• Pick up 2 new clients in 2 weeks.
• Generated an extra $3,600 in the first month.
• Make 6 figures for the first time in his life!

And he did it all with only  “a few hours a work each week… and it didn’t even feel like work” to quote him directly.

This first part of the video interview talks a little bit about:

• the financial aspects of the system.
• the relationship management aspects of the system

Click here to view the embedded video.

The second part of the video interview talk about:

• how to make good clients great!
• the BIGGEST secret to success: PASSION!
• is it possible to train only from 12pm-6pm? Yes!  How to get the ideal schedule.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This third part of the video interview talk about:

• confronting your comfortability zone.
• systematic self-promotion.
• the system works even during the deadest part of the season!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch the video interview now, if you have any questions please leave them in the comments.

• What do you need the most help with?
• What is the most frustrating part of getting new fitness clients?

Let me know in the comments and I will get right back to you.

Show me you are ALIVE! Thanks.

Until next time, keep your business fit!

Jonathan

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC. He has directly coached, managed, and mentored over 100 personal trainers in the last 5 years alone, and owns a highly successful consulting company for personal trainers. His coaching clients have achieved amazing results including making more money, helping more people, and creating more opportunities for their fitness business.

I love this race because it seems so impossible/painful, yet all different kinds of people from all over the world do it, including:

• -a 76 year old women
• -a 91 year old man! (did it in 40 minutes! so cool.)

If they can do it, you and your fitness clients can too!

Races and competitions are a great way to:

• -challenge yourself & push your limits.
• -inspire your personal training clients.
• -get more exposure for your fitness business.

As a personal trainer, we are often in great shape and forget how hard it is to confront ones “perceived limitations”.  But we can lead by example by confronting our own limits!

So many people say “oh, I could never do that”.  That is BS!  If a 90 yr old can do it, you and your clients can too.

Watch this video, leave me some comments, let me know what you think.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We are going to create a TEAM for next years Empire State Building Race!  We will train together, or if you are not in NYC we will post our workouts on line, and we will raise some money for a great cause.

Join our team and get yourself one of these! (Not to mention a once in a lifetime experience.)

Please contact us if you (and maybe one of your fitness clients too) are interested in being on our team.

Until next time, keep your business fit,

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC. He has directly coached, managed, and mentored over 100 personal trainers in the last 5 years alone, and owns a highly successful consulting company for personal trainers. His coaching clients have achieved amazing results including making more money, helping more people, and creating more opportunities for their fitness business.

Your client base is the very foundation of your personal training business and fitness career. Without great fitness clients who will listen to you and follow your leadership, you can’t help anyone.

And there are only 2 kinds of fitness clients out there:

1. A+ Super Clients- these clients get results that transform their body AND their life, because they listen and trust you, are consistent, take responsibility for themselves, and workout on their own. These are the clients you are excited to see each day!

2. Everyone Else- clients who get anywhere from pretty good results to absolutely no results. These include everything from clients who get great results and then slack off and gain the weight back, to the client’s who you really do not enjoy working with for one reasons or another. (You know the ones I am talking about; when they walk into the gym, you find yourself taking a DEEP breath.)

The reason that I separate all fitness clients into only these 2 categories is because the only way to build a truly successful fitness career (while avoiding burn out) is to cultivate a client base of super clients.

• Super clients are fun to train, they make you look good!
• Super clients are so impressed with your abilities, they are happy to promote for you and refer friends! (You often don’t even have to ask.)
• Super clients are the most satisfying people to train, because they get results; they provide you with job satisfaction, which is invaluable! You can really make a difference with them.
• Super clients are willing to make fitness a priority, so they show up consistently (providing you with consistent income) and can often schedule in the middle of the day.

As a personal trainer, think of your clients as your product. Do you want to make shiny new BMW’s that attract attention toward your business, or broken down clunkers that are high maintenance?  You can’t build a serious fitness career with clunkers!

Jillian is definitely a super client, she works her butt off during our session and refers great clients often.

Follow my advice and you can have super clients like me. Some of my super clients include celebrities, such as Jillian Michaels, to everyday people like my client Keith, who I trained to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro at the age of 63! Keith is one of the nicest, hardest working clients ever, and a truly a pleasure to work with because he inspires me!

So how do you attract super clients?

My client Keith is definitely a super client! He is one of the hardest working and nicest clients I have met in 9 years.

Personal Training Policy NUMERO UNO: Make Empowerment a Corner Stone of Your Business Model

Some people think of trainers as program designers, rep counters, motivators, and fitness instructors, and while that is all true, our most important role is that of an empowering educator. When your clients are empowered, they will work with you to achieve life changing goals. Here is how you empowerment a corner stone of your business:

1. Create an “Accountability Agreement” that you share with all potential fitness clients, and outline what your expectations are for the fitness client and what they can expect from you, something I like to call the client bill of rights. (The agreement should outline you companies personal training policy, I make my clients sign it!) This is a powerful sales tool and a polite way of saying “look, you are going to have to work and follow my lead or else this will not work”. Good prospect will get excited, and think “Wow, this trainer is serious AND professional!” Bad prospects will say to themselves “I don’t want to work hard, I’ll find a trainer that will do it all for me.” Either way, this works to your benefit, assuring the good prospects will buy while avoiding bad clients that will suck your energy dry! By telling people right off the bat what your expectations are, you are setting the tone for the relationship AND avoiding bad habits which are always hard to break.

2. If you would like a copy of the “Accountability Agreement” I use, sign up to the newsletter in the box on the top right part of this page and I will send it to you. Otherwise, here are a few key rules I have in the agreement that will help you develop super clients.

3. Expect your fitness clients to work out on their own! It may as little as just walking on the treadmill for 10 minutes, but the point is to help them take responsibility of their health and fitness. Gradually increase your expectations for their solo workouts as they progress. More advance clients should follow your program exactly, even on their own. Clients who say “I didn’t feel like doing legs so I did arms and chest” are not super clients. Educating them about why legs are important for their goals is critical, while gradually holding them to a higher standard.

4. Don’t let them talk negatively about themselves when working out. Not even a little bit. You can start to change their attitude, and open up their eyes to their true potential, but only if they have the right mind state.  This is a very important personal training policy to have in place.

5. Teach them about how to exercise. Don’t impress them with your knowledge of surgical anatomy, it will only confuse them. Give them practical information that they can use on their own when working out, and give it to them bit by bit. Too much info is overwhelming. When they work out on their own, they will be forced to use this information, which means that they will retain that information!

6. Engage them outside of the gym, make it REAL. Introduce them to the PRIMAL aspect of fitness, by setting goals that include public challenges with a social and competitive element such as races, or walks for charity.

Avoiding a Vicious Cycle of Co-dependence

When your clients retain the information, they will have more control over their health and fitness. That is the whole point of a personal training business, right? It’s not satisfying to help someone lose 15lbs, only to have them come back to you 6 months later 20lbs over weight. You don’t want to be a crutch for your clients, they will not get great results, they will not be fun to workout with, and they will hold you back for growing your business.

Yes, educating your fitness clients requires more skills, in particular psychological and leadership skills, but you will get much better results and be able to charge more money for your services. And the more you practice, the better you will get. Each new client is an opportunity to provide an even better service!  By continually holding yourself and your clients to a higher standard, you are guaranteed a very successful fitness career.

“But If I Teach My Client Everything They Will Not Need Me!”

Every trainer feels this way when first starting out, but it is completely inaccurate.

1. It should be literally be impossible to teach the client everything you know. If you can teach your client everything you know, you haven’t made a commitment to continuing education. Their amount of knowledge will never catch up to yours if you continue to educate yourself, (clients aren’t going to conference, workshops, seminars, or getting certifications, but you should be doing all of these consistently.)

2. Even trainers get better workouts when being trained by someone else. You just work harder when someone is watching. You still have value when training an educated client. In fact, you have even more value because you want to work hard for them because they work hard for you. You are willing to go the extra mile, research a new program specifically for them, or send follow up emails, because you love training them so much.

You can literally never give to much away to a client if you are well educated!  The only time you should not give your all is if they are not making use of your hard work and the resources you provide them.  Clients who don’t follow the program you took the time to create and don’t meet you half way should be dumped as fast and professionally as possible!  Only train super clients, and give your all.

And here is the big secret. When you train a super client, you can charge more money because you are more valuable. Period. (Also, surprise surprise, the brain, while accounting for only 2-3% of the bodies mass, can account for up to 30% of total calories burned. Get your fitness clients actively engaged and they will have a better workout.)

My new website, www.personaltrainingbusiness.com, will go live soon and  is going to be a community and a system (which includes software), that is entirely dedicated to helping personal trainers develop a strong foundation for a successful career by attracting super clients.  This is the key to a highly successful personal training business.  Sign up to the newsletter (just name and email) so I can send you a copy of my “Accountability Agreement”, which is an important piece of this system.

Show me you are alive, what do you think?

• Do you use some kind of policy agreement? What personal training policy is your favorite?
• What do you think makes a super client?
• What’s the worst story about a bad client?
• What questions do you have about growing your personal training business?

Let me know in the comments, I would love to hear about it.

Until next time, keep your business fit.

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC. He has directly coached, managed, and mentored over 100 personal trainers in the last 5 years alone, and owns a highly successful consulting company for personal trainers. His coaching clients have achieved amazing results including making more money, helping more people, and creating more opportunities for their fitness business.

The fitness industry, while still in its infancy, is changing at an accelerate rate. The next 10 years will be a crucial period, one where the importance of our industry will become widely accepted and increased pressures and demand for our services will force us out of our infancy and into childhood and greater maturity.

While that maturity will manifest itself in several positive trends, other negative trends will continue and even increase at the same time. Each one of these trends represents MAJOR OPPORTUNITIES for the personal trainer who is ready to meet them head on.

Increased acceptance of the link between exercise & health will create huge demand for exercise professionals.

1. Prevention vs. Treatment- Doctors can heal you when you are sick, but a great personal trainer can prevent you from getting sick in the first place. Personal trainers understand this, and the world will too in the next decade. As much as 75% of our health care costs are due to preventable lifestyle related diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. Corporations and small business will continue to invest more and more in the health of their employees, while health insurance companies will continue to increase rewards for people who engage in healthy activities. This will create major opportunities for entrepreneurial trainers. Unfortunately, despite this increased focus on prevention and exercise, the rate of obesity will continue to increase until the commercial food industry is radically transformed.

2. Health & Fitness Professionals Will Integrate- The number of personal trainer, doctors, physical therapist, nutritionists, massage therapists, and chiropractors who work together to provide comprehensive solutions for their clients/patients will increase dramatically. This increase will be driven by the fact that this trend is both good for business and great for the patient/client.

Increased injuries, in particular chornic joint pain, will increase the number of lawsuits, as well as the demand for personal trainers who work with physical therapists and know how to train people post rehab.

3. Dramatic Increase in Exercise Relate Injuries & Lawsuits, Creating Increased Pressure for Regulation- the explosion of group fitness and bootcamps , in particular ones with ineffective screening methods and a “high intensity for everyone” mentality, will result in an exponential increase in injuries caused by personal trainers and increase lawsuits. Coupled with the increased pressure from the public to make exercise take a less time and an increasingly unhealthy/sedentary population, these injuries may reach pandemic proportions, which will increase the pressure on lawmakers to regulate the industry. The increased use of Exercise Games, such as the Wii Fit, will also increase the number of injuries people sustain each year while exercising, but also help some people get in shape while having fun.

4. The Rate of Obesity Will Continue to Increase- while 60% of Americans are already either overweight or obese, this number will creep up towards 80% by the end of the decade. This trend will not turn around until the commercial food industry is changed and proper nutrition, health, and exercise is made a priority in the lessons taugh throughout the education system from Kindergarten through High school. The increased rate of obesity will result in new kinds of “obesity lawsuits” and new tactics by other institutions to curb the trend. These attempts will be, for the most part, ineffective.

5. The Number of Personal Trainers with Small Businesses Will Increase- due to the increased need/demand for our services, the primary role of a leading personal trainer will be that of educator, community exerciser, and consultant. To meet this demand, more trainers will become self-employed and start businesses, allowing them to create new and effective solutions, while making more money, without the constraints and restrictions of the existing corporate fitness powerhouses. More personal training only studios will go into business each year, and more personal trainers will be working full time and making a successful career in the industry (many trainers are part time right now). Most importantly, more personal trainers will team up with others in the technology industry to create effective tools and software to help keep track of their client’s goals, exercise routine, lifestyle, and diet, helping these trainers reach more people.

Major opportunites abound, including the opportunity of making a career out of helping people change their lives for the better.

6. Childhood Obesity & Diabetes Will Continue to Increase Dramatically- children will become a critical population in need; the reduction of physical education programs, combined with the commercial food served in most schools (and everywhere else), will result in epic levels of childhood obesity and diabetes. This trend will be a major opportunity for personal trainers who want to make a difference. The critical role of daily exercise, not sports, for increased self-development, maturation, and health will become an integral part of any school that wishes to buck this trend, and savy personal trainer will help schools integrate these principles into the foundation of their curriculum.

7. New Kinds of Competitions & Challenges- new kinds of races and competitions will increase over the next decade. While the increase in endurance and ultra-endurance races have already increased dramatically, the need for large scale community solutions for the average JOE will create the need for a great number and variety of lower intensity races and competitions. Personal trainers will use these competitions and other kinds of social events that take place outside of a gym to increase the commitment and accountability of their clients. These trainers will achieve great results with their clients.

8. More “Fitness Coaches” Who Are Not Personal Trainers- more non personal trainers will become involved in the personal training industry. Programs like Team Beachbody will increase the number of “fitness coaches” who serve the purpose of increase accountability and motivation, not exercise prescription, technique, or program development. These coaches will provide a great referral network for personal trainers.

I hope you are prepared to harness these trends and make a difference!

One other quick note. ACE (American Council on Exercise) did an annual survey to predict the trends for next year. The biggest trend they found was that people would be looking to spend less money and less time on exercise due to tighter budgets and hectic schedules, and that the most successful trainers would adapt to these trends.

I couldn’t disagree more! They are a great organization, but I definitely beg to differ in this case.

While it is important to meet the demands of the market, it is also important to educate our clients. The simple fact of the matter is that catering to highly impractical demands is negligent. One of our jobs as educators is to diffuse unrealistic expectations immediately. So when a sedentary client who is over worked, over stressed, and undernourished comes in and says “I have 30 minutes to exercise 2x/week, work me out as hard as you”, we say “Hell NO!” not “Yes of course, the client is always right”. If we cater to these impractical demands, we risk a much greater chance of injury and mediocre results, not to mention invalidation.

Our job is to protect our clients from themselves and give them a better understanding of reality. Yes, we need to adapt to market forces, but within reason. The most successful trainers will have the best clients, clients who listen to them and are empowered by them. Successful personal trainers are not bossed around by their clients nor do they adapt to their unrealistic expectations.

As the personal trainer, you are the LEADER!

I do agree that these market forces will increase the number of cost conscious gyms and group exercise offerings.

What do you think? Leave some comments and let us know!

• What are your expectations for the next decade in the fitness industry?
• What trend will you try to take advantage of?
• How will you be helping people achieve their goals 10 years from now?

Until next time, keep your business fit.

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC. He has directly coached, managed, and mentored over 100 personal trainers in the last 5 years alone, and owns a highly successful consulting company for personal trainers. His coaching clients have achieved amazing results including making more money, helping more people, and creating more opportunities for their fitness business.

Your client base is the very foundation of your personal training business and fitness career.  Without clients who will listen to you and follow your leadership, you can’t help anyone.

99% of personal trainer business cards get thrown out immediately or put in a pile, never to be seen again.

Below are some tips you can use to be sure your business cards does not end up at the bottom of some pile.

Anatomy of a Great Business Card

Here are the biggest tricks to avoiding this fate and using business cards to generate more business:

1. Always Ask for the Prospects Information First- if you don’t feel comfortable enough to ask, you have not built enough rapport which means the person will not call you back anyway.  Don’t waste your cards on them.

2. Give Your Card to Hot Prospects- If the prospect does give you their info, giving them a business card anyway is a great idea, so they will remember you, expect your call, and can learn more about you by checking out your website.  But always leave the ball in your court, and tell them you will call them.  Otherwise, you will be hanging around waiting for the phone to ring.  (Asking when to call is a good idea too.)

3. Have Your Website on Your Card- No duh, right? Maybe you can send them directly to your testimonials page.  What about putting client pics and testimonials on the back of the card?  This one I haven’t tried, but I bet it would work great.  Many people have important fitness goals, but are very skeptical of the quality of personal trainers out there.  Start to disarm their biggest objection off the bat and you will increase your chances of a sale tremendously.

4. Have a Strong Call to Action- on your business card, a directive statement like telling them what to do, like “Call us now and prepare to get in the best shape of your life” works much better than a non-directive statement like “We are here to help you.” You call to action can be a special offer, a discounted rate, or just ask them to try one of your exercise programs.

5. Create a Sense of Urgency- on your card, put an expiration date next to the call to action.  Creating a sense of urgency will help them take action immediately, instead of filling it away in their “I’ll do it later” category, and never getting around to it.  Also, having a deadline (the expiration date) will force you to hand your cards out before they expire.  One other variation is to write “Deadline:_________” and then write in the deadline date in the blank right before you plan on handing them out.

6. Put Your Face on the Card- in many industries, this would be unprofessional, but we are in a service business; it is your face they will be looking at all session long, get them used to it and help them remember you.  Use a professional photo, not your myspace profile PIC camera phone self-portrait!  You can use craigslist or your personal network to find a photographer who will barter with you if you don’t already have one in your roster (which you should).

7. Put a Strong Statement of Your Company’s Goals- if you have a specific niche you target, be sure to mention them.  Do you target athletes, the elderly, actors, business owners?  Having a niche you are passionate about and talking directly to them in all of your marketing, including business cards, is a great way to eliminate the competition and expand your client base fast.  You can promote a specific program on your business card too.

8. Make Them Feel Special- put “VIP CODE:______” on the front or back of the card, and write in a code that offers them a special discount.  This can be in relation to the special offer/call to action.  If you are partnering with a business, you can put the businesses name as the code.  (I use this technique with brochures I leave in physical therapists offices.  It will say “VIP CODE: Dr. Karmen” for instance.)

9. The Sniper Technique- because you will be using an expiration date and targeting specific niches, you may want to design 2 slightly different cards (one specific to each major program or niche) and only order 50 cards.  While this will cost more upfront, you will get way more leads than using a shotgun technique. (See below.)  Target specific niches or business with a specialized business card that talks directly to them.

I had this business card made using www.vistaprint.com.

The Biggest Personal Trainer Business Card Mistake

Personal trainer business cards should be one of your LOWEST PRIORITY methods for engaging new clients, but often it is the first one we run to.  “If I only had the right business card, then people would know I am a serious business”.  This is completely false!

Business cards can be a good tool, as long as they are used the right way.  Many trainers are uncomfortable with self-promotion, and use business cards as a crutch to avoid confronting their fears.

It’s human nature.

We want to help people, but don’t like trying to convince them they need our help.

“Oh, I’ll just give them my business card and hope they call”.

We have all been there.  And, as we know, it just doesn’t work.  You will have to hand out at least a 1,000 cards to get one solid client.  This is what we call the “Shotgun” technique, and it takes a lot of time and work for very little results.

But more importantly, the simple fact of the matter is that we are in sales.  Ever conversation is a sale; you are either buying or selling at any moment:

• •We sell our fitness clients on why a certain exercise or program is important.
• • We sell to them when we advise them what to eat.
• •We sell them on why they need to work out on their own.
• •We sell our clients training sessions.
• •And they try and sell us all kinds of crap; why they couldn’t workout last Saturday, why they were late for the session or didn’t show up, why they will never reach their goals, etc.

We are in the persuasion business.  And practicing self-promotion, instead of hiding behind a business card, will help you be more confident and persuasive  when it comes to managing and leading your clients.  If you are desperate to make a sale they will sense your desperation.  Most likely they will not buy, and if they do, they will have more leverage than they should in the relationship.  You are the leader; being persuasive is a critical leadership skill!

So if we must get good at sales and persuasion, we have to get comfortable with self-promotion.

First, develop the confidence in your skills by developing your exercise knowledge, and then use that knowledge to help people.  When you are confident in the value you provide, then go out there and self promote in person.  If you rely on business cards only, you will have a very hard time making a name for yourself in this business.

Leave me some comments, SHOW ME YOU ARE ALIVE!

•How do you use your personal training business cards to get more clients?

•Did I forget anything?

•What do you think of my card?  Criticism welcome, I can take it!

Until next time, keep your business fit.

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC.  He has directly coached, managed, and mentored over 100 personal trainers in the last 5 years alone, and owns a highly successful consulting company for personal trainers.  His coaching clients have achieved amazing results including making more money, helping more people, and creating more opportunities for their fitness business.

What is the most valuable thing you can provide your fitness client? This is a great question to ponder.

Any good trainer is motivating.  We all know that. But to be great, you must empower your fitness client.

What is the difference?

Self-Empowerment = using your skills to unlock the motivation INSIDE the client, so they learn self-motivation and self-accountability.

Making empowerment a corner stone of your business model is critical for your success.  The fitness client that follows your leadership proactively, works out on their own, and takes responsibility over their goals ALWAYS gets better results than the one who does not.

And client’s that get great results will refer you to more great clients, which means:

• more money
• more job security
• better results
• less cancellations
• less time marketing yourself
• more fun

The other option is to create a viscous cycle of co-dependence.  The client needs you to exercise.  You need the client for money.  The results are mediocre and neither party is happy.

How to Make Exercise Sticky

So, how do you empower each and every one of your fitness clients so they stick with exercise?  Lots of ways! (Please share yours in the comments).

1. Introduce Them to Reality – our bodies are meant to move every single day.  If they didn’t, we wouldn’t have survived.  This is what Primal Fitness means; move it or die. The same applies today, except a quick death by sabertooth tiger has been replaced by the slow death of disease.  Help them face this reality ASAP.

2. Set The Tone – Write out your expectations and present it to them at the end of the very first workout; let them know that this is a partnership and each side has responsibilities.  Explain how this will help them get the best results.  Yes you may scare off some potential clients, but the chances they would have made a great client are slim.  Great clients will react the exact opposite way. “Wow, this trainer is serious, I am going to have to step it up!”

3. Education, Educate, Educational! – Of course our job is to exercise fitness clients, but we must educate them as well. This means giving them small bits of practical information they can use, not trying to impress them with our anatomy vocabulary.

4. Exercise Homework – Oh yeah, about that “small bit of practical information” i.e. exercise knowledge, make sure you ask them to use that information in between each time they see you. Create a program for beginners and have them report back to you, while more advanced clients can submit programs to you for you to edit.  Don’t ask too much, but don’t ask too little!

5. Over Deliver/Care – That’s right, when you really care, the client will care too.  Finding client’s that you really care about is half the battle.  Good examples are sending hand written notes when the reach a milestone, an encouraging email, or looking up some question they had and sending them the answer.

6. Social Fitness – Back to the whole aspect of primal fitness; we survived through evolution by working together.  Hunting, gathering, carrying, building, these are all things we did together.  Adding a social element to their experience is a great way to keep them motivated and focused.  This can mean working out in tandem, at a group exercise class, bootcamp, or running group.  Either way, it helps make exercise more fun and less boring, which makes it easier to stick too.

7. Competitions – Providing clients with opportunities to compete is a great way to connect your fitness client with the concept of primal fitness.  Weight loss contests, races, and exercise competitions are great ways to keep clients self-motivated and focused.

8. Connect to Their Joy – Yes, most clients want to get in better shape to “look better naked”, but the simple truth of the matter is that they cannot be happy without being healthy and fit.  Again, help them understand this simple statement: no exercise equals no happiness.  Find out what their life goals are, what hobbies or physical activities they enjoy, and create programs that will help them enjoy life, and these activities, more. This will help them self-motivate and stick to the program.

9. Be Inspirational- Last but not least, we must be inspirational, not only with our words and actions, but our physicality and lifestyle.  While this is a major tool to get clients jump-started and keep them motivated, it works best over the long term when combined with the preceding 8 concepts.

You may be saying to yourself “but if I teach the client everything I know, they will have now use for me”.

Yes, this is true, but our job as a personal trainer is to know WAY MORE than the client.  No matter how good you are at educating your fitness client, you should always know even more.  If this is a concern for you, then that is a red flag that you need to spend more time on continuing education.

The simple fact is that LIFE HAPPENS:

• Clients Move Away
• They Go on Vacation
• They Run Out of Money

No matter what happens, you want to leave your clients with a better ability to exercise themselves.  This is exponentially more valuable than training them to reach a goal that they cannot maintain on their own.

And the more value your provide people, the more successful you will be in life and business.

The Power of Primal Fitness

Michael Pollan, in his book bestselling book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, writes that “Under the pressure of the hunt… the human brain grew in size and complexity”.

As well all know, humanity has survived (and thrived) because of it’s intelligence/brain size.

And our brains grew because of hunting.

Therefore…

We survived because our brains grew because of intensely focused group exercise.

Funny, right?

But the truth is the same today; we may live in a civilized society, but our body and brains are 200,000 years old (so says evolution.)

The same rules apply.

Connect your fitness clients to the idea of primal fitness and THEY WILL THRIVE.

Find a way to tap into these emotions and level of intensity, safely, and you will empower all of your clients. Engage their intelligence and focus; the human brain, while representing only 2% of the bodies mass, uses 18% of the calories we consume.  Get them actively engage in the workout, and they will burn more calories, retain the information they learn, and the workouts will be more interesting.

So what techniques will you use to empower your clients?  Have they worked?  What challenges do you face?  Leave me some questions in the comments and I will get right back to you.  SHOW ME YOU ARE ALIVE!

Until next time, keep your business fit.

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC.  He has directly coached, managed, and mentored over 100 personal trainers in the last 5 years alone, and owns a highly successful consulting company for personal trainers.  His coaching clients have achieved amazing results including making more money, helping more people, and creating more opportunities for their fitness business.

Our industry, much like our world, is transforming at an accelerated rate.

The fitness industry, as you know, is relatively unregulated, unorganized, and at times even divided.  There are both advantages and disadvantages to this dynamic:

• For better or worse, it is relatively easy to become a personal trainer.  Standards for personal training and best practices are not well established.
• There are a lot of experts, organizations, and certifications to learn from; this is great, but can make picking the right educational path overwhelming.
• Because of the first 2 facts, the quality, style, integrity, and knowledge of personal trainers vary wildly, affecting our collective credibility and image among the public.

There are signs of more integration and collaboration, which is great, and we can expect to see the whole industry and fitness profession moving in this direction.   There is a greater understanding of the preventative power of a healthy lifestyle, and fitness professionals are at the forefront of expanding this awareness.  And the world needs preventative health, the fitness profession, and lifestyle information more than ever!

The Association of Elite Fitness Professionals was created to transform the fitness industry.  Together, we will hold ourselves and our client’s to higher standards, collaborate and innovate, and help more people take control of their health and fitness.

Our Tribe of Elite Professionals

The Association for Elite Fitness Professionals was created for all fitness professionals (anyone who uses force as a modality to elicit greater health and fitness), including:

• Personal Trainers & Athletic Trainers

• Wellness & Lifestyle Coaches

• Yogis & Massage Therapists

• Group Fitness Instructors & Boot Camp Leaders

As Elite Fitness Professionals, we are committed to the following ideals:

1. Constantly increasing our skills and abilities, to create more value and results for our clients.

2. Holding ourselves and our clients to the highest standard. (Check out the “Client Bill of Rights”).

3. Taking a holistic approach to education that includes consistently increasing our exercise knowledge, interpersonal skills, & business acumen.

4. Comprehensively addressing our client’s health and fitness needs, referring out when necessary, and creating a network of health professionals to support our client’s diverse needs.

5. Utilizing exercise to transform their client’s mind, body and life.

6. Making personal empowerment, self-accountability, and lifestyle change a corner stone of our business model.

The Mission of the Association of Elite Fitness Professionals is to:

1. Collaborate with each other to establish best practices, better integration of knowledge, and push the standards of the fitness industry up.

2. Target specific populations that need our health the most, and work together to find comprehensive solutions (the obese, children, the poor).

3. Create greater communication and integration between fitness professionals and other health professionals (physical therapists, doctors, psychologists, etc.)

4. Transform our cultures understanding of health and disease in relation to fitness and lifestyle, on both a larger scale and one client at a time.

5. Rightfully reclaim (from the medical/pharmaceutical industry) holistic fitness as the best solution for happy, healthy, disease free living.

By committing ourselves to these standards, we know that we can accomplish great things and a higher standard of service for the fitness profession.

Precision, Professionalism, and Skills

In order to overcome the stereotype in the minds of people (the rep counting, skimpy spandex outfit wearing, vane personal trainer), we must uphold ourselves to a high standard and be precise!

When will we be as respected as, say, a surgeon?  When we wield our tools (exercise programs and our words) as precisely as a surgeon wields the scalpel.

So how do we become that precise?  By increasing our knowledge and skills!

We all know how important education is for our industries credibility, our client’s success, and our career stability.  Our client’s come to us looking for leadership; but our job as leaders is to create more leaders, not followers.

The following is an incomplete list of knowledge and skills broken down into 3 categories.  Feel free to make some suggestions in the comments and I will add them in.  You don’t have to master everything!  In fact, that is impossible.

You want to focus on the things you are passionate about and good at, but you need to be aware of and accomplished in the other skills so that you are well rounded.  Most gaps in your knowledge can be covered by developing a network of health professionals.

A) Exercise Science

1. Biomechanics
2. Physiology
3. Anatomy
4. Program Design
5. Nutrition

B)   Interpersonal Skills

1. Communication Skills
2. Customer Service Skills
3. Psychological/Motivational Skills
4. Leadership Skills

C) Business Skills

1. Marketing Skills
2. Organizational Skills & Systems
3. Sales Skills
4. Professionalism & Policy
5. Entrepreneurial Skills

And if we are going to provide the most value to our clients, we must be passionate about learning and dedicate ourselves to the study of many topics.

“Those who love wisdom must investigate many things.”  Heraclitus

Many trainers are uncomfortable with the final skill set, developing business skills, self-promotion, and sales.  But these are the very tools that will allow us to help more people, and if we don’t reach them, other average or below average trainers will be getting their message in front of them.

• Providing them with misinformation.
• Creating a cycle of dependence.
• Perpetuating those fitness myths that will just not go away!

So we are in the business of not only empowering our clients and getting them in shape, but also in the business of mass education.  And by raising the public’s understanding, they will be better able to make decisions about exercise, and be a lot less likely to train with bad trainers.  By raising the bar and pushing the standards up, we can redefine what it means to be a fitness professional

If you are having trouble developing your business skills (sales, self-promotion, marketing, etc), you should check out our “Personal Training Business Software” and join the cut the line list so you can be the first to use it when it comes out.

You may not agree with everything above, and that is totally cool.  Not ever fitness business should be the same and I would love to hear what you think of these standards, if there is anything you think that is missing, or what you like about the Association of Elite Fitness Professionals and its goals.

Leave me some questions in the comments and I will get right back to you.  SHOW ME YOU ARE ALIVE!

Until next time, keep your business fit.

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC.  He has directly coached, managed, and mentored over 100 personal trainers in the last 5 years alone, and owns a highly successful consulting company for personal trainers.  His coaching clients have achieved amazing results including making more money, helping more people, and creating more opportunities for their fitness business.

What standard do you hold your fitness business to? Do you have a personal training policy?  Do you have a personal trainer mission statement you share with your fitness clients?

Defining your own personal trainer mission statement, moral code, and standard of practice will provide the foundation of a successful personal training career and increase your profits!  The fitness profession is a very competitive business, so having a statement that you share with clients is a powerful way to differentiate yourself.

Below is “The Client Bill of Rights”, a set of standards I hold myself up to when working with fitness clients.  I expect all of my trainers to exceed these standards as well.  For my business, this is the minimum standard of professionalism, not the maximum, and must be met consistently.

Please feel free to:

1. copy this statement

2. change it

3. put it in a document with your companies branding element, website, and your photo

4. print it out

5. share it will clients and prospects

6. embody it!

When printed out and provided to fitness clients at the end of an introductory workout, this is a powerful tool that will help you make more sales.  (Give it to them to take home .) I recommend putting a nice picture of you on it too, in addition to your website and perhaps your rates; this send a powerful message!

The Client Bill of Right’s states that fitness clients are entitled to a personal trainer who:

• Continually Tracks Your Progress and Goals as They Evolve.

• Helps You Define & Achieve Goals that are S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely).

• Keeps You Engaged With Fun & Interesting Workouts.

• Stays Attentive and Focused Every Session.

• Confirms Every Appointment.

• Has Excellent Communication and Listening Skills.

• Provides Safe and Effective Workouts.

• Effectively Teaches You Exercise Knowledge (so you know how to work out better on your own.)

• Is Always On Time, Prepared, With Good Hygiene and Looking Professional.

• Has Good Availability for Your Schedule, Rarely Cancels, and Provides Advanced Notice When Canceling.

• Responds to all Email, Text, and Voice Mail Communications Promptly.

• Provides Motivation, Inspiration, and Leadership.

• Consistently Provides a Customized Workout Program.

• Challenges You to Work Out on Your Own, Be More Self-reliant with Exercise, and Addresses Lifestyle Habits.

• Comprehensively Addresses Your Health and Fitness by Collaborating with a Network of Health Professionals.

The fitness profession is great, but getting more competitive? What is your personal training policy and personal trainer mission statement?  Do you print them out and use them as a sales tool?  What have your fitness clients said about it?

Until next time, keep your business fit.

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC.  He has directly coached, managed, and mentored over 100 personal trainers in the last 5 years alone, and owns a highly successful consulting company for personal trainers.  His coaching clients have achieved amazing results including making more money, helping more people, and creating more opportunities for their fitness business.

As you know, setting achievable goals for your fitness clients is a critical part of keeping them motivated, consistently, year round. The clients that workout consistently, and achieve goals, are the ones that make us look great, attain amazing results, and are a pleasure to work with.

One of my client’s, Joe, who has been with me for about 6 years, just ran his first marathon! Not only that, but he finished the NYC 2009 Marathon in 3hours 39 minutes! This is an awesome achievement for someone running a marathon for the first time; he basically ran 26.2 miles with an average pace of 8minutes 21 seconds for each mile.

This is a tremendous achievement for Joe, and I am so happy for him, and honored that I was a part of his success. The NYC Marathon is no joke! You are running all over the city, with thousands of other people, a sea of runners, running through parks, down streets, across bridges, and finally across the finish line.

Client Success!

A critical aspect of being a successful personal trainer is pushing your client’s limits, safely, both inside the gym AND OUTSIDE the gym. It’s that second part that is especially important, and were many trainers fall short. When you get your client to commit to “external goals” that are social (Joe had a running partner and trained hard on his own, in addition to our workouts) and involve some degree of competition, you will see them really kick into high gear.

By tacking it outside of the gym, and introducing a competitive/social element, you reacquaint your client with the primal aspect of fitness. On a very real emotional level (and perhaps somewhat unconscious), the client realizes that being fit is a matter of survival! All of a sudden, they take their training more seriously than ever, and are very committed.

And interestingly, taking the focus off losing weight can be an added advantage as well. Joe is leaner than ever, and we hadn’t even been focused on “weight loss”.

Check out http://www.active.com for local events and races that you can challenge your client to participate in, or create you own!

Running the NYC marathon is a major goal, and it is one that Joe and I discussed for years before we both decided he was ready to do it. It is important not to rush into anything, and to set reasonable goals that do not over extend the client, otherwise you risk injury, frustration, and feelings of being a failure. And it is important that the goal or race resonates with the client, and is something that they are committed to.

Lead by Example

And of course, it is important to lead by example! (I ran my first half marathon this summer and it was an awesome and enlightening experience.) I am also currently training for the Empire State Building Stair Race Up, which is a race to the top of the Empire State building observation deck (86 flights).

How have you challenged your clients? What client success stories do you have? Have any of your clients ran a marathon? What external goals or races have your clients accomplished? Share your success or vent your frustration in the comments! SHOW ME YOU ARE ALIVE!

Until next time, keep your business fit.

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC. He has directly coached, managed, and mentored over 100 personal trainers in the last 5 years alone, and owns a highly successful consulting company for personal trainers. His coaching clients have achieved amazing results including making more money, helping more people, and creating more opportunities for their fitness business.

Have you ever wondered?

• Can personal training really be a career?
• What is the average salary of a personal trainer?
• How much money can I make as a personal trainer?
• How do I make a career out of personal training?
• Is there a difference between a personal trainer and a fitness professional?
• What is the fastest way to build my fitness career?

From Part-Time to Full-Time to Career

That is the path many of us take.

I overheard my friend, a trainer, talking the other day about how he got into being a personal trainer.  Like most of us, he started part-time, after a while he was able to build up to being a full time personal trainer. Now he is making a career as a very successful trainer.

My path was very similar!  I didn’t look for a job in a gym because I wanted to make a career out of personal training, I just loved exercise, wanted to have a gym to workout in, didn’t have any money for a gym membership, and needed a job (because of that “didn’t have any money” part.J)

I suspect that most personal trainers are the same.  Yes, some of us out there went to college for personal training (and that trend is growing fast), but most of us naturally gravitated towards the industry for similar reasons;

• “I can’t work behind a desk!”
• “I love working with people and helping them reach their goals!”
• “I love working out, being active, and playing sports!”

Where does this passion for health, fitness, and exercise come from?

Often it is based on our own experience with the transformative powers of exercise. I personally went from a scrawny, shy, fearful kid to a successful, happy, fit, and confident personal trainer with an awesome career and celebrity clients.

And you can too!

As long as you have that passion, are committed to investing in yourself with continuing education, and have a sincere desire to help people, then you can have a very successful career in this industry.  Recently, I have heard a lot of trainers telling me they are frustrated with their business and need more clients.  They are barely working or working part-time and really just want to help more people.

If this sounds like you, I hope you are encouraged by the idea that most trainers started out the same way!  I didn’t train full-time until 2 years into my fitness career (I was a full-time student in college at the time).

Focus on Helping Others and the Money Will Follow

If you are just getting started, take it one step at a time.  Even if you only have one client, work hard to consistently exceed that client’s expectations, and more clients will come.  Our industry is literally exploding right now, right along with our nation’s average belt size, the number of people who need your help is increasing rapidly;

• According to IDEA Health & Fitness, the personal training industry grew 21% from
1996 – 2000, and continues to grow, coincidentally, with the United States obesity rate which has increased every year for the past ten years.
• According to the Center for Disease Control, 67% of Americans are either overweight or obese!
• Not to mention that there are plenty of people with “skinny genes” who are still really unhealthy (although these people are less likely to seek our help until later on when their bodies literally start breaking down.)

There is so much opportunity out there but because our industry is relatively new and unorganized, there are very few examples of successful personal trainers who have already blazed the path.  Our job is just coming to the forefront of our national conscience as the obesity epidemic explodes and the limitation of “sick care” (waiting until someone is already sick) is becoming more apparent to the masses.

There are 3 Keys to Building a Successful Career in Personal Training

All you need to build a successful career is to:

1. Continually investing in yourself with education.
2. Believe in & harness the power of exercise to transform people.
3. Be passionate about helping people.

The money, success, and lifestyle will follow if you focus on helping people first.

When I Grow Up, I Want to be A Personal Trainer!

Has anyone ever heard a child say this?!

I know I haven’t (if you have, leave a comment at the bottom, I would love to hear about it).   As trainers, we are often mocked by popular media.  And our industry is just getting started.

I want future generation of children to say it, as much as they say it about being a fireman, policeman, doctor, astronaut, or pilot.

Why?  Because we are just as important, creative, and powerful as anyone of those jobs, if not more so!

But in order for that to happen, we must push our industry forward, hold ourselves and our clients to the highest standards, and redefine what it means to be a professional personal trainer.  Even if you are just getting started, it is always a good idea to start with the end in mind and dream big.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of personal trainers out there who give the profession a bad name because they are not passionate about helping people and/or committed to learning.  They are stuck in the same pattern and the same way of training, whether it is due to a large ego or imbalanced self-image or who knows. They don’t realize that there is a BIG difference between 15 years experience, and 1 year of experience repeated 15 times!

This is a challenge, because we must overcome people’s preconceived notions of what a personal trainer is, but it is also an opportunity to differentiate ourselves and rise to the top.  The best way to do that is to set a high standard for yourself and build a business around that foundation.

What is a Professional Personal Trainer?

Have you ever asked yourself this question?  If you have not, now is a great time to do so.  Defining your own mission statement, moral code, and standard of practice will provide the foundation of a successful personal training career.

Below is “The Client Bill of Rights”, a set of standards I hold myself up to when working with clients.  I expect all of my trainers to exceed these standards as well.  For my business, this is the minimum standard of professionalism, not the maximum, and must be met consistently.

The Client’s Bill of Right’s states that the client is entitled to a personal trainer who:

• Continually Tracks Your Progress and Goals as They Evolve.
• Helps You Define & Achieve Goals that are S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely).
• Keeps You Engaged With Fun & Interesting Workouts.
• Stays Attentive and Focused Every Session.
• Confirms Every Appointment.
• Has Excellent Communication and Listening Skills.
• Provides Safe and Effective Workouts.
• Effectively Teaches You Exercise Knowledge (so you know how to work out better on your own.)
• Is Always On Time, Prepared, With Good Hygiene and Looking Professional.
• Has Good Availability for Your Schedule, Rarely Cancels, and Provides Advanced Notice When Canceling.
• Responds to all Email, Text Messages, and Voice Mail Communications Promptly.
• Provides Motivation, Inspiration, and Leadership.
• Consistently Provides a Customized Workout Program.
• Challenges You to Work Out on Your Own, Be More Self-reliant with Exercise, and Addresses Lifestyle Habits.
• Comprehensively Addresses Your Health and Fitness by Collaborating with a Network of Health Professionals.

You may not agree with everything above, and that is totally cool.  Not ever fitness business should be the same.  But go ahead and take what you like from above, change it, add whatever you feel is necessary for your business, and make a commitment to that standard.  (I would love to hear what you are adding or changing in the comments below.  Let me know!)

A Professional Sales Tool

Print out your own “Client Bill of Rights”.  Share it with potential clients.  Write a blog post about it, or put it into your mission statement on your website.  I like sharing this “Bill of Rights” with prospects who are about to buy, right before I ask them what size package they would like to invest in.

It is great to have a printed version to give to them, something for them to look at when they go home because it:

• assure them that you are committed to their success.
• different than the average personal trainer.
• leaves them with something to take home and remind them of their experience with you.

I also put my business logo and picture on it; I think it sends a powerful message that I am committed to these standards and their success.  By showing them your level of commitment, it will inspire them to step their game up and make the commitment to themselves!

The “Client Bill of Rights” is also a good tool to weed out bad prospects.  Ideally, you will have weeded out anyone who is not serious about training before giving them a complimentary session to avoid wasting your time.  So before setting up a complimentary session, share it with them, and ask them if they will be able to match your level of commitment!  This is a great way to turn the tables on them; they aren’t shopping for a good trainer, you are shopping for a good client

Yes, you will scare off some people, but the people who stick around have great potential, and if you help them realize that potential, more clients will follow naturally.  Turning the tables in this way helps not only weed out bad prospects that are a waste of time, but will inspire and attract good prospects.

I hope this is helpful, will inspire anyone who is frustrated out there to stick with it, and provide a path for creating more success in your life.

Leave me some questions in the comments and I will get right back to you.  SHOW ME YOU ARE ALIVE!

• Why did you become a personal trainer?
• Did you/do you plan on making this a career?
• What challenges are you facing?
• What stage are you in your career development?
• What other professionals, personal trainer or otherwise, helped inspire you to become a trainer?

Until next time, keep your business fit.

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC.  He has directly coached, managed, and mentored over 100 personal trainers in the last 5 years alone, and owns a highly successful consulting company for personal trainers.  His coaching clients have achieved amazing results including making more money, helping more people, and creating more opportunities for their fitness business.