In the last five years, the semi-private personal training business model has been embraced and the micro-gym industry has experienced a relative boost within their membership base. I define semi-private training as groups consisting of three to eight people being instructed by a single coach. Micro-gyms are gyms that have a footprint of 10,000 square feet or less. As in all trends, many gyms have attempted to ride this wave and have quickly jumped into this market. These types of facilities have risen in popularity as some of the most sought-after franchises. The reason for the growth in this sector is simple. People need coaching and accountability. Exercise requires effort and we are naturally wired to seek the path of least resistance. Most people tend to do what’s easiest. If the choice is between performing a plank for 30 seconds or laying on the couch watching Netflix, most will opt for the latter. If the goal is to routinely exercise to improve our health and fitness, it helps if you have someone that keeps you to that obligation. After you form the habit of showing up, the next factor should be the effectiveness of the work that you do. This is where I spend a considerable amount of thought. Over the years I have been able to quantify my process into three steps.
What are the leaders in the industry thinking? As the financial rewards of professional sports continues to grow, so increases the value of those who work with those athletes. In the last five years, we’ve seen the status of the trainers (rise to celebrity level) that work with professionals (such as Tom Brady, Lebron James and Justin Verlander). Professional athletes get compensated for “Go” not for “Show”. Simply put, they receive money for what their bodies can do, not for how they look. Taking this into consideration, trainers who work with professional athletes make substantial investments in equipment and resources to see the best outcome. I’ve made it a habit to follow the ideology of these coaches and trainers. It was at a conference catered to this crowd that I learned the value of not limiting strength training to a single plane of motion, but training in all three. Then there was the paradigm shift I experienced when I adopted a movement-based approach to training in place of the body-part protocol that had been the standard up to that point. The clientele at the studio falls into the general population demographic, but benefit from a forward-thinking way of improving movement and strength. I do take into consideration that the average ago of my members is 51 and not 24, so there are regressions and adjustments.
What does the research say? After a concept is embraced by the coaching community as a principal, it then becomes scrutinized and challenged. This is when the research world gets involved and takes a systematic approach to validate if the claims being made are legit. This is a step that I started to use ten years ago. As in all adoption cycles, you have the early visionaries who are always looking for another way. This group grows in size by the addition of the early adopters, or those who are willing to try a new approach, without possessing valid evidence. This group then makes a substantial growth in size once the early majority joins in. The early majority are those that wait to see if there’s any truth to these claims. The two best examples of this is the promotion of strength training for people over 55 years of age and the benefit of high intensity interval training for fat loss. I’ve been a certified personal trainer since 1991. I’ve had clients north of 55 years of age my whole career. Many hired me because they didn’t want to get injured or didn’t know what to do. It was their decision to invest in hiring a trainer. Since opening the training studio in 2015, we’ve experienced a substantial flow of customers who walk through our door because their doctor instructed them to start strength training. The research has proven the benefits of strength training in people over 55 and the medical community has put their stamp of endorsement on it. Many of these doctors have put their toe in the water by adding strength training to their lifestyle regime.
What my experience of training hundreds of people has taught me. At the end of the day, I can listen to well respected and credentialed leaders in my industry. I can read and decipher the research on how to improve mobility, reduce body-fat, and improve strength. The final step will always come down to what I’ve observed over my thirty two year career. There isn’t a hack for experience. It’s through trial and error and putting in the time that true mastery is achieved. I’m not a master and will probably never will be. I am a trainer that has learned how to effectively communicate to others. How to make exercise a lifestyle habit. Along my journey, I’ve learned how to keep people safe and mitigate injury within their fitness journey. That’s how I’ve been able to structure quality small group programs at the studio.