5 Ways Our Training Style is Different than 90% of Fitness Programs
If you’ve followed me online or watched my webinar on How to Double A Fitness Business Without Becoming a Marketing Expert, then you’ve heard my story about how I started as any personal trainer does, by getting a basic personal trainer certification and then hunting down cool exercises on YouTube and rolling them out to clients with a random programming strategy. It was lack luster and as my mentor reminds me, “Randomized training produces random results.”
Suffice to say that as SOON as I locked in on the specialized education I needed to rise above the standard fitness education out there, I changed EVERYTHING.
Now real quick, to me there’s programming strategies and coaching skills… blend those together and you get our training style. The power of the Gymnazo methodology is that it blends them.
So now when I’m asked what makes my training different I say these 5 things:
1- We move in THREE planes of motion.
No doubt you know our muscles were designed to move in three planes of motion: up and down (sagittal), side to side (frontal) and rotationally (transverse). We theoretically know this, yet most of us don’t know what this actually looks like if we were to program for this. So because of that, it’s no surprise that most modern fitness training is mostly in the sagittal plane. You know what I mean, take any cross fit style workout and how many pull ups, push ups, sprints or lifts are done in any plane other than sagittal? Let’s just say it’s rare.
Training in only one dominate plane of motion isn’t good enough to give your athlete the range of motion and control they need to do the things they want to do. It also leaves them vulnerable to more injury. So we make sure EVERY Gymnazo workout is three dimensional. Not every exercise has to be in all three planes, but at some point in the workout you will move in the sagittal, frontal and transverse planes of motion.
2- Our training is INTENTIONAL
We used to say “functional” but now that term has been watered down so much, no one really knows what it means. So now we use the term “intentional.” All that means is that we program for the way our clients WANT to use their body outside the gym. It’s not about physique training. It’s not about anything other than we want you to move better, more confidently outside the gym doing what you love. SO that means EVERY SINGLE exercise needs to look and feel like regular outdoor activities. Sometimes the exercises emulate simple household tasks like picking up something heavier and reaching over head to put it into a cupboard. Sometimes it’s a soccer drill because we have soccer players wanting to enhance their speed and agility.
3- We CUSTOMIZE in real time
No athlete in any of our sessions will be treated like everyone else. Period. I believe this one so whole heartedly because the LAST thing clients want in any fitness experience is to feel like they are one in a million and not special. Not only that but physiologically, they ARE totally unique from everyone else and deserve a coach who can take the prescribed workout and modify it to fit that client much better. To do that the coach is more important than the program. The program’s only goal is to take into considerations the likely demographics of the athletes that take that “level” of training, and then its’ all up to the coach to execute and tailor it.
4- Our training style plays into the behavioral needs of our clients
Training is all about people. It’s about inspiring them, pushing them, challenging them AND keeping the group together and on track. If you coach group sessions you know at times it’s like herding cats. One of the hard things about running a fitness business is that it’s your place of business and it’s everyone else’s social club. So you have artfully balance what the clients want from their experience AND from the workout.
We train every coach on human psychology and behavioral science. They quickly learn to type communication styles in others and are armed with strategies to motivate, correct and connect with each person in their session. This makes for a truly memorable experience.
5- Customer Service is the HEART of what we do best
The more I visit other training facilities and try new workouts, the more I believe a big part of the Gymnazo magic is in customer service. The foundation of our training style is service. We are all called to help others, to acquire knowledge ONLY with the aim of empowering and equipping our members to live their best lives. I don’t know how to answer this question about what makes us different without mentioning this.
Now I know that’s vague, but let me give you some concrete answers. So much of our service evolution was us simply listening to our athletes and seeing a problem we could solve. For example, when baby boomers didn’t hear enough “oldies” we put on a Funky Friday and played their throw back tunes. When we heard they were feeling self conscious with how much they were sweating and were bringing their own sweat towels, we started to offer a sweat towel service at no charge. When we observed them not buying recovery nutrition products, because they didn’t want to commit to a tub of something they hadn’t tried, we rolled out Fluid Fridays and gave post workout samples to everyone. When we realized people were proud of the number of workouts they completed, we created the 500 Club and gave t-shirts to every member who completed 500 workouts with us! (Now we’re up to the 2000 Club and people LOVE it.)
Those are just some quick examples of how we serve our athlete community with our hearts and listen to their feedback.
So there you have it. Five ways we are different in our training experience than 90% of other facilities. And I believe it’s the combination of these five elements that have created the magic our larger community talks about.
It’s always hard to explain what makes you unique… what I really want is for you to come and visit and take a session with us and FEEL IT! But until then, I hope you got some insight and value out of this blog! Cheers!
