Add Power to Your Purpose

If knowledge is power, then the IDEA Personal Trainer Institute is like a windmill farm of education. For the past many years, personal trainers, wellness professionals and entrepreneurs have come to this knowledge hub to learn from the industry’s top change agents so that they can gain inspiration, insights and the purpose necessary for a fulfilling and financially rewarding career.

“It’s important that personal trainers consistently educate themselves to stay current, bring out the best in their clients, and create a long lasting and fulfilling career,” advises Mike Z. Robinson, owner of MZR Fitness in San Luis Obispo, California, and 2015 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year. “I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t constantly make every possible effort to educate and challenge myself to become not only a better fitness professional but also a better person.”

Highlights for Wellness Pros

Whether you’d like to pick up some new small-group training programming ideas, learn the ins and outs of developing a profitable online training business or want to open your own facility, the IDEA Personal Trainer Institute’s renowned faculty will share with you everything you need to know to achieve your goal. Below are just a few highlights from this year’s program.

• Do you experience difficulty in guiding clients toward real, lasting change? James Beauchemin, PhD, senior staff therapist for Ohio State University, will present what he calls “solution-focused wellness coaching.” “This model integrates specialized principles and techniques that will help clients achieve balance across multiple domains, including social, physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual wellness,” he explains.
• ViPR™ inventor Michol Dalcourt will shed new light on fascia, which continues to reign as a hot topic. “We are becoming more aware of the role and behaviors of fascia (fibrous connective tissue matrix) and its importance in movement function,” he says. “What is less clear, however, are guidelines around how to train and influence adaptation through this all-important structure.”
• At Thursday night’s Opening Session, “Set Your Career on Fire!,” Trina Gray, owner of the Bay Athletic Club in Alpena, Michigan, will moderate a panel discussion featuring industry leaders Shannon Fable, Brent Gallagher, MSS, Brett Klika and Ashley Selman. These successful veterans will share tips for opening a new facility, developing a successful team, writing a book and more. They’ll also share insider secrets, mistakes they’ve made and their predictions for the future.
• On Friday night, Networking Happy Hour will be your ideal chance to chat with fellow attendees and fitness conference sponsors.
• You’ll learn about emerging technologies and how you can use them to benefit your clients and your business, and you’ll also get the latest research on stress and inflammation and how diet, exercise and stress-coping mechanisms impact quality of life.
• You’ll gain strategies for maximizing social media success, including dos and don’ts for popular platforms and how to develop eye-catching content.

Tools for Success

No matter what your goal or interest is, the IDEA Personal Trainer Institute offers the education to meet your needs. The program covers everything from corrective exercise and high-intensity interval training to lead generation and staff management must-dos.

Here is a sample of what you can gain from this year’s fitness conference program:

Business Boosters

• Learn what it takes to build your dream fitness and wellness facility.
• Implement multiple streams of revenue for a better bottom line.
• Build a successful business with proven social media strategies.
• Get online fast and develop off-the-floor income.

Boomers/Older Adults

• Learn how to slow the aging process with science and movement techniques.
• Utilize functional movements to minimize age-related dysfunction.

Research and Science Behind Popular Training Protocols

• Learn how training fascia can enhance client success.
• Understand today’s common myths and misconceptions in exercise.
• Explore the benefits of implementing eccentric exercise in client training programs.
• Learn the new rules of high-intensity interval training.

Food and Nutrition

• Build a kitchen in your facility and expand client nutrition know-how.
• Learn 10 eating strategies to get even the pickiest clients out of a rut.
• Understand the real science behind sugar.
• Explore nutrition strategies for muscle hypertrophy and strength
• Help female clients meet changing diet needs.

Specific Populations

• Learn to train peri-, pre- and post-menopausal women.
• Develop exercise strategies for the entire family.
Understand the most useful youth fitness assessment strategies.
• Debunk your female client’s fat loss code.
• Create a core conditioning program for overweight clients.
• Help female clients ease the transition into menopause.

Client Coaching

• Learn the seven most important skills for becoming an effective coach.
• Teach behavior change through exercise.
• Understand how to help clients move better through neural adaptive training.
• Personalize training even in a group environment.
• Improve your communication skills through the art of intelligent coaching.

Photograph by Len Spoden.