Building a Successful Business: IDEA® Personal Trainer Institute

Elevate your purpose at the IDEA® Personal Trainer Institute in Alexandria, Virginia, March 1–4, and for the first time ever, in Dallas, April 5–8!

When Jake Trione, owner of TriAffect Fitness, Health and Wellness in Houston, thought about what he wanted to do after 13 years of active duty in the United States Coast Guard, he knew he’d become a personal trainer. “I thought to myself, ÔÇÿIf I am serious, I should find the most successful professionals in the business and spend time with them,’” he says.

Last year, his educational journey brought him to the IDEA Personal Trainer Institute, which confirmed his career choice. “[Since] attending this conference, my drive to educate and support our aging population has been cemented,” says Trione. “I provide educational presentations to the local community on healthy aging and functional exercise, which has improved my credibility and my overall reach. I’m developing a fall prevention course with a local physical therapist, which I wouldn’t have thought of if I hadn’t attended the IDEA Personal Trainer Institute.”

Like Trione, hundreds of forward-thinking fitness professionals will go to the 2018 IDEA Personal Trainer Institute to discover the training skills, program ideas and business insights that will propel their careers toward optimal success.

Professional Evolution Happens When You Invest in Education

As the old saying goes, “Knowledge is power.” At the IDEA Personal Trainer Institute, there will be so much wattage per square foot that you might go into information overload. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Here are some topics you can look forward to at this year’s events:

• The personal training industry continues to change, which can make choosing a direction difficult. Boulder, Colorado-based Shannon Fable, who runs the professional development firm SF Resources, says trainers who want to stay relevant need to shake up their current practices.

  “Much like in the famous Wayne Gretzky quote, ÔÇÿI skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been,’ fitness professionals need to figure out what’s next versus repurposing what’s been done,” she says. Fable will help fitness professionals learn “where to skate” in her session “The Changing Landscape of Personal Training.”

• Mobility—or the lack of it—is a hot topic as clients grow to understand how it affects their quality of life. Tim Anderson, co-founder of Original Strength® in Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, emphasizes foundational movements to help clients feel their best.

  “When we engage in the original movements that built our nervous system and strength as a child, those movements begin to restore our nervous system and strength as an adult,” he says.

  Attendees of Anderson’s “Pressing RESET to Restore Health and Strength” session will learn how to “reset” a client’s nervous system, which he says will result in “more mobility, strength, smiles and hope, and fewer aches.”

• Animals inspire another of today’s movement trends. “The foundation for all higher-level skills are animal movements,” says presenter Rose Calucchia. “Animal movements teach us the foundational strength, flexibility and motor control we need to achieve larger skills.”

  The Santa Cruz, California-based personal trainer will address this subject in the session “Strength, Flexibility & Control Through Animal Movements.” Calucchia says that integrating these moves into training sessions gives fit pros a chance to diversify—and inject more fun into—client programs.

• A logical progression for a staff personal trainer might be transitioning into entrepreneurship. Billy Polson, founder and owner of DIAKADI Body in San Francisco, says good planning is key. In “Make the Leap: Staff Trainer to Entrepreneur,” Polson will spotlight essential steps required to go solo successfully.

Professionals from all corners of the personal training industry will have lots more to choose from at this year’s event:

Movement Science

Corrective Exercise for Enhanced Performance

Strategies for Lower-Extremity Injuries, by Gray Institute®

Niche Markets

Creating Breakthrough Results for Your Female Clients, Sponsored by Perform Better®

Insights and Programming for Corporate Wellness Programs

Business Mastery

Stay Financially Fit: Create More Revenue Streams

10 Easy Online Income Streams for Trainers

Food Facts

You Are When You Eat: Timing Is Everything

What’s Trending in Nutrition?

Powerful Programs

Mastering Small-Group Personal Training

Obstacle Course Race: Specific Training for Groups

Conference Highlights

While in-depth, career-boosting education is the focus, there’s plenty more to gain from attending IDEA Personal Trainer Institute. In addition to choosing from more than 100 sessions—over 50% of them new this year—and earning up to 20 CECs (plus 6–8 more with preconference sessions), you’ll get to

• connect with old friends and new ones at the Networking Happy Hour;
• gain unparalleled inspiration and insight from the Opening General Session featuring Martin Rooney, MHS, in Virginia, and Todd Durkin, MA, in Texas; and
• explore and test the latest products and services from leading brands in the industry, offered at special discounted prices, in the Sponsor Marketplace.

You can also attend preconference sessions that offer an opportunity for a more in-depth, hands-on educational experience.

For more information and to register, please see www.ideafit.com/conferences or call 800-999-4332, ext. 7. Outside the U.S. and Canada: 858-535-8979, ext. 7. For the full-length article on these conferences, see “The Secrets to Building a Successful Business and a Prolific Career” in the online IDEA Library or in the January 2018 print edition of Fitness Journal.

Photography: LEN SPODEN. All rights reserved.