ISSA Talk, Episode 1: Trainers Lead the Way in Virtual Gyms

Edited for clarity.

Erin Mahoney:

Welcome to ISSA's first webinar in a series of them to provide you relevant and useful information to help you navigate these unprecedented times so that you're able to still impact the quality of lives of others. So, today's topic is really in the wake of the fact that gyms are turning to trainers in this virtual time to preserve their membership base and also their clients. So, we're going to talk about what you can do in order to not only support those needs for the virtual gyms, but also get yourself ready to enter this virtual world with as much force and impact that you had in the brick and mortar fitness world that we're all used to.

What Does the Future of the Fitness Industry Hold?

My name is Erin Mahoney and I am Vice President of Product with ISSA. We're here to give you the education that's relevant to make sure that you are still pursuing the career that you love as a personal trainer, fitness professional, or nutritionist. So right now, the question is what does the future of the fitness industry hold? It's becoming clear that it's going to be virtual, and it's not just going to be for a couple of weeks or even a few months. This is going to be a footprint that lasts for a long time and that's a good thing because so many other professions and just other lifestyle choices have been converting to virtual components anyways. With the fitness profession, it's a little more challenging because we live in such a physical world. 

The good news, if there can be any, is this is forcing us to learn more about how we can provide our members the same education, accountability, and motivation that they were accustomed to at the gyms. So we're saying, "All right, what is going to happen?" The first thing we know is that fitness definitely isn't over. In fact, it's just beginning. So, within hours of statewide gym closures, trainers and instructors remained in demand. Instead of taking the path of least resistance and stopping working out, which would be very easy, we know, for a lot of our clients and members, they're not. They're asking for more. It's because we're in a time where clients aren't ready to give up the positive outcomes that working out has had on their lives. 

In fact, it's the opposite. So they are clinging to the people like you, their fitness leaders, to make sure that they can still trust you with those same goals that they had before. As you know, some of the largest gym chains in the nation are turning to you in order to help keep that fitness community engaged. So, when we think about that, they're doing this outreach send us some workout videos, post this on Facebook, engage the members this way, do this. The clubs are looking for your help and so that is where you're going to see this going and compensation for personal trainers and fitness professionals will come likewise, because they will figure out what the best platform is to convey this content and what that means for you and how you interface with their valued members.

Again, you've got to keep in mind, fitness isn't over whatsoever, and even gyms, the traditional style of gyms might be changing, but there's still going to be that community element of health and fitness for years to come. 

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5 Ways To Prepare for Virtual Training

So today we've got five things that you can start doing right away to make sure that you're ready for this concept of virtual gyms. Again, even though it's the first in the series, our goal to do is to give you actionable items that you can learn from and do every single day during this crisis and we've got five of them that we'll talk through.

1. Be comfortable with on-camera content.

2. Plan your virtual workouts in advance. Make sure you practice them. 

3. Start building a pipeline of competitions. We've got to find a way to keep those clients engaged and get something for them to look forward to in these turbulent days. 

4. Evolve your mindset to not create content that's just specific to a workout. You've got so much more to offer than just one workout a couple of times a week. 

5. We're going to talk about the positive elements that really can be found. 

Be Comfortable with On-Camera Content

All right. So most importantly, get comfortable with on-camera content, whether that is speaking directly to a camera and recording it, whether that is doing video conferencing with your clients, or it could be recording something like a webinar like this. Just get comfortable in this virtual way of communication and the way you can do that is you can just start recording things right now. You don't have to have a platform to record them or convey them in. We can get to that. We're going to get to that, not in this webinar, but we're going to get there. Remember, when you're on camera that you want to be motivating others, you want to be educating them and the workouts that you deliver to them, you want them to be powerful and make sure that they're lasting and meaningful for the people that are following them. 

Plan Your Virtual Workouts in Advance

So to help you do all of those things in order to be more comfortable, your first step is going to be planning out your videos. So have a plan for your video and practice, whether it's live interaction and you're taking a group or a person through a workout, or whether it's recorded. Make sure you know what you're going to do and do it in advance and practice it. What that's going to allow you to do is when you are recording or you get that final version, you're going to be able to focus on the more meaningful elements to the client, like how is their exercise technique, how can you correct it, how can you make sure that you're motivating them, how can you create such a personalized experience in such a distant environment. Remember, if you're making it up on the spot, it's taking away the focus and the focus really needs to be on the client. Always got to have them in mind. So, plan those videos out in advance. 

Build a Pipeline of Competitions

Next up, let's talk about competitions. Start building a pipeline of them. Instead of thinking about competitions almost on a monthly or seasonal basis, build it out for six, 12 months in advance, and make sure that what these people are competing for is different. You could have seasonal competitions that are related to new year's resolutions, where it's 30 days to kick start your resolution in January. Or maybe it's something in March or April when we know they're all falling off the wagon and its aim to regenerate them and create more of a marathon of fitness. So that's a seasonal idea. You can also do things like goal-based. 

So whether it's running somebody's first half marathon, or it could be losing a certain amount of body weight. You guys get creative and make sure they're changing all the time. Then make sure that you're advertising these competitions during your virtual sessions. That doesn't mean that you're selling them. It means that every session that you have is still tied to these competitions because that's what these clients and members are going to be able to look forward to.

Create Content That's Unique, Not Just Workouts 

Next up, create content not specific to a workout. Of course, workouts are important, but I think what we're going to start seeing is that is the first thing that fitness professionals are going to turn to when they think about how they can engage their clients. The biggest recommendation that I'm hearing fitness leaders in the community tell us is that the content should be all about adopting that lifestyle of fitness. So, you might be teaching them the behaviors of meal planning in a video short. You might be opening up a 20-minute Q&A session specific to body fat loss. You could be doing a number of things, helping them understand that bodyweight training can we used for hypertrophy. So, you want to keep that educational element to it and give them opportunities to practice the behaviors that you've become an expert at throughout their everyday living. 

If you can do this, if you could start creating content that's not just around a workout, then what you're doing is you're becoming a part of their life 24 hours a day. So, we've always complained about how do you hold them accountable when they're not at the gym working out with you, now that you're living in this virtual world, that truly is the only option is to be with them 24 hours a day. So, they need to be top of mind. Their goals need to be top of mind. The content that you give them should not just be about their workouts.

Focus on Positivity and Creativity

Finally, and most importantly, it's incredibly important to be focused on positivity and creativity right now. If you turn on the news, it's a lot of negativity. If you talk to your coworkers or your friends, it's about how negatively this is impacting their lives. More than ever, we're living in a very negative environment and there are some positive things that can come out of it. So, you need to refocus your clients and you need to realize that they are getting a lot new in their daily routine. What are some things that they can be happy about? Instead of having a round trip commute that takes up over an hour of their day every day, now they can reinvest that hour of their day into something healthy, something like adding an extra walk-in or adding more meal prep or being mindful with their eating. They just gained back literally hours of their day that they can focus on being healthy. So that's one great thing. 

The other thing is with everyone going to the grocery stores and purchasing in mass quantities so that they have to go less and less frequently, what that's allowing people to do is be more mindful of their choices. It's allowing them to take the time to plan out their meals and this is great. So, what you're able to do with them right now is you're able to help them out with those habits, make this practice the next however long it could be, two months, two weeks, we don't know. But now's the time to practice because when life goes back to normal, they're going to have these habits built into them and they'll be able to continue carrying them out. 

Here's the takeaway. As we continue to support this series, you're going to see elements that support each one of these steps. Number one, be comfortable on camera. Number two, plan and practice your videos. Get the best take, it's worth your time. Number three, build a pipeline of competitions. Number four, create content that's unique, not just workouts. Finally, be positive and be creative. 

We're so happy that you joined us today. We've got a lot more coming up, including how to select a platform for your virtual training business. We've also got how to build workouts with virtually no equipment. We've also got the different applications that might work, a review of them, that might work best for you and your client. Remember, we're always here to help. You can contact us at issaonline.com. Also, reach us at 805-273-8303. 

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