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TR INING &


QUALIFICATIONS SERIES


Personal development: PTs should embrace CPD, both in soft skills such as communication and to diversify their knowledge


a broader offering There’s also a widespread call for PTs to understand that investing in CPD is essential to keeping knowledge up-to- date and being able to react to trends. Denise Page, director of YMCAfit,


recommends training in areas such as NLP to improve people skills, while the CEO of Premier Training, Debra Stuart, suggests: “There’s no escaping the fact that trainers do need to be more business savvy. They need to invest in upskilling through CPD and look for opportunities. We have an ageing population and face an obesity epidemic, so why not study for a more specialist qualifi cation in exercise referral or training for special populations? Or look at trends and react – for example, set up a walking group or a Zumba class.” Michael Steel, international


business development at Total Gym, agrees that PTs need to sell broader packages – weight-loss programmes and ‘back to wellness’ programmes, for example, teaming up with other


march 2011 © cybertrek 2011


trainers or experts if necessary. And Jan Middelkamp – CEO of the HDD Group in the Netherlands, which owns the PT brand LAPT – also believes it’s important to see the bigger picture: “Don’t focus on your personal profile but work with other professionals, such as nutritionists, and sell a package. Keep a database of your clients and their progress, so other trainers can easily cover for you,” he says, adding that PTs should think of their business as an asset to sell on one day.


making more money Middelkamp – whose new book, Personal Training in Europe, will be available in the UK later this year – advises against going straight in to being an independent personal trainer. “There are three models to personal training and I recommend PTs work their way through them,” he says. “They should start off as an employee on the payroll in a club, where they can learn to grow their own business. After this, they can graduate to a licence or franchise system, where


they will still be supported as part of an overall brand. Only when they are very experienced should they attempt the most diffi cult model of renting space and doing the rest by themselves.” For those who do make a success of


personal training, there are still challenges ahead. According to Jarvis, the whole personal training business model in clubs is flawed: since there are only a finite number of hours PTs can work, they need to find other ways to grow their hourly rate. One of the easiest ways of doing this


is to offer group personal training as opposed to one-to-one sessions: small group workshops is a big trend driven by the US and works especially well during peak hours. A short circuit training course can provide the necessary skills and experience needed to work in the fi eld of group exercise. Another approach to boosting income


is to improve secondary revenue streams by selling related products. For example, if the PT is able to convey


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