Why do online personal trainers find it hard to get clients?
Let's talk about clients!
Why is it so much hard to get personal training clients online?
Firstly, it's worth noting that success doesn't happen overnight. It takes time to build trust and to get your message out to the world.
Working face-to-face with clients and building a successful career in the gym is not the same as an online career.
The arrow on the backs of online personal training giants
Building a successful online personal training career is hard work.
How can you possible stand out in a 'sea of sameness?'
How do you attract your ideal clients?
The online personal training market has gone nuts. You don't need to look very hard to find online trainers and fitness businesses achieving huge success.
Without a doubt, there is an online market for personal trainers. And yet, for every success story there are thousands of personal trainers failing to build a career online.
Why I decided to sell the gym?
I recently wrote about an important life-changing moment in my life - becoming a gym owner. Being a gym owner was one of the best experiences of my fitness career, and I would do it all again, but in 2018 I decided to sell the gym and move back to Australia.
It's never an easy decision to give up something you've worked so hard to achieve, something that you're very proud of. They say the first 2-3 years of business is the hardest part, and yet, after 4.5 years, I was ready to walk away from a hugely successful gym business.
Why did I sell the gym?
Five main reasons lead me to sell the gym and move back to Australia.
An important life-changing moment
In 2010 I decided to change careers and become a personal training. I walked away from the high paying technology industry to start a career in the health and fitness industry. This is not the important life-changing moment, but it's the beginning of a journey that would lead to it.
Before I get to the important life-changing moment, you might be wondering why I would share this story?
Well, I've decided to hit the reset button and take a moment to check in with my values.
Who am I?
Am I living a life that aligns with my values, and if so, how are these values showing up in my life right now?
Why recreational athletes often experience leaky gut?
Back in the day, when I was training and competing in marathons and triathlons, I started to experience certain food sensitivities, poor sleep, diarrhea, and nausea. I put it down to stress, high training volumes, and working long hours as a personal trainer. Although doing a food sensitivity (IgG) test helped me remove particular foods that increased the symptoms (whey, eggs, gluten, cashews, alcohol, etc.), it wasn't enough to fix the underlying cause. I later found out I had a leaky gut, and once I fixed it, all of these symptoms went away.
…
Leaky guy played havoc with my sleep, my ability to recover and, therefore, my health and happiness. Today, my gut health is significantly better, and I wish I had addressed the problem sooner.
Gut issues are not normal, stop ignoring them.
I've experienced my fair share of gut issues over the years. From leaky gut, inflammation, diarrhea and even nausea. Did I share too much? The thing is, I didn't take action until I started to realise how the gut plays a vital role in overall health and well-being. Your gut health controls everything from your weight to your mood to brain health, inflammation, exercise tolerance, recovery, and immune function.
Not only that, 90% of your serotonin, the happy, feel-good hormone, is produced in the gut. So if you’re feeling depressed, it could be an underlying gut issue. Serotonin is also a precursor to melatonin, the hormone that helps you sleep.
Bodyweight Rows are The Foundation to pull-ups and rope-climbs
Bodyweight rows, also known as an "Australian Pull-up” (your down-under the bar/rings), are an exercise that is often overlooked. Chin-ups and pull-ups often take centre stage when it comes to bent arm pulling strength. Gym rookies are on a mission to get their first pull-up, while the intermediate and advanced strength athletes are looking to increase their total number of repetitions and their weighted chin-up numbers.
What are the protein intake demands for recreational athletes and their goals?
We all know that eating protein can help you lose body fat and increase your fat-free-mass. But research has also shown that a high-protein diet can reduce food cravings, help you eat less, improve your recovery, balance your hormones, reduce inflammation, regulate your metabolism, and reduce impulsivity.
We have made the mistake of thinking we only need 50-60grams of protein per day for far too long. When scientists first started focusing on protein intake, they looked at the amount of protein we human need to prevent malnutrition. The recommended dietary allowances (RDA’s) were formed on the minimum amount of protein we need to survive, but not what we need to recover, build and maintain fat-free mass, increase strength and power, lose body fat thrive.
Why caffeine is not a consistent performance aid for all recreational athletes?
I recently did an ancestry gene test and discovered that I'm in the 50% of the population who are slow caffeine metabolisers (CYP1A2 AC and CC genotype). I was a little curious to find out what this means and what positive or negative effects caffeine can have on our health and performance?
Numerous studies have linked caffeine with positive health effects like reduced risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. However, recent research suggests that the effects of coffee on health aren’t the same for everyone, and may depend on genetics and other factors.
I love coffee—and I know I’m not alone.
Recreational Athletes, Stress and Protein Intake
If you’re chronically stressed, your fat-free-mass literally start to break down. Stress researchers call this wear and tear allostatic load. The fat-free-mass breakdown is caused in part by collagen proteins being used faster than they can be replaced. More preliminary research suggests that chronic stress may also contribute to obesity through direct mechanisms (causing people to eat more unhealthy foods) or indirectly (decreasing sleep, decreased exercise tolerance, blood sugar management issues).