Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers: #9

#9 Successful Personal Trainers Maximize Their Time

One of the limitations of having a pay-per-service careers is that there are only so many hours in a day to help people and through that, make a living. Successful Trainers know that the one person/hour training is old school. While it may still be effective and rewarding, it isn’t always the most efficient use of our time.

TRX Small Group Training

Small Group Training (SGT) and Boot Camps have become more popular, in part because of the recession and their decreased cost per participant, but also because Trainers realized that by training more than one person at a time, they could increase their ability to reach more people and increase their revenue/hour.

Small Group Training may be equipment specific (i.e. a TRX or BOSU SGT) or it may be goal specific programs such as a ski conditioning, weight loss, or low back health SGTs or a combination of both. Personally, I believe that the more program specific your SGT (know your niche), the more specific/targeted your marketing can be. The groups typically range from 2 to 10 participants (at some point you have to differentiate what number is SGT and what is Group Exercise).

Group Exercise is an extension of SGT, allowing for more participants and, as long as it’s a pay-for service, greater income for the Trainer.

Boot Camps have become all the rage with Personal Trainers with a ton of Boot Camp success “systems” being marketed. Boot Camps are, just for the record, Group Exercise classes with a particular style. Typically they require little equipment, can, and often are, done outside, offer a lot of variety, and have a participant expectation of “This is going to kick my #@*.” When people expect to work hard and do work hard, they see greater results. This helps feed the success seen with Boot Camps.

Boot Camp

A word of caution, what truly separates the top Trainers from the rest is that with more people in the mix there is a much greater responsibility on the Trainer. Top Trainers work harder at seeing and correcting everyone in the group than one would in a one-on-one scenario.

Successful Personal Trainers maximize their time by utilizing Small Group Training, Group Exercise, and Boot Camps.

P.S. Successful Personal Trainers also maximize their time by creating passive sources of income such as writing books, producing dvds, webinars, podcasts, etc. These sources, once produced, can keep revenue coming in with little to no additional work.

Check out the full Successful Personal Trainers series.

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers (Series)

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers #1

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers #2

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers #3

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers #4

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers #5

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers: #6

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers: #7

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers: #8

P.S. Also, follow my Business of Personal Training page on Facebook.

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Group Dynamics and Exercise

Obviously one of the greatest challenges in getting fit is getting to the club. When you are someone who attempts to work out on your own, you have additional battles to fight. You may be missing out on the most effective program, guidance, motivation, accountability, and even fun when you try to go it solo.

Consider Personal Training, Small Group Training, and Group Exercise. The people that achieve the greatest success, reach their goals safer and faster, are those that are involved in these programs. That, of course, is not to say you can’t do it on your own. It’s just that more people need that direction and connection.

While Personal Training is the ultimate in personal attention and programming, training in small groups (usually 2-6 people) can still offer individual attention and correction.

Group Exercise is a whole other animal. While individual attention may not be as readily available, there are other benefits. When exercise is choreographed to music it makes the experience, dare I say, even more enjoyable. ;-) Actually. research has shown that people push themselves harder when listening to music. A well designed class should accommodate all levels making even the novice feel comfortable in getting started. There also is a big social component to the class setting.

This brings me to the camaraderie and friendships that occur in working out with others. Just this morning one of my class members was asking me where another class member has been. She was worried and hoping that everything was alright. How cool is it to have this person, that you only know through taking Group Exercise together, be concerned for your well being when you’re not in class? (the other member is fine, by the way) Knowing that you’re not alone in this journey is a great motivator and helps keep you accountable.

So, if you are not someone that is highly self motivated or if you feel unsure about what you should be doing, try these options: Personal Training, Small Group Training, and/or Group Exercise. They can make the difference of you reaching your goals or not.

FYI: If you can sit through the commercial, here’s a news piece on one of the Group Exercise classes that I teach. Click here to view. I love my job.

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