Standards of The Fitness Industry...Have Your Say!

Standards of the Fitness Industry.. Have Your Say!
Motivation. Education. Discipline. Service (MEDS)
Dear Readers and in particular health and fitness professionals,
In this day and age where addressing the health of our western populations has come to the forefront of every debate, we as health professionals seem to have the uphill battle of helping our clients/patients address their own health issues and conce
s in a sincere, holistic manner.

Firstly, I understand and believe that the majority of the food we consume in our western populations is of substandard and has created an enormous gap (pardon the pun) in addressing health. The quality is debatable, the price is sometimes exuberant and availability of good organic produce has become scarce. Yet the cost of take-away or “junk’ food has dropped and new shops are opening around every corner. I would not be surprised to see a junk food franchise next to a 24hr gym. Currently with over 3000 junk food stores around the country today and more going up all the time. The chance of seeing one or more in your own suburb or street is very high. Australians on a whole in 3 years spent $37billion on junk food, that is equivalent to $18,500 per person over 3 years, that includes the children, yours if you have any...who don't have job.. still at school....on COMPLETELY NUTRIENT DEFICIENT JUNK...!
Aside from this appalling health standard, the quality for health professionals should be of exceptional standard, exceeding clients expectations is what we are all taught. I would put the substandard of many trainers down to the fact that the industry training facilities are pumping out trainers at an alarming rate.

What Standard

I believe a number of issues WITHIN the industry make me think we are going about it in the wrong way. Many trainers unfortunately expect their clients to attain their goals merely by doing the training.
Others don't really expect their clients to achieve results due to their lack of knowledge and therefore expect their clients to stay with them forever and continue to pay for less than ordinary service.

Unfortunately, a trend is happening in the fitness industry which is very typical of many other industries, where the real desire to deliver the service and product which is requested, and as a qualified individual should be expected is of sub-standard. In the process of becoming a ‘bigger better’ trainer/club/studio and increasing ones pocket change, building a reputation as a leading force in the industry has resulted in a severely tarnished reputation…Quite the opposite of the desired effect, much like the pharmaceutical industry.

Half truths are all the rage now and in my honest and professional opinion have no place in the health industry or any industry for that matter. Our industry literally cannot afford to be approaching health with our eyes closed, with blinders on and especially not with our eyes on our bank accounts or the clock. In all honesty if the service and product is all it’s cracked up to be, building a solid and reputable clients base will be the least of our problems.
I know of a number of very reputable professionals who have built their reputation globally because of their integrity. Yes, how many trainers actually practice what they preach? Do you?

Many of the public are resorting to personal training studios, palates studios, gyms and all other exte
al motivators all because they the public know they have to do something about their health and believe the industry can help them. They know its expensive yet feel they you as their trainer are their only option. Watch out when they learn otherwise. A great number of the public initially have a real and strong desire to begin their health kick and each for their own reason, which of course must be addressed and adjusted throughout the experience, but what if the approach of the trainer is somewhat misdirected.

COMPLETE COMMITMENT!

As fitness professionals I believe we should be addressing each individual with a particular mindset and not just the Personal Training Clients.. every single member.... regularly. Its the best way to build a client base and nearly nobody is working in a gym floor capacity anymore unless they have to. why...because the pay is not sustainable..which is another topic altogether...so back at it.
I have come up with a particular approach which I believe is achievable.

M.E.D.S
Motivation is the driving force by which we achieve our goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. *
To provide a determination, drive, motivation to help the client/member exceed expectations.

Education in the largest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. *
To provide sound advice and wisdom regarding nutrition, exercise, attitude and lifestyle to enhance performance and recovery

Discipline In its original sense, discipline referred to systematic instruction given to a disciples to train them as students in a craft or trade, or to follow a particular code of conduct or "order". *
Keep the client/member accountable for their actions. Remind them of such necessities and benefits.

Service According to Turban et al. (2002),[1] “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation." *
Be focused 110% on them (client/member) whilst you are with them and if anything needs researching to enhance their results find reputable websites, other health professionals and network.. Learn and develop your knowledge base. thus enabling a better result and happier client/member.

These four points/principals are those which I believe we, as fitness professionals should be providing every one of our members and clients. I have been working in, researching and scrutinizing this industry for almost 3 years now and have noticed that new 24hr gyms/ franchises are popping up all over the country everywhere like certain takeaway franchises, all with the same idea in mind. Giving members access to the club 24hrs a day may appear to be helping them whenever they are free, which in theory is a great idea.

This idea however only addresses ‘D’ & ‘S’ mildly in most of these situations and by that I mean that the discipline of the member to arrive at the club is of their own effort and the service is only the fact that the access to the club is 24hrs. The mere fact that safety may be ignored is questionable. Responsibility is then left to the contracted personal trainers who will then provide whatever service they so desire and only when they are in the facility with the client. How many of your clients call you outside training hrs to ask a question?

WHATS MISSING?

In most cases a large number of members who sign up to any club membership early in the year maintain a regimen for a few months and then are gone and not seen in the facility again until the following fitness season (Dec/Jan) craze comes around, thus producing a substantial income for the facility.
Why does this happen?
Well it’s not always the case of money grabbing, I’ll be fair in saying that some clubs pride themselves on a retention program …not always in the most professional manner and yet some facilities which I have worked for in the past have actively made contact with every member of the club on a regular basis. So why do members just up and leave? If you know anything about the industry a few ideas should come to mind and the blame is not on the member either.
I remember working for a state of the art facility early on, where I was actually employed by the club to
1. Train clients,
2. Do regular assessments on every PT client and also some members who were seeking more guidance.
3. Clean the club, this created an opportunity to act as a Gym floor shift (Gym Instructor) which has long been forgotten and is greatly unappreciated by employees due to the measly wage which it supplies.
4. A major role in my employment was to update the training programs of every single member in the club who had been assigned to me. This was no small job with over 250 members assigned to me who were not paying for personal training as well as 40-50 personal training clients. I already had a full 8hr day most days and would have to squeeze this in to my half hr lunch break. Some days I’d have a cancellation and occasionally I would have cancellations back to back (which we all know happens) and I would spend this time catching up on these tasks….even this club worth well over $1million with interactive brilliant software for the member trainer communications and state of the art training equipment still had its short falls. It was probably the most professional club I’ve worked for by far.

REAL RESULTS BASED TRAINING

As a health professional, I believe we have a better chance of helping our clients and patients health through (M.E.D.S) actually educating... nutritional education and training, diet and discipline, service with a smile, reason and benefit and also referral programs (to Physios, Chiros, Massage Therapists, Dietitians etc). By living and experiencing ourselves, by being proactive in our own health we are able to enhance exponentially our clients and patients health from the internal perspective and therefore make results a holistic goal.

It should be a responsibility of any fitness professional and I strongly encourage anyone starting out in the industry to apply themselves in the studies of nutrition as well as fitness to enable a two pronged approach, Thus promoting a real and achievable result.

Source: Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discipline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service“Keep on keepi
ON Loving life and living in good health”