A guide for fitness industry ‘newbie’s’

So you just passed your Fitness exams and you’re excited?

…. Excited to earn 25k a year and get paid 25 quid an hour??

Unfortunately, you’re in for a shock..

The average fitpro makes under 15k a year… LESS than you get paid for working in Mcdonald’s.

Not exactly what you singed up for right?

Every year, around 2000 new trainers enter the fitness industry, within 12 months 80% of them leave and do something COMPLETELY different.

I have my own opinions on why this is- MAINLY because it TOUGH.

But i’m betting you have what it takes. ‘They’ didn’t

‘They’ hadn’t read this article though.

I’m hoping this will help you out.

After all, I’ve made very mistake in the book!

I’m casting my mind back 11 years. I just received my premier diploma in personal training.

I was like a kid on the first day of school i couldn’t wait to get my first clients!

I was delighted, excited and CONFUSED.

What the fuck do I do now?

Work in a gym, set up as a PT, open a studio, and teach classes.

I HAD NO IDEA.

In the end, I was recommended after finishing top of my class for the therapy part to be taken on as a therapist for Leeds rhinos.

The rest, as they say is history.

Anyway, I’ve made hundreds of mistakes along the way, but I’ve also been lucky enough to work alongside some of the best trainers IN THE WORLD.

I though it would be very useful to put together something that will help some of you guys that are new and shiny to this industry of ours- I’m going to try my best NOT to put you off or put pressure on you, BUT you know me. I shoot from the hip, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I’m 100% honest in everything I do.

So here goes

1-    Unlearn what you just learnt.

In fact, and this is HARSH, what you learnt on your course DOESN’T work. It’s dated. It’s taught from a textbook, It’s 99% taught by people that don’t train anyone. So you pretty much want you to ‘unlearn’ it and start your REAL learning RIGHT NOW. That being said;

2-    BECOME A SPECIALIST NOT A GENERALIST

I see it every time I visit a gym on my tour. The PT profile on the board, I see it on websites.

Trainer: Joe Bloggs:

Specialises in: Toning, Weight loss, muscle gain, sports specific training, injury rehab, running, boxing, cardio fitness blah blah blah.

This is THE most common mistake I see.

Lets take this view- compare a GP to a BRAIN SURGEON.

Who gets paid more? Who know more? Who’s the most skilled?

The GP knows a ‘little bit about nothing/most things’

The brain surgeon is an EXPERT IN ONE THING. And he’s THE BEST AT IT.

So choose a subject your passionate about. Be a specialist in that particular area- In fact, be THE BEST AT IT. Seek to be the best in the world.

Read books on it, do courses, take seminars on it, and devour everything you can on that said subject.

So with that being said most new trainers end up being a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’

They try to be ‘everything to everybody’ but end up being ‘nothing to nobody’

What happens? They end up doing the exact thing in the next section

3. DON’T COMPETE ON PRICE

BIG mistake here. Industry newbie starts PT or boot camp.

See’s lots of competition in the area. Advertises himself/herself as cheap, affordable and even COMPARES services to ‘more expensive/rip off’ trainers

A)   By charging cheap prices- you’re saying I don’t value my skills, why should you.  Come and train with me, I know you wont listen to what I say, because there’s no monetary value attached and because I’m so ‘affordable’ you don’t view me as an expert

B)   Why are you advertising other trainers/camps please?

4. Have a 50/50 booklshelf.

I got this one from my buddy Alwyn Cosgrove a long time ago. Half of the books on your shelf should be training/nutrition/health the other half should be personal development/business.

The gurus are split on this- Some say ‘You’re a marketer- wether you like it or not’, The other say ‘get results and the clients will follow’

For me, you need to know about both… TBH i’d probably have the shelf at 60/40 towards the actual ‘getting results’ bit

5. Don’t GURU FOLLOW but learn from the best.

This is very common in he fitness industry. We see guru A at a seminar/convention, he rocks, we then devour every thing he or she has ever written and can even quote them word for word.

Then we become clones of them. Wondering why this doesn’t work, or why our clients aren’t seeing the same results he/she spoke about.

We don’t listen to anyone but guru A so can’t find the answer

Try this instead. Learn from everyone and use the classic Bruce lee quote regularly ‘absorb what is useful, reject what is not and make it uniquely your own’

6- ALWAYS look for a better way. ALYWAYS. PERIOD.

Never be happy with what you know. Keep learning and absorbing. FOREVER.

You see,theres a lot of gurus out there who teach marketing.

That’s fine but in my experience if you get OUTRAGEOUS results through your methods- the marketing will pretty much take care of itself.

7- Don’t be afraid to start small- its AWESOME.

A lot of industry newbie’s get caught up in the ‘6 figure dream’ and the ‘PT studio cloud’

I started working in a filthy massage room, using soapy water to massage rugby players.

I then worked in gym for 6 years. I learnt what I could about EVERYTHING to do with fitness and health.

Working as in instructor will help with experience. It’ll help you to understand people.

Sure its only 5-7 quid an hour, but the experience for me- was ESSENTIAL.

To be honest, I’m not sure I’d be where I am today without that experience.

Don’t be afraid to ASK for help.

Although a lot of local trainers will see you as a ‘threat, the genuinely successful ones will have no problem having coffee with you. I’m sure of it.

In fact, for a long time I PAID my buddy Michael Pellegrino for an hour of his time for 1-1 training and literally just GRILLED him on what he knew.

I didn’t officially tell him I was trying to find out his best secrets but I’m sure I knew what he was up to

9) ENJOY THE JOURNEY.

This is an AMZING industry to be in. Sure there’s back stabbing, it can be cut throat but don’t worry about what others are doing. BE THE BEST VERSION OF YOU, DELIVER AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE FOR YOUR CLIENTS AND YOU WILL LOVE IT, JUST LIKE ME

P

This entry was posted on October 17, 2011 at 10:47 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Fitness Blog by Paul 4 Comments