NESTA News – September 2007
In this issue:
State of the Fitness Industry – The Fate of the Non-Exerciser
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In a recent survey performed by Gymticket.com 10,000 people who were reputedly “thinking of joining a gym” were asked why they had not yet begun to work out. Approximately 65 percent of the respondents stated that the hardest part was getting motivated to start. They further stated that a lack of time added to this delay. Approximately 10% of the survey respondents stated that they disliked exercise too much to start in the first place. It would seem fair to say, as shown through this survey……that most non-exercisers have a combination of all three of these reasons supporting their lack of exercise.
Most non-exercisers are not motivated to exercise and dislike exercise enough to make the excuse that they have no time for it. Don’t we ALWAYS make time for those things we consider most valuable? When was the last time you missed your favorite “must see TV” show, decided not to pick up your kids or failed to show up for work for no specific reason other than finding something “more important” to do? The reason we don’t miss these things is because they are too important to us. Ours has become a scary world where people don’t value their health. Most (yes, most) people feel that making money, relaxing in front of the TV or watching a sporting event are more important than health and fitness. Since when did our bodies become something not worth our time? Have we become that distracted by the fast pace of our lives? What good is making money if it simply supports our codependent depression over the way we look (most people love to say, “I’ve got to do something about this…”), and reinforces the company’s bottom line while increasing the SIZE and misshapenness of our own (that’s “bottoms” in case you didn’t catch it)? We value making money and working so much that we are even willing to sacrifice our sleep!
Increasing numbers of health clubs are opening throughout the United States. Yet, it is mostly current gym goers who are “club hopping”. The upcoming and current facilities are not supporting a large part of the inactive and increasingly unhealthy American society. Most individuals have at least begun an exercise program only to stop shortly thereafter, never to attempt such “futile” efforts again.
Making working out more accessible or convenient will only get individuals to try or attempt working out; it will not keep them coming back. The only thing that will keep non-active individuals continuing to work out and improvement of their health and fitness is the support of other people. The results of the current state of poor health and lackluster fitness are seen at the gym everyday through the lack of performance by our club employees and fitness professionals. Until the non-active individuals can feel welcome though the extended efforts of current clubs and support staff and club and independent fitness professionals they will only get more discouraged.
The boom of “Curves” facilities a few years back spoke volumes about what it takes to get the inactive to become active. Curves found the value which these women sought; they did not try to convince them of the value of exercise. Curves established a place where women can workout together in an environment that welcomes conversation and promoted it in a way that women found appealing. Does this mean that every facility should try to put a few machines in a circle and lead a circuit workout to get millions of people to work out? It would seem several other facilities have tried this and failed. They failed because they were attempting to find a way to make money, not service the needs of individuals. Whether they are consciously aware of it or not, people know when they are being sold rather than provided a service they truly want.
Whether you own or work in a large facility or work independently, it is clear that most fitness professionals do not understand the mindset of the apathetic non-exerciser. Increasing value within clubs and existing facilities is a start, but efforts must be made through community outreach visits to local corporations, businesses, malls, sporting events and any locations where large numbers of people gather to conduct surveys and interviews to gather information on what it might take to help get people moving (literally) in the right direction. The answers cannot come from those who already exercise and see its benefits. It’s time we started listening to those whom we most want to help. They are convinced we are never going to listen. Can you live with that? For all our sakes, we should hope not. |
Program of the Month – Lifestyle Fitness Coach
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Personal trainers are responsible for initial and ongoing fitness assessments, program design, instruction on technique and exercise application, and regular scheduled program updates and adaptations based on their knowledge, skills and abilities to apply the principles of exercise science.
Personal trainers, coaches, and fitness professionals can earn a Lifestyle Fitness Coaching specialization and begin to uncover the client’s motivational strategies, build greater client rapport, create meaningful dialog, and obtain qualitative and quantitative information through specially designed questionnaires to determine individual likes and dislikes as well as short and long term goals.
Clients will greatly benefit from a combination of individual physical training and lifestyle fitness coaching. If an individual is an experienced exerciser yet lacks strategy or motivation… |
…that individual may be a candidate for more coaching rather than more training. But you should offer both. When an individual is an inexperienced exerciser, the lifestyle fitness coach can elicit clearly defined and appropriate personal goals, and show the client consistent motivational techniques. After all, coaching and training are all about the client. Trainers and coaches are often great instructors and teachers, but the client will never reach their goal potential until the trainer or coach truly understands the person being trained or coached.
There are an endless combination of scenarios defining which client will need more or less coaching and more or less fitness training. This is why it’s imperative for the fitness professional to become a Lifestyle Fitness Coach.
Many trainers offer “coaching” to their clients, but as you will learn, MOST are doing it inefficiently and ineffectively. You will want to know why, and how to correctly master this helpful skill. Coaching, questioning and eliciting individual motivation and strategies is both an art and a skill.
When fitness training and lifestyle fitness coaching are combined together efficiently, the client attains high levels of physical success and emotional satisfaction.
Personal trainers, coaches and fitness professionals who are now ready to add lifestyle fitness coaching to their business can do so in many ways. There are an infinite number of options. One way to start would be to incorporate coaching during the warm-up and cool down periods by using your newfound skills to get the client into the right frame of mind, with the proper focused, and emotional outlook to get the most out of the training session. This will almost certainly improve client results, but because the service is not clearly defined, it would merely become a part of your training package. This is one option.
Another option is to offer clients a 90 minute session once weekly. It can be evenly split between fitness (45 minutes) and coaching (45 minutes). A quiet room with privacy is needed for the coaching segment for full trainer/coach-client confidentiality. A minimum of once a month should be dedicated to a coaching session to check progress, adapt current goals, reestablish new goals, or come up with variable individual solutions for overcoming obstacles.
You may decide to offer the coaching as a completely independent component of your professional services or simply to increase the value of your current training sessions. In situations where lifestyle fitness coaching is independent of fitness training or sports conditioning, you may wear different attire or perhaps meet in an entirely different environment. When you segregate your services in this manner, you may find that you attract a completely different client base than you currently have, or have been attracting, for your personal training services. Even more importantly, all your clients will achieve greater benefits from exercise by finding increasing value, enhanced emotional satisfaction, and a progressively growing attraction to exercise and its benefits.
For more information on the Lifestyle Fitness Coach go here!
Training Performance Tip – To Supplement or not to Supplement
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It is widely understood that we need to eat every 2-3 hours due to the thermogenic effect of food in order to maintain a high metabolic rate and a sustained level of energy to perform either mental or physical work. But is it possible to get all that we need from food? There may have been a time where it was possible to glean all the essential micro and macronutrients necessary from food, but the fact now remains that every individual should at least ingest a high quality, well recognized vitamin & mineral supplement. Unless we care for and grow and our own organic fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes and livestock with the utmost care and cook these foods only by grilling and steaming (or raw when safe to do so) it is nearly impossible to attain the proper level of nutrients to sustain growth, maintenance, functioning and repair of bodily tissues.
The more active an individual is or the poorer the individual’s diet (or even a combination of both)… |
…the greater the need for vitamin and mineral supplementation. But what about the other supplements such as energy bars, drinks, creatine, glutamine, amino acids and caffeine?
First off, it must be understood that energy bars and drinks are meant to supplement the diet, not serve as meals or replacements for real food. We can grind up cockroaches to achieve a great carbohydrate, protein and fat ratio but it is not recommended to eat cockroaches as a diet staple is it? Energy bars and drinks are to either be taken at times when it is not possible to eat healthfully or as supplements to intense workouts. Individuals should not be making energy bars and drinks staples for weight loss or other performance gain unless the daily regimen also includes daily vigorous exercise for an hour or more. What is the best time for ingesting energy bars and drinks? The best times are during extended workouts of moderate to high intensity lasting an hour or more or following a vigorous workout lasting an hour or more. For optimal results following a vigorous workout, individuals should drink a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio beverage to recover efficiently from the workout and repair damaged tissue (you are going to have to do your homework as not all carbohydrate and protein sources are equal). The individual who sits on a bike for 60 minutes or less and reads a book or magazine does not need to supplement with energy bars and drinks during or after the workout.
What about creatine? There is no need to load creatine. It can and should be taken only by individuals who are lifting or working out intensely for extended and regular periods taken orally in amounts of 3-5 grams daily. It is also imperative that the individual drink plenty of water since creatine helps store water in muscle tissue to increase the body’s ability to perform at higher intensities for longer durations. Creatine can and will add size in both water retention to the muscles and muscle gain over the course of a few weeks and increase muscular endurance if used properly. Only those who already eat a healthy diet and engage in intense workouts need consider this supplement.
What about glutamine? Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in plasma and skeletal muscle. There have been few studies to show harm from the use of glutamine. There have been numerous studies showing the benefits of taking 5-12 grams of glutamine following a vigorous workout of one hour or more to aid in recovery from tissue damage during exercise.
What about amino acids? Once again, it should come as no surprise that only those who workout vigorously and already eat a healthy diet should consider this supplement. The benefits of taking 3-6 grams daily are suggested to be ergogenic for endurance and strength/power performance.
Last but not least, what about caffeine? In exercise where fatigue occurs in 30 minutes or more, caffeine has been shown to enhance performance by prolonging time to fatigue by up to 10%. It has also been shown, when ingested at a level of approximately 250mg prior to vigorous exercises, to increase fat oxidation and thermogenesis without adversely affecting fluid balance.
So what is the take home message? Supplements have perhaps the greatest short term benefit to increases in performance. But if the diet is not sufficient only long term problems can ensue. Use care with supplements and perform your own research before considering a supplement you are not familiar with. They are a great tool but they are only a tool, they are not the answer to life changing performance gains.
For more information regarding how to obtain the optimal diet see the NESTA Fitness Nutrition Coach program
Business Success Tip – It’s What You Do, not What You Know…
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In the ever increasing world of competition between health clubs, sports training facilities, and the personal trainers, instructors and coaches who provide training services, everyone seems concerned over what others might “take” from them. Have you adopted a client obtainment strategy that keeps you the busiest trainer around? Do you have a great exercise or series of exercises that you came up with? Perhaps you have a unique way of programming weight loss workouts? Are others envious of how well you get along with and entertain your clients/athletes? For any of these achievements, you deserve a great deal of credit and it is hoped that you receive it in kind. If you envy such things, you should be interviewing or seeking the services of those who can provide them. But, do you really think that it is any one of these things alone that is the key to your success?
There are people who sell their ideas and ways of teaching and doing business for a living to help professionals and those who perform services for or teach to the general consumer. The fitness and sports training industries are fraught with experts with the latest and greatest skills, strategies and techniques and a few individuals who work diligently to service their clients with ideas of their own. There is something we must all understand about these keys to our personal and financial or professional success… |
…we are destined to be emulated and copied. Unless we have taken out a direct patent on a technique, trademarked a logo, or created legal documentation regarding the need for specific consent for the use of our ideas, we should not be needlessly bothered when we see them used elsewhere (unless a direct connection can be made regarding your lost business or personal “injury”). It is not only a headache, but very difficult to prove that someone “stole” your idea and that the “thief” could not have come up with the idea or technique on their own. But more importantly, have you ever truly seen someone achieve greater success than you simply by implementing one, or even several, of your ideas or techniques? In truth, it is the sum total of the planning and strategies we implement, work ethic, products and services we provide, knowledge we hold and convey through our teaching and instruction, our ability to communicate, and our empathy and consideration for the clients or individuals who purchase our products and services that separate us from others who might be our competitors. This is not a simple combination.
If we remember that we entered this industry based upon the idea of helping others to do what we already enjoy and know how to do (unless of course this is not why you entered the industry in which case you should consider another occupation or career) we would be much less concerned about those who use our ideas and techniques and we would seek instead to help everyone do their job, whether it is to train or be trained. The most financially successful people over the long term (since it is presumed that it is either money or fame we are concerned about when our techniques or ideas are “taken”) sell their ideas, services and techniques for a premium fee, and, more importantly, do it so well that there is no chance someone could duplicate what they do to the same degree of success. In the rare instances that someone does receive greater financial fortune or fame, a truly successful professional will simply start again to achieve their next great moment in time or financial boom.
Dedicate yourself to excellence. Learn from as many people and sources as you can. Give as much of what you know to others as you can. Show others that what you have to offer is far more than what you ask for in return. The rest will take care of itself. No one likes to be fat. No one likes to be lazy. No one likes to be poor. No one likes to not be recognized for doing good deeds. Do your part. Let no great efforts from your colleagues, competitors and clients go unnoticed and always seek to help before your help is sought. Lastly, follow what is perhaps the best advice ever given to any great collegiate athlete who is now a paid professional athlete:
“Act like you’ve been there before.”
Do this and your fame and fortune will find you, there will be no need to go looking for it
