we want to go to lunch earlier. It’s because 50 minutes was the optimal time for you to train. Because of the one hour rule, most trainers feel forced to stretch their clients after the session,  even though the stretching may be negatively affecting those clients’ results.

On the other hand, some sessions should last longer than one hour hr because a high volume is needed. A trainer is often forced to cut the session at the one hour mark due to scheduling constraints instead of providing you with the optimal workout.

Optimal training should dictate business practice, not the other way around.

Optimal training should dictate business practice, not the other way around. – Click to Tweet

We’re not educated by YouTube.

For some reason, it’s become accepted that personal trainers should educate themselves the  same way their clients do.  I don’t know why and how this happened. But it needs to stop. Accountants don’t do your books by reading “Accounting for Dummies” and doctors don’t prescribe based on what the latest popular magazine article recommends.

To get ideas, a trainer should be reading industry journals and textbooks —  and not watching the latest Body Rock video on YouTube. Clients are not test subjects; they’re paying customers. The best trainers are those who constantly improve their methods and learn new techniques. But they test the techniques before prescribing them in a workout.

Our Job is to make sure you avoid our mistakes.

People become  personal trainers after years of self-discovery, both mental and physical. They’ve failed and have learned from their mistakes. After years of self-experimentation, they decide they want to become a trainers to pass on their knowledge and passion for fitness to others.

We want to make sure that you take the quickest route possible to the body you’ve always dreamed of. If you decide to hire a trainer, you are not hiring them for one hour. You are hiring them for their years of expertise. We go into work every day with the goal of making you better. Your success is our success.

The PTDC’s mission is not only improving the quality of personal training but improving the perception of personal training. Join us but putting your email in the box below. You will receive 2 free eBooks (and a secret 3rd eBook coming in the next few days) and get access to tons of subscriber only info.

Further Reading:
The Death of Functional in Personal Training

Personal Trainers Shouldn’t Periodize

Should all Personal Trainers Have Six-Pack Abs?

Your SMAT Goals are STUPID

References:

1. http://www.ihrsa.org/media-center/2012/4/2/514-million-americans-are-health-club-members-up-24-club-usa.html
2. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Personal-Care-and-Service/Fitness-trainers-and-instructors.htm#tab-6
3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21896934
4. http://jn.nutrition.org/content/137/4/1087.long
5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22211512
6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20224659
7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15947721
8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22344059

Share/Bookmark

The post Personal Training – What You Really Need to Know appeared first on The Personal Trainer Development Center.

I encourage awkward silences.

I’m talking about the kind of awkward silences that happen when your girlfriend is sitting beside you and you phone buzzes with a text from “sexy Stefanie”.

The reason why I enjoy these awkward silences is because it’s the only time when I can guarantee people tell the truth. Unfortunately I don’t have access to narcoanalysis drugs introduced Dr. William Bleckwenn in 1930 to procure vital information in the first meeting with a client. (Yeah this stuff exists, I checked Wikipedia so you can be pretty sure it’s legit…)

The First Awkward Date (err I mean meeting)

The art of cueing goes all the way back to the initial meeting with a client. It’s here that you are in a position of power. They have made a conscious effort to come to you for help.

As they sit across from you at the table it’s your job to find out as much information as you possibly can from them. The goal is not to agree that you can help them lose 10lbs, nobody cares about 10lbs. The goal is to figure out all of the reasons why they are really there. These are what you will connect to your cues later on down the road.

Considering that it’s usually the first time you meet this person they will put a wall up. In order to break down their barrier you must take as long as needed in this introductory meeting and make it as awkward as you can. Ask questions like “why” and say “go on…” as much as you need to. Only move onto the next question when you’re satisfied with the answer.

Ideally you will come out of the meeting with information like “I want to be able to fit into my red dress again. The one that I wore 5 years ago on a cruise with my husband on the tropics”. Or maybe it will be a performance related goal like “I want to be able to do tend to my garden again without back pain”.

Whatever the reason don’t ever forget it. This is the most important information the client told you in the entire meeting. Keep it in the back of your head somewhere, you’ll use it again soon.

Cueing but not overwhelming (where functional fits into training)

Every time I read a book that gives me 10+ different cues for an exercise a kitten dies. I like kittens and don’t want them to die so please start cueing more efficiently.

To use a term that has been basterdized exercises are functional. Most everything we teach our clients to do in the gym have been done before.

√ People have sat down so they’ve squatted.

√ People have picked up heavy shit so they’ve deadlifted.

√ People have pushed open a door so they’ve pressed.

√ People have pulled open a door so they’ve pulled (Like the creativity of using a door for both examples? The mental juices are flowing baby!).

Instead of cueing people on every part of the movement why not figure out a relative starting point based on the clients expertise?

Figure out a relative starting point based on the clients expertise and previous experience – Click to tweet

Follow these steps for teaching a new exercise:

Step 1: Show two reps properly executed of the exercise. If you cannot perform the exercise perfectly bring in a video of it done right. Being able to visualize vividly what an exercise should look like it essential to the learning process.

Step 2: Ask the client to perform the movement for at least two reps. You can have them do more as many as you like here. This is the information gathering stage.

Step 3: Identify the two MOST PRESSING form corrections that the clients needs. Everybody is different. In the example of the squat one clients might need to keep their chest up and another client may be better served by you telling them to brace.

Step 4: This is where the art of cueing comes in. Remember when they told you in the first meeting their reason for working out in the first place? That is probably why you chose the exercise your client is currently performing.

Take your client to the side and paint the picture for them. Tell them why the exercise they are performing will help them reach their goals. Add in the form corrections. Then finish off the brief talk by saying that you will use one word and they need to think hard about correcting their improper form every time you say it. So an example could be,

“So what you just did was a squat. Remember when you told me that you wanted to fit into the red dress that you wore on that cruise with your husband. This exercise is going to play a big part in helping you get there. The reason is that the squat burns a lot of calories both during and up to 72hrs after the workout.

In order to perform it well I need you to keep your chest up to protect your back and squeeze your butt as hard as you can to generate more power. So every time I say “chest” it means you’re dropping your shoulders and need to fix it. Similarly every time I say “glutes” it means you aren’t squeezing you butt enough. Make sense?”

Step 5: Have them perform the exercise again and cue constantly. Say those two words over and over and over again.

The art of cueing – Why it works?

Grooving movement patterns takes time and the best way to do it is with continual reminders. This is no better showcased by legendary coach John Wooden as described in Daniel Coyle’s fantastic book The Talent Code.

In step 4 above you have connected the two most pertinent cues to the clients emotional reasons for exercising and kept them short. During the clients workout I simply have to say the word “glutes” and they know now only to squeeze their butt but they know why. A cascade of events happen in their mind that starts with one simple word. The trick is connecting that word with the action you want performed and the reason for performing it.

It both saves you work and is much less annoying to your clients performing these simple steps right off the bat. I always hated explaining myself over and over again. The last thing I wanted to do during a workout is explain the reason why squeezing a butt is important.

Building intelligent clients is the key to making your job easier and getting them to perform better. It takes some foresight. Just think then how easy it is a year down the road when you’re teaching them a harder version of the exercise. All you have to say is glutes and immediately they know to squeeze. No explanation needed.

Any cueing tricks? Comment below and tell me how you do it.

If you want to know more about cueing here’s some further reading:

Stop Telling Your Clients to Activate Their Glutes – Mike T. Nelson on thePTDC

Topic of the Week: What Types of Cues Should Trainers and Coaches Provide? – Bret Contreras

Improve Your Coaching Cues – Jon Goodman on Mike Robertson’s site (this is an article I wrote a while back for Mike. It’s somewhat similar to this one but focuses on the science a bit more. I don’t completely agree with everything in it anymore to be honest.)

Photo credits: Model: Robin Kennedy Photographer: Darcie Kennedy ~妍~

Share/Bookmark

The post The Art of Cueing (Not the Science) appeared first on The Personal Trainer Development Center.

The following is a guest post by Nate Palmer.

[Enter Nate]

The first workout.

It’s where we are expected to wow clients with our knowledge, techniques, and results. It’s where we are supposed to show them that we’re different, and better. In one workout the goal is often to sell them on a large package.

Whether you call it “assessment” or “consultation”, this is when we’re expected to convince the client that we‘re worth it, know what we’re talking about to get them to their goals.

So here are four ways you can show prospective clients that you really know your stuff, while simultaneously helping them feel better, or teaching a valuable training principle. You establish yourself as the expert, but you’ve also helped them in a way that they’ll never forget. A win-win situation.

Be sure to try these out before you use them on potential clients, so you know what to expect.

Teach Myofacial Release with a Strict Hamstring Stretch

Have your client keep a neutral spine and bend forward at the waist to try and touch their toes. Don’t let the back round out. Mark or make note of how far their hands were able to reach.

Next, have them roll the bottom of their bare feet out with a tennis or lacrosse ball, from the heel to the pad of the foot. Be aware, this might cause them a great deal of pain. Do this for 90 seconds a side.

Now retest the flat back hamstring test. There should be marked improvement. Now, not only does your client love you, but it allows you to teach the importance of foam rolling/self-myofascial release.

Teach Abdominal Bracing with a Towel

A must-do for clients with low back pain. Lay the client on their back with their knees up and heels close to their butt,  as if doing a hip bridge. Lay a towel underneath their lumbar spine and instruct them to press their low back into the ground while you attempt to gently pull the towel out from under them. The idea is to have them engaging their pelvic floor and transverse abdominus. The towel should not move.

Once they‘ve been able to grasp this concept,  have them either stand up and demonstrate, or continue, by resting a light dumbbell (15-25lbs) on their stomach and encouraging them to hold them dumbbell out with their midsection, not allowing it to ‘crush them’.

If they’re successful, have them return to a position that was previously uncomfortable while bracing their midsection like they learned on the floor.

Viola! No more back pain.

Use this as a transition into teaching deadlifts and squats.

Teach Full Body Tension with a Handshake.

Full body tension is helpful in increasing overall strength and staying safe from injury. Grab another volunteer or have them do these techniques to you. I’ve found this works best with women, and not with men who are already strong.

Test: Have your client grab your hand and squeeze it as hard as possible. Provide resistance, but don’t match their intensity.

Now very briefly, provide instructions on how to tighten up their core, glutes, and quads.

Retest: Have them squeeze your hand again, with all of these muscles engaged and tight. Have them and the volunteer note the huge difference in pressure from the first to the second time.

For just a little bit more, have them try again with everything tight, and then have them squeeze their opposite hand into a fist and hold that tight as well. They should be able to feel a difference in the pressure. If you really want to hammer the point in have them perform an exercise with fat gripz and then have them perform the same exercise without.

This can lead into a discussion about strength, and how with the aid of a trainer, rapid adaptations can be made that are all but impossible by themselves. Another way of doing this is substituting a handshake for a single arm dumbbell overhead press. Conversely, this can be done after teaching the handshake method as a way to make show the practical application.

Alleviate Knee Pain with a Foam Roller

Runner’s knee is a overreaching phrase that applies to knee pain that is caused by repetitive use of an incorrect movement pattern. In most non-serious cases, this can manifest as a twinge of pain in the distal medial portion of the knee (below the kneecap on the inside, often in a semi-circle around the inside of the kneecap.)

Often, this is caused by having tight quads, calves and IT bands.

Start by having them show you how they run on a treadmill. Make note of any obvious errors in running (knees falling in, pronation, stomping, etc). Then have them foam roll the IT band and the quads for about 90 seconds each. Make a point to hit the VMO (vastus medialus oblique; the teardrop shaped muscle of the quad on the inside of the leg).

Take them back to the treadmill and have them run again. Cue them to be quiet with their feet – most people stomp when they run, putting more stress into the knee joint. Often times, they can now complete this task pain free.

This can lead to all kinds of different discussions on the importance of having a coach, doing myofacial release, or even why they need to take some time off from running in order to strengthen the muscles of the leg.

Being a personal trainer is hard work. It’s nice to be able to have a few handy tricks that can be pulled out at opportune times that help you get and retain clients, while reinforcing the fact that you’re the expert that can address their specific concerns.

 I’d love to hear the best trainer tricks you’ve got up your sleeve. Give these a  tricks a try, and leave any questions or good results in the comments!

Also, be sure to check out &  “like” thePTDC’s Facebook page and join our personal training movement

Resources listed in this article:

An Athlete’s Guide to Chronic Knee Pain

Show and Go Training, Trigger Point Performance

Myofascial release products

Fat Gripz

Low Back Disorders

Nate Palmer is a corrective exercise specialist and flexibility physiologist. He enjoys helping people feel better and move better, and uses his free time to help orchestrate the Washington puppy organ-donor committee.  Check out his site: n8 training systems. However, the majority of his articles are rude, and should not be read by anyone.

Photo credits: Stuck in Customs, seanmcgrath, just.Luc

Share/Bookmark

The post 4 Magic Tricks to Help Get Personal Training Clients appeared first on The Personal Trainer Development Center.

This post has nothing to do with making you a better trainer. Instead it’s about how being a trainer makes you awesome at life.

As many of you know I no longer work on the floor. What I’ve found is that I am able to do things that many others seem to struggle with. My productivity is high, my energy is fantastic, and my business skills are surprisingly good. I never had formal schooling to teach me how to manage time, negotiate, sell, or network. Yet it comes naturally to me to do these things. So much so that I’m approached daily with inquires to consult on business and marketing.

Let’s face it. Most of you will not be personal trainers for the rest of your lives. The job’s awesome but isn’t conducive to a prosperous life for two major reasons:

1. It’s difficult to juggle a family and a thriving personal training career (working early mornings and nights gets in the way of the times that really matter).

2. You will never make a lot of money training (trading time directly for money is not a good way to generate wealth. Read Rich Dad Poor Dad for more on this).

Personal Training Prepared Me For Business

The lessons that my years on the floor taught me have prepared me for every obstacle thus far I’ve encountered in my journey deeper into the world of business. Whether you follow an internet entrepreneurship path or venture out in a different direction my hope is that this will help you. I want you to identify the skills you’re learning through your experiences more than the books you read.

Identify the skills you’re learning through your experiences more than the books you read. Click to tweet

Here’s the skills that I learned personal training that have proved priceless as I move on and battle other arenas:

1. Creative Problem Solving

Shit happens.

On the floor the piece of equipment you wanted to use for your program is taken. You stare at your client and need to decide in an instant whether to stand there and wait or find a reasonable alternative.

Your client calls you and says that money is tight. They can only train once a week from here on out. You had programmed a 3x/wk workout split but they aren’t ready to take on two days on their own yet. You must figure out what the best option is moving forward. Giving them the same program and sending them some pictures or veering from the plan while not losing site of their goals.

In my journey into business I encountered (and still encounter) a ton of problems. Most I had no idea how to deal with but training gave me the tools to take a step back and see every angle. Instead of only looking at what I needed at the moment I had learned to weigh all of the outcomes and formulate my plan. Because of this I was able to figure out ways to constantly publish content when both time and money was tight, develop an audience to market a book to, and avoid annoying ads on this clean and pretty site. I only wanted to make money by offering you stuff that’s going to help you. I also wanted to give you the tools to do the same thing. That’s why I created the passive income page.

2. Productivity

In personal training there is a session. Surrounding that session is preparation, paperwork, reflection, and sometimes minor changes. There is a different boss to answer to and appease in each session. You are paid for the work you produce and promptly fired if you become complacent. You are not allowed to slack or browse Facebook because nobody happens to be looking at that moment in time. If you’re on the clock, you’re on.

I’ve no idea what happens in offices having never worked in one. Maybe it’s bragging on their part but I’m dumbfounded by the stories of massive inefficiency from almost everybody I know that works in one. A couple weeks back I was invited to a bar in the middle of the day because my friends boss wasn’t in but would be there tomorrow. He wanted to make sure he had work to do so that he looked busy when she was in. What a joke. Time should not be substituted for productivity.

My practice in having to be on my game every hour I worked has allowed me to focus. It has prepared me for making every minute or every hour count. Because of that my output has and will always be high.

3. Network

I had a nasty canker sore on my lip. So bad that I couldn’t walk outside because the wind irritated it. My doctor misdiagnosed it and the medication didn’t work. My client (who was the head of his department at a hospital) took one look and called me a prescription. I picked it up on my way home and applied the medicine that night. The next morning I woke up and it had closed up. Within 2 days it was gone. At that moment I knew that my network was the most valuable asset I could ever have.

ThePTDC is built on an incredible network of industry elite and neighborhood trainers alike. It’s incredible. In the Race to the Top I said that an experts power doesn’t come from knowing. It comes from knowing where to find.  My biggest business asset is my network. Within minutes with an email I can find out anything, have access to, or discover the expert in pretty much anything. It all was because of this seemingly insignificant kind deed performed by my client.

4. Negotiation

Me: “10 reps”

Client: “How about 6″

Me: “10 reps and I’ll do burpees while you rest”

Client: “Sweet!”

Every session is a negotiation and I got really good at it. What I realized was how important it was to make sure the client got the most out of their workout. I was willing to negotiate and even do burpees as long as their workout didn’t suffer. Every client was different but they all tried to pull a fast one over me, usually jokingly. No matter what there was always something I could offer so that their workout didn’t suffer.

In business everything is a negotiation. I’ve found that people are irrational. It seems to be uncouth to accept a deal as is. Everybody needs to feel that they are getting something special. So I use the lessons that I learned from training and give them something. It’s almost never a discount or increased price point for me. Training taught me that money is usually secondary. As long as the price is adequate a little more or a little less doesn’t make much of a difference. Instead I figure out something else that will make them happy and use it to sweeten the pot.

5. Planning and Execution

3 months in advance I would sit down with a calender and ask my clients what they wanted to train for. We would go over any events during that period that may get in the way and discuss the training moving forward. I’d then go and design a program for the next 12 weeks. It usually took a couple of hours per client but made my life a lot easier from there on out. (Note: To see exactly how I did it and download my template check out my uber popular article called Personal Trainers Shouldn’t Periodize)

Personal training taught me that taking the time to plan and try to forecast any problems makes any job easier.

Writing a book is incredibly tough. Both Ignite the Fire and Race to the Top were made easier by a painstakingly difficult and long planning process. For Race to the Top I took 8 months of research and organized it into sections. 4 times for 2hrs each I reorganized each section. I then cut out each subheading by hand and pasted on cue cards. Again 4 times I laid the 81 cards on my table and reorganized making notes on each for ~ 4hrs each.

The result of this planning is that I was able to write the book start to finish in 8 days. The editing and polishing process took a lot longer but that wasn’t done by me.

(Note: If you want to dominate fitness writing the best book I’ve ever read on the subject  (actually read 3 times) was How to Get Published: Writing Domination in the Fitness Industry. I seriously recommend it. It’s an automatic download so you can start reading right when you’re done this article.)

5. Sales

Personal training taught me that sales is not about tricking the customer. Gimmicks are not needed. A sales meeting would consist of listening intently to what the client needed and rationalizing their desires. Usually they had not thought about the emotional reasons that brought them to the seat across from me. Quickly I discovered that a sales meeting was about figuring out what the client really wanted.They didn’t care about losing 10lbs. They cared about gaining more confidence or getting laid.

I don’t sell things face to face anymore although I think that I would find that easier. On the internet I have to create the same emotional response in a potential customer and try to answer all questions in a sales letter with no feedback. Dan Kennedy’s The Ultimate Sales Letter taught me how to take my lessons from personal training and apply them to writing sales copy online. The concepts are the same. Figure out what the client really wants and what their possible objections to buying are. Present your product or service in such a way that it answers all of those questions and leaves no doubt in the customers mind.

6. Show my value

Cold calls suck. I always hated them and thought they were a waste of time. So I decided I would never make one again. Instead I wanted people to call me and ask me if I was accepting clients. I wanted them to feel special I could fit them in. When that happened money rarely was an issue.

I did this a couple of ways. The first was to smile and no matter how I really felt keep positive. Other than that I attempted to become the most popular person in the gym. Instead of sitting in an office in between clients I’d go and hang out on the floor in my everyday clothes chatting up clients. If I didn’t know somebody I’d introduce myself and quickly write down their name. The next time they came in they were greeted by name with a big smile. Everybody wants to train with the popular trainer, nobody wants to train with the guy who sits in an office and browses Facebook.

I realized quickly that nobody knows what type of service to expect from a personal trainer. Clients largely believe what they are told. A trainer is chosen based on perception of skill and deliverance, not actual results.

This was the one concept I am still surprised carries over to business. People work with people they like. They are willing to spend more money and time if it means working with somebody they perceive to be a friend. They buy more expensive stuff if the salesperson is likeable. Being perceived as popular in the gym is the same as being perceived as popular online. Nobody really knows what’s going on. I could be lying about the views on my site, forging reviews for my books, buying followers on twitter and “likes” on Facebook, and pretending I have relationships with important people that don’t exist.

So I’ll admit it. To get thePTDC going I did buy 500 “likes” and I did buy 500 followers on Twitter. I called people friends that I hardly knew to make it seem like I was with the in crowd. And I lied repeatedly about the number of views on my site. (I never and will never forge reviews.)

But you know what? I had a fantastic product. ThePTDC has made a difference in a lot of peoples lives and I still get messages every day from trainers thanking me for Ignite the Fire. If I didn’t create the illusion of popularity early on you might not be reading this.

I’m sure there are more lessons to be gleaned from personal training so help your brothers and sisters out and list yours below. Oh yeah, and all that stuff about liking thePTDC’s Facebook page. Do that too.

Resources mentioned in this article for purchase:

Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert T. Kiyosaki

Race to the Top: How to Take Over the Social Media Feed – Jonathan Goodman

Ignite the Fire – Jonathan Goodman

The Ultimate Sales Letter – Dan Kennedy

How to Get Published: Writing Domination in the Fitness Industry – Lou Schuler, Sean Hyson, John Romaniello

Photo credit: Darcie Kennedy. Model: Robin Kennedy

Share/Bookmark

The post Personal Training Makes You Awesome At Life appeared first on The Personal Trainer Development Center.

The following is a guest post by Greg Justice.

Clients train to look better. Health is secondary.

[Enter Greg]

The decline in health is all around us and we, as Personal Trainers, have the tools to turn that tide.  So why aren’t more trainers pursuing the health and wellness message?

Well, in the general public, there are two schools of thought about exercise.  One group loves it; the other group looks at it with ignorance, and lack of interest.

Personal training has increased in popularity with this first group.  The focus of working out has been on the outside of the body (what they can see in the mirror), the “cool” and scant workout clothes, and the excitement and sweat.  The end result is to create a sexier or muscular body.  The inferred message is that you will be more popular, happy, attractive to the opposite sex, or a better athlete.

This image does nothing for the percentage of population in the other group. We’ve effectively cut off communications with those who do not see the need for a sexier body in their life. They do need regular exercise, but not for the reasons we‘ve marketed.  They need exercise for their health and quality of life.

Can a profession suddenly change the direction of its message mid-stream, while maintaining its current message?  Nope. As complex as the human brain is, it likes simplicity and black and white.

When the doctor tells a patient to exercise regularly and eat right, the patient would rather just have a magic pill.

Does this mean that the medical profession has aligned itself with an image that has removed self-care accountability from the average person and laid it at the feet of the doctor to get them healthy?

When you look at how our population views the roles of doctors and personal trainers, you start to understand that the depth of our health crisis runs deeper than statistics.  Misunderstanding is woven into the very core of our culture.

How do we transform our image from sexy-maker to health-producer so we can capture that market and make a real difference in the health of our citizens?

How can personal trainers transform their image from sexy-maker to health-producer? Click to Tweet

We must have a separate program that is marketed strictly to health benefits and make it available where people are thinking about and need to do something about their health.

An example of this could be adding a ‘shoe camp’ (when boot camp is just a bit too much) to your class schedule.  That way you’re including those that would otherwise never consider joining your gym or studio.

Whether you agree with me or not, I’d love to hear your thoughts about this subject.

Also, be sure to check out &  “like” thePTDC’s Facebook page and join over personal training movement

Greg is the author of Treadside Manner: Confessions of a Serial Personal Trainer. To download a free preview of the book click here.

Greg Justice, M.A. is the owner of AYC health & Fitness who believes the key to client success is finding a workout they enjoy enough to continue throughout their lifetime.  Consistency is what matters and it shows: Greg has been a personal trainer for over 28 years.

photo credit: RXAphotos

If you’re interested in submitting a guest post please check out the contribution page.

Share/Bookmark

The post Personal trainers: Are u a Sexy-Maker or Health Producer? appeared first on The Personal Trainer Development Center.