Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2390: Should You Become a Personal Trainer?

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

Should You Become a Personal Trainer? Why the guy’s got into the field of personal training. (1:19) The moment you realize there is ‘real’ money in this. (5:54) Personal training statistics. (12:37) Should You Become a Personal Trainer? #1 - Are you passionate about fitness and health? (14:46) #2 - Are you passionate about people? (18:27) #3 - Are you able to take ownership of people's success while simultaneously not taking it personally when they fail? (29:00) #4 - How do you feel about sales? (33:24) Related Links/Products Mentioned Visit Brain.fm for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners. ** Get 30 days of free access to science-backed music. ** July Promotion: MAPS Split | Sexy Athlete Bundle 50% off! ** Code JULY50 at checkout ** Mind Pump # 2172: Five Commandments For Successful Personal Trainers 3 Day Mind Pump Personal Trainer Webinar Mind Pump Fitness Coaching Course How to Build a Profitable 7 or 8-Figure Coaching Business with Jason Phillips & Adam Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources People Mentioned Mind Pump Fitness Coaching (@mindpumptrainers) Instagram Jason Phillips (@realjasonphillips) Instagram

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind Pump with your hosts, Sal DeStefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the most downloaded fitness, health, and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. Today's episode, should you become a personal trainer? We know you're going to love it. Now this episode is brought to you by one of our sponsors, brain.fm. So check this out.

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you wanna work as a personal trainer. But is it the right job and career for you? That's what we're gonna talk about in today's episode. Should you become a personal trainer? A lot of people have passion. That's it. Yeah. That is it.

So, you know, I think it's important that we talk about what got us into the field, because we all lasted a long time. I wanted to be rich. Wrong reason to become a stranger. It's strange you chose this industry. I actually didn't think, I didn't take it seriously as a career, at least not when I first started.

I actually thought it would be a cool side business or a part-time job while I finished my degree. Yeah. But your degree was what? Kinesiology. And so I thought, but I didn't think I was going to use that for personal training. I wanted to be a physical therapist or, you know, be a trainer for a professional team. All the, I think all the things that I think a lot of people that are moving in the kinesiology, uh, direction think they're going to be. And then when I, so when I actually got the job, I told the boss at the time, I said,

yeah, no, I'm not gonna work full time. I'll do this part-time while I go to school. And I was totally grateful for the opportunity. It wasn't until I got into it, did I realize, oh wow, like one, I loved it, found, found myself working crazy hours and, and really passionate about the job. And then also realized, oh wow, if you are really good at it, you actually can make some decent money doing it. And that's kind of how I fell into it.

Yeah. For me, it was, um, I mean, I started working out at the age of 14 and became just super, um, infatuated with, with strength training and fitness and supplements and nutrition, the whole thing. And I also was, had, had thought that I would go to school for physical therapy. I think all of us, uh, did, because at the time, you know, you talk in the mid nineties as a kid, right, as a teenage kid, uh, I didn't know that there were careers

that had to do with fitness aside from like physical therapy. I didn't realize there was anything else. So that's what I was going to go to school for. And at the time I had a membership at a gym and, um, I, and I remember asking them like, you know, can I become a personal trainer here? Maybe, maybe it'll get my foot in the door of, of, of training people or working with people. And they said, well, you have to be 18. At the time when I inquired, I think I was 16.

So I waited and as soon as I turned 18, I applied and it was, I mean, it was like right away, right away, this is what I want to do. This is what I need to do. And like you said, Adam, I was there crazy hours. I mean, they could have not paid me and I still would have been here. That was, to me, I would say like looking said, Adam, I was there crazy hours. I mean, they could have not paid me, and I still would have been here a little. To me, I would say, looking back, right? Trying to think back, what was going through my head at the time, especially considering taking the job

and not really thinking that I was gonna go that direction was I found myself there seven days a week, all the time. So even if I didn't have clients and I had a shift, like I was hanging out there. And that was like kind of the real like aha moment for myself going like, wait a second, like I enjoy, when in my life have I ever done any job where when I'm not getting paid, I'm not on the clock,

I'm still hanging around the place? Like I was like borderline badline bad to a fault, right? I probably, every week that I worked, I probably stayed double the time just hanging out. Hanging out with the trainers, hanging out with members, working out twice a day, playing basketball in the basketball court. I mean, it was literally, that's how obsessed I was

with the gym. So that's the first time I felt like I had a job where it wasn't a job. I just showed up to do, you know, to train myself. Then I was obviously like trying to make it work because I came from school and I had all this like education and I was like, what am I going to do? I was kind of in limbo. Meanwhile, it was like, wow, there's actually something here.

Like I can build off of this. Like I'm getting clientele. And I started to think about taking it more seriously. But I was already enjoying just the fact that I was at the gym and I was like able to get my own workouts in. I was able to help people. And really like my favorite part for me, you know, coming from a sports background was the off season and training and the intentional

training that would put into season. And I just loved that period. I was the first one in the gym before everybody else in the offseason, because I was so excited to grow. Now, was there a period of time for either one of you guys, or do you remember when you realized like, oh, there's potential for to make decent money doing this? Like, I remember I had been there for like, I don't know, like six months or so. And I was doing every month I was doing better, a little bit better, a little bit better. So I like each paycheck I got increased like for six months consistently.

And I remember the boss at the time, the fitness manager trying to convince me like, you need to do this full time. You should do this full time. Like you're meant for, you're meant for. And I'm like, oh no, I'm going to school. That's what I told my family. That was the whole reason why I moved here. I kept telling him no, no, no.

And then he started to kind of challenge me. Well, what do you want to do for a living? You know, and I'm like, well, you know, I think I'm gonna be a physical therapist. I might go that route. And he's like telling me, he's like, you know, you can make really good money working here. And I'm like, well, come on, like how good a money can I work? And then he like literally

showed me his paycheck. That's what happened to me. And so I saw how much he made. He was making like six figures and he's only in his twenties. And he's like, and this is my position. He goes, my boss is making more than that. And then his boss is making more than that. And I was like, oh shit. And at that time too, like that was a lot of money for me. You know, I remember this is 20 something years ago and I'm coming from $7 an hour and I'm looking at someone's paycheck that was, I think it was being like $98,000 a year. I was like, holy, this is way more money than I thought. And that's like one position up for me. Like that was the moment I realized like, oh man, this, maybe this is a career.

I remember specifically how it worked for me because I started, so 97 is when I started there. My first year there, I was a trainer for four months and then I became the fitness manager. So towards the back half of the year, I was a manager and I had got my pay. Remember, this is 1997, I'm 18 years old. Now, admittedly, I really had no concept.

This is kind of funny to say what a lot or a little bit of money was because. Yeah, that's how I was. I was very sheltered as a kid. I grew up in a traditional family. My parents are immigrants. And so I didn't know what's good money, what's not good money.

I just threw everything in my savings account, but that first year I made $74,000 and I remember the conversation was school was supposed to start up and I was going to go to school to be a physical therapist. And I told my manager, Hey, I'm going to step down because I want to be a PT. And he, and he said, uh, do you have your, can you show me your paycheck? I said, sure. So I showed him and he said, um, you're making as much as a physical therapist makes when they read right when they first start.

Yeah. I said, what they do. I had no idea. And I went and looked it up and I was they, right around the first start. I said, what, they do? I had no idea. And I went and looked it up and I was like, sure enough, that's what I was doing. And he goes, that's your first year. And so he actually went to my house. So this is my friend Don, Don Cardona,

a good friend of my first mentor. He came, he said, do you mind if I talk to your parents? Because I remember one of the issues was, if I tell my parents I wasn't gonna go to college because I was gonna try this thing out. And he said, do you mind if I talk to your parents? Because I remember one of the issues was, if I tell them my parents, I wasn't going to go to college, because I was going to try this thing out. Yeah. Yeah. And he said, do you mind if I come?

And I said, sure. So he came to my house for dinner and basically sold my parents on why, and the whole thing was, let me do this for another year, and if it doesn't work out, I'll go back to school. And he showed them his paycheck as a general manager and he made into the six figures. And so my parents were like, go for it.

And if it works out, great. If it doesn't work out. And that was it. That was, that was the rest of it. But I, but I had no idea that you could do that working in a gym. Um, and I loved it so much. The thought of working in a clinical setting in a

hospital in comparison to working in a gym. Well, that's it. I mean, and that was what actually deterred me from, cause I had worked as a, uh, like in an internship, I worked, um, in a clinical setting and kind of helped people through the rehabilitation process. It was so slow and tedious and, you know, and methodical. And yes, there's a lot of like cool physiology and like, uh, ways to kind of troubleshoot and help people with pain. But, um, you know, I just,

it was just so much more energetic and lively and in the gym setting. And it just like, you just were so excited to go to work. So it was a completely different contrast. And I was like, I don't think I'm going to go back to school, man. I think I'm good here. When people hire a trainer, uh, they want to show up. Oftentimes with rehab and stuff like that, people treat it like they have to. Yeah, oh, I mean, their insurance is paying for it

many times, and so they're doing it just because. Or just, I mean, I can't wait till I'm done with this then I can get back to my regular life. When people hire you as a trainer, they wanna be there. It's a different energy, it's a different attitude, and so comparing the clinical setting to, by the way, no, I'm not saying anything bad about the clinical setting, and I've worked with physical therapists and people in the clinical setting to, by the way, no, I'm not saying anything bad about the clinical setting, and I've worked

with physical therapists and people in the clinical setting and they are the geniuses of the correctional exercise world and I've learned a lot by working with physical therapists. And what they do is- They're some of the best out there, yeah. It's amazing. For movement. But I just loved the music in the background of the gym,

the clanging of the weights and just the whole deal and it was, I mean, till this day, it's one of the favorite things I've ever done. Yeah, I know we've talked about this a long time ago on the podcast, but it is wild when you think, like, the way we all came together and how similar our story is to everything from being sheltered around the money

to thinking that we were all going to be PTs to like, Oh, I'm just gonna do this thing on a part time while I go finish my school, never going back to junior. Both you and I were starting junior college, never went back to it. And I made the same exact amount. I made 68,000 in my first year. And that's when they were trying to get me to get promoted and become a fitness manager and make even more. And I remember like going like, at that time, I'm only 20 years old. I'm young. And I'm like, okay, one year, if I, if everyone's telling me I'm for this, I love doing it. And I really wrestled with that because in my family, nobody had their degree yet.

And so I was going to be the kid that that went off and did that first and I moved away from my hometown to commit to that. I moved in with my grandmother where I knew nobody in a city I knew nobody so I could focus just on school and then here I am six months to a year later going like hey I'm gonna drop out which is not my personality to commit to something and then drop out so I really wrestled with that a lot and also telling my family. But then I was like, okay, I'm still young. I have some school already that I've knocked out at junior college. I'm going to give it one year. And in one year, I'm going to give it everything I got. And if it is what everybody says it is, then it'll reveal itself. And if it's not,

now I'm 21, I'm still not old. I can go back and finish school and, and the rest is kind of history. Like in that, in that year's time, um, I continued to fall more in love with it and, and realized that, wow, I didn't know this field existed that fit my personality so well. Well, I got some stats on it. So the personal training industry in the U S is a $12 billion industry. There's over 6 million personal trainers in the United States. And here's the thing about the personal training industry and business.

There's, there's times where growth is slower. There's times when growth is faster. But since the nineties, since I started paying attention to the statistics on fitness, personal training has grown every year. It is one segment of the fitness industry that year over year over year over year has continued to grow. Just to give a simple example in my own little bubble, the first gym I worked in as a personal trainer, and I can tell you the gym, it's still there. They just, they moved next door, but it's still there.

Club 504 Hillsdale, 24 fitness. The club's goal for personal training was, I believe, around $17,000 for the month. Okay. Uh, fast forward, I don't know, a year or two later, maybe three years later. And that club was producing close to a hundred thousand dollars a month in personal training in the two thousands. It's to show you the potential and the growth that was there. Now, the market didn't change much, but the fitness industry identified the value of personal trainers and they still see the value. There's a lot of gyms that will downplay to charge

a cheap membership type of deal, but when it comes to results, when it comes to why people start in fitness in the first place, they want to get fit and healthy and then stay fit and healthy. The statistics on working with a trainer versus anything else crushes, it crushes them all. Um, so it is a, a growing industry. It is an industry that continues to grow and present opportunities. Now don't confuse what I'm saying with it being easy or super lucrative or anything like that, because if you don't fit, you will quit. Training is not going to be something you're going to want to do.

It's one of those jobs where if it's not for you and you go in there, you'll get your ass handed to you and that's why you tend to see this turnover in the industry. Um, like the first thing is, and you hear all of us talk about this, we talked about getting in the gym, how we loved it. We loved it. We loved being in there. I would have been in there for free.

You have to have a deep passion for fitness and health. That sounds obvious, but there's a lot of people, there's a lot of jobs or a lot of careers that people get into that aren't necessarily passion driven. Like there's a lot like, like being an accountant, like it's a lot of jobs or a lot of careers that people get into that aren't necessarily passion driven. Like there's a lot, like being an accountant, like it's a great job, you make good money. But I bet you most accountants aren't like, oh my God, this is like the total passion.

It's almost like being an artist. I don't know very many artists who got into it because they thought it'd be a good career. It's more like, no, I have to do this because I love it so much. So having a passion for fitness and health definitely makes the odds that you'll succeed as a trainer much higher. Not having a passion for those will make it very difficult. I mean, I think this is across the board. I don't think that this is just fitness. I do believe that. I was just giving this advice to my cousin who's at this crossroads in his own career of like, I've done all these things and I've watched everything

that you've done and I just, I wanna find something like that. And I said, well then you gotta ask yourself, cause he had all these businesses and things that he's been working on. I said, which one of them do you on a Saturday night when you're not doing anything and you're sitting on the couch, you're by yourself,

and you pick up your phone, or you pick up, which one are you reading about? Which one are you reading about? Or which one do you find yourself- Just because you're interested about it. Yes, consuming content and stuff around because you love it anyways. That is like the secret to this.

And of course, this is me 40 something years old looking back at 19, 20 year old me. And like, I didn't understand that. I obviously see it clearly now. Like it was so obvious, like look how much I was spending in the gym. Like I just be done with the workshop. And then I'd spend an extra two hours with three

other trainers talking programming and supplements and like, it's like, obviously I was very passionate about it. And obviously if I leaned into that, there was a huge career opportunity there. So, and I do think that this, this, this translates across all the boards, like, and you're right, maybe it's harder to find accountants that are really passionate about their job, but I would still make that argument that, you know, you, if you're going to be really successful at anything, you probably need to be willing to do that and not get paid.

This is one of those careers I'll say though, that if you don't have a deep passion, you might not survive is my point. You might not survive because if you're not passionate about fitness and health, you're just in a loud gym with a, of people coming in, complaining about their problems and it's hard to get them results. They don't want to listen to you. Working in this hustle, bustle, chaotic environment, your hours are weird because trainers tend to work in the mornings and in the evenings in the middle of the day

is off type of deal. Like if you don't have a passion for fitness, then this job sucks is my point. My point is it's going to be very difficult. Well, it is training. have a passion for fitness, then this job sucks is my point. My point is it's going to be very difficult to continue doing that. Training, you know, in terms of dealing with personalities and having to be on and having to present yourself in a very energetic kind of a helpful fashion. But, you know, again, that passion is really what comes through, I think, to the clients that makes you successful as well. Because if you have that passion and you have that attitude, like you're going to help change

this person's life and you're going to help steer them in the right direction, you have the tools and everything to really make a difference, that's your backbone. That's going to guide you versus any other job where you're just trying to kind of watch the clock and manage things as they come, you really have to be on top of it. Well, the other reason why it's so important to be about passion and health, aside from all the points that we're making right now too, is a big part of being a successful trainer is also looking and living the brand, right?

Looking and living the part. If you don't care and if you're not passionate about fitness and health enough to take care of yourself, it's gonna be really difficult to do that with someone. And I'm not- That doesn't mean you need to look ripped. That's right, that's not what I mean by that, right? You just need to be passionate about health

and taking care of yourself, right? That doesn't mean you need, like, being ripped sometimes, a lot of times, could mean you could be obsessed, right? Or insecure and like different, like, but being healthy, okay, being fit and healthy. Practicing it continuously. Yeah, it's something that you, and I've seen people try and be successful trainers that

don't have that. They don't have enough passion about health and fitness to even take care of themselves. And it's always like, man, how do you think you're going to be really great in this profession? If you don't even have enough of it to do for yourself, you really think you're going to, to your point, transfer that energy over to a person across from you. So step one is passionate about health and fitness. And then to me, step two is passionate about helping others. Oh, you listen, you have to have both. Okay. Cause you might be that person that fitness changed your life. You might be that person where you love health and fitness. You love learning about nutrition. You love learning about nutrition. You love learning about exercise.

You're like, oh my God, I, I could read about this and learn about this all the time. I love working out. This is great. But if you're not passionate about people, forget it because you're working with people too. You have to also, you also at the same time have to be passionate about people because people are not robots that you could plug in a formula with a workout. People have problems, they lose motivation, some of them talk a lot, some of them talk very little, they come in with their own problems,

they don't want to do what you say, they often don't do. You need to relate. You have to relate with all kinds of different people, people who vote differently from you, people who pray differently from you, they look different, a lot of things are different about them and they're hiring you to help them. If you're not passionate about people, forget it, this will absolutely suck, but if you have a passion for fitness, health, and people, now this job is a great time. And it really does require all three of those and I have lots of examples of trainers that I hired in my early years.

Because they were passionate about fitness, I thought that would make them a good trainer. And it was really obvious. And like, I have a few that come to mind right away. And I remember these conversations of saying, like, Johnny, if I could just get you to care about your people, the way you prepare your Tupperware, the way you show up for your work.

Like I had trainers that like were just in the most amazing shape reading the latest science and I mean they were just, but they were all they cared about was themselves. Well there were people they didn't pressure about people. Yes they were they were they were they were and I thought oh man he's gonna be a great trainer because he's so knowledgeable, so experienced, he stays fit year around like oh man he's gonna be great but, he wasn't as passionate about helping people. And I would make the case that a person that is, can get away with being less passionate about the health and fitness of himself

if they're more passionate about people, because so much of the job is people. So much of it is being a chameleon, to be able to be with someone who votes different than you, somebody who has different beliefs than you, who you don't agree with on anything, and then you still have to be able to find a way to connect to them. That's a skill to be able to be with that person every day.

And then they like it and enjoy it and want to learn from that. Only happens if you really like, so let's work, let's switch the word passionate with like, do you like people? Do you really like people because passionate about people does not mean I'm passionate about every, about getting everybody fit. That's true. That should be there as well, but that's fitness and health. What I mean is do I like people so much that I'm curious?

I want to hear about this person's day and what they do. And I'm curious on what gets them to tick. What gets this person motivated? Why did that person make that decision? Why is this so challenging? How can I figure out this problem? Um, I really, I can't wait to hear about this person, even though I don't like them. I, you know how many clients I had and like, but I enjoyed,

there's a very big difference. The difficult ones were the ones you learn the most from. You grow the most from them. That's right. That's such an important point. Like again, of course we're, we're playing the hindsight thing, right? Looking back and telling stories and examples of our career. I have a very clear example.

If you've been listening to the podcast for a really long time, you've probably heard me tell this story before, but I had a client that was with me for like eight years and she was torturous. We were on the opposite ends politically, socially, spiritually. I mean, we were just, we couldn't be more opposite.

She was mean as fuck. She was just the hardest client to train. And I remember the time the girl that I was dating was just like, why do you put up with this abuse? You're the boss. You can take any client you want, yet you choose to show up to this. You have some weird obsession with her.

I'm like, no, not at all like that. It's like my passion for people and wanting to solve every situation and figure it out. Like, I care so much about this person and people. Yes, I want to, like, what is it? I wanted to unlock that in everybody. I believe that I could connect and I could make a relationship with anybody and I took all those on a challenge.

And the better I got at that, the easier it became. And then when I would have one like that, it was like a whole new problem for me to solve and I liked that. You had to like that and that's right so that's such an important point that does that is that something that scares you or makes you go oh I would never want to do that or you're like yeah I'm like that like I actually I like I like trying to solve and figure out people like that and I'm okay with people having different views and opinions in mind and I believe I can connect with all people like that.

Like you gotta be excited kind of about that. You do. I mean, I had so many clients. I have one I'm thinking about right now. He was a surgeon and he was just an asshole out the gates. He was just a jerk and just very short with me and kind of talked down to me like I was dumb. But you know, I ended up training the guy for years and within a few months he opened up and he

was a brilliant, brilliant man and I would ask him questions. And I remember there's one moment in particular where we had a conversation around statins and how they might affect certain nutrients in the body. And I remember I made a comment that, you probably want to supplement with something called CoQ10. And he said, what is that some like fancy, you know, silly supplement herb that none of them work. I didn't say anything. I laughed, whatever.

And he came back to me the next day and he goes, I looked it up. You're right. And then after that, he kind of opened up a little, but, but it was a challenge and I enjoyed it. I didn't take it personal. Like you come and be a jerk. And I'm like, my job is to help him become healthier. And so now of course I wouldn't, if someone

was directly mean to me or really piece of that's just a totally different story, but that he was just not somebody I would hang around with in everyday life, but I enjoyed people so much. I love learning from him and working with him and seeing the challenge and it was incredible. And it's so satisfying to see those, especially

those relationships turn into something else later on when they see the value of fitness and what it's doing for them. You just find those opportunities to present it differently too. Like I can communicate to this person and break through, you know, like I, you know, listening to you guys, I mean, I've had plenty of examples that I had this lady that like literally had, had diagnosed like Asperger's and she came to me, like I fired my last five trainers like I have not had one successful experience with

fitness and that was how she like presented herself to me. Let's go. Like oh my god yeah well I'm your guy you know and then I got excited and then it was scary you know at the same time as them they go my god this is gonna be really challenging but man it she ended up sending me the most referrals out of any other client I've had right that those are always so rewarding You know you that you bring up such a good point to Justin about I was just having this conversation with another trainer Who you know wants to start a podcast? Been a fan of the show for a really long time and I'm like, you know, probably the biggest

misconception about this show is the idea like, oh, it's just these three guys and they just meshed well and they had this great timing of everything of the podcast. And I think all that stuff helped and mattered, right? But really what it came down to was the 10 years before in the trenches and having a passion for people and learning stuff because to your point, Justin, yeah, it's funny cause I could tell a story that you guys experienced almost

every time. And, and, and just like, uh, what you hear on the podcast is we've tried to communicate the same thing a hundred different times to a hundred different types of people and know that like, I can say it this way, and this subset of people will receive it and actually apply it. And then it'll turn off these subset of people. But then I can say it again another way, and then these people will receive it and understand it.

And like those reps and enjoying those reps and those challenges of, oh, this is difficult and trying to figure it out. Like that exercise that we all did for 10 years before we all got together was so paramount to the success of the conversation on here. Have our three personalities, but put us at 22 years old, it doesn't work. It's because of all those years of doing that stuff like that has added to that common part of the conversation. And you got, that has to

excite you, that challenge, that struggle. People have to fasten you. People have to fascinate you. They have to completely fascinate you and you be excited about just being around and different people, radically different people. It's gotta be something you look forward to because you're gonna be doing it all day long. You're gonna be working with, as a trainer,

if you get busy, let's just say for, you know, you're blessed, something happens, you go to a gym, they're like, oh, we're gonna give you, we're gonna give you all your clients. Here you go Now you're showing up to work and you're working with seven or eight Individuals on a Monday through Friday or five days a week basis, right eight people a day. That's full-time You know what that means? No break. No, I can't just fool around go on so I'm with somebody You know what that means? No break. No, I can't just fool around go on social. I'm with somebody Con when you're training somebody, you don't you can't go on your phone and mess around you can't look at social media You can't call your friend you're with someone the entire time

So if you don't love people and you don't and you don't love just generally people because you're gonna get people who are Very different from one another that will become Hell and this is why the turnover rate can be so high because I think people get into it. They don't have that passion and then it very quickly becomes old and exhausting. But if you have a passion for it, it's like, I thirsted for just meeting these people and learning from them and asking them questions and tackling all those challenges, um, you know, which brings us to the next point, which is, and this is very important, the both parts of this are very important.

Which brings us to the next point, which is, and this is very important, both parts of this are very important. You have to care so much that you own people's successes, you own people's successes, you feel like you own their successes, you also feel like you own their failures. If they win or lose, you're like, oh gosh, we did this together, we did this together.

And if they fail, oh, what did I do wrong? However, this simultaneously has to occur without you taking it personal when they do fail in the sense that you can't get crushed because I've seen trainers either get crushed by when their clients don't follow along, don't do what they say, don't listen to their advice. And I've also seen trainers take it personal to the point where they sit down with their clients and they blast them out. You don't do what I've said.

You're not serious. You need to come in here, and then they get rid of the client and they're proud. And I hate to say that, I've done this a few times, it was a huge mistake, because I didn't help anybody. So you have to be able to own and feel like you're a part of the successes, but also the failures, but then also you got to be okay when they fail because here's an unfortunate statistic, as successful as trainers are, you're gonna fail more often than you succeed. That's just the bottom line.

It's more like baseball. It is. This is one of my favorite points you made because it also reminds me of one of my favorite quotes. And that's, I think that being a good personal trainer, one of the attributes of being a good personal trainer or coach is being a good leader. And the first rule in leadership is

everything is your fault. And so when you wrote that point down, I'm like, that's a hundred percent. Like you have to embody that, that if your client fails, it's my fault. If they didn't show up and they were inconsistent, it's my fault. Like I didn't find a way to motivate this person or I didn't start them at the right place. I didn't meet them where they were currently fault. I didn't find a way to motivate this person or I didn't start them at the right place. I didn't meet them where they were currently at. I overcommitted them some days. They're like, no matter what, no matter what they say or what happened, it's never their fault. If I'm the leader of this group of this pair, the two of us in this journey, I'm the leader, it's always my fault. And you have to take that ownership and be okay with that and embrace that.

And again, lean into it, like it. I like that. I had that attitude of like, you know- Don't let it break you. Yeah, no, you don't break, it's just part of it. It's part of the game. We're gonna fail. I know that.

Again, it's like baseball. We're gonna work, we're batting 300. We're doing really, really good, which is three out of 10 people. I get three out of 10 people, the results that we setting up for, that's just part of it. I'm doing really well. So I understand that, but then always having that

attitude of if and when they do fail, what could I have done better to have got them to succeed? It's just data now. It's things that you can improve upon with your next client or the same client that moving forward. But yeah, taking that ownership, that's a real important piece same client that moving forward. But yeah, taking that ownership, that's a real important piece. Because, you know, obviously they're looking at you to kind of steer this. Meanwhile, you have this like vision

and this expectation that they're gonna come through and follow through, but realistically, this is where it hits you in the face, okay? I guess actually what I should be doing is focusing here and kind of scaling back a bit. And now this is the adjustment and this is going to be more successful. Therefore we're going to implement this plan. So that's how I'm handling that now, as opposed to being like, you're,

you're not doing this. It's your fault. Like, I'm not like placing that all on my client. Yeah. Huge misconception that, you know, that that new trainers have or people who get into fitness as a passion have is that the way you're going to become successful is by just telling the person what to do and they've hired me, they're serious. So now if they follow the steps, they're going to be great. I'll tell you right now, I can count on one hand over the 20 years I trained people, the clients that did everything

I told them. It just doesn't work that way. And I mean, it's stuck, right? It's very rare. You remember them because it was like maybe three or four. Doug was one of them. Doug was one of the clients and he loved it and he did it. And obviously now it works in the fitness industry, but most of the time, most your clients are going to do a little bit of what you're saying, mostly not. And you've got to work through that because it's a long game and you still have

to own it, but you also still have to be okay with it because otherwise it's going to, again, it's going to suck. Either you're going to get really aggressive with your clients because you're like taking, you're taking the ownership to the point where you're like, Oh my God, I can't fail again. And so then you hammer them, which is not a good idea, or you just don't care about their successes or their failures. In which case, well, you can't do this then, you know this then. Lastly, if you're listening to this and you're hyped,

and you're like, this resonates. I'm ready to rip your heart out now. I'm about. Save some lives. 90% of you are right now gonna get turned off, okay? Which is this. Most of what you do as a personal trainer, most of what you do is sales.

And what I mean by that is your ability to convince people to do things, either hire you, that's sales. That's what everybody initially thought, right? Yes, that is sales. Getting people to hire you and buy your products and your training, but also I'm getting people to make changes in their life, fundamental changes. That ladies and gentlemen is sales.

And so if you think you're going to get into the fitness industry, become a personal trainer, you're passionate about fitness, you're passionate about people, and then you go work at a gym and your manager says, you got to go sell training. You got to sell this and you're like, I don't want to do this. Not a sales job. Sorry. It's a sales job.

Personal, the most successful trends of the world will tell you this, that you have to have very effective communication skills and you need to know that sales is a big part of it. It's not a big part, it's all of it. It's so much, so much all sales that even the parts that you're thinking right now aren't sales are sales to the point you just made right there. Like even the program design and the exercise mechanics, you have to sell your clients on performing the exercises and consistently doing it. You have to sell your clients on performing the exercises every single work Consistently doing it you have to sell them on showing up to the appointment You have to sell them on changing behaviors around their diet You have to sell them on the idea and behaviors around what they do with exercise what they do with their relationships

I mean Everything that you do is sales and even the things that you think are not sales The fact that you have to convince another person to do those things makes it sales. That's all that is. And so you have to embrace that or you have to be excited about that if you're going to be successful. And I thought I always knew if a trainer was going to be like fail right out the gates is if they just, I just hate sales or I just want to help people. I don't want anything to do with it's like, oh, you're going to have a hell of a time then because this whole job is sales.

No matter how you draw this up, if you believe that all sales is, is effective communication, that is every bit of your job is effectively communicating all this information that you've learned over either your experience or what you've read in books or what you've gone to school for. Look, if it was just about helping people and not sales, then a trainer would just be somebody with answers. It would be a Google. They would show up and, oh, how do I eat?

Right. Here you go. How do I exercise? Here we go. How's the right technique? Here you go. And you'd be a successful trainer. That's not going to make you a successful trainer.

That's not going to make you a successful trainer at all. You have to be able to communicate in such effective ways that over time, because it's a long game. I'm gonna tell you this right now, the short game is getting you to buy training from me. That's the short sales game, okay? And there's skills involved with that too. But the long sales game is how do I get Mrs. Johnson, who eats a 90% processed food diet,

has an exercise since she was in eighth grade, how do I get her to do this consistently for the rest of her life and change her diet? I'm gonna have to sell her on this and it's gonna take me a year of selling her to do some of these things before she adopts them as behaviors, not just for a couple weeks or a few months, but forever. That's sales. So yeah, this is why apps have failed. This is why AI is failing. They have all the answers.

They have the out, everything's lined up for you perfectly. And guess what? People don't show up. They need to be constantly sold that this is the right thing to do, that I have your best interest in mind, that we're going to take you through this journey together. They need accountability. There was a time when a lot of us predicted what the largest most successful fitness chain in the world was gonna go down and that was when Mastroff sold and new leadership came in

and one of the first things they wanted to do was change the sales part of getting a gym membership into like the Home Depot style of checking out, where you just choose and pick. And so much of what goes into getting a gym membership, showing up to the gym, going to your personal trainer, so much of that is sales and your ability to motivate and communicate to people this new way of living and lifestyle change. And when you talk about a new way of living, you are changing and modifying people's behaviors. That is a, not only is it a sales job, it's a tricky one, a difficult one.

It's not, like I think going and selling cars would be a million times easier. Very straightforward. Here's a car, here's what it does, here's what the going price is. Features awesome. Yeah, you get a great deal. Yeah, we have to we have to communicate an idea, a vision, a dream for somebody that they and that they give you money for and you can't present it right back to them that you have to go okay great you paid me now you gotta show up and do more work if you actually really want that thing that I told you to them that you have to go, okay, great. You paid me. Now you got to show up and do more work. If you actually really want that thing that I told you all about that we're

going to go get, that's crazy. Essentially it's you're, you're trying to take somebody and transform them into a better, healthier version of themselves, which requires significant behavior changes and is very challenging. And so you got to love sales if you wanna be effective as a personal trainer. Look, we have a three day course, a free three day training course we did for trainers.

I'm gonna get the link here in just a second. You can go on there, watch the course, it's totally free. We teach you how to sell personal training. We teach you how to forecast your business. You can go to mindpumptrainercourse.com. So mindpumptrainercourse.com is the three day training course. It's totally free. Go sign up.

We also have an Instagram page for trainers. So we have our podcast that's for regular audience. We have an Instagram page specifically for trainers. It's at mindpumptrainers on Instagram. Go check it out. We also have the webinar that Jason and I are doing next week too. So that's gonna be. Oh yeah. Show up for that. That is for trainers. on Instagram, go check it out. We also have the webinar that Jason and I are doing next week too. Yeah.

So that's who we are. Show up for that. That is for trainers. If you are a trainer and you wanna take, now this is crazy how you could become a seven or eight figure coach. Make a career out of it. Which they exist and there's only a few people

in the industry I would trust to teach that. And Adam here, our co-host here who's done that, and Jason Phillips who's another individual who's done that, they're gonna be teaching that course. That's at ncimindpump.com for free. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Super Bundle at mindpumpmedia.com.

The RGB Super Bundle includes maps anabolic, maps performance, and maps aesthetic. Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam, and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs. With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos, the RGB Super Bundle is like having Sal, Adam, and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can get it now plus other valuable free resources at mindpumpmedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a 5-star rating and review on iTunes and by introducing MindPump to your friends and family.

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