And then everyone was a strength coach.

There was a time when people working in gyms were fitness instructors and personal trainers. But this wasn't cool enough.

It started to get a bad reputation, the barrier to entry was low, the qualifications were easy. And no one was going to pay an online 'fitness instructor guru', it just didn't have a cool ring to it.

Being a strength coach was much cooler. All those guys training people in American high schools, and in their garage and selling online products were strength coaches.

Before you knew it, power racks sprung up and people were powerlifters and following Westside. And there were dynamic effort days and bands and chains. And if you didn't know a buffalo bar from a Texas power bar you might as well have still been balancing on a swiss ball with Paul Chek.

And then Olympic lifting was a thing. 10 years ago there wasn't one Olympic lifting technique video on the internet – I know because I looked for them and couldn't find them, so I went and did the lifting course back in 2007/8.

On the same course were some guys who were going to open something called a 'crossfit gym'. None of us had lifting shoes, we all did it in trainers, the coaches running the course didn't even mention lifting shoes. And I went back to the gym and had to practice with metal weight plates on a normal floor.

Fast forward ten years and there are coaches on the internet who by rights should be coaching the Chinese team with the expertise they appear to have – not hanging out at the local gym or critiquing peoples technique on the internet.

And everyone expected a power rack and bumper plates.

And trainers wanted to be coaches, and everyone had to deadlift and squat. Because coaches had respect and weren't poorly paid cleaners in disguise. Who could blame them, '20 years of schooling and they put you on the day shift'. And this stuff was way more interesting than standing next to a treadmill and asking someone if their RPE was 12 or 13.

And one of the safest sports started to throw up injuries. Things that were rare became common places such as end plate fractures in the spine. And your Doctor is not really looking for it because who fractures an end plate? Someone under massive spinal compression.

And heavy unilateral lifting without qualification ended up with people breaking their pelvic rings.
And then everyone wanted to train like an 'athlete' or train 'athletes'. Well kind of… Take some plyometrics and put them together in a long intense class format and give it to a bunch of people who haven't jumped off the ground since they were skipping in primary school. And there were blown ACLs and ruptured achilles.

And some of the biggest fitness/ class companies in the world started to put together HIIT/ plyometric workouts. But they didn't grasp it, they didn't fully understand it. They hadn't immersed themselves in it for years. And then 50 year old women started to rupture achilles because they were doing exercises designed for Soviet athletes.

And the strength coaches had everyone Olympic lifting, and I was guilty too. And those clients who just wanted a bit of weight loss and tone were doing cleans and jerks without screening, and had no business ever doing these exercises. Like suddenly introducing your client to the sport of javelin or hammer throwing when they are 60 years old.

And people who had no business putting a weight over their head in a deep squat were trained relentlessly for a sport they should never had started because strength was good and reps were bad unless they were metcon reps. And anything above 5 reps was cardio.

And cardio was a joke, because a fat man in a lifting suit said so.

And young injury free coaches who were used to training young injury free contemporaries who did sports like rugby thought this was a universal template. Regardless of spine disc shape, or injury history or training age.

And these coaches who were used to training high school athletes and college athletes, with GOMAD a gallon of milk a day protocol, and 5x5 was all you would ever need convinced the poor guys and girls in the local gym that everyone could be trained like this. Because they had never encountered anyone who couldn't do 10 pull ups straight off or who couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without getting out of breath.

But women started lifting weights, and lo it was good. For their body shape started to change. And booty was the new boobs, and fitness was this years model.

But don't talk about the back injuries and the stupid sit ups. And everyone wore lifting shoes all the time, and wondered why their knees hurt when they back squatted.

Now there were powerlifters, crossfitters, and strongmen and Olympic lifters in every gym, and the bodybuilders hid in the corner (even though they weren't really bodybuilders and had never entered a competition, but they clung onto their bodypart splits and preacher curls like the Golden fleece they knew it was) but their time would come again. The rise of the fitness model was about to happen, fake tan sales and posing stage costume sales were about to explode. And the fitness competition organisers knew this, and their were posing coaches, and online nutrition programmes, and people who placed top 50 in their local bikini comp were now not just strength coaches but figure coaches and body transformation coaches.

(and it was okay to objectify women and make them strut around in stripper heels as long as you tack the word 'fitness' to the event, because that's empowering, how very post modern, and as my friend heard the compere say at one of these event 'don't forget we're not just judging their bodies, but their faces as well'; at least they were being honest, T&A with quarter turns were now fine, we could all look and not feel bad like the bad old days of the 1970's and Miss World competitions. Now they didn't even pretend to want world peace, they just wanted a supplement sponsorship deal and 100,000 insta followers).

And of course, guys had fitness comps as well, where they wore board shorts and fake grins, but mostly everyone laughed at them because they weren't strength coaches.

And it was all fine, there was more choice than ever. But somewhere along the line, quality was forgotten.

And most of the strength coaches out there doing their job everyday had no internet presence. And knew training individuals was always an individual programming decision, and they thought deeply about methods of training and the philosophy of it all. But they were not trying to be all things to all people.

It was the best of the times, it was the worst of times. Everything it could ever be was right there, but it was ever so slightly off target. And it could have been so good, it could still be.

But wait long enough and everything will go full circle again and again and again.

Should you be honest with clients?

Should we tell clients the truth? I'm not saying we are outright lying to them, but much of the time we are not being entirely honest with them about what it will take to achieve their goals.

Imagine someone books a training session with you or enquires about training with you.

There are three key scenarios where you can be honest, or try and convince the client otherwise or essentially kick them into touch and realize your services are not the best for for them.

Scenario one: Being honest and about frequency and consistency.

Initial consultation or chat, the person tells you they can train once a week, maybe twice ( hint: this means they are coming once every 2 weeks at best). You know they can't achieve anything on this schedule. Should you be honest with them? Or start working with them, and hope they gradually form the habit, start enjoying exercise and build up to three times a week? Anyone who has worked in a commercial gym knows that option 2 is rarely successful.

We all know ideally it takes 3-5 sessions a week, focus and at least some acknowledgment that nutrition is part of the puzzle.

On the other hand, we don't want to burst anyones bubble. They have taken the step to walk into a gym, to push out of their comfort zone; however their expectations do not match the level of effort they are willing to put in.

Now. I'm not talking about the motivated people, who are going to train by themselves consistently, and want a programme and check in session once a month.

This is more the people,who decide they don't want to do anything in the programme you've written. And between follow up appointments it transpires they haven't done any training and have basically ignored your programme.

I was speaking to a colleague about all the programmes he has written, all the individual/ bespoke programmes. He was going through the names, and realized that at best 10% had actually done the programme.

That is a lot of wasted time and effort. The thing is you don't always know who is going to be the one who sticks with it.

Scenario two: I want to tone up, lose weight and not bulk up.

As the conversation moves on in your initial consultation, the client will tell you their goal, or a vague idea of a goal. If you have worked in fitness for more than a week, then the phrase you will hear nearly everyday from women is 'I want to lose weight, and tone up, I don't want to bulk up'.

Occasionally, you get a guy who also says they don't want to bulk up, but a more common guy phrase is 'I don't need to work on my legs, as I play football'. At which point you laugh in that guys face.

But seriously, back to toning. The great industry lie. We know that muscles either get bigger or smaller, fat percentage goes up or down. Yes, in the initially phase of training, a person may start by recruiting more of their current pool of muscle fibres, and become more 'neurally efficient' but at some point if you want to see an actual visual change, some muscle mass is going to have to be generated.

Mention this and a look of panic will wash over the woman's face. 'I don't want to bulk up'. It turns out they are the genetically gifted  0.001% of the female population who easily bulks up, who could have entered Ms Olympia if they had so wished and won based on training twice a week, eating 40 grams of protein a day and a post workout Prosecco.

So you point out all the guys in freeweight area who have taken enough pre-workout to stun a horse, and are trying to mainline protein to get an extra millimetre on their biceps, and are training 7 days a week.

But no, she is different, she will bulk up. You say weights and muscle mass and all she sees is Dorian Yates (or Gal Ferrera Yates, if you want to use the google). Now, of course, some women do want to do this, but mostly they aren't walking into a commercial gym to have a sit down with a trainer, 95% of women you will ever see will say they want to lose weight and tone up.

Dorian Yates back is so big: easily achieved on twice a week of a machine circuit and a bar of dairy milk. Source: every bodybuilding internet forum.

As my colleague once said to some women, 'why do you think it is my interest to make you look like something you don't want to be? If I did that, I would be out of a job, I wouldn't have any clients, Its in my interest to help you achieve the look and fitness you want.' I paraphrase here of course, I wasn't recording the conversation, but you get the idea.

You explain to the woman that lifting heavy weights at low reps might be the way to go, but this goes against the perceived wisdom, this is what big guys do. You explain all about testosterone levels in men compared to women, but she has already glazed over. She's thinking toning occurs with high reps and lots of volume, right, like in toning classes? Which bizarrely, is the thing that research shows causes increases in muscle mass given the right nutrition etc. (See Schoenfelds research on high rep ranges, 25 reps plus).

You could stay true to your ideals. Or nod your head, say you've got the perfect toning programme, mix in some machines, cardio, light dumbbells, and sprinkle in a couple of strength exercises under the guise of toning exercises. Bingo, everyones a winner, she gets results and you keep your client.

Scenario three: The trainer lies to themselves.

When you first start training people you need clients. And you may be paying monthly PT rent you need to cover. Therefore, how likely are you to turn down a client? You are just starting out, but suddenly your level 3 qualification means you can train everyone.

Can that person really be an expert on triathlon training, back pain, all injuries, marathon training, getting someone contest ready for figure competition and write comprehensive nutrition plans for everyones needs?

Or like the classic insta-chump coach, everyone get the same fully customized training and nutrition plan regardless.

You might get lucky, and someone you train wins something, gets a pro card or their injury heals up. Of course, genetics and time had nothing to do with this, it was your training programme.

This is where the industry is at now. Whereas, Alberto Salazaar is never going to coach 100m runners, some PTs can apparently coach everyone.

Wouldn't it be better to refer out, admit you don't actually have a nutrition qualification and are therefore not meant to write nutrition plans; and you don't have MRI x-ray vision and can't fix their injury, but they should go to an actual person who's job it is to do that. If Eric Cressey is referring out, then may be some trainers should do as well.

If you're in it, you're in it.

The above spiel wasn't meant to give any answers. It just is the way the industry is. Of course, adherence rates and the number of people achieving their goals is probably the same as it ever was, so what have we got to lose by telling the truth? If a business model is already broken, then abandoning it to try something new can't be any worse.

Ultimately, it comes down to the art of coaching. That indefinable ability to get the best out of people, to tell them what they want to hear when they start, and gradually shape the conversation as they continue to train. If they get results they wont care. But it's going to be difficult when so many coaches promise the earth, quick fixes and easy solutions. If you're new to the industry, do what it takes, don't starve because you think everyone should do 5x5 barbell work, but keep your integrity as a coach as well.

Slim Charles: The Wire

Online coaches: I'm not doing your job for you.

Has Instagram killed coaching?

We live in a post truth world. Donald Trump is President- elect, Brexit happened, and anyone with an instagram account is a fitness expert.

Now let me say straight off, there are some good online coaches. Ones who take time to skype their client, build rapport and construct an individual programme and nutrition plan.

And you could say if its not harming you or interfering with your work, why comment?

But online programming and 'coaching' has encroached on my work, I offer three examples below. It gives an insight into what the public are buying...

Example 1: £300 for a programme, and the instructors at the gym have to show you the exercises.

A young girl came into the gym with a programme she had bought from an online trainer. This girl was not very experienced in the gym and didn't really know any of the exercises on her programme. The person she had bought the programme from had provided some video links, but not for all the exercises.

She asked us for some help and we showed her a few of the exercises, and said she should contact the trainer again for more advice. The trainer was relatively local, and her answer was, the young girl could pay for a session with her to show her the exercises and that the "instructors in the gym have to show you all the exercises, its their job."

Hang on, its my job to show someone all the exercises in a programme that you got paid £300 for? Even if I think the programme is no good and the exercise choices are sub par? Bear in mind this would take hours of coaching to get her where she could do the programme with competence.

The young girl was quite upset by the whole thing and asked me what she could do. I suggested going back to the trainer, trying to get her money back, maybe contact REPs (if this trainer was a member of REPs), look at distance selling law, if she paid by credit card or paypal may be try to recoup the money.

In the end she wrote a thank you note for all our help, I don't know if she got her money back. The online trainer is probably still selling online programmes to beginners who can't do them.

Example 2: 90% 1RM of a rear delt flye.

A guy approached me in the gym to check out his rear delt flye technique. I had a look and said he probably needed to reduce the weight and focus on technique as he was only getting partial range with a lot of momentum.

He then told me his programme told him that this week was strength week and he had to do 90% 1RM of a rear delt flye for 3 reps. He then showed me on his phone the actual programme and there it was.

I explained in my opinion the rear delt flye was an accessory exercise, it should always be in a higher rep range and you would never try to workout the 1RM on a rear delt flye. The programme looked professional, nicely presented, but looking good and actually being good are two different things.

Now there are a few possible explanations. First, the person writing the programme committed a copy and paste error and never intended that exercise to be a 90% 1RM. Second, they have never actually trained anyone and don't realise this will not work. Thirdly, they train people all the time and use this method effectively. I'll let you decide which it is.

Example 3: 1100kcals a day and white potatoes only.

A young girl who comes to the gym showed me a nutrition plan that her sister had purchased off of an instagram coach and she was following it as well.

The calories per day were worked out on based on their weight in kilos. With a bodyweight of just over 60kg the plan had worked out that several days per week her caories were down in the 1100 to 1200 range and on the higher calories days it went to 1600-1700kcals.

Now will you lose weight on this? Probably. Will you feel miserable? Probably. Is it sustainable? Probably not. Does it give young girls an unhealthy relationship with food?

I've seen women getting contest ready and going on stage eating more than this.

It also looked highly scientific as the guy who wrote it had used a spreadsheet, and the calories had been worked out to the decimal point, yep he knew you could eat 100.4kcals of egg white.

There were also some other restrictive 'bro' elements. White potatoes only, that's right no sweet potato allowed. Egg whites only. Very low fat. And of course, a recommendation that you supplement with a special fat burner made by a company you've never heard of.

As it turned out, I did a few quick calculations and the calories the plan said was lower than what I was coming out with.

It was basically an old school bodybuilding diet designed for a man.

I explained that I thought the calories were too low, and there was nothing magical about white potatoes, yes, she could eat sweet potatoes with no adverse effects. I also suggested eating an avocado might help bump up the fat levels from its current very low levels.

So what does all this tell us about online coaching?

Are the public being mis-sold?

The world of instagram coaching is the wild west,  how does someone differentiate? Yes, you can say market forces will out, but with an increasingly crowded market place image becomes everything.

The entry level is low, you need some social media accounts, a website and if you want to really look professional an off the shelf fitness app. You can even be legit and get a level 2 fitness qualification. This is not the fault of the people doing it, they got the qualification they needed. Its not their fault there is no quality control. There are very few instagram lawyers or medical consultants for a reason, the barrier to entry is high.

Could it be the Dunning Kruger* effect in action?

This theory states that some low ability individuals overestimate their ability. They think they are great, and 100% right. In fact, they are terrible but just don't know it. These coaches could all believe they are brilliant offering a superb product. Whereas real experts in a field can doubt their ability, don't always have black and white answers, know how complex something can be and say 'it depends' a lot.

Unskilled people can have nearly 100% confidence even though they are incompetent. See Donald Trump for further evidence. Picture source:digitialintelligencetoday.com

Here are my easy steps to becoming an instagram coach.

one for women and one for men.

For men

1) Selfie up, you will need a baseball cap, Beats headphones and a vest made of 2cm square of material.
2) Superset bicep curls and D-bol.
3) Enter a fitness competition, any competition, or get some professional photos done.
4) Get a sponsorship deal with a supplement company no one has heard of.
5) Create a logo, something cool like a skull chewing a barbell.
6) You are now ready to sell programmes and nutrition plans.

For women

1) Take selfies with minimal clothing on.
2) Shoot videos of you training in the gym with minimal clothing on.
3) Booty shoots and training are in the zeitgeist, focus on them.
4) Get a deal with a weightloss tea, make sure your selfies include a shot of you with the tea.
5) You are now ready to sell nutrition plans and programmes.
6) Don't tell anyone that your glutes and abs look like that because of your Brazilian genetics and surgical enhancements and not due to the random selection of exercises you post up or the weightloss tea. (Full disclosure I click on pictures of Brazilian fitness models as much as the next guy).

I get it, it seems like a good career. You like training, and got good results, so why not make a living from it. Write some programmes and sell them to people. No need to go to an actual gym to train people, all that effort of having to tweak things, change things, focus on technique.

But here's the rub, as my colleague Paul has said about instagram coaches posting up selfies and competition pictures "all you've demonstrated is the ability to follow a programme and nutrition plan, probably written by someone else" it does not mean you have the ability to coach other people or that the concepts that worked for you will work for someone else.

The problem with online coaching is it focuses on the programme.

As I've stated before for most people, the programme could be the least important thing. As my colleague Nick has said "I could give you George St Pierres programme, it doesn't mean it will work for you or you will become George St Pierre."

The key ingredients missing are:

1) Consistency.
Yes good online coaches might make you accountable, and the fact you are buying a programme means you are probably motivated. But for many instagram coaches the relationship ends with the paypal transaction.

2) Intensity.
A lack lustre effort, no results, however good the programme.

3) Technique.
This is a big one. The programme might have some really good exercises on it like deadlifts, or squats or even something like a dumbbell row. But if you're technique is off the chance of injury is high, plus you will not be activating the muscles you should be.

See my three pillars of training that I wrote about a hundred years ago.

Even a press up or a plank in a basic bodyweight programme can be done horribly.

I could write 10 effective programmes right now** (while sipping a cappuccino in a coffee shop) ranging from fat loss to hypertrophy to marathon running. I know they work, I have tested them on people. It doesn't mean that everyone should do them.

The same goes for nutrition plans.

For example, I have purchased programmes online that have power cleans  at 85% 1RM in them. Is it a good exercise, yes. Would I expect someone to be able to do a power clean just because it was in a programme and they had watched a 30 second video of it? No.

The online market is not for beginners.

As I stated last week, we can become insular as an industry.

Instagram and social media posts of half naked, ripped fitness models does not  appeal to most of the public who just want to get fit and lost a bit of fat.

We have to keep upping the ante, posting more and more exercises, thousands of variations, something no one has even seen before, feats of strength and endurance to garner more likes  and clicks from our fitness friends.

Posting the basics is no longer enough. Everyone knows how to do these right? Wrong.

No one is going to post up a video of someone going for a steady state walk or doing a wall press up.

Many online coach doesn't really want to bother with beginners. They want to train people like them. People who already know how to deadlift or squat, who want to get ripped for stage. Fellow bodybuilders and powerlifters.

It becomes a cult of fitness. Training beginners is hard, you can't do all the sexy exercises. The public switch off.

The genie is out of the bottle.

As I've stated before the digital disruption of the fitness industry is here.

I'm no King Cunute here holding back the sea.

There are some very good coaches online, but there is also a sea of bad ones. And I've seen first hand how some members of the public have bought into these programmes and promises.

The traditional part of the industry was too slow to adopt the online platforms and methods and got out maneuvered by some social media savvy millennials.

Sure the free market reigns online.

But in a post-truth world the loudest and simplest voice is heard and believed.

All the good coaches, the ones with years of experience training people 'one on one' need to step up and take it back from the charlatans, hawkers and digital carpetbaggers. That means coaches like me (and you) need to get to work.

--------------

* How do I know that I'm not actually incompetent and a fitness dolt? The original Dunning-Kruger theory was inspired by the news story of a guy who tried to rob a bank with his face covered in lemon juice, thinking as this was used as invisible ink it would make his face invisible to the security cameras. As I have never tried this, I think I'm safe.

** Send a stamped addressed envelope to 'Lost in Fitness, No.1 Fitness Towers' and I will send you out a free programme of your choice.

All the broken people. Where do they all come from?

The market the fitness industry missed.

Anxiety, depression, diabetes(type 2), hip replacement, knee pain, knee surgery, knee replacement, wrist pain, wrist surgery, elbow pain, elbow surgery, shoulder pain, shoulder surgery, COPD, high blood pressure, parkinsonisms, MS, cancer, back pain, back surgery, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, asthma and stroke.

Above are a list of conditions, off the top of my head, that I have come across in my time in the fitness industry. Most of them I encountered in a non exercise referral situation, i.e. they joined the gym or a class and walked in, not as part of a specialised scheme. (And full disclosure, I have some of the things listed above as well!).

There are no special populations.

The fitness industry and fitness qualifications still talk about special populations.

As I've said before, there are no special populations anymore. The special population is the person who walks into the gym or a class with no injuries or medical conditions. Unless you are training a group of 19 year olds, this is probably never going to happen.

Referral schemes never quite cut it.

There was a time, 10 years ago or so, when anyone with one of the above conditions would come through an exercise referral scheme, they would have a GP referral letter, and normally they would be older, had never exercised before and exercise had become the last resort of the medical profession.

Adherence with this group was normally low, and finance was a typical barrier. I'm not saying there weren't some success stories, and some peoples lives were changed. But it has never quite achieved what it could have.

GP referral 10 years ago: Look you can sit down and watch TV, just like at home. If you have an injury or medical condition you do NOT have to use this.

Now, people with injuries and medical conditions are not coming through referral schemes. They are coming to standard classes and gyms. They are bypassing the medical profession.

On the one hand it is a positive thing, this population is more self motivated. Typically they may have been exercising for the whole lives. We are now seeing the baby boomer generation and younger, the ones who have always exercised. They have been coming to classes for 15 to 20 years and they aren't stopping now.

Teach a standard aerobics class, total body toning class with 20 people in, and you may be dealing with 20 different types of injury and medical condition.

Sometimes the participants wont tell you they have these conditions, or tell you half way through or expect you to have a plethora of modifications ready for them. I think some members of the public think you have been taught all these modifications. What is actually true: the instructor is using their experience and making their best guess at that time...

For example, I have covered LBT and toning classes where people have said to me lunges hurt my knees" or "squats hurt my knees". This would beg the question, what were you expecting to be doing in an LBT class? My standard response is, if it hurts don't do it, and maybe you should go and see a physio or get a one to one session with some health professional to sort out your knee problems before you come to a mainstream class?

Yes, we need to educate the public, but we also need to educate ourselves.

GP Referral, Level 3 PT, level 4 something.

In the UK most personal trainers have the standard level 3 qualification. And most specialised qualifications for exercise referral are level 4.

The standard level 3 personal training qualification doesn't prepare the student for all the health conditions they are going to encounter and nor in fact do the level 4 qualifications.

It's not the fault of of the well intentioned people paying the money to do these courses. As far as they are concerned this is the industry standard qualification they need.

When I did the GP referral qualification we spent a lot of time working out VO2 Max percentages, which I have never used ever again, and learning the stages of change model, which again is not that useful when faced with someone who has had a hip replacement. Then we went through all the medications for blood pressure and their side effects.  The amount of time spent on specific exercise was minimal.

The level 4 back pain specialist course I went on suggested playing bingo sitting on a swiss ball was a good thing for people with back pain (true story!). I learned more from reading McGills books. The course gave me precisely zero tools to use with an active person with low back pain.

Now, this was fine back in the day, when the referral clients you were seeing were sedentary individuals, and frail old people. In these cases, the axiom, of any gentle movement is going to be good holds true. And yes we should still help these people.

But what happens, when faced with the highly motivated individual who has had a hip replacement or knee surgery and has been discharged by the physio service who turns up for an orientation.

They have signed the waiver form saying they are good to go, and then they spring it on you.

Or you are about to do some hip moves in a pilates class, and one of the participants say "I've had a hip replacement, can I do this, what can I do instead?" They think you have been taught what to do in this situation...

Of course, rule 1 is do no harm. Rule 2 is educate yourself, because the fitness industry system of qualifications has let you down. Rule 3 is be honest.

Quick fixes.

People want quick fixes and quick answers. Instructors, how many time have you been sitting in the gym and someone comes up to you and says "what can I do for this shoulder pain I have or back pain or knee pain?". Have they seen a physio? Sometimes yes, mostly no. When you say maybe they should go and see one, they look disappointed that you didn't give them the magic shoulder exercise that will fix them after you have assessed their shoulder with your MRI/ X ray vision.

The honest answer of course is "it depends", I will have to do an hour assessment to figure out what is best for you, it costs this amount... can be met with disbelief. They are used to the quick answer, they are not used to someone saying maybe this class isn't for you right now. They are used to fitness professionals bluffing or feigning expertise.

But mostly they are used to the fitness industry ignoring their needs.

Insular. Lost markets, lost people, lost opportunity.

A vast number of the public feel excluded by fitness and gyms. "It's not for them."

And yet the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges calls exercise

"The miracle cure."

We have become an insular industry, "get ripped", "get shredded" messages, with increasingly hardcore messages about HIIT, and high level exercise that appeals to 1% of people (our fitness friends) and not the public.

At the other end of the spectrum, google "GP referral" or "exercise referral" and its the usual images of some white haired pensioners in their 90's waving their arms around in a studio, or a doctor with a stethoscope.

Or the classic gym marketing image of a trainer next to someone on a swiss ball that appeals to precisely no one.

The woman or man in his/her 40, 50's or even 60's doesn't associate themselves with 'old persons exercise'. The want help and advice, they don't want to be treated like "old people".

There is also a race to the bottom, to provide the cheapest gym with no support.

At the same time there is a race to the top to be the exclusive PT, strength & conditioning, high cost facility. (Where in fact the trainer still only has the level 3 PT qualification everyone has, and if you turn up with an injury or medical condition or an athletic goal you are going to get exactly the same workout).

And the people with a few injuries, niggles, maybe a medical condition or two but who want support and don't feel old or broken are left out.

No one is broken.

Of course, if everyone is broken, no one is broken. People are just people. Life happens.

As a society we are at crisis point with preventable disease.

Fitness should be at the forefront of helping people and educating people.

But we are are not.

The NHS lets people down with its pharmaceutical centred strategy. The media let people down with its confusing messages.

But we are also to blame. Yes, I am talking to you REPs and Active IQ with your lack of quality courses addressing what the public and instructors need. Hold your head in shame that you think mickey mouse, poor quality, distance learning level 3 is acceptable.

Yes, I'm talking to you Universities, with your sports science degrees and sports coaching degrees, churning out graduates that have no practical knowledge of how to help unfit people.

Personal trainers don't need to be physiotherapists. But we should be the go to place for people wanting to get all the benefits of exercise.

It doesn't have to complicated. It has to be sincere, quality, evidence based, compassionate and results driven. If you're not budget or coaching professional sports people, it's all you've got.

We should be better, we should be the fitness experts. The market is waiting.

"First move well, then move often." - Gray Cook

Judgement

Is the fitness industry judgemental?

I was doing a gym orientation the other day, going through a programme. I noticed half way through that the woman was a bit off, and I don't know how we got onto the subject, but she said "I bet you're judging people all the time working in a gym."

Firstly, I was taken aback that she would think that. My response was 87 to 88% of the population don't go to a gym or a health club or leisure centre, I have respect for anyone who walks through the door and decides they want to go to the gym or a class for whatever reason. And I genuinely hope they start to enjoy exercising and get all the benefits from it that I know exist.

So no I'm not judging anyone who makes the decision to try something new and get out of their comfort zone. She perked up at that point.

But it got me thinking as an industry do we come across as judgemental and elitist, am I giving off that vibe subconsciously?

All the coaches I personally know are willing to help people. If someone is new to exercise, is open to new ideas of what will work and actually shows up for appointments, most coaches I know will go above and beyond to help this person and want them to get results and enjoy the process.

I am not immune to it either.

Actually on the same day the above event happened, I signed a lady up to the gym and was showing her around. I asked if she wanted to get booked in for a class as she had expressed an interest in certain classes. Her response was along the lines of "one step at a time, it was hard enough for me to join today, its easy for people like you, you don't understand what its like."

When I thought about it, we all fear judgement and looking like we don't know what we are doing.

My response to the above lady: I too recently joined a new gym, and you know it's the same for me walking into a new place. Will the pin code work? How do I get through the door, where are the changing rooms, where is the equipment I need, are people looking at me because I'm new? Are they judging the free t-shirt that I'm wearing.

Yes, I probably didn't have the same level of fear and apprehension as this lady, but it was there.

Another example is going to a Yoga class. I have the flexibility of a breeze block and have gone into a few yoga classes. And the feeling for me is probably the same as a woman walking into the freeweights area. Yoga classes are 99% women and the occasional Yogi  guy doing a back bend. I walk in and my monkey mind starts racing with a thought train along the lines of "everyone can do this, they are judging my lack of co-ordinated yoga clothing and my cheap mat from Sports Direct, they are wondering why a lone guy has wandered into their class, no I'm not a weirdo, I just want to improve my flexibility and work on mindfulness."

Of course, in reality they are all welcoming, not everyone is an expert and the teachers are always friendly and helpful.

But if  I'm thinking that, (and I have been in gyms 20 years plus and have no problem walking into a Bro-central area and start doing some dynamic effort front squats), what does the average non gym going sedentary person feel like when they decide to get fit and lose weight.

Sorry to every woman I ever asked if they were entering a fitness competition.

Along with judgement are the pre-conceived notions and assumptions.

If I ask a woman what she is training and she says something like "arms". My next reflex question is "are you going on stage or competing?".

Yes its wrong, and I'm sorry woman-kind. If I ask a guy what he is training today and he says "arms", I don't assume he is going on stage or is going to be a bodybuilder. I assume that's what most guys do in the freeweights area, its their hobby.

But of course, women can lift weights and have an arm day, because they enjoy it, and they like lifting weights, and they like getting stronger and they are not trying to lose weight.

If a woman was doing 12 spin classes a week I wouldn't assume she was training for the Tour De France, I would assume she just liked spin classes.

And if a guy wants to go to an LBT class that's fine too, as they can be freakin' hard.

Fitness people, are we all judging each other?

There can be a subtext of "my workout is better than yours".

Powerlifters judging guys 'just' train for aesthetics, or crossfitters judging powerlifters, or if I am training for a sport or athletic endeavour then my training must be more valid than yours. None of this is true, we are all just training, we are in the gym mainly because we enjoy it.

Recently I had to  stop training for a while, I would walk in and all the Bros with their gym caddies* would piss me off. Now its not their fault, it was my problem. They were just doing what gym Bros do - wear vests and do chest & arm day.

Eventually I got over it and started training again.

We are all in it together. From the powerlifter to the old lady on an exercise referral scheme.

Judging other trainers.

These days if I see personal trainers in the gym I don't judge what they are doing. I don't judge other peoples programmes, I'm not in possession of all the facts.

I am curious why they may be doing certain exercises. Why they have chosen them for their client.

We all have our own biases, our favourite exercises and routines.

But I am cognizant of the fact that if some trainer saw me training some of my clients or if I posted up their squat technique in the perfectionist world of social media they would flame me and say how terrible the technique is.

But they don't know how far that person has come, what their mobility and strength was like before, their injury or medical history. The specific adaptations I had to make for them.

Hence I'm willing to cut other trainers the same slack as well.

Only dogmatics and dictators think they have all the answers.

Exceptions to the rule.

Of course, I wouldn't be me if there weren't some exception, it can't all be a 'love in.'

I will judge you if:

You don't put your weights away. You do partial rep speed alternate bicep curls standing right in front of the dumbbell rack. Someone asks if you have finished with a piece of equipment and you say yes and walk off with all the weight still on the bar. You bully or intimidate other people in the weights area, especially beginner or smaller guys.

I will also be somewhat judgemental if you keep cancelling appointments at short notice and wasting my time.

I have even had guys tell me that there are too many women in the power racks, and they are "not lifting enough weight to justify using them" and should make way for them as they are doing "proper training.". Yes, misogynist Donald Trump types in a training vest.

The Power Rack does not judge or discriminate.

In short, be polite and courteous, don't be a douche bag and realise the training environment is for everyone. It is still a select band, and we should support each other.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

Ultimately, we are constantly judging ourselves and end up thinking others are doing the same. The self critic in the head can be overwhelming and you start to think that's what everyone else is thinking about you as well. Except, they are all locked in their own battle with the inner critic and don't have time to think about you as well.

Don't be so hard on yourself. If you are training, making an effort, you are doing the best you can do today.

We are all fighting the good fight and confronting our inner demons on a daily basis.

(Top tip: Loving Kindness, Metta meditation can help. First it makes you not be so hard on yourself. 

Then it makes you thing about strangers you meet on a daily basis but don't really know, like the guy serving in the coffee shop. Think about all that is going on in their life, all the things you don't know about them and then wish them well and happiness. 

And then think about difficult people and people from your past as well; wish them well. Of course, this in no way changes how they think or feel or react, they have no idea you are doing it. But it changes your mindset, makes you be more kind to yourself and ultimately others).

You can never tell who is going to make it. Don't judge a book by its cover (there I said it).

In ultra runs elite sub 2.30 marathon runners drop out at aid stations, meanwhile you can be passed by a 4ft11 mother of two going up some mountain pass. And there is always some old guy in a pair of shorts he bought in 1986 who finishes.

Comfortable.

Our job as an industry is to make the environment and atmosphere as welcoming and as comfortable as possible. And then letting people know that the training they will have to do to reach their goals is going to be uncomfortable.

Hats off to anyone who made it through the door of a gym or laced up a pair of trainers and hit the road.

Remember

"Cut yourself some slack. Remember, one hundred years from now, all new people." 

-Message tacked to a tree by monks at Wat Umong, a 700-year old temple in Thailand (Quoted in the book Pivot by Jenny Blake)

*Gym Caddie - a term invented by me. When gym bros train, they normally train in pairs, the alpha gym bro who is normally bigger and more experienced and his smaller gym caddie. The gym caddie is responsible for making the alpha bro look good and tidy up after the alpha bro. If the gym caddie neglects his duties, the gym can be full of loaded bars and dumbbells on the floor. This is a disaster for everyone.

Leisure is dying. But something new will emerge. Part 2.

For part one go here

So in part one we looked at some of the problems facing the industry, now we have to ask some tough questions and be open to new answers.

Sacred Cows and Lost Opportunities.

The most important thing we can do to find new solutions is break out of the old model of doing things. And the first way to do this is in the way we listen and really go back to the basic fundamental question of why does this business exist and who is it for?

U Lab and Otto Scharmer talk about 4 levels of listening. Most listening we do in meetings is at the basic level 1, this is where everyone sounds the same, talking nice and saying what the boss wants to hear, we are not learning anything new. Even at the next level of debate, all we are doing is listening and reacting, trying to defend our position, not getting beyond our point of view.

Scharmer gives an example of when American automobile executives visited Japan in the 1980's to look at the they way they were producing cars. When they returned they were  convinced the Japanese hadn't shown them the real factory as it was too clean and organised. They couldn't get past their own perceptions of what their industry should look like even when presented with evidence there was a different way.

To really move on we need to go to the next level of reflective dialogue and collective creativity. We need to ask genuine questions, to move away from blame and not just defending view points and excepting all the sacred cows we cannot change.

Here are a few leisure industry/ fitness industry sacred cows and trite statements and products that we persist with, that we all buy into:-

• Of course no one is in this industry for the money
• Swimming pools are a money pit but we can't get rid of them
• We have a sauna and steam room that most customers don't use
• We have a monthly membership
• People buy PT in blocks
• Of course we need to have PT
• Why do studio instructors get paid 3x more than lifeguards
• We have to open at 6am, 7am, 24 hours to compete
• We have to have student discounts even though this group is already spending £9000 a year minimum on education and is therefore willing to get into massive debt
• We have to have discounts for the over 60's even though at the moment this age group have more disposable income than people in their late 20's
• We have to keep running kids birthday parties even though they are a massive hassle, we can never find the staff to run them and the parents complain
• We have to have badminton courts that make us £10 per hour maximum where a small PT gym in the same space as a court would make £100 per hour
• We're not in it to make a profit but we do have a profit and loss spreadsheet. Leisure is somehow different from all other industries and can't make any money
• We need a certain amount of cardio equipment even though most evenings now most of the cardio equipment is empty and the free-weights area is full, people's exercise habits have moved on
• We don't have online coaching or products because we have a building. We can't have an online & physical business. See the example of John Lewis later for an answer this
• We need changing rooms and showers
• What would happen if we closed the studios and expanded the gym?
• What would happen if we closed the gym and expanded the studios?
• Our IT systems are too complicated and don't work for us, they make the job of the people on the front line harder, but there is nothing we can do.
• etc etc

I'm sure you can think of a few yourself. In the words of U lab we need to 'turn the camera around on ourselves'. 

And realise that as an industry we collectively created these problems. It's easy to blame other individuals (Peter Senge, Ulab interview) rather than looking at our part in this as well.

We are all weird now

Seth Godin has made the point there are no average people now. As an industry we still think we can attract all people at all times. We can't. The middle market that leisure centre and health clubs are all clamoring for disappeared a long time ago or never existed in the first place as a substantial business sustaining segment.

We thought we could all be Tescos and be everything to everyone, but even supermarkets can't do that any more.

Does Top Shop try to appeal to the young teenager and the old pensioner? No. But we try to, with the same space, with the same gym and then wonder why the pensioner then complains that the music is too loud. I'm never going into Hollister to shop, and I am not meant to, its not for me.

Add up all the tribes, the outliers in fitness - powerlifters, cross fitters, Les Mills (which even breaks down into sub tribes, those who only like Body Attack, those who like Body Combat), figure competitors, olympic weightlifters, yoga (which then breaks down into different types of yoga) and all these tribes out number the middle mass market.

Solutions.

From the above discussion hopefully a few points have jumped out already... nothing is sacred, what can you safely remove from your business with no detrimental effect, what do you need to hold onto, what differentiates you, how can you craft an experience?

Pull up the weeds...

Richard Boyatzis of Case Western Reserve University (Coursera.org course Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence) gives an example of a vineyard in the wine country of Barcelona.

This vineyard was making cheap $10 a bottle bulk wine, and it was a loss maker. It couldn't even make money. Then one day the two brothers running it noticed some of the grapes were exceptionally good. And they thought, what if we could produce a vintage wine only using these grapes?

They had no previous history of producing quality wine. So they went to the rest of the family and explained their vision and what they would have to do. They would have to pull up and destroy the poor vines, and start to only grow the best vines.  They also went to the other growers in the area to explain their vision.

They would have to accept a transition period. They knew it would take time.

Now a bottle of wine from the Mas Doix region is worth $140 and is rated as one the best wines in the world.

So what are you best products, your best grapes? What can be ripped up and abandoned? How much of a transition period are you willing to accept?

Seth Godin gives the example of Jackson Hole ski resort when it transitioned from a resort aimed at everyone to only aiming at extreme skiers.

Yes, when you remove certain products you are going to piss off a certain number of people. There will always be that person who uses the sauna or whatever but you have to accept you cannot please everyone.

You have to ask fundamentally Why are we here as a business? And like the two brothers in Barcelona, the emotionally intelligent thing to do is take into account other peoples feelings and ideas to create your shared vision. Yes involve stakeholders and customers, but mainly involve your ground level staff to create a shared vision.

The perceived degree of shared vision predicts success (Boyatzis,2015 Coursera). If your staff aren't with you then it is already over.

And bear in mind you may not get it right first time.

'Nothing important will happen with the first try' (Ulab edx.org)

Staff again.

How your customers feel about your company is how they feel about your staff. You can either make the customer feel a little better or a little worse (Boyatzis, 2015, Coursera).

Isabel Guerro (former Vice President of the World Bank) states in an interview with Ulab)

"Remove as many obstacles as possible for people on the front line"

If the world bank can do it surely a club or centre can do this. Really think about the obstacles your staff have. Are you making your product simpler or more complicated? Are support staff helping or hindering. Are ideas lost or adopted? Do your training systems, recruitment strategies and rewards work or not?

"The people working on the front lines are often better positioned to drive continual improvements." (Robertson, 2015;33)

What your HR department thinks your organisation looks like

But really are your systems working for you?

What your organisation probably looks like, source: www.integrationtraining.co.uk

The experience.

As alluded to previously in part 1, the new economy is experienced based. The whole book Stuffocation is based on people looking for experiences rather than stuff.

People go to Disney for the experience (and it may not be an experience I want, and that's okay they are not aiming at me). People go to see Star Wars for the experience of the film.

Pine and Gilmore in Welcome to the Experience Economy state

"Experiences are a distinct economic offering"

and are they are memorable, is your club or centre memorable for the right reasons?

I see some people confusing the idea of experience with architecture. Yes, if your experience is predicated on fantastic changing rooms and designer towels and shower gel you've got no choice. But experience is much more than this. No one goes to Westside Barbell or Metroflex Gym or any crossfit gym for the shower gel and towels. It is a distinct experience.

I would say a company like Les Mills have grasped this. When I visited their Head Office in London they had very much realised that the design of the group fitness space, the instructor, the music, the lighting, the feeling of a tribe (and which tribe they were aiming at - millennials or mums) were all part of the experience. Even if many of the places that buy the licence for their product have not grasped this concept. (I have no affiliation with Les Mills by the way).

What do people remember about the experience of your product, and remember the experience doesn't just have to be in your building, it can be online too.

"I don't want stuff. I want the need or experience it fulfills." (Rachel Botsman quoted in Scharmer 2013;134)

Do we even know what experience we are trying to produce? And please don't say friendly and welcoming with good customer service! Who doesn't want to be these things, experience goes beyond this.

A company like John Lewis has grasped experience (as well as a different way of employee remuneration). A few years ago they had no online presence, now they have a massive online presence. But this hasn't taken away from their stores. Their Christmas advert has become a tradition in a few short years. People still go to their stores and buy things, especially at Christmas, even though they can buy the same things online.Why? They have created an in-store experience that people want to be part of.

Experience is about participation. The customer has to be engaged. When I switch utility suppliers I don't really care about participation, it's a passive thing. But when people come to a club or centre they are actively choosing to spend at least an hour of their leisure time with you. How do engage them, how do you make them feel like they are part of something to justify your price being more than a budget club. After all, they could easily go for a walk for free outside or put some weights in their garage, why are they with you?

What adds to your experience, what detracts from your experience? A few ideas

• Does a vending machine selling the same stuff as your local petrol station add or detract from your health and fitness experience?
• Does your class booking system add or detract from the experience?
• Does the entry point, music, layout, staff uniform add or detract from the experience?
• etc etc

 


Fundamentally ask why does the world need us and our product? (Robertson, 2015).

Conclusion.

You may have noticed I haven't given you a prescriptive solution, as in you need to get rid of this and focus on this. First of all, every place is different, what your strengths are (your award winning grapes) I might not have even thought of.

For you the answer might be to have a hall that only has badminton, you've figured out a way to make money from a badminton only business (if someone can make a ping pong bar then this is probably viable). I hereby copyright 'Badminton Bar'!

Or your strength is rehab and GP referral and this should be your niche. Or you've figured out a way to make a business based on swimming lessons (and make a profit?!)

Or should focus on youth strength and kids fitness. Or you should have a great group fitness experience that only does Les Mills or indoor cycling like soul cycling.

I don't know what your experience should be, but please don't just try and tack on the above ideas to what you already do and hope for the best.

Secondly, collaboration is a powerful thing, I don't have all the answers, but I bet your team has all the answers you need if you let them tell you.

You should know what dead wood needs to be removed, you should know what your strong products should be, and the experience your customers should have.

Start with

"If this was my company, what would I do?' (Robertson 2015;25)

Key points

• Have the conversation with the front line staff, really listen they have some of the answers
• Are managers and support staff adding value to your business?
• What is the shared vision?
• This vision decides which choice grapes you focus on and which weeds you pull up
• Accept transition and you can't please everyone
• What is your experience going to be? Craft it.
• Keep evolving, creating and improving.

Yes, I was melodramatic at the start of part 1, is leisure dying? It will still be here in some form, of course, and it will drag on in its current form for a while until everyone goes and opens their own microgym or goes to work for Lidl to get paid more.

But something new will emerge. And collectively we can create this. Exciting times.

 

"Decades of scientific research have revealed that great creativity almost always springs from collaboration, conversation, and social networks—challenging our mythical image of the isolated genius. And research shows that when a group is in flow, it’s more likely to resolve problems with surprising and creative solutions." (R Keith Sawyer quoted in The Science of Happiness, University of Berkeley, module 7,edx.org)

Film reference of the day: It depends on why you built it, where you built it and who you built it for. image source: www.corumgroup.com

For more on all this stuff please see the following posts from me
The digital disruption of the fitness industry
Induction, Program, Leave, Repeat
No Joining Fee. The Fitness Industry Epic Fail

References and acknowledgements.

This whole thing has a big debt to two Massive Online Open Courses. (MOOCs). The future of learning probably isn't £9000 a year institutions any more.

Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence. Case Western Reserve University. www.courser.org
U Lab: Transforming Business, Society and Self. www.edx.org
U lab website

plus

The Science of Happiness. University of Berkeley. www.edx.org

Books

Goleman D, Boyatzis R, McKee a (2002) The New Leaders. Transforming the Art of Leadership into the Science of Results.

Scharmer O & Kaufer K (2013) Leading from the Emerging Future.

Robertson B (2015) Holacracy. The Revolutionary Management System that Abolishes Hierarchy.

Wallman J (2015) Stuffocation. Living More with Less.

Journals
Pine & Gilmore (1998) Welcome to the Experience Economy. Harvard Business Review.

Leisure is dying. But something new will emerge. Part 1.

To be clear leisure as an activity is not dying. People will ride bikes, go to the park and visit the cinema. What is probably dying is the business of leisure centres and health clubs.

In part one (yes this so big it's a two parter) I will identify the reasons and diagnosis/ evidence it is dying and then in part two offer some possible solutions.

And this comes from a point of honest and open discussion, if we all just shut down and hope for the best or keep repeating what we have always done then we are doomed to failure. I happen to know about leisure and fitness, you could apply these ideas to many types of business that are dying right now.

Imagine a business where 1) most staff get paid minimum wage 2) the company doesn't have to pay rent on it's premises 3) you don't have to pay VAT 4) and if you are lucky someone gives you a grant each month as well. If this business can't make a profit or break even, then their business model is in big trouble, it is a failure model.

Film reference for the day.

The same goes for the big monolithic health clubs. They have more overheads but still follow the minimum wage model, and yes they can raise some money from the private sector for a while but eventually the house of cards collapses. There is no sound business at the core of what they are doing.

The pressures on these business are considerably higher than they were 10 years ago. The market has fragmented and exploded. The competition comes from budget clubs charging £16.99 a month, from micro gyms (so called boutique gyms, but I don't like this name, makes it sound like a clothes shop in Camden), crossfit, workout in the park, fitness apps, online coaches, people buying programmes from someone on instagram.

Too big to fail? Of course not, visit any high street, where has Blockbuster, Woolworths, Virgin Megastore and a hundred other big business's gone? They failed to adapt to the emerging future. And remember the financial crisis, several banks only exist now because they were bailed out. And then there are governments and nation states which fail all the time, such as is happening in Europe right now. To think that the people running the leisure industry are any different would be myopic at best.

You think anyone is going to bail out the leisure industry when it goes pear shaped? Local governments are £10 billion in the hole, their priority is not going to be to save your LBT class (although, local councils do seem to love swimming pools for some reason...)

The basic business model centres and clubs hasn't really changed since the 1980's. Have a big building. And the contents of these buildings have evolved from squash courts to multi gyms to big gyms, and always the ubiquitous swimming pools. And in the 1990's the big health club chains expanded and most leisure centres just followed this model with monthly memberships and gyms and studios and all that, and nothing has really changed. Then there was the concept of leisure for all, even though it never can be because at some point you have to charge some money and even if it was free some people don't want your product, and now most budget gyms are way cheaper as well.

Actual money pit and perennial excuse.

If It can happen in the private sector, anyone remember Esporta, Holmes Place, Canons? Then it can happen in the semi private/ trust/ charity/ council funded sector as well.

Signs & Symptoms.

"most companies perish while their management is frozen with terror" 
(Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2002;320)

A few key pointers that an industry is in trouble:

• Heavy discounting of the product, hoping that somehow this will attract new customers (as Seth Godin says, if someone doesn't want your product, discounting it won't make any difference).
• Raising the price for existing customers. If they are already with us, may be we can make them pay more.
• Reverse pyramid management structure. The front line service is cut but you still have a whole bunch of middle and upper managers (people rarely make themselves redundant).
• A 'sell more' one trick pony strategy. We just need to sell more, this isn't a strategy but a shrill shout of someone who has run out of ideas. This is like the manager of a football team saying 'what you need to start doing is winning', and 'if you keep kicking the ball at the goal one of them is bound to go in'. Thanks coach, we all know what we need to do, but how, where is the plan, where is the coherent strategy?
• And engaging in a whole process which Otto Scharmer and U Lab at MIT would call 'absencing'. There is closing down, holding onto what we already know, holding onto the patterns of the past and collectively enacting results that no one wants.
• Continuing to pursue aspects of their business that do not make money in the hope that these will somehow magically transform into something that makes money and they don't want to piss off the minority of people who still use these services.
• In his book Holacracy Brian Robertson lists some other warning signs about organisations including "emails flying around with many people cc'd in, often for unclear reasons" and "people have lots of ideas about what 'we' should do... but 'we' doesn't do it" (Robertson 2015;41)

Cutting costs, skimping on staff, not fixing things, does that sound familiar? It's the standard model for most failing business's.

"It's what most companies and institutions are doing today - they respond to challenges by doing more of the same: cutting costs and becoming lean and mean, but not reinventing themselves." Scharmer & Kaufer (2013;245)

Clues

#1

A lone person with a Skype connection can make more money and influence more people than most of the current traditional fitness industry.

#2

Micro gyms don't follow the same old tired model. In some ways they have figured out that 80% of their business comes from 20% of their clients (Paretos Law). However, I do see some micro gyms which end up following the same path as the business's they left. They decide to have monthly memberships with all sorts of discounts for all sorts of people, they then decide that what they need is longer opening hours and before you know they're paying some poor sap (coach) to sit on a reception desk for minimum wage while not actually coaching anyone. At this point they have become a single site version of what they tried to avoid except the owners have some equipment that they personally like in their gym. For how to do it properly see Cressey Performance, Cosgrove and Mike Boyle to name a few.

#3

50% of people in management positions are not adding any value. Another 20-30% may be adding value in one persons view. Therefore 70-80% of people in management can be removed from their role and the organisation will run smoothly. (Boyatzis, 2015, Coursera.org)

Think about that for a second, and if you're a manager really think about that. Does your organisation really need you, do the customers in your club really need you. What do they really need, what value are you adding?

#4

The only asset you have that can't be copied is your staff.

Most aspects of your business can easily be copied, anyone can rent a space and lease a load of equipment. Anyone can have a really good website these days. These are not hard things to copy.

The only thing that you have that cannot be directly copied because they are unique are your staff. They create the culture, they create the atmosphere. But how much are we investing in ground level staff?

Despite this, the turnover of staff is very high in leisure at the lower levels. How can you retain customers when you can't retain staff. The holy grail of member retention is lost before you've even engaged with a customer.

Right now, Sport Direct have announced that they will be paying above minimum wage. This means that a company that is widely regarded as being one step above working in a gulag has just trumped most of the leisure industry.

And why do most people leave?

"The number one reason that people cite for quitting is dissatisfaction with the boss. In a tight labor market, when people have the ability to get an equivalent job easily, those with bad bosses are four more times likely to leave than those who appreciate the leader they work for." (Goldman, Boyatwzis, McKee  2002;105)

#5
Thinking this is a service industry when it's an experience industry.

It's easy to think you provide a service, here is a room full of machines, here is a swimming pool. Thinking in terms of pure utility. And there are some customers who want a pure utility, a cross trainer, a class taught by anyone in any old room. These people are going to go and buy the lowest price option.

In the world of renting telephone lines and broadband, this idea of service works. All prices are pretty much the same, the same line is coming into your house whoever you rent it from. However much these companies think they are different they really aren't.

It's easy to confuse customer service and experience. One way to think of it is explained by Pine & Gilmore (1998) in their seminal article:

"An experience occurs when a company intentionally uses services as the stage."

And guess what, if you think you are in the service industry you probably turn your product into an experience everyday you don't clean something or someone gets told the wrong thing at reception and the complaint comments flood in.

"The easiest way to turn a service into an experience is to provide poor service." (Pine & Gilmore)

More on this later in the solutions section.

That's the end of Part 1. The stage is set, we all know what the problems are, but how do we change it? See you in part deux, which is here.

For more on all this stuff please see the following posts from me
The digital disruption of the fitness industry
Induction, Program, Leave, Repeat
No Joining Fee. The Fitness Industry Epic Fail


References and acknowledgements.

This whole thing has a big debt to two Massive Online Open Courses. (MOOCs). The future of learning probably isn't £9000 a year institutions any more.

Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence. Case Western Reserve University. www.courser.org
U Lab: Transforming Business, Society and Self. www.edx.org
U lab website

plus

The Science of Happiness. University of Berkeley. www.edx.org

Books

Godin S (2011) We Are All Weird

Goleman D, Boyatzis R, McKee a (2002) The New Leaders. Transforming the Art of Leadership into the Science of Results.

Scharmer O & Kaufer K (2013) Leading from the Emerging Future.

Robertson B (2015) Holacracy. The Revolutionary Management System that Abolishes Hierarchy.

Wallman J (2015) Stuffocation. Living More with Less.

Journals
Pine & Gilmore (1998) Welcome to the Experience Economy. Harvard Business Review.

Do you need a program? Why do you want to fail?

Four examples of people who obviously aren't following any type of program.

Example 1: Guy walks into the gym, the very first thing he goes on is the pec dec, then followed by something random like the calf raise. Note: this guy does not look like Dorian Yates.

Example 2: Guy walks into the gym, goes over to the free-weights, picks up a pair of 50kg dumbbells with no warm up and does a set of dumbbell bench press. He does this every single time he comes into the gym. He has found something he is good at and is sticking with it.

Example 3: Woman walks into the gym, goes on the cross trainer for 40 minutes and then does every variation of crunch known to woman kind.

Example 4: Guy walks into the gym, goes over to the free-weights, stands as close as he can to the rack and then does a super fast set of alternating partial range bicep curls to warm up, followed by declines press on the smith machine.

None of these routines can be found in a magazine, or fitness website or fitness book. None of these routines were written or designed by a professional.

In a  recent survey in the gym where I work over 90% of people were not following a program. They gave all sorts of answers such as 'I freestyle it', 'I have a routine I like to do', 'I kind of do my own thing'. All code for I am making this stuff up and have no idea what I'm doing. Strangely, the people most likely to be free-styling were the beginners and neophytes, the people most likely to be following a routine written by themselves or more likely a coach were the most advanced.

So why don't people follow programs? Do they need one? Do they subconsciously want to fail? And should you be doing intuitive training if you have no idea what you are doing?

Do beginners need a program?

Firstly, the most important thing is to show up (I think Dan John said that). By actually showing up at the gym you are already way ahead of most of the population. Well done.

Next up, what to do in the gym. You would think that considering the vast amount of programs on the internet and fitness apps available, people would be following these? Right? Wrong. Most beginners are not following any program.

So you would think they would take advantage of the offer of a free program? No, offer someone three free appointments and a free program and most people never make it past turning up for appointment one. After session one, they figure they are good to go, they know how to start the machine and watch E4, so let the results based training begin. Although, if someone is actually paying for a program, they do actually turn up and take notice. There is a lesson there.

I think the first issue is comfort zone. People don't like being uncomfortable. For most of them, just coming into the gym is uncomfortable, you start asking them about their goals and their plan and they get decidedly shifty. They want to keep their head down. They have already decided what they are going to do. You tell them in the most polite way possible that their plan of coming to the gym twice a week and doing a bit of cardio while not changing their diet will result in zero weight-loss, and one and a half stone is not shifting with this approach, and they don't like it.

Cross trainer. The fitness industry nemesis. The anti-program machine?

Hard work doesn't sound like what they signed up for. They want to be taken to the edge of their comfort zone so they can justify the tub of Ben and Jerry's but they don't want to actually go much further and get results.

Expertly drawn picture of why the no program strategy doesn't work for beginners.

A real conversation between one of my colleagues and a new member

Trainer: I can offer you a movement screen, write an individual program, get you booked in for three appointments with us, at no extra cost.
Client: No, I just want to use the cross trainer and a few machines
Trainer: I can show you how to press quickstart, but I don't want you to think in three months time that you didn't achieve anything or get results
Clients: I'll do my own thing for a month, then if it doesn't work I will come and see you.

Good luck to her, but it wont work.

Hardly anyone thinks they can teach themselves to drive or ski with absolutely no help. A few could probably do it after watching some youtube videos. But most couldn't, they seek expert help, because if nothing else it's quicker. But with fitness, they aren't doing this, they are free-styling it, not even turning to the internet. You learned to walk intuitively, but you are not going to grasp a sumo deadlift or kettlebell swing intuitively, so you will avoid them or do them really badly.

Beginners don't need an individual program. Bu they do need a program. And a program that is progressive, if you are still lifting the 1kg dumbbells in 6 weeks time, there was no improvement. The program can be simple, more simple than people think they need: walk everyday, body-weight squats, body-weight step ups, glute bridges etc but with good technique and a progression!

There is no place for intuitive training with the absolute beginner, how can you make intuitive choices about exercises you are not even aware of?

The beginner needs to be guided with exact reps and sets and time, because they have no frame of reference to make an informed decision.

Who needs a program?

Beyond the beginner there are a range of programs available. I have personally followed programs off of t-nation, and by Eric Cressey, Bret Contreras and Brad Schoenfeld. They were all good and gave me some structure. Though I doubt any of them would have been useful if I didn't know how to squat, deadlift, press etc.

I have also followed programs written by myself and others. (My running training is a different matter, as I will explain).

You don't need a program, but you do need a plan!

It is okay to be flexible. How many times have I walked into the gym and wanted to use the rack for squats but it is in use. I could be that guy who stands there for 30 minutes waiting for the rack to become free, as he cannot deviate from his routine, or I could go and do some trap bar deadlifts or kettlebell front squats.

I have a template in my mind, but anyone who has ever worked out in a commercial gym knows you have to be flexible.

You don't need a program but you do need a structure!

So you need to have enough experience to know when to deviate from the plan, but also to know when you are kidding yourself and wimping out.

Cybernetic periodization and autoregulation. What, Cyber-men are coming?!

These days the terms intuitive training and autoregulation have become conflated. Intuitive training is essentially making it up on the day and doing what you like (no squats, bench all the way!). Autoregulation is actually way more structured, see Siff (2003: 129).

More useful for the medium to advanced exerciser is cybernetic periodization. Which sounds more complicated and Dr Who than it actually is. Siff (2003:135) defines cybernetic periodization this way

"..in which loading, in a given training scheme is modified regularly according to a subjective rating of perceived exertion (RPE), rating of technique (RT), objective physiological measurements and actual sporting performance."

and further more

"cybernetic programming... is a quantified extension of what may be termed intuitive training, an approach which probably is as old as the history of physical training." (Siff, 2003:297)

Note, this doesn't mean you just go into the gym and make it up. You have a plan or even a specific program. Maybe, you are meant to do 5x5 on squats on a particular weight, but you back off on the last set that day, or only do three sets, or if you are feeling strong and technique is good, put more weight on the bar.

This approach works if you know how you body responds to exercise, if you are on week one of squats and still using just the bar, then you don't have enough experience to make the decision. That's where the coach comes in.

Avoiding qualities you need to work on. 

Another reason to have a program is the tendency to avoid the things you need to work. I think it was Duncan French who said we need to work on the qualities that have been trained out of our athletes (I'm paraphrasing) and in essence this is the same for the general public. People are rounded too much, sit down all day, then come to the gym and do too much bench press or sit on a bike. They need to do the opposite of what they have become accustomed to and comfortable with and by extension reasonably good at. And not many people want to do things where they might start off looking bad, ego stops more people than anything else for asking for help and getting a program and results.

A confession.

As I stated earlier I have followed resistance training programs from a whole range of sources and got good results.

When it comes to running, its a different matter. I trained for Leadville 100 mile with no program set in stone. I didn't write my mileage down, I don't know how many miles I covered each week. Don't get me wrong, I read every source and book on run programming and ultra running that  I could from Brad Hudson to Bryon Powell and way too many more to list. And I took influence from all of them and then constructed my own plan. Call me egotistical, with my background in resistance training and rehab I thought I could construct a better plan for me than anyone else.

Also things like run 3k at tempo, then 5k at marathon pace etc just don't work for me.

Don't get me wrong, I had a plan, but in essence I was using cybernetic periodization. And also because of my work schedule I had to be flexible as to when my long runs and gym sessions were. The actual description of what I did is a whole other article. But below is a brief summary:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Approx 10k trail or road run depending in schedule, plus gym (dropped gym in later phase of training)
Wednesday: easy road run 30-40mins
Thursday: Hill session, anything from 8 sec sprints to 1 mile repeats
Friday: Gym
Saturday: 10-20k road run or treadmill incline
Sunday: 35-40k trail

This schedule would switch and change all the time, sometimes Saturday & Sunday would reverse, sometimes I would add in a gym session on Tuesday or Wednesday evening, sometimes I would be working weekends.

The important thing is I had bench marks to hit, 50k run by first week of June, 70-80k run by 7th July.

Sometimes I would feel good and do more hill repeats on a Thursday, sometimes I would do more work, sometimes less,sometimes faster than I thought I could, sometimes barely making it to the end, but I never missed a session.

The plan was there, the basic structure was there, and thought the thought of blowing up on Hope Pass kept me motivated to not kid myself and take days off and avoid things I needed to do (run up hills in the rain and snow).

Anton Krupicka (ultra-runner with awesome beard) has said, if he had a coach and a program, he would almost certainly get better. But mountain ultra running is about something more than that. So if you are exercising because you want to get into a flow state, or enjoy running for the sake of, and like exercise purely for stress relief and to help mindfulness, then you probably don't need a program. But most people join a gym to lose weight, tone up, increase muscle mass and all the usual reasons.

Anton Krupicka. Intuitive training is fine if you know what you're doing and you have an ultra beard . (Picture chosen by my girlfriend!)

Failure & success, it's a fine line.

Most beginners don't have a plan or structure. Sometimes they have a vague idea of a routine that they have constructed out of the ether. Okay, at least they are doing something (but please stop doing sit ups while holding onto a sandbag!)

Some have a random approach, random workouts, random conditioning. Mostly staying well within their comfort zones, and working on the qualities they already have rather than the ones they have lost. And random workouts can be fun, but you need to earn the right to do them. Learn to read and write before writing novels.

Yes, as a beginner without a coach or a program or plan you will fail.

Yes, an infinite number of monkeys given an infinite amount of time may write Supertraining. But we already have Supertraining, and we already have hundreds of programs that work and good coaches that can help, so why are you still free-styling your way to failure?

Most advanced lifters and athletes are following a program. You don't need to plan every single rep, but you do need a road map. Athletes and advanced lifters will work on things they don't like, with the help of a coach, as they know it will make them better.

You are probably less advanced than you think you are, you probably need some help to get results you actually joined the gym for in the first place. Yes, you will go out of comfort zone, and it may be hard, but a good coach and program will get you to where you want to be. Trust them, it will be worth it.

References:

Siff M (2003) Facts & Fallacies of Fitness. 6th edition.