Two conferences down and one to go. This past weekend, I attended the International Dance & Exercise Association (IDEA) World Conference. This was an easy one for me, it was in my hometown of Las Vegas. It was the 2nd week in a row that I’ve attended a fitness related conference. I have a personal connection with IDEA, because it was the first conference I attended, over 20 years ago. Throughout the years, I personally feel they have gravitated more towards the appeal of the “Big box” gyms and group fitness, but nonetheless, I like to stay current with all the trends in the fitness industry. There wasn’t anything new or revolutionary discussed in the lecture halls or on the trade show floor.  Read More

I’m back from a great vacation with the family and ready to get after it in the studio. Mid-June to August is typically the slowest time of the year in the gym business. I use this time to take a vacation, get some extra reading in, and attend workshops, conferences and clinics. Some consider this type of thing a bore. I personally can’t get enough. If you follow my writing, you are aware that I shunned attending conferences my first 5 years of being a trainer. It was due to my own immaturity; I thought I knew it all. Thomas Plummer, nationally recognized fitness consultant, refers to this naïve mindset of the rookie trainer as their “rite of passage”. Everyone goes through it. It was after I listened to strength coach/trainer legend Juan “JC” Carlos Santana speak at an IDEA conference in Maryland, I quickly realized how little I knew. That was in 1996. I’ve been addicted to learning and honing my craft every since and haven’t stopped trying to improve. Read More

I’m preparing to soon leave for my annual vacation with my son & wife. This time always brings mixed feelings. I just got over the feeling that it’s OK for me to take some time off and that I’ll be a better trainer and studio owner after I return refreshed from my trip. As a business owner, I battle with the emotions that if I’m ever not working, I’m slacking off. I know this is typical behavior of a work-a-holic, which I admit to lean towards, at times. It’s also typical behavior for entrepreneurs. I’m both, so I guess I’m doomed. A few years ago, I realized I struggle with taking time off. I decided to always book my vacations 1 year out and paying for them in full 2 months before the trip. Read More

What does Thomas Ford, Ray Kroc, and Steve Jobs have in common? Amongst many things, they are visionaries. The new buzz term is “disruptors”. CNBC defines them as people who create innovations that change the world. Another way to put it is people who don’t accept the current status quo. They know there is a better way. Ford knew there was a better way to travel. Kroc knew there was a better way to get a meal quickly. Jobs knew there was a better way to get information and music. I don’t think many would argue with me that these three deserve to be on the Mt. Rushmore of iconic visionaries. Creating something that didn’t exist before is very challenging. In my world, the fitness world, new concepts aren’t created every year. What happens, like in many industries, old concepts are recycled frequently. This is why, when a new training modality surfaces, it sends shock waves throughout the industry. Read More

It’s the first week of May and summer is right around the corner. My son completing the 4th grade and going on summer break is also 5 weeks away. As far as he’s concerned, it can’t come sooner. Then the trick will be keeping him occupied for the summer. My wife does an amazing job with this. It’s not just about keeping him occupied, it’s more about keeping him challenged. Overcoming daily challenges is so important for us to help with progress. Summer is a great time for him to kick back & recharge, but we don’t want him to completely shut off his ability to handle challenges. The level of the challenges will vary from small to moderate, but nonetheless they need to exist. Overcoming challenges has become a part of training for CEOs. Workshops created by retired decorated military officers & navy seals have grown in popularity. Jocko Willinik, popularized from the Tim Ferriss podcast, has been thrust into the national spotlight for his week long boot-camps for CEOs. His boot-camp is famous for drills in leadership and daily disciplines. Read More

I recently had a work desk built for Tiffany, our operations manager, at the studio. It was a big deal as it marked a benchmark for the studio. As our operations manager, she handles all of the day-to-day issues outside of actually training such as scheduling of appointments for members, handling walk-ins, tracking inventory of our retail items etc. We’ve been open for 18 months and as we’ve grown the need for someone to handle these necessary tasks has become dire. As an entrepreneur you do your best to handle a lot of the odd & ends initially, but eventually you run out of time in the day. I personally came to a realization that my time was better spent training my coaches on strength and conditioning, working with members privately or in semi-private groups, and writing. It took us 18 months of a little chaos to know exactly how we needed the operations desk to be set up. Read More

As the paradigm shift in the fitness industry continues, with more movement based training clubs and less machine based facilities, the need for quality coaches will continue. Swinging a kettlebell requires more instruction than sitting and putting a pin in the weight stack. My prediction that all gyms will transform to functional training, as opposed to selectorized and isolated based machines isn’t such a reach. This change started three to five years ago. The dilemma faced by many club owners is that after bringing a new trainer on board, education is either classified as an elective or provided on a very limited basis. Read More

I have recently become a big fan of motivational speaker Jim Rohn. Mr. Rohn passed away a few years ago and some of his early lectures and workshops are experiencing a bit of resurgence. Jim was one of the early pioneers of motivational speaking. Tony Robbins speaks about when he was 19 years old and went to see Jim speak for the first time. He talks about how he left and immediately began to incorporate many of the simple lessons he learned that day to build his tremendously successful empire. Jim’s philosophy is timeless and I have experienced some minor success using it. It resonates so much with me because it’s about doing the little things everyday to be great. Read More

I recently read a published article from an acquaintance about how group fitness was currently experiencing a bad rap and taken a turn for the worst. The article centered on the lack of personalized attention, repetitive programs, and poor coaching. It’s this exact reason why I typically refer to my small-group workouts at the studio as a “session” or “workout” instead of a class. Members and some of you reading this article, will call them “classes”. I’ve never been a fan of that because I picture a group of people following a trainer in a one-size-fits all stale workout in a class. I understand, that is just my personal bias and hang-up. When evaluating and ranking elementary schools, one of the biggest factors is the class size. I don’t care how credentialed the teacher or stellar the curriculum, the larger the group, the more it’s going to affect the quality of the teaching. We all learn differently, so it’s the initial job of the teacher to determine how someone learns, then adjust to it. That’s easier said than done, and at times, not very realistic. Read More

I’m currently running a challenge at my studio. It’s the 5 week Back to School Body-fat Challenge. We’re in week 3. 1st place winner gets $500 cash plus a few private training sessions with me. We have approximately 75 members at our place (combining people who train privately & our semi-private training program). We had 26 people enter contest. It was our biggest turn out yet. My reason for running events like this is to create urgency. People hire personal trainers for multiple reasons. Education- they don’t know what to do, or don’t want to get hurt. Motivation- they need someone to push them beyond what they can do on their own. Accountability- they need someone to make sure they show up. You may fall into one of these buckets, or may have a finger in each. As someone’s trainer I find that it’s part of my job to help stir up your motivation and to inspire you to maximize your fitness potential. Read More