"The Roundtable Discussion"

Rather than concentrating on why so many trainers want to bypass training clients long-term and begin opening up their own studio, I would like to address why they should train clients long term before they even think of opening a studio.

I remember when I was about nineteen maybe twenty, I truly wanted to open up my very own studio.  In actuality I wanted to open my own gym at the age of fifteen!  I still have the original plans, figures and blueprints for the multi-million dollar facility, including salaries, positions and the whole nine….all in due time though.  Of greater interest though, is how unprepared I would have been to have actually ran a successful club or personal training studio at the age of nineteen, twenty or even twenty-two.

At that point I had been weight training for about five years and personal training clients and friends for about two and half, but I certainly did not have an advanced understanding, both in business and fitness, of what I was doing.  I may have been skimming around the edges of my current training philosophy and business, but I certainly wasn’t ‘there’ yet.

In order to get ‘there’ I had to pay my dues, like most of the professionals here, to finally “get it”.  Only after training clients for thousands of hours, did I become the trainer that I am.  Presently I feel confident enough to open a studio anywhere and watch it flourish with clientele and mainly because of the business and marketing individuals I have studied over the course of the last few years.  Seven years ago I did not have the knowledge or confidence I possess now.  I may have thought I had it then, but I know it seriously would have been very difficult to maintain a studio with the experience I had.

And I was pretty advanced for a nineteen year old.  Even then my local media outlets were writing about me.  Not only was I the fitness director of a health club and everyone of the trainers I directed older than me, but I had the creativity and knowledge then to implement new programs, develop cool marketing strategies and help members achieve their goals.  I believe that’s pretty rare for a nineteen year old still in college working at a club with over a couple thousand members.  Today I am even stronger in each area only because I strengthened my limitations by training people for thousands of hours.

Similarly, Alwyn Cosgrove and Jason Ferruggia recently put out an article in their newsletters about newbie trainers who consistently ask how, and if, they can get in the same publications that Alwyn and Jason respectively write for.  Their response was classic and one I strongly agree with.  They summed it up by agreeing that there is no reason why a newbie trainer with a few years of experience should be writing for a major fitness magazine when there is so much more to learn.  Not only should they not write for the publication, but they should have to pay their dues just like Alwyn did and just as Jason did.  Five years ago I shouldn’t have written anything for Men’s Fitness, even though I probably wanted to, but today I feel I have earned my way writing pieces for that publication and the dozen more publications in my area that I do.  Again it’s all a cumulative and experience thing.

Alwyn stated something along the lines of training clients for near or over 10 years, developing a system within that time that truly works, getting consistent and great results from each client, being able to decipher what may and may not work for a particular client and understanding why (?), and then once figuring that out, try writing for a major publication. 

It’s all true.  And the reason why each of us, and I’m sure many others feel this way is because our training philosophies have come so far since our earliest years as trainers that now I almost find it comical when reflecting on my past accomplishments.

The fact of the matter is there are some new trainer’s each year who, I can only imagine, believe that they’ve read every single “Flex” and “Muscle & Fitness” magazine and know every single bodybuilding exercise out there. They may have even read some of some the best books by some of the elite strength coaches and trainers out there, but until they actually put the methods and principles to the real test, on actual human beings, will they truly understand how people can have many similarities in response to a particular system yet so many differences too.  This comes only from extensive time spent training hundreds of individuals from differing backgrounds each desiring different goals.

Training is an art, an acquired skill.  Great trainers are certainly not born over night.  I remember thinking I was the man back in the day, now at twenty-seven I can laughingly look back at the trainer I was, and I’m still amazed I had accomplished so much then.  But this comes with experience, not necessarily age, but definitely experience.  It’s amazing how with every client, every program design, every assessment you still find something new from time to time; for instance new medications, differing motivators, differing energy levels and behavioral patterns.  All of these things come from experience.

So back to the original question, why do new fitness trainers want to open they’re own studio before training clients.  Money I suppose is the number one reason.  Second probably being the idea that training is not hard, laborious work-aren’t they in for a surprise.  Third, they probably think that they’ll be training celebrities and athletes in no time.  And many I would bet believe that being a trainer means you get to sleep with a lot of the clientele and members of the club.  Fifth and I only hope this is true, some really do care about people and really want to help people better their lives.   And last of all, being a trainer is pretty bad ass. 

Let’s face it fitness professional’s are pretty cool cats.  Each of us is athletic, fit, healthy, has a great personality, encourages others to lead a healthy and enjoyable lifestyle and the reward of helping someone feel young, vibrant and sexy, or helping them walk with out pain for the first time in years is a feeling immeasurable by the power of a dollar.  WE make a substantial difference in the lives of people throughout the world.  Once that feeling has been felt a hundred times or so, then focus on opening up a studio. Do you agree with Robert? Discuss here.