The Future of the Industry?? Over the last few years, - TopicsExpress

The Future of the Industry?? Over the last few years, one-on-one personal training has solidified its spot as a popular service in the middle and upper income groups. One-on-one personal training carries a relatively high price point and as a result excludes many people interested in my services. During the same time, the profession of personal training has advanced, trainers are more professional, and as a result consumers are receiving a better value for each dollar spent on personal training. I feel that I most definitely fit this description having attended 6 continued professional development courses in the last 3 months in a bid to provide more value to my business and more value to you as the client. As a result my one to one PT prices have increased and while some may be able to afford this, I believe semi private to be more beneficial for the majority in terms of quality program design, outcome and affordability (more details below). Another one of the hottest new trends utilised by personal trainers have been bootcamps with 10 and 20 participants per class. As a reflection of the amount of people being served at once, the price per person has dropped significantly. This is fantastic because the general public can now receive the accountability and motivation that personal training is known for at a much lower cost. Without miscalling any new trainer to the industry it must be noted that this lowers the “barrier of entry” in high-quality fitness programs but does allow more people to engage in structured fitness programs. However, due to the size of boot camps, it’s hard to offer personalisation. Since bootcamps are easier to program and deliver, almost anyone can do it and now almost everyone does. I’m 100% certain that bootcamps as we have known them for the past 5 years are dying a slow death. 5 years ago, when a trainer opened up a bootcamp, they we’re often the first mover and automatically had a decent amount of success. It didn’t really matter whether they were any good at what they did, whether they ran an efficient business or got their clients results - it was new and fresh and had captivated those in attendance primarily for these reasons. There are now literally thousands of bootcamps saturating our industry. A LOT of the trainers who have jumped on the bootcamp bandwagon are running very low quality camps. They’re running classes that are barely live up to the quality of a mediocre health club group class and trying to charge $199 a month for their efforts. Health clubs are offering bootcamp classes as part of their general membership and new competitors in the market are simply competing on price to try to generate some clients. Groupon, Scoopon and other deal sites have driven the value of bootcamps so low that the public thinks that all bootcamps are worth $29-39 per month. NOT the case. This IS what is happening right now in the fitness industry, there’s no escaping or debating it. This will KILL a lot of the bootcamps out there, which I think is a good thing. In any market there is always room for quality and this is where we as trainers, clients and supporters alike in Spark for Life have an opportunity to thrive together with quality over quantity. Semi-private personal training is essentially an option that fits between one-on-one personal training and the large fitness boot camps. Semi-private personal training effectively lowers the client cost per session and makes personal training affordable to more people as they get the same workout for less cost but with more personal attention. I have spent the last 2 weeks gathering my clients availabilitys and then creating small support communities of 3-4 people who have similar personalities, values and goals, thus feeding the mental, physical and social capacities of holistic health. From a trainers point of view it allows me to develop more people in less time, making a bigger difference to a larger audience. Consequently this gives me more time to prepare, program, price, package and deliver sessions, whilst more time to continue to develop my knowledge to become a better trainer and make my clients better athletes. I am also looking to bridge the gap between newly qualified trainers finishing their studies and entering the industry, therefore this additional time is critical in perfecting my systems and programs, ensuring their best chance for success. This will be my biggest project to date and one that I am very excited about. NO longer will new trainers be forced to work in IGA to generate full time income as they cannot afford to go on the necessary courses to fill in the gaps that they have not been taught in their 6 week course at the institute. No, no. Your passion is my passion and I genuinely believe that many potentially pioneers of the industry have been forced to turn their back on their passion simply because they cannot afford to pursue it. We will be creating a more like minded community and nurturing their skill set and developing their business minds which is exactly what the industry needs, WA in particular. I am all about giving back to the industry and that means helping new trainers, clients, family members, strangers alike. We have 1 chance at this life and I want everyone to live it to the full. Be your own Spark for LIFE.