Does it kill you when a client says, “I heard about this great new workout method the other day while I was watching this new You Tube channel. They are experts and suggest this is the best workout to get results.”
Does it make you feel you missed out on passing along the information, or does it make you feel ashamed they didn’t ask you first? We should all look at this as a critical point that our clients are getting information for fitness and we are not a part of that conversation. Inside and outside our club or studio settings, we need to be more proactive in getting current trends and information to our clients. We need to be seen as experts.
One of the many things I see as I train people in the gym is the proliferation of gym members using phone apps to give them workouts. These workouts are not necessarily bad or incorrect, but there is no correction or explanation of the purpose of the movement. This is where a club’s personal training staff can get involved and set themselves up as the expert and main resource for people.
I believe that by either approaching someone on the floor and offering assistance or putting the information out to members in a convenient digital format, a club’s trainers can set themselves up as the singular fitness expert for their facility’s members. I have seen this work very well for small studios as well. A studio Facebook page that weekly shows “moves of the week” that are more intricate and will be performed during class times, for example, is a great benefit to those members. This sets the studio trainers up as the resource of fitness information for those participants.
Do your trainers offer complimentary seminars or workshops on the latest fitness trends that the media is highlighting? If not, they ought to. Your members are being bombarded daily on their devices by fitness tips and facts. If your trainers cannot explain what all of this information is and how to disseminate it into applicable information, someone else will.
Trainers work tirelessly to stay on top of their game and on top of all the current fitness trends. We spend hours every year on CECs and conferences. But if we do not break that information down into usable information for our members and clients, then what good is the information we strive so hard to gain? We have to put ourselves out there as experts on a regular basis and give our information away if we expect anyone to see the value in our profession.
Vic Spatola is a NASM CPT, CES and PES. He is a senior trainer and martial arts manager at Greenwood Athletic and Tennis Club in Denver, Colorado and has over 20 years in fitness management.
