When I owned the gym in London, I would make an effort to check-in with the coaches, and do my best to support them in their career, training, and health goals. I built a lot of valuable connection in the health and fitness industry while living in London and since moving home to Australia my network has continued to grow. I’ve trained and mentored many personal trainers over the years, and more recently I’ve had the chance to put my health coaching skills into action.
The first round of the Protect The Asset course is about to launch in 2020, but I’ve been coaching health and fitness professionals for years. Today I want to share a case study with you. One of my long term clients found a passion for health and fitness and decided to leave her job to become a personal trainer. This was an email I recently received from her after she read the Protect The Asset blogs:
StreTch,
in all honesty, having you as a coach has helped me to avoid a lot, but not all, of the issues you talk about in your Protect The Asset blog posts.
For about a year, I spent hours on my bike every day going from gym to gym, all over town. I would cycle 5 hours to teach 3 x 45min classes and make very little money in an environment where my work wasn't even appreciated. I felt like I had to, and I don't regret it, but it was exhausting and my health suffered.
It gave me a chance to practice my coaching skills, structuring classes in an efficient way considering the client's abilities, the equipment, space and the time limitations. For a long time, I thought teaching group classes could transfer to finding PT clients, but that wasn't the case.
For a while, I taught early morning classes every day, just to earn a living, and that sucked the life out of me. I followed your advice and I stopped teaching most of the early morning classes, I kept the two that I really I enjoy.
My biggest struggle in the health and fitness industry has been my colleagues in the commercial gym. They are ignorant, careless, and can't wait for weekends to come. Why do some many personal trainers hate their job? They deliver no value in their classes nor PT sessions, they don't study, they're not curious, they're not supportive, and they're not compassionate in any way. In fact, they are patronising.
Having said this, things have started to change massively.
Something unexpected has started happening, a long time after I stopped teaching the classes all over town: people are finding me on social media and telling me I once covered a class in their gym, or that they came to some of my classes and they NOW see what I was trying to do. They get in touch and ask me where I’m working and how they can train with me. Something must have worked, and I like to think that my time and energy wasn't completely wasted.
I recently sent out an email to all the members in the gym and introduced myself, explaining what I do, and described my niche. Two people got in touch with me in the first week and signed up for private sessions.
Initially, my classes were extremely unpopular; people stopped coming. Some said they felt I was putting too much pressure on them; some said they weren't sweating enough, some said they were bored, some said it was too hard. They had never experienced the kind of coaching I was putting into action and they didn't know what to make of it. Others kept coming, and they soon shifted their mindset. They started saying things like: "This is different... But GOOD different!", or " I learned more with you in 40 minutes than in a lifetime of going to the gym”.
I convinced my managers to introduce new classes: I teach handstands, gymnastics foundation, mobility, strength using a barbell, and energy system training. All my classes are full, and there are dozens on the waiting list. I made the time to talk to people and explain exactly why we do what we do, and they all bought into it. It's the most rewarding feeling in this world.
My colleagues, if they aren't much more supportive, now see me differently. They come to me to learn, even though they should be the ones to teach me as they've been in the industry much longer. Members call me "Coach," they started it of their own will, now my colleagues take the piss and call me coach as well.
It's been hard trying to stay true to my values when nobody seemed to appreciate what I was doing; for a little while, I started to think that maybe I should have just given people what they WANTED instead of what I know they NEEDED. I didn't, thank god.
As for my lifestyle, I noticed that having appointments early in the morning causes me a lot of anxiety. I go to bed already worried that I'm not going to get enough sleep unless I fall asleep immediately, and the more I worry about that, the longer it takes me to fall asleep. I wake up many times during the night to check the clock and make sure I didn't miss my alarm. Over the Christmas break, I slept 10 hours in a row each night, and it was just the comfort of knowing nothing was going on in the morning.
I don't use my time wisely; I'm very easily distracted. I’ve made a lot of small improvements over the last few months, and there more I need to work on to improve my time management and self-care.
I appreciate all of the support and encouragement you have given me. Thanks to you I found the courage to say no, I found my niche, I’ve been able to step outside my comfort zone, and somehow I’ve managed to stay true to my values.
Thank you.
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I feel a lot of joy and gratitude to have had the opportunity to work with such an amazing and inspirational coach. I truly believe that the courage and passion she has shown could have been destroyed by the lack of support in our industry. Sad, but true! Her perseverance and bravery have made her a leader that others would be wise to follow.
I honestly want to see more health and fitness professionals find their niche and start making positive waves in the industry. We need more ambitious, drive and committed health and fitness professionals to reconnect with their passion and have the freedom to create a lifestyle that supports their health, happiness and success.