Archive for November 2011
Starting From Scratch: 10 Steps to Making Your Business Official
In “Starting From Scratch,” in the previous issue of IDEA Trainer Success, we wore ourselves out with figuring and calculations to create a livable work schedule and doable financial goals that would lay the groundwork for starting your own in-home personal training business. Now that the hardest part of our work is behind us, we dive into 10 organized steps to take to make your business official.
1. Choose a Graphic Designer to Create Your Materials.
Business Strategies for Boot Camp Owners: Getting Started
Boot camps offer an amazing opportunity to clients and trainers.
For clients, boot camps provide a playground of back-to-basics exercises, team spirit and camaraderie as they tap into their inner soldier and push their limits, both physically and mentally.
The Anatomy of a Successful Initial Consultation
Like an awkward first date, the initial consultation between trainer and potential client often begins with nervous anticipation. Both parties may cling to hopes of a long-term partnership while harboring fears of being rejected or unheard. Winning over the new customer’s heart (and training budget!) will demand genuine listening skills and a keen attentiveness to his or her needs.
Read MoreHow to Develop Your Own Educational DVD
Many fitness professionals entertain the idea of developing their own DVD programs. You may have many amazing talents to share, so what better way to promote them than on camera? As the creators of 10 fitness videos, we have learned the ins and outs of making a DVD from start to finish.
Read MoreWhat’s Your Objective for New Members?
There are at least a dozen clichés about making a good impression.
Read MoreConvert Facebook Fans to Members
Turning Facebook fans into club members is easier than you think! After a year of interviewing facility operators and businesses that were experiencing remarkable success using social media, I found the common thread: they’re giving people a reason to do more than just “like” them. The following three steps illustrate how to make it happen for you.
Step 1: Solve People’s Problems
Read MoreManaging Peak Times at Your Facility
We’ve all seen it. The eye-rolling, the foot-tapping, the loud sighing as the member who is waiting in line for the much-sought-after cardio machine stares at the clock. This scene is all too common during peak exercise times at any health club. The lines for the treadmills and elliptical machines get longer and longer, and the group exercise classes get more and more crowded.
Read MorePlanning a Seminar on Breast Cancer and Exercise
All breast cancer survivors have one thing in common: a desire to regain control over their lives and bodies. Holding a seminar on this topic at your small to medium-sized fitness facility can help breast cancer survivors return to fitness and showcase your facility’s offerings.
Read MoreReinventing Risk Management
As both a lawyer and a personal fitness trainer and manager, I have found that laws and regulations often seem incongruous with an industry built on endorphins. I suspect that’s why the topic “Legal Issues” tends to be the concluding chapter of certification textbooks—almost an afterthought. Aspiring fitness professionals get excited about VO2max studies, body fat testing and target heart rates, and it’s easy for them to assume that when a problem arises, someone else will take care of it.
Read MorePilates Touchdown
My teenage son Dennis is a high-school football player who suffered a season-ending concussion last fall. Once his doctors had cleared him to exercise, they advised a low-intensity approach to conditioning. He began attending my Pilates reformer classes and incorporated some mat work at home. When he returned to the weight room for off-season conditioning, he noticed a difference in his strength and wished his teammates could share the experience.
Coaches on Board
Read More7 Steps to Exceptional Teamwork
Your team may consist of employees, independent contractors or both. It may have two members or 82. Regardless, it’s important to mentor your team every day. The power of a great team isn’t created at an annual holiday party or a quarterly meeting. It is developed through daily habits. Are you up for the job of leader? For a business owner, it’s the biggest job of all. Yet with just a few simple steps, you can grow as a leader and watch your team soar.
Step 1: Understand
Read MoreTabata Interval Training: Sample Class
Tabata intervals (named for Japanese researcher Izumi Tabata) are a great example of structured intervals. Tabata training includes a 20-second high-intensity anaerobic work interval followed by a 10-second rest, repeated eight times in a row. In a creative twist on Tabata, this sample workout alternates moderate-intensity intervals with higher-intensity bouts of the same exercise. Three intensity options allow people of different fitness levels to start at different points, while still having a way to progress the pattern.
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