Trainer Akane Lifetime Fitness Alpha Instructor & IFBB Pro - Become a Successful Personal Trainer in Charlotte

Get ready to flex your brain muscles and pump up your personal training knowledge with our special guest, the renowned IFBB pro Akane from Charlotte, North Carolina. Kanye's story isn't your typical gym tale; it's a gripping narrative of how a post-college stint in the family business led to a powerhouse career in fitness, spanning prestigious gigs at 24 Hour Fitness, Crunch, Equinox, and now Lifetime Fitness. As we chat, you'll be privy to his unique perspectives on gym culture dynamics, his philosophy on aligning values with clients' needs, and the inside scoop on his innovative approach as an Alpha instructor, where Olympic lifting meets functional movement in group settings.

In this heart-to-heart, we explore the secret sauce behind successful personal training—empathy and expertise—and why it matters. Drawing from real-life examples and my own journey, including insights from a sales background, we reveal how understanding and addressing the individual needs of clients, like spotting a gym-goer's potential back issue, is more art than science. It's not just about knowing the difference between a hack squat and a leg press; it's about the questions you pose and the genuine connections you forge. With my bags packed for North Carolina, I'm revved up to meet Akane in person and experience first-hand the blend of care and expertise that truly makes a personal trainer exceptional.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry one qualified trainer at a time, with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitnesscom. Also, make sure to check out my book how to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Howdy everybody, and welcome back to the Show Up Fitness Podcast. Today we are fortunate to have Kanye from Charlotte, north Carolina. Thank you for showing up. Absolutely thanks for having me. You got a really decorated background from your ifbb.

Speaker 2: 0:45

you got your nba, you're doing it all, I turned uh ifbb pro in 2009. I became a personal trainer in 2009 um it was, you know, after I graduated college in 2005 and did my nba um and really at that time didn't know, didn't know what I wanted to do, so I jumped in my family business and sales, but I just had a knack and a passion for fitness right and being healthy.

Speaker 2: 1:14

I didn't know at the time. I didn't know anything about bodybuilding, necessarily, or competing. I've heard about the sport you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger, all those things in the past, but never actually competed or known competitors. So I got into that quickly. My first job as a personal trainer was at 24 Hour Fitness in a small club in Northern California, and within three months I became a fitness manager and just made my way up into a district fitness manager and then eventually switched companies. I've worked for 24-Hour Fitness Crunch, I've worked as a contract trainer at Facebook and then now I am at Lifetime.

Speaker 1: 2:04

I love that. And where were you in? Did you say North California?

Speaker 2: 2:08

Yes, north California, northern California. I was originally at the Castro Valley, a little active club and 24-hour fitness. From there I was also working in different clubs in the Bay Area, including Sunnyvale and Fremont, and then after about six years there with 24 Hour Fitness, I let's see. From there I went to Facebook and, oh, I almost forgot Equinox. I was also at Equinox for a little bit as a trainer and also as a manager, fitness manager All in California.

Speaker 1: 2:49

Yeah, so I got my start in Dublin and I know exactly where that Castro Valley 24 is, yeah, yeah, so that's a small world and I like your path from 24, crunch, equinox, and can you talk to a little bit about the differences in, maybe, cultures, because you know those are some of the biggest gyms out there and you're still doing it right now at a very big gym with lifetime, and so what were some of the big differences between gyms? I mean?

Speaker 2: 3:15

you got your big box gyms like 24 hours and crunch and whatnot. Um they. They operate similarly. You know they do have a heavy sales culture you know, and they have a good feeding system as well. In some clubs. It really just depends on the manager.

Speaker 2: 3:36

But, you know heavy sales culture with a lot of specials all the time, and you know, as a new trainer you're just like, okay, great, you know, let's get new clients to do discounts. But then I realized as I, as I matured as a trainer, my value was a little bit more than you know what they were willing to offer. So I've, I graduated from 24 hour fitness, um. It went on to um, equino, on to Equinox, as a contract trainer at Facebook. Now Equinox and Lifetime are similar in terms of demographic, their audience. Most of their clubs attract a different level of financial income and so I felt my talent matched or were similar to that value, or they met my values. So with my education, I felt confident to move on to, you know, those two clubs.

Speaker 1: 4:41

There's definitely something about the aura of an Equinox. In a lifetime Higher end, the average client's probably making at least $250K and they're business professionals and the conversations are not as gimmicky as they may seem in some of the smaller gyms, because you have to be you push, push, push supplements and so forth where you have an individual in front of you and you provide that value, you present a solution and there you go and they start working with you At Lifetime. You also have a unique role as an alpha instructor, and so talk to us more about what that includes and and everything about that um, the alpha program is a olympic uh lifting, crossfit style, um uh program, um small group training program.

Speaker 2: 5:30

And? Um there's two formats alpha strength, which is more so 70% strength, 30% cardio. And there's alpha conditioning, where it's more 70% conditioning and 30% strength. It's programmed nationally by our team endurance, resistance power. So I like that. They encourage progressive overload, different rep ranges, different exercises. I think it's unique to Lifetime to have a program like that when CrossFit came about in early 2000,. That sparked that and Alpha came.

Speaker 1: 6:13

I'm not sure.

Speaker 2: 6:13

Honestly, I don't know when Alpha came out, because it started with Lifetime in 2020. Our program was just developing at Charlotte and so now it's taken over. We have the main guy, David Freeman, and his team who handle all the programming, and it's just a great program. I coach eight classes a week on mostly six and 7.

Speaker 1: 6:38

And is that under the same department or is it like a group X under one and then training on the other?

Speaker 2: 6:46

Sure, so it is a group fitness category.

Speaker 1: 6:49

I got this Great, and is that something that's encouraged? Because I know at Equinox they don't necessarily encourage their trainers to double dip and do classes. So what's the stance with Lifetime?

Speaker 2: 7:14

trainers to become alpha instructors or coaches, just because and I think trainers do better as those coaches because of our, our attention to detail. In terms of form, it's not so music driven. It's really more about movement.

Speaker 1: 7:25

You know, functional movements, proper olympic movement, so yeah, that's great, and this is an additional service as well. It's not included in the membership, is it?

Speaker 1: 7:36

correct, it is part of the signature membership yeah, that's a fascinating business model, one of the reasons I like lifetime. As a public company, they're always thinking of innovative ways to generate more than their competition. So if you go to like an Equinox, they have the classes, everything that's included. But when you go to Lifetime, as I'm a member and I pay X amount per month, if you want that additional service, which is the signature, then you get these additional classes. And how you separate yourself is exactly what you're saying Orange Theory and F45, they're real big into the techno, rah, raw music, but these classes are, you know, more form driven and showcasing the, the education behind the trainers. So that's really neat. And so over your years you've been doing this for almost 15 plus years now, what I'm sure you've seen a lot of trainers come and go. What are some of the things that you highlight trainer success to?

Speaker 2: 8:29

I guess really just being passionate and always, always staying up to date with you know, new education new training, trends and just staying up, you know, with, really with your education.

Speaker 2: 8:48

It seems like everything changes new fads, trends and clients want to learn a new thing and really just staying on top of everything is what keeps me motivated and gives me good longevity in this industry. Also, I would say looking the part it's important. I would say looking the part it's important. You know, this is I am. I am my own billboard and as long as I take care of being myself this has been my personal experience but you know, taking care of myself, then I, I attract that.

Speaker 1: 9:24

You know, as an IFBB competitor, you obviously look the part and there's something about you that when you're in the gym, I'm sure you're just turning heads right and left and women probably come up to you and say, oh my gosh, I want this or I want that, or how did you get this? And you go. Well, I'm actually a trainer as well, but I do compete. Why don't you come in for a session I can show you? Is that a pretty common situation you experience?

Speaker 2: 9:54

uh, let's honestly, I've only gotten that a handful of times. When, since I've been here in charlotte and I've been here for four years um, I just had a consultation two days ago with with a gal who had, she told me she had competed, and you know, I told her I competed too. You know, um, you know, and you know, one of my last shows was the Arnold, and so she didn't know I ever competed, she didn't. So and I don't expect people to know that and so I kind of prefer that they don't.

Speaker 1: 10:21

But you know I yeah, definitely looking.

Speaker 2: 10:25

I looking different from other trainers and other members does help and spark some conversation.

Speaker 1: 10:34

And just to kind of ask the same question, but in a different way. We talked about the success but, as I highlight in my book, how to Become a Successful Personal Trainer, a lot of trainers don't make it to the landmark that you have 15 plus years. How most quit within the first year. Why do you think so many trainers quit?

Speaker 2: 10:54

The common thing is they weren't putting in the work, right what? You know in hindsight, or they weren't staying educated, and thus you know, you just know what you know, and that's it. Well, you're only going to get so many clients. You know people are smart people. You know smarter than that they want to and people are educated, and so for me it's really showing how much I care. That kept me going in this industry, you know.

Speaker 1: 11:25

Yeah, as a teacher of trainers, I can't tell you how many times I'll have a newbie come in and and they don't even know the difference between a hack squat and a leg press or what 135 on a bench press looks like. And and that experience and your knowledge of the industry is super, super important to parlay that with your ability to relate to people and you have that background in sales which must help so much with getting clients.

Speaker 2: 11:53

Absolutely. I mean, it really comes down to asking the right questions, having a genuine want to learn about someone.

Speaker 2: 12:06

You know and portraying that, you know, empathy or whatever emotion it is. And that's how I've conducted my business. You know, just yesterday I was working out I saw a gentleman I'd seen before you seen before working with old trainers in the past. I could tell he was dealing with a back issue. I was doing dead bugs and single leg touchdowns. I just easily just approach him and say, hey, something up with your back. I can tell you're doing this, this and this. You know something up with your back and I can tell you're doing this, this and this. And it's just as easy as that or at least for me and it has to be genuine I love it.

Speaker 1: 12:49

We get into this to help people. That's exactly what you're doing, so I know you're you're busy and I appreciate you taking the time to help spread the word of what it's like to be a great trainer, like you are, and we're hoping one day to get out there to that north carolina location. So we'll be in contact and hopefully we'll be meeting in person sooner than later absolutely, I'm looking forward to that all right. Well, thank you for your time and, as I say, gotta keep on showing up.