You either surf the economic tsunami and prosper – or it sweeps you away and you drown!
The 1st Commandment of Fitness
Champion surfers do not head for the hills when a hurricane hits their island beach. They view natural catastrophe as an once-in-a-lifetime surfing opportunity and grab their boards and run to the shoreline to attack 20 foot killer waves with gusto and glee. They fearlessly surf the most dangerous and exhilarating waves of their entire life and turn disaster into triumph. To further stretch the analogy: the dumb ones stand on the beach and stare as the giant waves approach and scratch their heads in disbelief and try and act as if everything is the same and nothing has changed and today is no different than yesterday. Then the waves hit the beach and they are proven dead wrong.
A shakeout of monumental proportion is underway in the wide world of all things fitness-related and a lot of fitness professionals, fitness facilities, nutritional supplement and equipment makers are drowning in the ongoing economic tsunami. The reason for their predicament is predictable: trainers and products that do not garner gains for clients become incidental, superfluous and therefore unaffordable. The core commandment of all-things fitness is, was, and always shall be…
“Thou shalt provide measurable physical gains for clients and students on an ongoing and consistent basis.”
In these tight times those that fail to adhere to the 1st Commandment of Fitness are swept away. One seasoned professional saw it coming for a long time and was unsympathetic when asked about the ongoing fitness shakeout. “Most (personal trainers) either didn’t know enough or didn’t care enough – or both.”
The “Fitness Revolution” began in the mid-eighties and ended with the collapse of Wall Street. September of 2007 marked the end of the Fitness Revolution. It’s a new day and a new time and the fitness paradigm has shifted. The fitness game has been shaken to its core. Most fitness professionals and most fitness organizations, most corporations and most equipment makers are having tough times – yet this is not the case for all fitness professionals. The savvy and alert professional, the nimble corporation possessing the ability to pivot and reposition quickly, the innovative fitness tool maker, are all able to prosper despite the ongoing tsunami. For a savvy few this calamity presents (to use another hackneyed expression) a golden opportunity to make fitness lemonade out of bitter financial lemons.
How do real fitness pros and real fitness products prosper in tight times? They obey the 1st Commandment of Fitness and obtain spectacular physical results for their clientele on a regularly reoccurring basis. In all things fitness related, the overarching goal is to aide and amplify the efforts of sincere clients – clients that make a real effort to follow your advice and use your strategies and incorporate your recommendations. They are paying you to transform them, from what they are into what they want to be. Orchestrate dramatic physical transformations on a regular and consistent basis for normal people leading regular lives and the fitness world will beat a path to your door.
Personal trainers and fitness tools that consistently obtain dramatic results for regular people leading normal lives living on tight budgets in tight times can and will prosper. Those unable to induce progress in paying clients soon run out of clients.
Greetings from the cusp of the abyss
In times of plenty most any fitness professional located in a well-populated urban or suburban area possessing a smooth rap, good looks and a lean body was able to successfully ply their trade as a Boss Personal Trainer. These ineffectual personal trainers depended on charm and ‘the churn,’ a steady influx of new clients. Perfectly coiffed, tanned with perfect teeth and college degrees, these Boss PTs would use canned speeches and rote methods to “train” and “tone” clients using glitzy exercise machines in pristine fitness facilities. These rico suave types promised incoming clients (with lots of disposable income) astounding physical results attained with little or no physical effort in a lightning fast timeframe. Fast, easy, effective – but not cheap!
The gullible client was initially transfixed and signed up with sky high expectations for big dollars. After months of sub-maximal effort the client inevitably quit on account of no tangible results. They became just another in a long and unbroken string of unending fitness failures for the superficial Boss PT. The blame was predictably passed onto the client: “They must not have wanted it bad enough!” Or “They were undisciplined!” Or “People are so stupid!” It was never the fault of the Boss PT or the fitness methods and tools used. The blame was always attributed to some physical or psychological defect on the part of the client. The effectiveness of grandiose strategies was never questioned. In high times these types had waiting lists for their services. But the high times are over. Now things are different. Now the stupid, undisciplined client that doesn’t want it bad enough actually expect results for their hard earned dollars.
Don’t be a fitness professional standing on the beach staring at the waves as they grow ever nearer. You must get real results for real clients. Here is another fitness fact: any untrained body suddenly subjected to a comprehensive fitness regimen no matter how lame (assuming it contains a resistance element, a cardio component and some dietary restraint) will create dramatic and measurable progress – for a little while. Any PT using any lame method will be able to obtain good initial results working with totally untrained individuals. But what happens when progress peters out? Is the personal trainer capable of producing results after that initial burst of predictable progress subsides? Time for some introspection and self examination: as a Fitness Professional do you adhere to the 1st Commandment of Fitness? Are you obtaining tangible physical results for clients on an ongoing and consistent basis? Yes or no. Black or white. No shades of grey. You can and do – or you can’t and depend on the rapidly evaporating “churn.”
Marty Gallagher “phone trains” a limited number of clients: if you would be interested in working with him, you can contact him at mgso@embarqmail.com