SUF-CPT ADAM - From Independent Trainer to the transition into a corporate gym setting

Discover the transformational journey of Professor Adam as we navigate the ebbs and flows of a career in the ever-evolving fitness industry. Embark on an exploration of how continuous education, adaptability, and strategic client acquisition can eclipse the common pitfalls of the profession. With wisdom gleaned from his pivotal experience at Show Up Fitness internship, Adam shares how even the most seasoned trainers can revitalize their methodologies for success.

As we unpack the financial intricacies of independent training versus corporate gym employment, you'll gain insider perspectives on client retention, managing operational costs, and discerning the potential for profitability in both ventures. Adam's firsthand experiences shed light on the realities of launching and sustaining a personal training business. This episode offers a wealth of insights for fitness professionals aspiring to elevate their careers and for those curious about the business behind the brawn.

We wrap up with a candid discussion on the profound impact personal trainers have on the mental and emotional health of their clients. Touching stories reveal the importance of empathy and professional conduct in fitness coaching, while emphasizing the value of a holistic approach to wellness. This episode is not only a treasure trove for industry professionals but also an enlightening listen for anyone interested in the profound connections between physical fitness, mental health, and the business of personal well-being.

Want to ask us a question? Email email info@showupfitness.com with the subject line PODCAST QUESTION to get your question answered live on the show!

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NASM study guide: ...

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't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Howdy everybody. Welcome back to the Show Up Fitness Podcast. Today we have Professor Adam and we're going to be talking about his cool little journey from independent trainer to going through the in-person to working at a corporate gym, now back to independent. So it's kind of cool to see his route of going from different opportunities as a trainer. So thanks for taking the time to chat today, adam.

Speaker 2: 0:53

Absolutely Appreciate the opportunity to be able to do this and share my story a little bit.

Speaker 1: 0:57

So you were a trainer and you had a book of business. And it's not easy being a trainer. We all know that it's hard to get clients. But you saw this girl, Rio, and she was kicking ass and you you kind of wanted to learn more about that. So talk to us how you know Rio and how you got involved to show up.

Speaker 2: 1:15

Yeah. So uh was in yeah, 2020, 2019. I think when I started over, uh, a gym called self-made training facility they're all over the country now, so some people listening might recognize them but basically private training gyms for trainers to rent out space and run their own business, and I had actually started there in 2017 was the first time. I only did it for a few months and then left. I was going through a lot of personal stuff and everything at the time and then decided, hey, it's time to get back into training. It's my passion. What I wanted to do. I went back to the owner because I stayed in contact with him Really really great guy and so he was like, yeah, whenever you're ready, come on back. And so I did that and started kind of rebuilding. I think we're going okay at first, but at the same time I started was it like the same time I started, was like the same time Rio started? I think we started within like two weeks of each other. And you know, as, no matter how good you are at training right, there's always like that, that slow growth process of you know you've got to establish yourself and go and reach out for clients and everything. So we were both kind of on the same trajectory of things. We're starting slow and getting one or two clients, probably for about the first month, and then all of a sudden she just, I mean just took off. I mean it was like I was riding a bike and she was in a ferrari as far as like her business and it wasn't just her business. I was watching her training, you know, um, her clients, but like small groups and the way she was programming her structure and even like the trainers that were being extremely successful there, I was like she's different, um, like in a very good way, and so I just, um, I told all the time the best thing I ever did was to check my ego and just go ask her, because you know, it's really easy to be like I've been training for a long time, you know bodybuilding, like I feel like I know what I'm doing. You know it's like I need to just figure it out. And I was like I gotta I just gotta go find out what she's doing. And she told me she's like I've been doing this in-person internship. It's a total game changer. It's called Show Up Fitness. That's how I heard about you guys and she was like, just you know, at some point she was like, I think, you know, she actually brought you into the gym, I think shortly after that. So she was like I'll introduce you and then if you ever want to come check out a class with me, you know, go ahead and you know, just show up and check it out and that's yeah, so that was 2019. Cause that's when I first heard about it. That's when I started kind of getting more involved in everything. But it was just, I mean, it was incredible the difference in her training and structure and everything than what anyone else was doing. And yeah, and that's so I started with that.

Speaker 2: 3:39

And then, shortly after I was ready to pull the trigger on starting, that's when the world shut down, um, you know, for COVID and um, so I started just kind of getting involved online and everything. And then I was able to do the in-person internship uh, september 2020, and, you know, doing the classes, still online and doing the in-person. And that's when I just noticed, like the that's when I decided to go full-time into training, but I'm still working my other job at the time at the San Diego Croc Center. And that's when I was like, all right, it's time to leave after the summer season's over and go full-time into this, and I don't think I would have been successful about it, because there's so many other things that I learned as far as building a business and getting clients and the programming, and I'm all about intentionality, and I just felt like I was just throwing, throwing stuff at my clients before that. So, but yeah, then things started taking off for me after that once I started doing the in-person internship.

Speaker 1: 4:31

There's a lot to unpack there, because I've worked with thousands of trainers and one of the most common things and pushbacks that I'll see is well, how would I want to go through this program? Already a trainer, I already have this level zero certification. Why would I want to go through an internship? And that's unfortunate, because there's a lot of trainers out there that are listening and also at a fork and they don't have that book of business, or they're at a corporate gym and they don't like the way it's going and they don't know what to do next. They don't know how to build their business, but they don't know how to get clients.

Speaker 1: 5:04

And it really comes down to a confidence. It's not saying you weren't confident before, but so many trainers need some type of supervision, and so the fact that you had the humility to take a step back and say you know what? This is something that's going to help me, and now we're able to talk about your next journey. But we'll get there in a second, because this is another thing I really want to talk about is the importance of action-based principles, and so if I wouldn't have reached out to Chelsea and networked with Chelsea and she was one of our trainers at West Hollywood at the time, and if she wouldn't have posted in her story, if she wouldn't have sent a message out to her followers, if I didn't have her on Instagram lives, then Rio would have never saw what she was doing.

Speaker 1: 5:49

And if Rio never would have saw we were opening the gym in San Diego, rio would have never came to the impression and she would have never been able to talk to you about our program. So those are always things that are really important. Action is what we need to focus on, and anytime that we're stuck in our head thinking, you know, I'm not good enough, I'm fat, I'm ugly, I'm stupid whatever those automatic negative voices are that come in there you have to remember that action is going to make it right. And so Adam took action, went through the internship and then you're given an opportunity to get back into the independent life, but as a manager now at a place called Work W-E-R-K in San Diego, right?

Speaker 2: 6:30

Yeah, yeah. So I decided to leave Selfmade. The owner that was there, like I said, great guy, loved working with them, but then he decided to leave. There were just some things that were going on more from the higher up, structural, corporate side of things that were going on more from like a you know, the higher up, you know structural, like corporate side of things that we were just kind of like it might be time to start looking at other options. And so he got completely out of training and fitness and everything I wanted to continue to, because things were going well from a business perspective. So I wanted to continue to train.

Speaker 2: 6:59

He actually got me connected with work fitness, which was, it's like the mission Valley area of San Diego, and so I went and kind of took my business over there. It was so close enough for my clients Met the owner, you know, kind of really connected with him. He's like, yeah, bring your business over. And with only a couple of weeks of being there he was, you know, talking to me about. He's like, yeah, we're actually I really like to open up a second location. I've already actually put an application for a lease at this building and actually knew the exact building because it shared a or it was right across the street from the church I was going to and so I really knew the area and I was more headquartered. Most of my clients are actually in East County, so I just told them like, hey, if I know how the structure works over here at these gyms, that you typically need some sort of managing trainer, you might already have someone in mind, but if not, I would love to go over to East County because most of my clients are going to be over there anyway and help run it for you. And he was.

Speaker 2: 7:51

I was kind of like I just threw it out there, thinking like you know he's going to be like, yeah, whatever, I barely know this guy. And a week later he comes up to me. He's like all right, I'm ready. Cool opportunity because it allowed for me to have no overhead for my business, which is huge. It's typically these gyms you're looking at anywhere between like $700 to $1,200 a month in rent, depending on your location where you're at, and once you build a big enough book of business, it's not that much of an overhead cost.

Speaker 2: 8:20

But still, to be able to just subtract that from any overhead and just focus on the business building, you know, where I just kind of helped to oversee stuff there, help bring in your trainers and that was also great with having the you know connection with you guys was because I was able to, you know, bring some of the interns over to you know, check out the spot.

Speaker 2: 8:38

You know we had, you know, people like Sierra Kenna, christina, that all went through the, the, through the program, and ended up coming over and working there, and so that was really fun to kind of start seeing that I got some influence over, you know, some trainers that are coming over. You know I can help continue to like mentor them a little bit as they went through the same program I did and be in that management position. That's really what started fueling my fire of being like, really like working with new trainers and teaching, just because I've always kind of had that teacher mentality and mindset, and then seeing that I can actually translate that into Fitness, you know, with training and everything, and so that was that was an awesome opportunity and I loved doing. I would still be doing it today if I didn't decide to move up to, you know, boise, idaho for, you know, for other reasons. But yeah, that was that was a great opportunity and, if there's any trainers, up there in San Diego.

Speaker 2: 9:23

they're looking to get involved with move up to Boise, idaho, for other reasons, but yeah, that was a great opportunity and if there's any trainers up there in San Diego that are looking to get involved with doing independent training, definitely check out Work Fitness.

Speaker 1: 9:32

There's a lot to go over here as well, because people get into training to help people and I would say that most and you're a really great example because you've seen a lot of trainers and something I talk about in my book is 90% of level zero trainers quote within the first year, Would you say that's pretty accurate you know, unless that trainer is getting some like direct mentorship or going through some sort of like you know, program that you know we haven't show up or, you know, working with someone that's, like you know, a much higher level of trainer than more times than not yeah, they're quitting.

Speaker 1: 10:14

And when people try to understand the difference between a level zero and a level one, I draw the line in the sand and say okay, how did you become a personal trainer? And if you studied a textbook and you then went into a gym environment using your anecdotes, that is a level zero Whereas a level one. You went through an internship, you have a degree in kinesiology or you have your show fitness CPT, because you are able to ask questions to professionals. And so then when you go into the gym environment whether, if it is a lifetime equinox crunch, whatever you will then train for X amount of years Most will not make it past year one. And so then it comes this next fork in your training life, and it's like well, I don't want to be at this gym from 5 am to 10 pm every single day for the rest of my life, and when I take two weeks off then I don't get paid. So I'm going to think of doing something next.

Speaker 1: 11:07

And a lot of times it's this eye in the sky that's sitting there for sometimes a couple of years, and then you finally get the balls to take that jump. And a lot of times you're going to go into these independent spots. And so let's say that if you were at a crunch, a common thing to do here would be you have 15 clients, you let all your clients know that you're going to be quitting and you'll be moving to an independent spot. 10 of your clients will say they will move with you which you don't realize because they don't teach you this as they shouldn't but 80% will stay. 20% are going to leave. So of those 10 that said they're going to stay with you, two will not. That's just a rule of thumb. So then you'll go there, you'll start training and then two are going to fade off.

Speaker 1: 11:53

Now you're down to eight and you're doing fine, because you did your math and your homework beforehand. You weren't making that much at the big corporate gym. So you're making six grand a month, and at the new spot you're making eight, but then those two clients leave. And at the new spot you're making eight, but then those two clients leave, and then two more clients leave. And one skill that you were never taught is how to get new clients, how you ask for referrals. You tell a client hey, maybe if you know anyone you can tell them to maybe work with me sometime. They don't process that it's not a professional business acquisition right there, so you're not getting new clients. It can be frustrating, and so you were saying the rent at that spot was between 700 to 1,000?.

Speaker 2: 12:30

Yeah, depending on which. So when I was at Selfmade it was 800 and they raised it to nine. I think that Selfmade itself shut down. The other one, I think, is at 1,100. Where I was, I think work is at 750 right now, somewhere around there.

Speaker 1: 12:45

There's spots in LA that are 2,500. I know there's a few that are 4,000 plus. That may sound like a lot, but if you're charging 150 and you're doing 30 sessions a week, times that by four, that's 18 grand a month. That's only 20% of your revenue. That's going to that rent. Now, if you are charging 60, 70 bucks and how many sessions would so you saw a lot of trainers in these environments. On average, how many sessions do you think they were doing per month? I'd like the independent spots.

Speaker 2: 13:16

Yeah, I'd say an average of probably around 20. It just kind of depends. Some are doing a real part-time like maybe like eight to 10. There were some that.

Speaker 1: 13:23

I was seeing doing Per week you're talking about, right, oh, yeah, yeah, per week, yep, so if you're doing 80 per month, what average do you think they're charging?

Speaker 2: 13:34

Probably the East County spot would be a little bit on the lower end. That's where I spent most of my time. They're probably on average between 60 and 70.

Speaker 1: 13:40

So say 70. So you're bringing home 5,600 right there, and then you pay your rent of 700, maybe a thousand. You're bringing home more than most people would in the corporate gym. Now the problem here is that you don't know how to get new clients, and so the independent route is great, Lots of opportunity for money. But then there's this other side of the equation, which is owning gyms. We're not going to talk about gym ownership like what Show Up has. I'm going to look at independent spots. And so if the owner let's say that Adam wants to start his own independent spot and he's going to recruit trainers, how many trainers are typically in these gyms? I think 20 to 30, depending on the size of it.

Speaker 1: 14:20

So you have 25 trainers and each one's paying you a thousand bucks. You're bringing in 25 grand in revenue. Say those, rent is 10, 15, because maybe three 4,000 square feet which would be realistic you could be profiting anywhere from five, 10, $15,000. But the big elephant in the room here is rent. Yes, that's expensive, expensive. But these gyms have a lot of equipment, right?

Speaker 2: 14:44

yeah, a lot of people don't realize how much, I can't remember for sure. But that's the thing with, like the self-made model is, I know, because they're technically like they're franchised, but you have to go through their equipment, people to get everything like labeling, like that. So I know, like that they were. I think it was like over like 150k, I think, for like a 7 000 square foot. No, it wasn't. Even that was like 5500 square feet for the one I was at. You know pretty and I don't know if I remember this correctly, but like 150k. I know other places I've been at they don't. You know you don't have to have all those costs, but still, I mean, yeah, you're talking, I don't know, you probably know better than me, but I'm you're probably looking at 30 to 50 K like easy to outfit the gym, easy.

Speaker 1: 15:23

I was. Who was I talking to about? It was elite FTS. Elite FTS that was called, I think. So I'm going to screw that one up, but they are huge gym fitness equipment manufacturer and they sent a bunch of their equipment to. I don't know if it was like the zoo or one of these spots, but it was like two, $3 million because everything is customized. Our gyms show up. We're like 30, 40,000 and these are small ass spots, yeah, and so when you look at the magnitude, like an Equinox or Lifetime, it's on a whole different level. You're looking at 5, 10, 15 million just in equipment and then you're looking at the maintenance and all that stuff. It's crazy.

Speaker 1: 16:07

So the cool thing to take from this is there's a lot of opportunities to make money in fitness.

Speaker 1: 16:13

If you just like training awesome, train, service your clients, be professional there's a huge opportunity to turn your passion for fitness into a career.

Speaker 1: 16:21

If you like the business side of it, you can go off by yourself and do independent, but you can also open up your own spots and as you build these skills, managers sorry, gym owners are looking for managers to fill into positions and you start kind of seeing how the industry works and one of the most challenging things that our industry has is works.

Speaker 1: 16:44

And one of the most challenging things that our industry has is if Adam and I are both trainers. But if we were to be lawyers and we're working in LA and we want to go to New York City and become a lawyer, we go on, indeed, we find a job. We start day one, we're getting a salary. Doesn't happen as likely for trainers unless you have a really good online presence and you have that book of business, which is not easy to do. So then you dropped your cards here in LA and you moved up to Boise to be closer to your family, and we kind of had to start all over. So I think a logical thing to do is get into the corporate environment, and that's what you did, right?

Speaker 2: 17:18

Yeah, it's what I did, but it's not what I did initially. So I actually tried to continue going independent for a year where what I really tried to do was kind of switch to doing like full time online coaching and training, which there is the benefit of that is that now I know how to do it well and I do think more trainers need to be in that realm of doing it. But you know, I know for me it's like a lot of times where, like you said, as trainers, we get into this business because we want to help people and we like connecting with people. Well, it started to mess with me where I was like too often just at home trying to do everything like from an in-home office, not being out, not connecting, not meeting people. So I actually dealt quite a bit with depression, with just like I'm in a new city I mean, I have my family around.

Speaker 2: 18:02

You know things weren't going well, took a hit financially and then when I started to try to rebuild, you know a little bit on independent, uh, for in-person stuff, it just wasn't honestly going great and a lot, a lot of it stemmed from like, yeah, I was trying to just do too much on my own in the people aspect. Um, you know, I was losing that and I so I didn't have that connection and so I, yeah, got into kind of a bad way. And then I was kind of like you know what I think again need to have some humility, check the ego. And if I really want, I started looking at other, even careers at one point and I was like, no, like this is what I'm passionate about, that's what I want to do.

Speaker 2: 18:34

I just need to check the ego, go back, you know, get into a corporate structure where I can, you know, kind of rebuild, build a reputation and just kind of see what's out there. And so I went and yeah, that's when I got back into the corporate world. So, the biggest gyms out here I know we have Planet Fitness and we got Crunch, but like the biggest gym in the state, here's Axiom Fitness. There's four locations. I had an opportunity to go be the assistant director over at the one downtown park center location and yeah, and it was. And so that's how I got. I got back into that corporate structure of.

Speaker 1: 19:07

So you went to Axiom. For how long I was there? Just a little over a year. So it's like you're repeating the process of showcasing that you're able to do it, where 90% are going to quit within the first year. And in that time you were in that position. You probably saw trainers come in and they weren't able to make it. They had their level zero certification the beautiful ones of NASA, Mesa, ISSA. I feel like trainers today come in with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder like, oh, I'm qualified, I can do this, and then it's just a fucking. It's a huge circus and they're not ready for it. And it's a huge circus and they're not ready for it. And then most of them are going to leave.

Speaker 2: 19:44

Did you notice that a lot at the gym? Yeah, now, I do think that when I was there we had a pretty good structure to try to mitigate that as much as possible. You know, we had a thing called trainer training where if you were a new trainer that you got hired on twice a week there was live classes. So you did get a chance to either meet with myself or our area director, mike Kildebrandt, and he would, you know, kind of teach more like the business side and going over, like how to do proper assessments and nutrition, where I was focusing more on, you know, how to program your clients and how to regress exercises. Because, especially at the gym I was at, we were in a pretty affluent area, which means there was a good opportunity for training. But also, when you have an affluent area, it means you have a lot of retired folk. So a lot of the demographic there were older retirees that were, you know, dealing with like past injuries and that sort of thing. I mean there was a huge demographic of people that were coming through there. I mean about 14,000 members were at that gym. But you know, a lot, of, a lot of people are working with clients that are older, don't move as well, have injuries, and so a lot of that's what I would teach and because we had that structure, it definitely helped.

Speaker 2: 20:49

But yeah, we definitely still saw quite a bit of turnover and especially people that were like members at our gym that wouldn't get their cert and wanted to work, because there is also a big kind of because we're right by Boise State so a lot of like young college age bodybuilders bodybuildingcom is up here, so the big bodybuilding community and so you know they get into it, being like I love this gym, I love the environment, I want to come work at it. And they start working with people that you know aren't motivated, aren't bodybuilders, they don't know how to properly, you know program, you know rest and all of a sudden, this place that was like a sanctuary for them and that's why a big thing I see where a lot of trainers quit. It's not just that they don't have the know-how with some of the programming and working with certain clients, it's also you don't take into account the fact that this place that was such a you know place of you know it was like a sanctuary for them where they could come and it could be their happy place where they can get away from. You know the world and you know you always talk about.

Speaker 2: 21:38

You know, you know turn your emotional pain into physical pain. Right, and a lot of people, I think, do that, maybe not realizing that's what they're doing by going and working out in the gym and then all of a sudden that place becomes a place of you know work and you know almost a little bit of dread, and it's like they lose that enthusiasm for you know fitness and their sanctuary is all of a sudden gone. And I saw that burn people out, more than anything else, I think, when I was there.

Speaker 1: 22:01

And this is another whole area of opportunity as a trainer is you start showcasing your talents and you're doing well and newer trainers start looking up to you and then mentorship peaks and sets out there and I think that's like the evolution of a trainer. You gain your experience. That's like star number one and you can make it past a year. You know star number two and then can make it past a year star number two and then you start showcasing development, whether if it's like a special team, or you get into management, get that next star, and then you're going to get into the whole mentoring newer trainers. Because there is something cool about working with trainers, because working with a client, you can train anyone who comes in. They want to lose fat, they want to get bigger. It's like it's great to help people, right. But once you've done it so many times, it's kind of like, eh, I'm a little bored of this. I want to, I want to challenge myself, I want to level up my skillset, and when you have someone who's really capable and they're a trainer and then you can help them fine tune their business skills or their programming, whatever it is, that's another type of fulfillment that you're going to get, and so a lot of trainers want to get into teaching trainers, but there aren't a ton of positions out there and that's really what's unique about the brand that we have is we want to continue to grow and highlight the great professors out there that are able to help trainers and drive them into the right path for success, because you were fortunate to be at that location.

Speaker 1: 23:27

Now there's over I want to say like 54,. This could be a totally inaccurate statistic, but I want to say 54,000 gyms in the United States. Don't quote me on that, look it up yourself. But if this is one gym in Idaho, you could have the exact opposite 200 miles away, where you have someone who comes in and that coach or whoever it is, it's a bodybuilder. They have no idea what the fuck they're doing. They just look amazing because they did a show and they're just going to tell you that you got to push these supplements and you got to sell this and you got to do the overhead squat assessment. So that new trainer is going to learn that toxicity part of the industry, and so that's what's really unfortunate is because you had a great experience. How many trainers out there who are now waiters or real estate agents or something completely different because they didn't have the right guidance and mentorship. That's the thing that really pisses me off.

Speaker 2: 24:24

Yeah, and it's like I said, I had a great experience and it's, you know, I'll tell anyone that. And even when I left Axiom and you know I was talking with them because they know that you know my big passion is kind of that mentorship and teaching I mean I was gonna be more involved with Show Up Fitness and you know I told him I, I a hundred percent stand by this is because, um, you know this is a big, you know corporate structure for everyone long-term and I'm probably not for a lot but it. But honestly, the way they run things and you know the way that, because I had such a good experience, like if someone came to me and I mentored them a little bit, I'm looking for a job, I'd a hundred percent send them over there because they have the structure, they have the assessments, they allow for you to have, you know, autonomy and, like you said, that's not the norm for most. You know big box corporate gyms, you know, and everyone wants to want to get in the training. You know we talked about the numbers. Everyone wants to get into it because they, you know they want to make 10 K a month and they, you know, they see all the opportunity with, you know, but it takes time. And he said unless you're going through a program like us, unless you get like that hands-on experience, you're not learning how to build your business, how to get clients, how to have client retention, how to ask for referrals and to continue to grow and people get into it. I think that's another reason why people you know quit so often is it takes them a lot longer to to build where it's like. Go to a corporate gym, you know, learn how to. You know work with clients, get some hands on training, find who you like, I mean you know it's.

Speaker 2: 25:45

I always said I wanted to work with young athletes and it's still probably my favorite to work with. But I really enjoy, you know, like I mean, some of my clients I've had at axiom where I was training. You know someone that I'm actually going to continue training to um. You know training him, I think going forward. But you know, uh, older gentleman with um, late stage parkinson's, um, you know I training him, I think going forward.

Speaker 2: 26:00

But as you know, a older gentleman with late stage Parkinson's, you know I had another one that had a stroke, you know, seven, eight years ago and immobilized on his left side and it's one of those things where, like you know, before going through you know our, you know the program would show up. I would have no idea what to do with those people. But now I do and now working with them and like it's so rewarding to work with those people. But again, if I'm independent I'm probably not having that opportunity. So when you go corporate, you know, and you put some time in there getting that experience, you also learn a little bit more about yourself and the type of clients you like to work with and who you really want to help.

Speaker 1: 26:34

The thing that you're really good at is you like to get into the depths of hell of Reddit and Facebook forums and I see you having fun with that and you do some great posts on that.

Speaker 1: 26:45

But one of the things that bothers me about the industry is, unfortunately, you have a trainer at a gym who does come across someone who's had a stroke or Parkinson's. What do they do? They go talk to the trainer next to them, and that can be scary if you're surrounded by a bunch of level zero trainers don't know what the fuck they're doing. They could just be falsely confident and say something like oh, I work with someone who had a stroke, let me help you. And what people do is they criticize that thought process that I just spoke on right there. But could you imagine Lance Armstrong leading a cult of people curing testicular cancer? You would look at that and say that's absolutely fucking stupid. You would never listen to this guy because he doesn't have the credentials. He just beat it himself.

Speaker 1: 27:36

But that's what our industry does, and you can see that on these forums. I'm a new trainer. I'm really excited to be working with someone my first clients tomorrow and they had a stroke. What should that program look like and I go are you fucking kidding me? That's our industry. That person is going to essentially trial and error on a human body. But I'm so passionate about fitness. What is the stuff that you see in these forms that really piss you off or maybe makes your head explode of all the toxicity that's out there, I mean.

Speaker 2: 28:10

I really think you just touched on a lot of it where it's just, you know people are everything's so anecdotal and there's not really. Yeah, there's not a good standard for you know, for what is expected, um and everything and like, and you just see these, you know knucklehead trainers um, it's the nicest way I can put it. You know that are, you know, giving their advice for two cents?

Speaker 2: 28:34

and sometimes you do see good stuff. Um, and it's funny because you actually I see more stuff kind of bashing like the education and certification process out there that I do for because I see all the time people are looking at, hey, I'm looking to get you know my CEUs or I'm looking to get certified or just started, have you got any advice? And again it's kind of like it's ridiculous that you don't know any of this stuff going in. But then you know people sometimes will give you know, you know will give decent advice. But I think it's the thing that drives me the craziest is that sometimes when you see people that are either more often it's clients posting on this stuff, talking about their experience with trainers Like I just did one the other day I felt like this you know this woman asking about like is it okay for a trainer to yell at a client? And I'm like, well, you know, like kind of depends. Like are they yelling at you? Like, come on, you can do this. You know like you're a hunk at, like you can. You know you can push it harder, type of thing where it's positive.

Speaker 2: 29:25

You read through the post and you find out that she had a couple like a family crisis come up and she, you know, had to miss a couple of sessions and whereas, like, she tried to do them and then had their stuff via zoom and she got on and the trainer spent like the whole like 20, like 20 minutes yelling and chewing her out about how she's not committed, like it's a waste of time, like you know how she and just be like I'm sorry, this is what came up and just kept berating her. Finally, she's like I hung up and fired him and she was like but is that normal? Like did I overreact? And it's like, absolutely not. Did you like you did not overreact at all? It's like, but I've seen, I've seen unfortunately, that's not that it didn't surprise me that that was her experience.

Speaker 1: 30:05

I guess I should say yeah, I think that's the right way to to put it, because it's more common than not, these types of trainers are out there making the profession worse than it is, and you should never have someone belittle you to the point of that experience.

Speaker 1: 30:22

And you were talking on people, special people on the social media.

Speaker 1: 30:28

But a new little thing I'm going to start doing with RRD is going through the comments, because to piggyback off what you were saying is you have someone make a post and then people within the comment section they're now the experts and I saw this recently on this girl at the primal bods fucking.

Speaker 1: 30:49

She has half a million followers and she's a complete idiot and she's talking about her transition and how great she is looking now because the carnivore is the best thing in the world and one of the posts people are just giving advice to this girl who's struggling with losing weight and you have one guy saying, oh, you can't lose weight because your body's toxic, and someone else saying, oh, it's because you didn't stick to it hard enough. And someone else says, oh, it's because of this. And you have all these random shit that's being said in this comment section and I have fun. I like to click on the individual to see what their background is, and not a single one of these individuals is a qualified person to give any advice when it comes to nutrition. Unfortunately, as Mel says, the fact that everyone eats on this planet gives them their anecdotes, and it's really sad, because there's a lot of people out there and I think it's probably the best thing you can take from today.

Speaker 1: 31:42

Besides, adam, being awesome is your clients are scared and they're frustrated and they're coming to you for help and there's a lot of shit that they've been told and really they're just scared because they want to lose weight, they want to look better naked, they want to move better, to play with the kids and all that stuff. But they've been told a billion times from everyone on why they couldn't do it or they did it the wrong way. Sugar is toxic. This is what you have to do. So when you really double down on the fundamentals and you have those people skills and you can relate to people and listen, well, this is a great profession to really help people and make a huge difference. If you could do you become the president of the fitness association of the world. What would be some things that you would implement and require trainers to do to really start changing the way people look at trainers?

Speaker 2: 32:39

You know, the first thing that's popped my head because I was actually talking with one of my clients about this because they were saying you should, you know, start looking into adding this into somehow you educate is you would be required. I mean, just the overall industry standard of what qualifies, you know a trainer needs to be raised, and that's the whole thing that you know. Obviously you know that you're all about right. It's like why you know we're a part of show up is because we're trying to raise what those standards are. But if I had to implement like one thing, I would would want to require trainers to go through some sort of, uh, psychology education. Uh, because I think that is a thing that gets missed, uh, a lot, because even when you were talking about all that, um, you know, I was just I would had a client that I was talking with yesterday who's, you know, really struggling. We're seeing some progress, but he's got such a bad relationship with food and part of it's that, um, he, uh, he's still dealing with a grief and the loss of his mom from a couple of years ago and so, and he got really into like grief eating, but then he tried to go like to extreme where he would like fast, and then he went carnivore and then, you know, then he goes to these extreme binges and and so and he's and he comes and brings me all the time like talking about like stuff with carnivore. You know it's a toxicity, and all the stuff he's hearing and you know I'm hearing this and you know I'm sitting there just thinking, you know, like all this stuff that he's being told and hearing is just it's bullshit. And this is where I'm kind of grateful where, um, you know I took some psychology courses but also, like I worked in uh, you know I've worked in ministry and stuff like that where I had to learn how to like counsel people a little bit. And you have to do some of that when you're training because you know, if you just tell someone like hey, you're dumb, you're wrong, maybe they are, but they're not going to continue to, you know, if you're the person that can help them, you don't want to push them away. So it's learning how to.

Speaker 2: 34:25

And so I think there needs to be better education for trainers and learning how to properly interact and have those conversations of being like you know where I just kind of broke it down from, about you know, cause he, he was totally vegan before and I'm like, yeah, uh, and I was like, well, I mean, probably the best thing he did for himself was implementing more protein in his diet as he started working out more, and so we kind of broke it down of being like this, probably why it worked for him and it's great if it worked for him. But these are the things, you know that you know the car, some of the concerns and things you have to watch out for, and he's like, yeah, he's like my cholesterol is a little high. When I went to the doctor and he's like I love vegetables, and he was like, but I'm afraid of like the oxalates, and I'm like you have to, you know, and then kind of try to break that down for him a little bit. But you know, if I just tell him he's an idiot and then he goes and talks to someone else but like, no, that guy's wrong. We're versus.

Speaker 2: 35:09

Like you said, so many people come to us and are, you know they're, they're unhappy, they're, you know, depressed, they don't know what to do, they're. They're coming to you because they know they need help, but they're scared of being in a gym, they don't like to work out and so learning how to properly, I think, meet them with where they're at, but then also properly like encourage them and motivate them, you know, in a way, because again our clients are not us. You know we're us. We're the idiots and weirdos that love being in the gym for a long time they don't and trying to understand the psychology behind that a little bit and work with them. So that would be the big thing I would want to implement. Is that that needs to be part of the education process?

Speaker 1: 35:52

So the last little thing I want to piggyback on this is the beauty behind the marketing machines that are out there that have hundreds of millions of dollars that they can pump it in, they're able to do market research, and then what happens is it's like this the yin and the, not yin and the, the devil and the angel, because the right way to do it is you do have a background in this, so you can have those conversations. I think another compliment would be to find a really, really good psychologist in your area. A lot of times, psychologists charge the same amount that trainers do, and so why not have them on your team with your RD and your therapist? And so then you have this nice little center where you can go and you're getting nutrition guidance. You're getting physical guidance, but you're also getting mental guidance.

Speaker 1: 36:36

And there's nothing I mean. Think about this. As you know, in the fitness sector it's common for trainers that they have to push supplements. Why not push meeting with your therapist, meeting physical therapists and psychologists? Get your mental health checked out as your physical health and your injuries? So it's like here's what you have to peddle as a trainer push your therapist, push your RD I'm not going to feel bad about that at all versus trainer over here. Hey, hit $2,000 in supplements on top of getting your clients to train more. So one's more of a salesy approach, one's more true legitimacy in helping your clients.

Speaker 1: 37:13

But then, from a certification standpoint, you have these big companies just say you know what? Why not have a life coach certification? Why not have a weight loss expert? Why not have a performance enhancement specialist? We have all of these specializations that go back to what I said earlier level zero versus level one. If you have an opportunity to learn from people, great, that's always awesome to do, sure. But how is that learning taking place? Are you given some big ass esoteric textbook written by 15 doctors and you don't understand the basics? Or are you in an environment where you get to ask those doctors questions? And I think that's the difference between that. Hands-on learning in the seminars, learn from those people, great. But when you go and you take all these other specializations that are just textbooks, it's not going to do much except put you into a dick measuring contest because everyone else wants to have the most acronyms after their name, which you and I both know doesn't mean jack shit.

Speaker 2: 38:17

Yeah, it doesn't mean anything. And so, yeah, that's I and that's one thing, like I've always. You know, one of the best things I think I learned going through the program was like the um is learning how to network with the right people. You know where it's like I have um, you know I have people that I can, you know, refer out to um. You know you help me set up. You know something like Dr Jenny out here, which I got a good physical therapist where I've already been able to send clients Because, yeah, you want to, because it's not about you, like you said, like having all of the answers, but like a client could come to you with anything and then you have the ability then to, you know, help them, whether it's, you know you're like, yeah, we just need to work on this, I can help you with that beyond my realm of expertise.

Speaker 2: 38:57

Like we don't need to be a, you know, one-stop shop for all, but you know it's more like a, you know it could be almost a little bit more like an info booth, right, like it's like you can help them with certain things, but then it's like you know who to, you know network, you know and send them to and everything and um, because like, yeah, I don't, I don't want to sit there for an hour and counsel people, even though sometimes that feels like it's 90 percent of personal training people in person is to be like a counselor. But it's, you know, yeah, having people like that in your network where it's you know, you know a little bit of those skills, but then you, you know, you push them to the you know professional that you know is going to properly take care of them and help them out.

Speaker 1: 39:31

And there's nothing wrong with that, adam, where you you should be the one-stop shop, because if you look at the other side of the equation, unfortunately trainers will try to take on all of those avenues.

Speaker 1: 39:42

Where I can help you with your injuries oh, I'm a nutrition expert oh, I can help you with your mindset, and so then that person's taking on way too much where it's easier, just like you said, to say, hey, go see this person, go work with this person. And I like you to work with people in my network because I know that they're good network, because I know that they're good, and that's one of the things we're trying to build on is creating a better network with more therapists like Dr Jenny and people who do have the qualifications. We did a podcast, probably about 40 or so episodes ago, and she's brilliant, she's great to work with, but unfortunately there's still a lot of shitty therapists out there. There's a lot of shitty RDs, there's a lot of shitty nutritionists and psychologists. So you want to make sure that your team is a walking, talking representation of what you are all about.

Speaker 2: 40:28

Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. And then also, I mean just from a you know, the thing I see with that too is when you're, you know, when you are that person and you know, then you're connecting people with that, then it's also a great way to build business, because where I've had, you know, I've received clients before from you know they went to physical therapy and you know, for you know they have like some sort of traumatic injury. Like someone I was working with had a traumatic injury, came back, you know was saying like I don't know if I can keep going, Like, well, let's see what we can, you know, work with. And you know they started seeing improvement. I like, but still go, do your see your physical therapist. Um, you know, do that. It's like, tell your therapist exactly what we're doing, um, let them know. And then she came, you know, back and be like my therapist loves everything we're doing, so saying, just keep going with that.

Speaker 2: 41:10

And then from that I was getting you know, then I was able to ask them for, like referrals and everything and, um, that's a great way to, you know, build your business and network, because then those therapists in your area are now going to be like I can trust that person where if I have a you know. You know therapists don't want to see everyone for forever. They want to be able to hand them off and see people continue to, you know, do stuff on their own. So then you can be that next transition point, which is something that we try to teach a lot of referrals. You have an ongoing funnel of potential clients coming through.

Speaker 1: 41:43

You also got to let everyone know that you did what most people don't do is you paid the therapist their hourly rate. I think that's really, really important, because sure, you can find like-minded therapists, but you got to think of it as great therapists are going to have, say, 10 trainers lined up to work with them. When you pay them their hourly rate, you are now number one on their list and they can't pay you. There's laws out there that you can't get referrals and stuff like that from compensation, that is. But they can give you clients, you just can't pay them for it. And so why not pay their hourly rate to learn about yourself? I mean, have you ever taken like or seen that corrective exercise bullshit, that's out there. Like the NASM has one and it's just like their regular CPT. But if you were to spend three sessions with Doc Jenny because that's about the same amount she's about 200 bucks an hour- the corrective exercise course is, I think, 600 bucks.

Speaker 1: 42:45

So if you were to pay for three hours of her time learning hands-on, watching her work with clients or reading that giant textbook, what do you think you're going to learn more within those three hours?

Speaker 2: 42:51

Oh, learning from the therapist Like it's not even a question and it's like I don't have, you know, technically, my corrective exercise cert. But I got, you know, it only took me, you know, it only took me, you know, a few months of being at Axiom. And you know there's a couple other people there that were known as corrective exercise specialists and they were part of it was that they were full, but then they were like hey, like you seem like you know what you're doing, like would you mind taking some of these people that are coming from rehab? And I'm like yeah, like no, I became the go-to person for any type of, you know, kind of transition from, you know, from rehab and doing physical therapy and everything like that. So I kind of got known as like the corrective exercise, like specialist at the gym. I never took a corrective exercise, you know. You know sort of was going to Dr Jenny. It was learning from the prehab guys. You know it was going to Dr Dom in La Jolla. You know barbell physical therapy. You know barbell physical therapy, you know learning, you know doing seminars from him.

Speaker 2: 43:39

So um, and then also, but then also being able to. There were times like I learned from them, but then also having them in my network where, like there would be times I would text you or text dr dom, or just being like, hey, this is what I want to do. Let me reach out to my physical you know, physical therapist. I have my own network. Just double check that. This is, you know, I'm on the right page and everything with this. Um, it was great, especially like you and um, yeah, so if you, if you guys, are in the La Jolla area, um, you know, I mean, we're listening to this.

Speaker 2: 44:03

Uh, dr Dominic Lauda, um, in La Jolla, is phenomenal and I love his, uh, his methodology. But even, like, there were times I would text people at the beginning of a session. Within 20 minutes of a session, he would get back to me with like a paragraph long of being like that's great, you know, he's like I can't. You know, like you don't give too much to diagnose. He was like but these are some of the things just for you to look out for. And a client would see that and be like, oh, that's amazing, that's awesome. And then, you know, then they have a lot more trust and belief in me because they see, like I actually do have people that I can and do reach out to and give you know really good feedback.

Speaker 1: 44:33

It's an absolute game changer. Enough how valuable it is, especially when you start the assessment on a new client with those expectations. Hey, how's it going today? You're happy, you're on time, you look the part, You're smiling, your breath doesn't smell like shit, you're not sweating. You shake their hand and you say how did you come across us, or me, whoever you are? And then they tell you. And then you set clear expectations Awesome, really excited to help you. This is what we're going to do today, part of the assessment and you go through everything.

Speaker 1: 45:02

I have a team. I work with therapists, dieticians, doctors. If anything comes up, you are in great hands. Something will come up in the future. I had a client who came in one day and her AC joint was a little jacked up on the lateral part of her clavicle. I took a photo of it, videoed it, sent it to the therapist At the end of the session, just like you said, got back to me. That's a very stable joint. The fact that it's inflamed means it's not stable. This is probably what she's doing Again. I can't diagnose. They're always great with letting them know their area of expertise, but here's some things you could probably do. They give me three or four mobilization exercises and then you show your client and they're like, oh shit, this is why I'm paying you the premium amount, because they're getting that service and we need more of that as an industry.

Speaker 2: 45:47

Yeah, and, like you said, it's a total game changer where it's not just about building your business, but it's also again, we all get into this because we want to help people and that's how you're truly going to help your clients have the most success. Where can people find you, adam? Best place to find me is on Instagram. So just Adam Baldwin Fitness. You know, reach out to me on there, follow me. Same thing on TikTok, but Instagram is the best place to find me.

Speaker 1: 46:13

Keep on tackling those Reddit guys and girls who need to be put in their place, because we need more qualified professors like yourself, my man. So thank you for taking the time today.

Speaker 2: 46:24

Of course, thank you for having me, and I'll keep showing up.

Speaker 1: 46:27

There we go. Have a great rest of the day.