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Evolving from Personal Trainer to Fitness Coach

  Personal Trainer and Fitness Coach look like interchangeable terms, but looks can be deceiving. If looking to help clients with long-term, lasting improvements in their health and fitness, in a way that fits sustainably into their lifestyle, you need be an exercise professional that has evolved from just merely a Personal Trainer to a Fitness Coach. In this article I’ll unpack why understanding this important distinction is critical if you’re serious about making a positive, and lasting changes in your clients’ health.   Okay, so what is a Personal Trainer? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: “trainers and instructors lead, instruct, and motivate individuals or groups in exercise activities.” That sounds good, but also pretty generic. The American Council on Exercise goes slightly further by saying Personal Trainers have: “relevant skills to design and apply unique exercise programs based on your clients’ goals, abilities and needs.” Now we’re getting somewhere, as this sou
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FIVE WAYS FITNESS COACHES KEEP CLIENTS ON TRACK

Most people know they should exercise more. In fact, most people even have a basic idea of what they should be doing for exercise. The challenge is less knowing what to do, and more doing what we already know. This knowing-doing gap can be closed off by a great Fitness Coach that truly understands their client’s needs goals. If you struggle with helping your clients stick to your exercise routine, and are looking to build the skills to help them establish consistency in order to achieve their goals, read on to learn how a skilled Fitness Coach can keep their clients on track. WHAT IS A FITNESS COACH? Before we explore how a Fitness Coach helps hold you accountable, we first have to establish what a Fitness Coach is. There is a big difference between a Personal Trainer and a Fitness Coach (as discussed in this article: Evolving from Personal Trainer to Fitness Coach ). Understanding how a Fitness Coach works is at the heart of the way they hold clients accountable. The most important
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HOW THE FITNESS INDUSTRY HAS FAILED

  If you’re reading this, there is a good chance that the fitness industry has failed the vast majority of the people you know. I can make this statement with a great deal of confidence given that less than 20% of Americans go to gyms and fitness centers. Some in the fitness industry might find this statistic surprising, but the objective reality is that the fitness industry has failed the vast majority of Americans, especially the ones that need the industry’s help the most. Let’s explore why together, and most importantly, what needs to be done to change it. UNDERSTANDING THE FITNESS INDUSTRY According to several industry sources, including the trade association for the fitness industry, IHRSA , the industry has hovered around 15-20% market penetration for the past 30+ years. This is a remarkable statistic given the growth of the industry during that same period of time. According to Forbes , the industry has seen significant growth in terms of revenue and organizations, particul
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Five Steps to Professionalization of the Fitness Industry

Note: this article was originally published by Club Industry on 11/3/22 For many years the fitness industry has viewed itself as an essential component of the healthcare delivery system in America. The problem is, broadly speaking, no one outside of our industry views us this way. Look no further than the healthcare crisis of our lifetime (COVID-19) when all of our doors were shuttered. Even more recently, look at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health; one of the pillars discussed was physical activity. In the administration’s whitepaper published from this conference, the fitness industry wasn’t mentioned — not once. The wake-up calls abound. As hard as it is to hear, members of the public health and medical communities, as well as our lawmakers and even the general public, view us as more of a non-essential, entertainment commodity than an essential part of our public health infrastructure. This reality coexists with escalating healthcare costs due to chronic li
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Is Strength Training the New Cardio? The Role of Muscular Fitness in Health

  For years, cardiovascular fitness was considered the epitome of what it meant to be healthy. Someone who could walk - or run - for miles was someone with a strong heart and lungs. That strong heart and lungs would help that person live a long and healthy life. “The heart is the most important muscle of the body” is something that exercise and medical professionals have extolled for years—but what about all the other muscles in the body? Aren’t they important as well? That answer is a resounding YES, and its causing exercise and medical professionals to rethink their paradigm around cardiovascular fitness being the most critical indicator of human health and functioning. Dependence of Cardiovascular System on Muscular Fitness At its most fundamental level, in order for the heart and the lungs to be stressed adequately to make functional improvement, muscles have to contract to move the body. The better those muscles are able to contract (that is, the better “fitness” they ha
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