Personal Training Articles

A terrific way to increase your exposure and elevate your “expert” status is to be fea- tured on local news media. However, grabbing a media person’s attention requires savvy and creativity. Lori Corbin, food and fitness reporter for KABC-TV, Los Angeles, offers these insights on how to become an expert source for your local media: Be unique. Send a press release that pitches one or maybe two “fresh” topics— something that hasn’t been seen before. For example: Stale topics: Bikini season and New Year’s resolutions.

It's early March. Any fitness pro knows the New Year’s cycle: large numbers of nonexercisers vow to get fit, show up in January--and then disappear within a month or two. How can you prevent this? People fall off the workout wagon for many reasons: Too tired. Too busy. Too boring. Too hard. Let’s look at why the motivation to change and the intention to work out aren’t always enough, and how you can help exercisers stick to their resolutions.newsletter_teaser: It's early March. Any fitness pro knows the New Year’s cycle: large numbers of nonexercisers vow to get fit, show up in January--and then disappear

Taking control. Ethel, a physical therapy client at Tallasee Health and Rehabilitation, was referred to Lenela Glass-Godwin, an aqua fitness instructor at the facility.

Imagine a client has just finished a workout or fitness class with you. In evaluating the workout—which you designed to be quite challenging—the client admits, somewhat disappointedly, that although she worked up a good sweat, your session wasn’t a “killer.” She has experienced harder workouts from other trainers, classes or programs. What’s your reaction? Do you still feel satisfied that you gave the client an appropriate workout? You weren’t going for “killer” anyway. Or do you feel a twinge of regret or competitiveness? Next time, you’ll up the ante.

Twenty years ago, most personal training clients were “apparently healthy” and had higher-than-average discretionary incomes. Today, physical inactivity is a global issue affecting all ages and abilities. Expectations and demand for personal training professionals are changing as the industry matures and clients’ needs evolve. Are we meeting the requirements of this dynamic market?

There’s no denying it: Small-group training is hot and getting hotter. According to the 2013 IDEA Fitness Programs & Trends Report (June 2013 IDEA Fitness Journal), SGT is listed as one of the top 10 personal training trends. newsletter_teaser: There’s no denying it: Small-group training is hot and getting hotter. According to the 2013 IDEA Fitness Programs & Equipment Trends Report (June 2013 IDEA Fitness Journal), SGT is listed as one of the top 10 personal training trends.

Traditionally, high-intensity power and resistance training was reserved for ath- letes striving to enhance sport-specific performance.

Over the past 7 years, personal trainers have shared their programming strategies with IDEA through the IDEA Fitness Industry Programs & Equipment Trends Report. This data has allowed us to track trends (not just fleeting “fads”) that are unfolding in the industry.

What gives a personal trainer the power to change lives? Education, inspiration and purpose. You’ll find all three at the IDEA Personal Trainer Institute, coming to the East Coast February 27–March 2 and the West Coast April 10–13.

You’ve heard the buzz about small-group training (SGT): more money in less time. And you may also have heard that SGT business growth relies—heavily—on referrals from satisfied trainees. So what do current one-on-one and boot camp leaders need to do in order to create amazing client experiences? This fifth article in our series on SGT will explore how to frame your program to ensure success for you and your clients. newsletter_teaser: You’ve heard the buzz about small-group training (SGT): more money in less time. And you may also have heard that SGT business growth relies—heavily—on referrals from satisfied trainees. This fifth article in our series on SGT will explore how to frame your program to ensure success for you and your clients.