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Can You Make More Money With Multilevel Marketing?

When you hear the term “multilevel marketing” or network marketing, what is your first response? Do you want to turn and run? Or are you immediately ready to plunk down the start-up cost and start selling and recruiting?

Most people have their own opinion of MLMs. Some of these assessments come from personal experience, and some are based on preconceived notions. This article will explore the nuts and bolts of MLMs and will offer insights and opinions from fitness professionals on both sides of the fence.

MLM Defined

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How to Prioritize Your Schedule for Greater Productivity

If I asked you how you are doing, what would your answer be? Crazy? Busy? We all have managed to fill every minute of every day with a task, a chore or an obligation. But that doesn’t mean we’re truly productive. Now ask yourself the following questions: Do you spend your days the way you want to? Or is most of your time spent reacting to the influx of emails, social media and people who want your time? Do you book your days from wake to sleep with appointments, and leave no time for yourself or for growing other parts of your business?

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Exercise Design Strategies for Small-Group Training

Carrying a clipboard or an e-device around the gym and industriously noting client progress at every exercise stop is fine when you’re training clients one-on-one.

But in small-group training—that is, when you’re coaching from three to a dozen customers in the same workout session—your time and attention are at an absolute premium. You won’t have hours to agonize over exercise ideas for every trainee. And that clipboard will stand between you and successful small-group exercise delivery.

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Make Group Ex Magical!

It’s Friday night in tiny Willits, California (population: 4,888.) There’s no Walmart®; there are no chain stores. As usual, this small town is quiet. Yet, at Studio Joy, owner Maddy Avena’s Zumba® class is about to be packed and jamming. Why? Avena doesn’t just teach fitness classes; she delivers fitness experiences. By combining technical studio…

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Starting a Small-Group Training Program

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. The growth of SGT isn’t surprising. Fitness facilities and professionals benefit by helping more people—and bringing in…

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Training the Glutes for Form & Function

Our current approach to the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex—emphasizing concentric muscle activation and linear movement patterns—provides an incomplete picture of how the hip joint and surrounding myofascia receive and transmit a variety of forces. This article will explore some unique kinesiological and biomechanical principles to widen our perspective on how the glutes function in many of our…

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Establishing Standards

Brian Biagioli is the executive director for the National Council on Strength & Fitness (NCSF) and a founding member of the Coalition on Registration for Exercise Professionals (CREP). A longtime leader in the health and fit- ness industry, Brian also serves as the graduate program director for strength and conditioning in the department of kinesiology and sport sciences at the University of Miami.

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Creative Ideas That Inspire

Salamander® Resort & Spa in Middleburg, Virginia, takes yoga to the stables. Riders, nonriders and everyone in between can start their morning with the 30-minute Yoga in the Stable class. Led by the resort’s equestrian director and her daughter, who is a yoga instructor, this offering leads participants through a sequence of yoga poses to improve balance, strength, flexibility and posture both on and off the horse.

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Sample Class: Mind-Body Muscle Mix

Many strength-and-conditioning or sports-oriented exercise enthusiasts say they have no desire to add mind-body programs such as yoga or Pilates to their routines, citing lack of time, lack of interest or an inability to “unwind.” To help your boot camp addicts get a taste of the benefits of mind-body movement, seamlessly integrate aspects of yoga and Pilates into your functional boot camp class.

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Shared Stretching

It’s important to end a hard workout with a proper cool-down to ensure that participants transition safely to “regular” activity. Teamwork is a focus in most boot camp classes, and partner stretches create a social environment where people can interact and find support.

Supine Hip Press
With Partner Plank

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Indoor Cycling: Quantifying Outcomes

As interest in cycling continues to grow—both on and off the road—equip- ment and technology advancements are pushing athletes and exercise enthusiasts to achieve their best performance levels. The addition of power meters to many cycles has given instructors the ability to measure feedback and improvements. Understanding power and its application to indoor cycling opens up a whole new instructing dimension and allows you to help riders customize their workouts.

What Is Power?

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Bust Out of a Food Rut

While it’s a good idea to have a handful of go-to meals we can rely on in a time crunch, preparing the same repasts week after week as if on autopilot can bring on a serious case of food burnout.

It may start with an appetite for easy, quick and reliable-to-prepare meals, or it may result from a food restriction brought on by a desire to shed weight. In any case, clients who become blase? about mealtime can be tempted by nutritionally corrupt food as they try to bring more pleasure back to eating—a scenario that can sabotage weight loss efforts or fitness goals.

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10 Benchmarks for Elevating the Personal Training Profession

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?

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Extreme Fitness: How Intense Is Too Intense?

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.

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“What special promotions do you use to draw new training clients?”

I use flash sales, which consistently help me attract new clients. Offering a deep discount through a flash sale for customers who sign up within 48 hours always encourages even the most intimidated client. I normally hold a sale whenever I have space for a new person. The dis- counted price lasts for varying lengths of time (1 month, 3 months, 6 months, etc.). I advertise on my website, Craigslist and Facebook and even in “old-fashioned” fliers. This promotion hasn’t failed me yet; if anything, I have too many new clients. You definitely have to know when your caseload is full.

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