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Saturday, 8 July 2023

Protecting Your Passion: Why Personal Trainers Should Get Insured


Personal training is a fulfilling and rewarding career that allows you to help individuals achieve their fitness goals and lead healthier lives. As a personal trainer, you invest significant time, effort, and expertise in designing personalized workout routines and providing guidance to your clients. However, regardless of how careful and professional you are, accidents can happen. That's why it's crucial for personal trainers to prioritize the protection of both their clients and themselves by obtaining insurance coverage. In this blog post, we will delve into the reasons why personal trainers should consider getting insured against client injuries.

As a personal trainer, investing in insurance coverage against client injuries is a wise decision that safeguards your professional and financial well-being. It provides legal protection, instills trust and confidence in your clients, and ensures that you can handle unexpected events without compromising your financial stability. By prioritizing insurance, you demonstrate your commitment to professionalism and responsible training practices, allowing you to focus on what you do best—helping your clients achieve their fitness goals while maintaining a secure and successful career.

Legal Protection: Even the most experienced and diligent personal trainers can face lawsuits due to client injuries. Whether it's a simple sprain or a more serious medical condition, clients can hold you responsible for their injuries and seek compensation. The legal expenses associated with defending yourself against such claims can be overwhelming, potentially jeopardizing your professional reputation and financial stability. Having liability insurance safeguards your interests by providing legal protection and covering legal costs, giving you peace of mind while you focus on delivering exceptional training.


Client Trust and Confidence: Obtaining insurance demonstrates professionalism, responsibility, and commitment to your clients' well-being. It shows that you take their safety seriously and are prepared to handle unforeseen circumstances. By having insurance, you establish trust and confidence in your clients, reassuring them that they are in safe hands. This can lead to stronger client relationships, positive word-of-mouth referrals, and a solid reputation in the fitness industry.


Financial Protection: When accidents occur, the costs associated with medical bills, potential rehabilitation, and lost wages can be substantial. If you are held liable for a client's injury, the financial burden could be devastating, potentially putting your personal assets at risk. Insurance coverage for personal trainers helps mitigate the financial impact by providing compensation for medical expenses and legal fees. It ensures that you are not personally responsible for covering these costs, safeguarding your financial stability and protecting your future.


Coverage for Various Situations: Personal trainers work in diverse environments, including gyms, private studios, and clients' homes. Each setting presents unique risks and potential for accidents. A comprehensive insurance policy tailored to personal trainers typically offers coverage for various situations, including injury or property damage caused by equipment failure, accidents during group classes, slips and falls, and negligent advice or instruction. Understanding the risks associated with your specific work environment and choosing appropriate coverage ensures that you are protected in all scenarios.


Compliance with Gym or Studio Requirements: If you work at a gym or fitness studio, it is highly likely that they will require you to have liability insurance. Many fitness facilities demand that personal trainers provide proof of insurance before allowing them to work with clients on their premises. Complying with these requirements not only allows you to continue working at these establishments but also indicates your commitment to professionalism and accountability.

Sunday, 12 March 2023

Public Speaking: Health Fitness & Wellbeing

 

Did you know that the ancient Greeks believed public speaking was one of a few skills that every person should acquire if they were to become a useful citizen? The rather rare talent of being able to speak publicly and with skill - Will no furnish you with an essential PT skill that will have a direct impact on your success in the fitness industry.

Please take a look at some of the suggestions below to improve your skills at public speaking. This will help you attract more people through duping public talks on health and fitness, to improving your classes to improving your one on one personal training sessions. 

 

1. SET SMALL GOALS

Studies show that smaller goals that lead to the same outcome as opposed to one big goal have a much higher chance of success, so break your goal down into smaller goals that can be easily achieved by doing just a few minutes a day. Buy some pre-paid vouchers and assign each to one of your goals. When you achieve each small goal, you could allow yourself to spend one of the vouchers, in this way you have double the incentive and reward! Make sure to give yourself good time, it’s best to start now, even if you have no plans to ever speak publicly – you never know what the future holds.

 

2. PRACTICE SPEAKING

Train your lips, voice and elocution, from having to think consciously on pronunciation, projection and presence until it they all become second nature. An ancient technique by one of mankind’s best orators was to have a small pebble in your mouth as you speak to train your lips, tongue and pallet until you are clearly understood. This really will train your speaking apparatus and soon you will be delivering worthy performances! Another technique based on ancient wisdom is speaking aloud while music is playing until your friends and family can clearly hear you over the music. Amiel’s Journal is a fantastic book for this! Lastly you may try speaking while you exercise, as loudly as you can. Do this until you can complete your speech and not be out of breath. This is going to really develop your apparatus and the power of your lungs! Take a look at are great fitness products here.

 

3. PREPARE WELL

Write what you are going to say down several times, eliminating anything that is not essential to your core message – always think of the end first, or the ‘effect first’ – what you want them to understand and do. Now practice delivering it, a thousand times will not be enough unless you have completely memorised it, until you no longer need your script (although do take it with you). In fact did you know that if you delivered a speech from paper in ancient Athens, nobody would have respected you? You would have been expected to be capable enough to say what you needed without notes! We do not have such a high standard, so you can relax. Arrive early and have a look at where you will be delivering your speech.  How we dress affects our mood and confidence. So make sure you not only dress appropriately for your audience, but you also dress for confidence – we have prepared a collection of clothing for this purpose here.

 

4. BE HUMBLE

Speaking about yourself and how you know your field or the wedding couple will mean you are taken more seriously, it will also humanise you. Though you should probably not give too much away, less is more as they say. Respect your audience and try to eliminate any accent - they are endearing to some, but are either offensive to the ears of others or at the very least very difficult to understand – you want to be understood don’t you? Why bother otherwise! Also, DON'T IMAGINE ANYONE NAKED! Imagining them naked shows a lack of humility and respect. Concentrate on your message, your voice and style. Correct preparation for delivering your speech will be rather more rewarding and beneficial than imagining anyone naked.

 

5. HAVE FAITH

No one gets it right all the time. Give yourself a break, just doing this is a fantastic achievement. No matter how it goes, learn and improve all the time. So relax and enjoy the moment. People will want you to be good and will remember the good parts better than the worst bits. If you make a mistake don't hide it, use it, it will even help you by making you more relatable.

To be a great Public Speaker, is something that everyone should know how to be. And its a crime that this is neglected at many if not most schools. If you are looking to influence, if you are interested in changing minds to your cause, learning public speaking is of upmost importance. Below are a few extra suggestions

 Bind yourself to a self  contract

Whether it a reward for completing your goal, or you hide money away with someone you trust, or you bind it to your future success. Find some way to commit to learning the art of public speaking. It is a skill that has built the Roman Empire, persuaded nations to go to war and placed people in our senate or parliament. Realise its importance and bind yourself to learning how to master public speaking.

 Prepare

Practice, practice practice. Watch videos on YouTube of great speeches, Practice in front of a mirror, in front of people, anywhere & everywhere. Have an engagement to speak at an event? Write your speech or whatever it is you want to say, down on paper or 'Tablet'. Practice delivering it, memorise it. Did you know that if you delivered a speech from paper in ancient Athens, no body would have respected you? Arrive an hour early, or at least get to know your 'stage' somehow. See yourself there. Visualise.

Speak about yourself

Why are you the expert on this? Speaking about yourself and how you know your field  will mean you are taken more seriously. It will bring people onside and they will be more eager to learn from you and take on your opinions.

Don't expect to win

No one gets it right all the time. No on is funny all the time - even comedians. Give yourself a break, just doing it is a fantastic achievement. No matter how it goes, learn and improve all the time. So relax and enjoy the moment. People will want you to be good and will remember the good parts better than the worst bits. It takes experience to become a true great at public speaking. 

Put a pebble in your mouth

To train your lips, tongue and pallet until you are clearly understood even with a small stone in your mouth.  This really will train your speaking apparatus and soon you will be delivering great public speeches worthy of any great public speaker.

 Go for a Run

Not just any run. You are going to sing while you run. As loudly as you can. Do this until you can complete your song and not be out of breath. This is going to develop your apparatus and the power of your lungs.

 You vs. Anything loud

Put music on loud, or the TV or if there happens to be a tornado near you go out and deliver your speech until you can be clearly heard above all other noise. This is another effective way to train your voice and make yourself heard - the keystone to success for any great public speaker.

  

   Improving the power of your lungs is essential to a strong convincing voice. If you want to win the argument, a soft, stuttering voice won't convince many people. That doesn't mean shouting, but it does mean speaking with clarity, firmness and authority. How powerful your lungs are make all the difference, no matter what side of the argument you are on. 


Aim to build a powerful voice

 
 
 

First Exercise

Get a Ping-Pong ball or something similar. Put it on a table or other flat surface, at best on a slight lean towards you. Then keep blowing the ball up against the wall. Let it come down and blow it back up again. Do ten of these to begin with, then, once you are used to the exercise keep adding ten more. Reversal: Try sucking it towards you, when the table leans away from you.
 

Second Exercise

Keep your hands by your side, take in a deep breath, all the air that you can. Then, force the air out, pushing until your lungs are empty. You should feel the system of core muscles tighten with this exercise, if not, try harder. Do ten of these to begin with, or if your lungs are week, just as many as you can. Then start adding ten more to your exercise.

Third Exercise

Go for a run with a difference. If you struggle to run at this stage, walk. Then jog. Build your fitness up until you can run for a sustained period of time. During each stage, instead of listening to your iPod, you are going to sing or deliver a speech, at the top of your voice. By doing exercise and physical activity you are improving the strength of your lungs by a huge margin. You should see massive gains in the power of your voice and breath. If you are worried about singing aloud in the open, start by going up and down the stairs at home, or jogging on the spot in-front of the TV on loud. Or take your iPod and sing along to the music. Whatever you have to do to get there, it doesn't matter. Victory buys glory, not the method.

 

By doing the above exercises regularly you should start to see improvements in your internal fitness, and your ability to keep from becoming breathless after exercise.  The most important aspects of this are keeping alive longer than you would have done, plus, if you are ever trapped in a burning building, your strong lungs could be the difference to survival and death. But, more important than that, you will win more arguments and be able to beat Beyonce on karaoke.

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Sunday, 29 January 2023

10 Ways to the Perfect Gym Personal Training Job Interview

 First make sure you have understood that in order to work in a gym as a Personal Trainer you will need to invest in a course or multiple courses. Those are Gym instructor Level 2 & Personal Training. You will also need First Aid, Exercise to music and another class based qualification such as Spin in order to get many of the top positions. The Interview is the final test, before landing your dream job.  So having a good interview with the correct answers is the most important part of finding work. Follow the 11 ways to the perfect job interview:

1. Do your research for the Job Interview

If you want to prove you're the best, you've got to do your homework. Know your industry! Check out their website to find out what they do, where the company is headed and who's who.
You also need to have a good idea of the interview process you're about to experience: will it be a face- to-face meeting with one person or a panel interview? Imagine how you'd feel if you prepared for a straightforward one-on-one meeting, only to find you were in for a 'fun' day of team exercises and video presentations?

Ask the personnel department for more information rather than approaching your interviewer directly. What's the procedure? Who will you meet and when? What's the objective of each meeting or assessment you will undertake? Find out the names and titles of your interviewers and memorize them.

Next, make sure you're up-to-date with the latest fitness news and developments  - especially if you've been out of the job market for a while. Check out the latest trends and buzz words, find out who's up, who's down, what's in and what's out. Look in recent issues of industry magazines and journals. Go along to networking groups or join relevant online newsgroups.

From the moment you get that confirmation letter or call, you need to start thinking also about what you want to say at interview. Interviewers want to know three things: Can this person do the job? Will this person do the job? Will they fit in? Put together a list of questions you might be asked, and include those that you might stumble over if asked on the spot. Jot down some appropriate answers and rehearse
these until you sound convincing.

It might sound artificial if you reproduce these absolutely word for word on the day, but the process will build confidence. And if you're prone to interview stage fright, you'll have something solid to fall back on.

2. Think positively about the Interview

Revisit your CV and take a long, hard look at your mission statement. If you've never written your own profile, however, begin by writing down what you do well and where you want to go in the future. Then in no more than 30 words sum up why you think you should get the job. Be proud of your achievements and ambitions - interviews are not the time for shyness!

Remembering this statement will help you walk into the interview thinking - and believing - 'I'm going to get this job'. You've got to this key stage because the recruiters believe that you've got the skills they want. Now you need to convince them that you're the best person for the job.

3. Look and play the part for the Interview

Arrive early. Some experts suggest checking out the location of the building, before finding a cafe for a pre-interview drink. Use the time to have one last flick through your notes.

Get to the building early, too. Check the noticeboard and read company press releases and brochures - this is a good idea if you're looking to ask up-to-the-minute questions. Go to the loo and draw breath. Don't ever be late - if there are leaves or cattle on the line, call as soon as possible. Take a mobile just in case.

Take the minimum hand luggage so that you look professional - clear out your briefcase and your handbag before you go. Aim to look like a stereotypical employee for the job you want, so don't go for a youth TV job in a pinstripe suit. But if in doubt, dress up, not down. Dark colours tend to look more powerful, and remember to keep jewellery to a minimum. 

Emanate energy: employers want fit, healthy workers who can work hard. Start with a firm handshake and look interviewers in the eye. Don't cross your legs, except at the ankles, and keep your hands away from your face. 

4. Control the interview

Your interviewer won't know how good you are or why you should get the job unless you tell them. Don't boast or keep saying 'I'm brilliant', but stress your strengths by using anecdotes and examples of your achievements.
Use examples to illustrate how you can help make the company more productive and profitable. Talk in terms of 'results' and 'benefits'. Use positive language - 'I can', 'I will', 'I know' rather than tentative words like 'I think I might' or 'I probably would'.
Keep your responses short and to the point. If the interviewer is talking, listen carefully and respond when they've finished. If you don't understand a question, ask for an explanation rather than blunder out an inappropriate answer.

5. Turn your weaknesses into strengths

It's the interviewer's job to probe and ask difficult questions. They need to be able to trust you and be 100 per cent certain that you're the best candidate. If you've prepared properly, you won't be daunted by enquiries about gaps in your CV, problems you encountered in your last job or your reasons for wanting to move on.

Successful candidates are able to turn negatives into positives. If you were unemployed for a short period, tell your interviewer how you used that time productively and what you learned about yourself. Perhaps you used the time to re-evaluate what you wanted out of your career, and the break put you on the path you're on today.

If asked 'What are your main weaknesses?' saying something along the lines of, 'I can be over-committed and tend to push myself too hard', ought to win brownie points rather than do you a disservice. Make sure that all the personality traits you mention are accurate but you don't have to go into details.

• Rehearse your answers to tough interview questions

6. Be enthusiastic

Companies hire people who want to work for them. Tell your interviewers how much you enjoy your work and how wonderful you think their company is. Say you know that it's the right job for you and that you could do it really well. But always make sure that you explain and back up your assertions or your enthusiasm could sound false.

7. Ask intelligent questions

Show you care about your career and that you've taken the time to research the company and its recent successes. Memorise a few key questions before you go into the interview, but use your conversation to generate more.

Ask questions based on the assumption that the company wants you for the job. Say 'What would you expect me to achieve in the first six months after the appointment?' rather than 'What would you expect the appointed candidate to achieve?'

8. Send a short thank-you note

Send a letter to your interviewer/s within 24 hours of your meeting. Some interviewers prefer an email, so check out what form of communication they prefer at the end of the interview.

Keep your note brief and simple, and sound keen and interested. Thank them for taking the time to see you, say how much you enjoyed the meeting, how interested you are in the position and reiterate how your experience matches their requirements. Even if it's not your ideal job, you never know how your interviewer may help you in the future.

'If a candidate is clever, they'll add something that they've found out about the job or company that makes them keener,' advises one employer in the media. Make sure your tone isn't obsequious or schmaltzy. If the job relies on client communication, remember that you're demonstrating your communication skills every time you write, phone or email.

If you secured the interview through a recruitment agency, then contact them immediately and give them some honest feedback.

9. Don't...

There are three key things to avoid during an interview - you might have done brilliantly, but commit one of these sins and you could jeopardise your chances.

So don't:

• Badmouth your last employer. It's a small world and it reflects badly on you
• Pressurise your interviewer for a decision
• Discuss salary or terms of employment - wait until the job's in the bag before the word 'perks' passes your lips

10. Write it down

How you feel as you walk away from your interview is often a good sign of how well you've performed. But we all have off-days, or make mistakes. 'I once kicked an interviewer, who was sitting about three inches away, in the shins,' recalls one embarrassed candidate, who decided to change her posture mid- interview.

Writing down your impressions of the company, the types of questions asked, and how you coped, could reap dividends. Write down what you did well and what you did badly. Did your experience match your expectations? If not, why not?
If you're then invited for a second interview, you'll be able to refresh your memory and use the information to devise more questions. If you're rejected, use it to prepare better next time - no interview experience is ever wasted.

Sunday, 8 January 2023

Creating Classes : Fail to Plan Plan To Fail So Prepare!

 You would be surprised by how many professional personal trainers who teach regular classes only organise their class the night before or even worse within hours or minutes of the class happening. While it is entirely possible for you to get away with this for the best result for your clients and for your class numbers and therefore revenue you should plan ahead. There is nothing wrong with writing out classes for the next week, month or even year. 

One of the benefits for doing so is the ability on your part to practice your class, get everything down from the movements, to what you will say and when. 

If you work in a gym the chances are you will have some quiet periods, use this time wisely by planning your classes as far ahead as possible, then use any other quiet periods to practice your routines. Members of a gym feel more comfortable and encouraged when they see Gym Instructors/ PT's doing exercises as opposed to cleaning or just hanging around talking. 

Write your classes on cards or have a separate notebook on your phone / iPad, soon you will have a small library of exercise classes that you can shuffle and re-use. There is nothing wrong with doing the same class a month or two after but you can always adjust the timings if you feel like changing it up a little. 

As a Personal Trainer one of the best ways to earn extra money and build a pipeline of clients is to offer yourself as a freelance class instructor. In fact many PTs prefer this to one on one sessions! And if you have a library of exercise classes that you know like the back of your hand then there is every chance that you can provide fantastic classes that people enjoy, providing you with a good extra income!