Gym Flooring

It’s neither big nor clever

When Men’s Health asked me to contribute my own thoughts on those infuriating gym habits that get on my nerves even more than reality TV “stars”, there is so much material I didn’t know where to begin. When they said it had to be a 250 word snippet, I immediately started to fret over how I could condense 250 pages, and 20 years, of irritation into a bite sized chunk. I come from a different school than many trainers – I couldn’t care less if you sweat all over the equipment, if grunting gets you an extra rep then by all means do it and do it loudly – no one wants to hear girlish squeals, and as the sometimes rambunctious editor of these pages, Wesley Doyle, can attest if anger, abuse and looks of pure unmitigated hatred are what’s needed to motivate a good workout then be my guest.  Read more...

The best way to make money in personal training is to train independently or own your own training practice. However, in order to get there, you may have to spend some time in a typical gym setting in order to gain some experience and necessary confidence to go on your own. While you’re working for someone else, it’s crucial to learn to skills you need in order to go solo as soon as possible.

Training skills are very important, but the main thing you’re looking to learn here are the people skills that it takes to be a successful trainer. So you need to be aggressive in getting clients and filling up your training schedule. The good news is that if you have good ideas to get new clients, management may be willing to help you (they should be – after all, they’re stealing nearly all of your money) Here are a few things that have worked extremely well for me in the health-club environment:  Read more...