According to the EmLab P&K, 52% of bacteria found in the gym come from treadmills. Along with a pool of perspiration, germs can lead to a host of other nasty infections. Gym-goers must brace the risk of infections that include E.coli, ringworms, athlete’s foot, staph infection, and plantar warts. If not detected, these infections can lead to serious skin conditions.
Life can be a constant challenge full of daily hurdles. Everyone has their own struggles. No one is immune from stress. While some stresses can actually lead to positive action, stress can be an absolute killer to us physically, mentally, and spiritually. It’s very easy to not want to move or exercise when feeling this constant negative tension. However, this is exactly what we must all do to reverse the adverse effects of stress: exercise. And, as fitness professionals, it’s vital to teach and provide proper guidance to our clients to move even when not with us. So, what’s the proper vernacular that the fitness professional should reiterate to their clients about stress and exercise? Moreover, how does the fitness professional inspire their clients to move especially when not in their company? How does the need become greater than the want?
When was the last time you crawled on the ground?
Now, you’re probably thinking:
“Crawling … seriously? That’s for babies!”
Yes, crawling is for babies. And, it may be one of the best things you can ever do for your bodily health and strength, whether you’re a baby or not.
Here’s how to crawl: (Knees off the ground is the next step after mastering this one)
These days it seems like everything is “elite this” and “elite that.” Even with personal training, we can’t escape the need for things to be super-high-level all the time. Yet, with that in mind, we still seek to be “Elite Coaches” at Empowered Strength because we believe it gives our members the best experience with the best results.
What makes someone an “Elite Coach?”
Believe it or not, it does not necessarily mean training elite athletes.
In fact, many Elite Coaches prefer to train “regular” individuals, because that is where their true skills come to light. Many times, elite athletes are such that they would excel no matter who they were coached by. The Average Joe/Jane, on the other hand, has many different motivations and needs.
Sandbags have been around for centuries. They were used by wrestlers, strongmen and in martial arts. In recent years it has caught the mainstream as functional fitness for both the elite exerciser and the everyday athlete. Sandbags are shown as a serious strength and conditioning too. In this article, I will give you some basic reasons, guidelines, and strategies for incorporating the sandbag in your workout.
It is great for conditioning and increasing cardio heart rates as well as constant integrating unstable movement in some HITT activities. Dumbbells are stable and sandbags with the same weight are not. Sandbags challenge both the mind and the body. Another benefit is that they are inexpensive and can be made cheap with homemade equipment or just a duffle bag securing closed.
My passion is both education and fitness. As a special and elementary teacher and certified trainer and instructor, I see where so many teachers are overwhelmed to keep their children focused, happy and busy. So in order to keep with the demands of pressure to teach academic concepts, there is a website that allows teachers to motivate, refocus and get the wiggles out that is available at both home and school. This website is GoNoodle.
It’s no secret that January is a busy month for the fitness industry. New Year’s resolutions are in full swing, motivation levels are at an all-time high, and clients are willing to do what it takes to reach their goals. Then February comes… and more often than not, that fire that was lit inside of so many people seems to go away.
You may have even seen this happen with some of your clients in the past. No matter what you do, they start off strong and then disappear. Of course, every client is different, so there could be a million reasons why this happens. However, I am going to break down three of the most common reasons why New Year’s motivation is lost, based on my experiences, and how you can help your clients to push past those barriers.
We all understand how valuable client retention is or at least I hope so. So I’m not going to explain too much in that department (that’s an entirely different discussion). Instead, we are going to focus in on the “HOW” of retaining clients. There are so many variables that go into client retention but if I had to sum it up in one sentence it would be: “You have to be the best trainer you can be all the time!”
Maintain Integrity
First, and probably the most important in any successful business, is to maintain integrity. This is especially the case in the fitness industry where we are over-run with Joe Schmoe trainers who just laid on their coach and printed a $25 certification offline instead of actually opening a book and studying. Integrity is doing what you are supposed to do, when you are supposed to do it, in the method that it is supposed to be done, and doing it all the time, no matter who’s watching or what other’s think. So personally I would break all those down into questions and ask yourself: Am I doing WHAT I am supposed to do as a “Fitness Professional?”
There are several things that are critical to your success when deciding to start your own fitness business. From my personal experience and through years of working in large, small, corporate, and independent facilities experience is crucial. Do not rush and take that leap until you are confident that you have to abilities to run every dynamic of a fitness facility.
Experience & Education
First, ensure that you are proper educated with at least 1 credible certification but hopefully more since you are interested in your own facility. Education is the line between success and failure. Not only should you have education in personal training, but you need to educate yourself in business management, finance, marketing, leadership, and many more roles that you will need to fill. Experience along with education is just as important. The hands on experience you can learn from working in a variety of positions in a variety of facilities is invaluable. I contribute a large majority of my success to having worked every department in a facility from the front desk, kids club, membership sales, management and more. Not only are these skills critical for you to understand but you will also have to teach these skills to your future employees and you cannot teach what you do not know.
Fitness Professional Online (FPO) is the online hub for fitness professionals, personal trainers, group fitness instructors, and others working in the fitness industry.
We provide information on continuing education, how to be a trainer, training a trainer, and getting a personal training certification.
Fitness Professional Online
529 E. Gutteriez
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
(805) 500-6893
