The last CAE Cycle Excel workshop for 2009 is being run between 11am and 6pm Saturday 5^th December at the Richmond Recreation Centre. Please understand that this workshop is held in high esteem by the Fitness Industry and often sells out as we only take limited numbers in each workshop. 

This workshop will give instructors all the tools necessary to be able to create safe and interesting indoor cycling training programs. The workshop is suitable for all fitness levels and instructors and non instructors are also welcome. The workshop covers important topics such as heart rate training, energy zones and developing safe interesting programs. Be coached by Donna Ellerton with over 20 years in the fitness industry who has established herself as a leading international presenter in Europe and developed indoor cycling programs for the Australian and European markets.

Please click here for more information or to download a more detailed flyer. Completing the workshop will provide you with 6 CEC/2 PDP points towards re-registration.

To enrol please contact the CAE enrolments hotline on 9652 0611 or if you would like more information contact me at info@careerfitness.com.au.

Visual Coaching Pro Software Version 1.0.2.0

Tips

The supporting leg should be slightly flexed & the other leg extended to assist in establishing a neutral spine position.

Pull the dumbbell towards the side in a rowing fashion then return it to the start position.

The range of movement that the elbow is pulled may vary depending on the requirements of the exercise. Hold onto a

stable object to begin with before progressing to the stability ball.

Change the grip on the dumbbell to modify the exercise.

Cautions

Maintain neutral spinal curves & do not extend the neck.

One of the most important skills every Fitness Instructor should develop is that of time management. One of the reasons it is so important for fitness instructors is that it is very rare that 2 working weeks are ever the same. For example, a Personal Trainer may pick up new clients or lose existing clients from week to week, a Gym Instructor may cover another instructors shifts, a Group Exercise Instructor may cover classes for another Instructor, etc. My recommendation for a starting point towards developing your time management skills is to do the following:

1. Every Sunday night spend 30 - 60 minutes planning your week, i.e. what hours am I working this week? When am I going to fit my own workouts in? What am I going to do to continue to develop my technical skills, what do I need to do to get more clients? etc.
2. Every evening I would encourage you to list 3-5 tasks that must be initiated or completed the following day. Once this list has been established then prioritise which actions are most important. Your goal must be to initiate or complete at least 3 tasks each day without fail. It is this process that allows you to GET THINGS DONE and it is the doers that become successful.

These time management strategies may seem like common sense, however there is a world of difference between common sense and common practice! Start planning and start moving closer towards your goals.

Check out this clip of nutritionalist Matt O’Neill giving tips on how to avoid the festive fat traps.

Festive food traps

Visual Coaching Pro Software Version 1.0.2.0

Tips

Start with the bar rested across the front of the shoulders. Keep the chest up & the feet approximately shoulder width apart.

Perform a full squat, pressing the bar above the head early during the extension of the hips & knees. 

Cautions

Maintain balance throughout all phases of the exercise.

Do not round the spine or press the barbell forward from the body.

If you picture a ladder in your mind, at the bottom of the ladder are your cheapest products and service offerings and at the top are your more expensive items. The goal of your marketing efforts is to bring as many potential new clients onto the bottom rung of your ladder as possible. Once they are on your ladder you actively, consistently and repetitively present them with additional offers which move the client up the rungs of your ladder over time. An example of how this works in practice is that you give away something of value to your potential client in exchange for their contact details. This could be your newsletter, a special report, CD, DVD, or a Complimentary Personal Training session.

The reason for giving something of value away in exchange for contact details is that once you have a potential client on your ladder you can continue to market to them over and over again until they buy. You see the fact is that many people do not buy your products or services the first time they inquire. However, if you are able to get their contact details and put them on the bottom rung of your ladder then you can follow them up with future offers. Unfortunately many businesses leave a lot of money on the table by not following up clients.

I have been on the database of a number of businesses who continued to send me good quality information in the form of a newsletter for up to 18 months before I decided to buy from them. What they had done was build credibility over this time to the point where I felt ready and comfortable to make a purchase from them. The point being, that if they did not get me onto the bottom rung of their business ladder then I would never have made a purchase from them.

 As the client progresses up the ladder they become more and more valuable to you. Therefore you have two preeminent goals as a business person:

1. Sell to as many new clients as possible
2. Continue to build relationships and sell more to your existing clients, i.e. allow them to climb your business ladder.

Visual Coaching Pro Software Version 1.0.2.0

Tips

Lower the chest toward the ground, extend the spine then lower the hips towards the ground in a fluent movement.

Return to a front support or push up position then repeat the movements.

31 Career Fitness members took the challenge on Saturday 5^th September as Aaron took them through their paces on 20 unusual exercises that athletes and strongmen have used for decades to condition their bodies to look and perform at their best. The exercises experienced on the day are not commonly performed in the gym these days by one of Australia’s leading health and fitness experts who has achieved excellent results with hundreds of clients and continues to keep informed with what the world’s leading Strength and Conditioning coaches and Body Transformation specialists are doing in the “real world”. Check out the photos below of our very own renegade trainers.

The feedback from the session was great:

“had a great day on Saturday, still recovering as I found a few muscles I hadn’t been working but some good movements to use.” John Evans

If you would like to join as a member click here

Secret 7: Turn off the Tube

Time spent watching TV is time spent being completely sedentary (and thus expending minimal amounts of calories) and often eating as well.

Most people mindlessly consume snacks while mesmerized in front of the television, not noticing the rapidly multiplying calorie intake. Case in point: The successful NWCR “losers” watched less than 10 hours of television per week.

Secret 8: Retrain Your Brain

Interestingly, most people who have lot and kept off the most weight tend to be “lower left” brained, meaning they are organized, controlled, methodical and disciplined. This is not to say that those of us who thrive on spontaneity or embrace clutter are doomed- it’s just a matter of retraining our brains. Encourage clients to become better organized by writing a grocery shopping list and sticking to it! During your next sessions, ask your clients to plan their workout schedule for the next week and make a promise to stick to it. These efforts will help solidify their lifestyle change and make permanent weight loss more of a reality.

Secret 9: Start Today and Don’t Cheat

It’s easy to put off starting a serious lifestyle change to a later date. Likewise, it’s easy to “cheat” and eat an extra piece of cake her, a pizza there. It’s important to be diligent when attempting to lose weight, because people who don’t cheat on a regular basis are 150% more likely to maintain their weight loss. Encourage clients to adopt a “doable” healthy lifestyle they can stick with; this will reduce those compelling urges to unwittingly sabotage their weight management success.

Secret 10: Know that Birds of a Feather stick together

A study of 12,067 people followed over 32 years concluded that obesity spreads through social ties. That is, obese people tend to have obese friends. Pairs of friends and siblings of the same sex seem to have the most profound effect on each other’s weight loss. Some researchers suspect that the spread of obesity has a lot to do with an individual’s general perception of the social norms regarding the acceptability of obesity. The logic works like this: If my best friend and my sister are both obese and I love and admire them all the same, then maybe it’s not so bad that I gain a few pounds. Clients can reverse this psychological phenomenon by inviting pals to work out at the gym or go for a bike ride with them to stay or get fit.

Reference: DietMaster Pro Nutrition Software 2009

IHRSA which is the largest international health club organisation in the world has survey results that indicate that 46% of new personal training clients come as the result of word of mouth referral. This is a really interesting fact and naturally leads to the question I have been asked by several of my mentoring clients “what can I do to increase the amount of referrals my clients give me.

In answering this question I have “borrowed” what a number of successful Personal Trainers from around Australia are currently doing. Here are 10 practical ideas from which you can choose. 

• 1. Hand written thank you card with 2 movie tickets
• 2. 12 month subscription to a Health & Fitness Magazine such as Ultra-Fit, Men’s Health or Women’s Health.
• 3. 30 or 60 minute massage voucher
• 4. Two free Personal Training sessions
• 5. Voucher to a day spa
• 6. $100 cash
• 7. A bunch of flowers
• 8. Bottle of wine
• 9. Books
• 10. CD or DVD

In terms of tools it would also be a great idea to have a written referral form that you give to all of your clients as part of a welcome pack that they can pass on and to make all clients aware of the benefits of spreading the word about your services.

One of the keys to a great referral program is to reward people who refer and to give them something which costs you as little as possible but has a large perceived value. The cheapest thing you can give away when you are getting started is your time and the value of 3 free sessions may be more than $200, therefore the perceived value of your services may be much higher than some of the other ideas listed with the only cost incurred being your time. As you become busier your time may become more valuable to you and the other strategies become more appealing. Whatever decision you make about how to reward those who refer you to others just make sure that you do something!