I often say that the fitness industry is like the Wild Wild West. It’s unlike many traditional occupations where there’s a direct path. If you want to be a doctor, you go to college and medical school, then complete a residency. If you want to be a lawyer, you take your LSAT, go to law school, and pass your bar exam. But if you want to be a trainer, the path isn’t exactly clear. You could have an online certificate, …
Thinking Remotely
Presentability, Professionalism & Accountability as a Coach
Flip roles for a moment. You’re the athlete now, and no longer the coach. What are some things that you would look for in your coach? How would you want him or her to coach you? What would your expectations be? These are just a few of the common questions and thoughts that run through the mind of each and every athlete that you end up coaching. They’re all thinking the same things, and to a certain …
5 Tips on How to Build and Maintain Trust with Your Clients
2020 has brought some incredibly radical changes to the fitness industry. Clients are trying to get used to new routines, and coaches are trying to adjust to the world that is drastically changing around them. One aspect, whether virtual or in person, that has remained unchanged is the necessity of trust in a coach-to-client relationship. Cultivating professional trust between a coach and client is a slow, …
Adjusting Training For Our “New Normal”
For the majority of us, gyms have reopened and we’re able to get back to a more normal form of strength training with ourselves and our clients. Unfortunately, this is a “more normal” training environment—not the “normal” training environment. With the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the safety guidelines put in place, we are presented with some unique and unprecedented constraints within our …
5 Tips To Help You Manage Your Time Better
We’re all familiar with what it feels like to be busy and perhaps even overwhelmed with everything on our plate. Now that we’re gradually getting back into the swing of things after a long shutdown, your schedule is probably filling up quickly, you might be getting new clients, and you’re doing everything you can to grow your business. Time management is something we should all be working on. There are only so many …
7 Things I Wish I Did Earlier In My Career
No successful path is unobstructed. If I were asked, “What would I do differently in my career?”, my first answer would be, “nothing”. Often the very problems along the way created the opportunity and inspiration for breakthroughs, brand growth, and financial reward. Not to mention the potential butterfly effect of altering the space time continuum and some Ashton Kutcher style hemorrhaging through my face. But as a …
Understanding The Big Picture When Dealing With An Injury
Having an injury or dealing with an injury is never ideal. Injuries can impact how a person moves, how they feel throughout the day; they influence basically every aspect of their life. When it comes to the training side of dealing with discomfort, a lot of people believe that resting and waiting for the discomfort to go away is the best solution to feeling better. While that might seem like a good idea initially, if …
How To Be Proactive With Our Online Clients
Proactive coaching is about identifying and resolving your client’s issues before they become problems. Let’s look at two versions of a common online training scenario to highlight the difference between a reactive and proactive coach: Example #1: John is ready to dive into his online training. He’s performing a lunge variation, but something doesn’t feel right in his knee with a new exercise his coach …
4 Steps to Assessing Clients
One of the biggest mistakes people make with remote coaching is not taking the time to accumulate enough data about your clients before you start building out their programs in an app like TrueCoach. As OPEX CCP coach Georgia Smith explained, “If you’re not doing thorough assessments with your clients, you’re ultimately just guessing when you design their programs.” In other words: Assess, Don’t …
5 Easy Tips to Start Building Your Personal Brand
If you want to become an expert, and a successful coach, it’s going to take more than just staying up to date on the best training principles and getting your clients results. The one thing they never taught you in school or throughout any of your certifications is the multiple roles you will hold as a coach. Many of you will also be an entrepreneur, run the finances of your business, as well as be the head of …