Uncover the secret to thriving in the cutthroat fitness industry with Dallas's own Travis DeSisso, Vice President of Personal Training at Equinox Fitness. As our 100th show draws near, we're honored to have a figure whose journey from collegiate sports to fitness maven has carved out a new path for personal trainers. This isn't just about muscle and might; it's a tale of finesse, where salesmanship meets sincere client relationships, and where innovative workouts are as crucial as the polished veneer of a trainer.
Imagine stepping into a world where luxury and sweat blend seamlessly, as we contrast the polished ambiance of premier gyms like Equinox and Lifetime. Travis provides an insider's look at what sets these establishments apart and paints a vision for a future where personal trainers garner the same respect as other health professionals. The discourse turns to the importance of genuine connections—how mastering the art of being interested, rather than being interesting, can revolutionize client retention and redefine success in the realm of personal training.
In this episode, we don't just celebrate the milestones; we set new ones. From championing the professionalism in personal training to discussing the deep-seated aspirations that drive us beyond the gym walls, Travis shares his dreams of a certification esteemed globally and the importance of staying grounded as a devoted father and husband. Join us for a conversation that's not just about lifting weights, but about elevating standards and recognizing the transformative power of a career dedicated to fitness and well-being.
Want to ask us a question? Email email info@showupfitness.com with the subject line PODCAST QUESTION to get your question answered live on the show!
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/showupfitnessinternship/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@showupfitnessinternship
Website: https://www.showupfitness.com/
Become a Personal Trainer Book (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Personal-Trainer-Successful/dp/B08WS992F8
Show Up Fitness Internship & CPT: https://online.showupfitness.com/pages/online-show-up?utm_term=show%20up%20fitness
NASM study guide: ...
Uncover the secret to thriving in the cutthroat fitness industry with Dallas's own Travis DeSisso, Vice President of Personal Training at Equinox Fitness. As our 100th show draws near, we're honored to have a figure whose journey from collegiate sports to fitness maven has carved out a new path for personal trainers. This isn't just about muscle and might; it's a tale of finesse, where salesmanship meets sincere client relationships, and where innovative workouts are as crucial as the polished veneer of a trainer.
Imagine stepping into a world where luxury and sweat blend seamlessly, as we contrast the polished ambiance of premier gyms like Equinox and Lifetime. Travis provides an insider's look at what sets these establishments apart and paints a vision for a future where personal trainers garner the same respect as other health professionals. The discourse turns to the importance of genuine connections—how mastering the art of being interested, rather than being interesting, can revolutionize client retention and redefine success in the realm of personal training.
In this episode, we don't just celebrate the milestones; we set new ones. From championing the professionalism in personal training to discussing the deep-seated aspirations that drive us beyond the gym walls, Travis shares his dreams of a certification esteemed globally and the importance of staying grounded as a devoted father and husband. Join us for a conversation that's not just about lifting weights, but about elevating standards and recognizing the transformative power of a career dedicated to fitness and well-being.
Want to ask us a question? Email email info@showupfitness.com with the subject line PODCAST QUESTION to get your question answered live on the show!
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/showupfitnessinternship/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@showupfitnessinternship
Website: https://www.showupfitness.com/
Become a Personal Trainer Book (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Personal-Trainer-Successful/dp/B08WS992F8
Show Up Fitness Internship & CPT: https://online.showupfitness.com/pages/online-show-up?utm_term=show%20up%20fitness
NASM study guide: ...
Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry, one qualified trainer at a time, with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitnesscom. Also, make sure to check out my book how to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Howdy everybody, and welcome back to the Show Up Fitness Podcast. We are super lucky today to have Mr Travis DeCisso, and he is out of Dallas. This big hunk right here is doing it all, so thank you for taking your time, travis.
Speaker 2:My pleasure. I'm happy to be here joining you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:You're coming up on our hundredth episode and I gotta be honest, I haven't been intimidated by many people. But you intimidate me because you're fucking jacked, your biceps are giant and I gotta know what do you do to keep those arms so big?
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, that's terrible. Well, congrats on getting close to uh 100. That's, that's awesome. Um, I no, I don't know, maybe genetics, I don't know. I I once upon a time I probably did a lot of uh, a lot of arm work, but not as much anymore, probably but you're in the gym on a daily basis.
Speaker 1:You're working out. What do you have to do? Yeah, I, I really do, it changes I.
Speaker 2:I try to constantly uh switch it up, to be honest with you. So so currently, uh, I'm just following a different type of split. I train, uh, doing strength training, probably three days a week, uh, mostly it's full body actually, uh, and then three days a week I do cardio. What?
Speaker 1:What are we benching?
Speaker 2:Oh man, I don't know Nothing too heavy I try to go. You know, I have a funny program. I like to do a bit of a drop set, so I'll do 225 for reps and then I follow with push-ups and then I just do a drop set until I get down to about 135 on the bar. It's really hard, but it's one of my favorite bench press routines.
Speaker 1:There you go and you're repping 225 for 15, 20, easy right.
Speaker 2:I can still get to about that number.
Speaker 1:yes, that a boy. That's impressive. That's where those giant cannons come from. One thing that I think is important for trainers and I stress this a lot is to know your elevator pitch, and so for you, you know people. You are this ambiguous individual because you're not on social media, which is so awesome. You don't have to deal with all the shenanigans. But for those that there's numerous podcasts that you're on and you do, you know a pretty thorough one, but why don't you just give us your elevator pitch and you know who is Travis? How did this 42 young hunk get to pretty much almost even the CEO of?
Speaker 2:Oh, look at this Not quite there yet. No, soon, soon. No, yeah, I'm happy to walk through it. Yeah, I'm happy to walk through it. I mean, I started off in fitness. I've been in fitness for probably about almost exactly 20 years now. When I was starting off I was still in school. I studied exercise science. I graduated from Harding University. I played college football there, ran track there, briefly played arena football after university and then I got into private training early on in my career. From there I started working with LA Fitness. Actually Ran a couple clubs for LA Fitness and then have been managing with Equinox Fitness since 2009. In the Dallas area pretty much the entire time. But I've worked my way from managing one club to higher level, you know kind of internal coaching. We call that tier X at Equinox. But then I managed regionally. I had 22 clubs that I managed for about eight or nine years or so and then most recently, I'm operating as the vice president of personal training for Equinox Fitness. We've got about 106 locations throughout the US, canada and the UK.
Speaker 1:That's impressive. I've been to over 50 of them.
Speaker 1:I'm a big fan of Equinox and you guys got a bunch in California, new York. The statistics I'll talk to some managers and they'll say it's 106, some will say 109. I know you guys are growing a lot, but you guys are doing great. And one of the things I talk about in my book is 90% of these textbook trainers they get their basic certs. They're quitting within about a year and in the UK it's about 18 months. 50% are quitting in the first six months. Would you say those statistics are pretty accurate and let's talk a little bit about that. And why do you think that is?
Speaker 2:But with trainers specifically, I think it's because, in order to be able to it's not a salaried position, so in order to be able to support yourself, you're really being paid whenever you conduct sessions, and so if you don't get to a place, probably fast enough, where you're generating enough income, I think people tend to drop out after that.
Speaker 1:I was having a good conversation with the director of operations and sales at Lifetime and we were having a good conversation. He's like Chris my words are not his but he's like trainers just fucking suck at sales and I think that plays a role. But do you feel like you're a salesman? I mean, you've been in the training position, but do you see yourself as a salesman?
Speaker 2:Well, yes and no. I think really everything that we do is sales, right, I think sales kind of permeates all of it, and when I'm speaking to trainers about it, I try to make it as simple and probably silly, as when you get up in the morning and you put some clothes on, you sold yourself on that shirt or that hat, right? So we make those kind of decisions all the time. Is that necessarily sales? No, I mean, obviously I'm making that really simple, but I don't consider myself a salesman in that sense. Um, but, but I think that we are selling ourselves constantly, uh, and, and so you know, I I think that, uh, you probably could argue that, yeah, part of it is sales and it's I hear I'll get into the depths of hell on reddit and and pt forums and you know trainers are bitching about it's just.
Speaker 1:You know I didn't sign up to be a salesman, but when you think about it's just, you know I didn't sign up to be a salesman, but when you think about it, it's like. You know I charge more than the average trainer does and we have gyms in Santa Monica and La Jolla and and I never feel like I'm pitching a price to them I listen to what their needs are, I provide a solution and then they keep showing up and they get results and and I think that unfortunately trainers they paint this big picture. It's like you know, if you're at an Equinox and there's somebody who's bench pressing wrong, they're not doing as much as you are, but you know they're screwing up and would you feel bad to go give them some pointers? Like no. But if someone were to say go sell them a 10 pack, then you're like, oh shit, you start freaking out. You're just having conversations like we are right now, right, right.
Speaker 2:No, I think you're exactly right and I think the big key is. So. I always like to say sales is a transference of feeling and I don't think that that you know. Certainly I didn't coin that, but I think it's very accurate, I imagine for you, chris, when you're interacting with a client or you just see a member and you go up to that person, you know without a doubt that you have information that would be beneficial to them. Whether or not they choose to take you up on it is up to them, right, but you feel very confident.
Speaker 2:I imagine that you know you have a solution for them, solution for them. And I think where trainers struggle is if they lack that confidence, right, and they don't feel certain that they have a solution for that person, then it does come across probably odd and that transaction it does feel very. Maybe that's salesy, maybe that's transactional, because they're not delivering value. And I think that's probably what they're actually looking at is I didn't sign up to not deliver value, right, and you still have to convince people to work with you. But if you're confident in your skills, I don't see how there's a hesitation there.
Speaker 1:I agree that's a perfect segue into the next one. This next one is going to be a little long, so bear with me, but I've interviewed some pretty big people for my book from Dr Waterbury he helped coin the term for us. You know, we're great trainers, you're made Dr Russ and a lot of trainers and something that I've taken from trainers and coaches that we concocted what we call help Nick, and this acronym is something that I'm actually going to go through and selfishly kind of pick your brain, because you have 20 years of experience and I don't think there's many other people out there in your position who could, you know, give me some real, honest feedback, and I respect you, so I'd love to see what you think about this and then you know if there's any opportunities to fix it. I'd be more than happy to add some of that stuff. But the acronym has helped Nick, and the first one being hunger. And there's one of your trainers in Miracle Mile, carlos. He's the one who also does our Equinox calls and he's one of your trainers in Miracle Mile, carlos. He's the one who also does our Equinox calls and he's doing great. And he said that one of the membership advisors told the client to work with Carlos because he's always there at 5 o'clock. This kid is a stud, he's getting there at 4.30. He's even talked to membership. Hopefully I'm not getting in trouble, but he gets in there 30 minutes before the gym even opens. And now I guarantee you, if you are a new trainer and you were to show up when the gym opened and when it closed and you did that for a year, you would be one of the top trainers there and you would be absolutely crushing it.
Speaker 1:And people hear that today and it's almost like the entitlement. They're like, oh well, it's so hard, but it's like you don't have that hunger, you don't really want it, and so that's, uh, I think, really important one. And then the next one is education and experience. Those go hand in hand. But I hear a lot of trainers will get their you know, simple textbook, certification, mass, whatever it is. And then they're like, okay, I'm gonna go gain experience and it just fucking blow.
Speaker 1:It pisses me off, because I'm like what do you mean? You don't. You've never even been supervised. You don't know how to train. You understand how to train your body, not the human body. So what you need is someone giving you pointers and saying, okay, so when they're doing this exercise, you know, ask this question, you don't have to regress it and progress it. You need that guidance. And I see so many trainers go out there and they really have no fr freaking clue how to train. They just they want to try to, you know, train themselves. And so it's like the blind leading the blind.
Speaker 1:And then the L is looks. I just had a young hunk on here prior to this, jacob. He's in Miami and the dude is jacked. I mean, let's be honest, if you and I were to go to Equinox and we were to be going through the interview process, you got big hunk over here with your 20-inch arms bench pressing 225 for 20 reps. Let's pretend like I put on 50 pounds, I got a big belly and my scraggly beard and a big nose. They're not going to pick me, they're going to work with you.
Speaker 1:And so then we have, which I think is an important. Next one is the personality. We have one of the top trainers at your Bryant Park location in New York, jose the kid is just super, super personable and he can talk to anyone. And I know a trainer also at the San Jose one, and he's like the client's. Here it's a different market. You have to be able to talk stocks and know what's going on with the software, because if you're over here talking about the side and filling that theory and some other bullshit, the client's like you know what. I'm not interested in this. So it's like you got to be personable.
Speaker 1:And then we got the n and that's uh, networking tyrus. I put this in my book. He is one of the trainers for you guys at houston and he's like chris I should have listened to a long time ago, because it's it's at where the ms are. You got to get into MAs, bring them coffee. It's like you wine and dine those guys. They're the ones who get all the leads. You got to work with them. Networking is huge. And then we got the I, and that's going to be innovative. Now this one can be a little tricky, because I'm not talking about doing weird shit on BOSU balls. I'm talking about observing your environment. And there's a trainer at a top point in Berkeley and she said I look around and all the trainers are doing the same warmup, they're doing their payoffs, they're doing the world's stupid stretch, whatever it is. And she's like I just started doing some unique 90-90 hip variations. I started getting involved and I had three members come up to me within a week and they're like I want to work with you.
Speaker 1:So, that innovative part I think is really important because people they're not lunatics like you and I where it's like we could go and do a drop set on bench press 100 weeks in a row and we love it, but our clients, they may get bored, they want to try something else. So it's kind of knowing that market. The C is what I dub the word, kind of cocky, and that is being confident and a little bit of cockiness. I had just about a month ago we had a trainer get hired at your Hollywood gym, hector, and I was coaching him up before and I said look in the mirror, tell yourself, you're the best fucking trainer that I've ever seen. And you got to say that a thousand times because if there's any doubt that hiring manager is going to sniff that out, I don't care if there's 20 other people in the room, they need to know that you're the best and that's a self, that's a part of confidence and you mentioned that earlier Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And this last one is knowledgeable and I think that knowledge comes from those live workshop going to seminars and I always got to do my little pitch, but we have our seminar at Lifetime May 18th and 19th. That'll be the next one. I'll be in Sacramento and when you go and you learn from people who have 20 plus years of experience, they're able to take some of that and then go apply it back to what they've learned with their clients. And I feel that trainers don't invest in themselves. They, you know they'll play victim.
Speaker 1:And it's so hard to build a book of business and I say you know, what books are you reading? What seminars are you going to Now? Are you getting to the gym early? Are you showing up? Are you looking the part? So now, from all these interviews in my book and you know, more than happy to put you in there if you would give me the green light, but we don't have to but I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on those traits and if you could maybe highlight a couple of them that you think are really important for trainers in your facilities.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. First of all, I think when you create an acronym like that, it makes it a lot easier to remember and grasp onto, and so you know, I think that's fantastic help, nick. I like that a lot. There are a couple of them, I think, that stand out to me, and all of them are important. I don't know that you could say one is more important than the other, and it always depends because you can decide to weight them a little bit differently.
Speaker 2:I think Two that stand out to me, probably more than the others, really are personality and knowledge, and in fact, we survey our members and we've asked them what do you look for the most when you're looking to hire a personal trainer? And they tell us that I want someone who I can connect to, and so I think that that's really important, and I like to tell managers, even when you're looking to hire someone, think about if you were stuck in the elevator with this person. Is that a good time? Or are you looking for, you know, an emergency hatch to get out of there? Because you know there is a personal part of personal training, right, and so you have to be able to connect with people. You spend a lot of time with these individuals who become clients of yours, and oftentimes you know you're, you know. I remember having clients, you know when, when their children were, let's say, in elementary school or junior high school, and then, and then you watch them graduate from high school and they go to college, and then they come back from college and you're with them throughout that period of time. So you've got to have a good personality.
Speaker 2:And then the second thing that our members tell us they're looking for is somebody who's knowledgeable, and so that's another one that really stands out to me here, and I think that personality is hard to teach. So that's an important one. It's hard to teach Now. You can develop and be a better communicator, or easier to just do a better job building rapport and getting along with people. You can develop, I think, your personality, but it's a hard one to necessarily teach.
Speaker 2:Knowledge, on the other hand, is readily available and I think not enough people spend enough time or invest enough in their own knowledge so that they can, you know, be able to be the right trainer for multiple people. I think, you know, too many times trainers kind of pigeonhole themselves into one type of person to work with or one type of member goal, for example, and so I think the wider the knowledge base, the more opportunity to grow the business really. So those two stand out again. Not that any of the other ones do not I like Kankake, that's a pretty fun way to think about that but those two stand out to me pretty fun way to think about that, but those two stand out to me.
Speaker 1:Now, to piggyback off of that, what advice would you give to someone? Because there's certain situations that I just don't know how to get through. My dad's a shrink. I tried to use those psychological skills, one being, you know, when you have a trainer who just smells, I don't know how to have that conversation with them, but anyways. But with a client or a trainer whose personality lacks, how do you have that conversation? You can't be like dude, you didn't get hired because you're fucking weird. How do you coach?
Speaker 2:someone up like that.
Speaker 1:No, you definitely can't say that no, you can't say that.
Speaker 2:Look, it's hard, and that's why I'm saying it's hard to teach that. To teach that, you know, honestly, it's even you know a trainer that you know I'd be getting in trouble if I said somebody was weird. But let's just say that there was a trainer who struggled to get along with others. It never ceases to amaze me that they still managed to bump into people like themselves, you know, in the gym and they're able to actually find people to connect with. It's just harder, it takes longer if you struggle through that.
Speaker 2:I, I I'm an introverted person by nature. I had to work on, you know, going up and actually introducing myself to people, and not that I was, I don't, I don't think that I was awkward, I don't think that I was, you know, socially awkward. I just I didn't know how to go up and talk to people. And so what I did was I started reading books about sales. I read the Psychology of Sales, I read the Art of Closing. Those are old books, but I read those to just kind of expand my knowledge base. I guess, when it came to that, how to Win Friends and Influence People was a really good book. I read it early on and I learned. Actually, my wife is the one that told me this.
Speaker 2:Really, you know, work on being interested and not interesting. In other words, be more interested in the people in front of you than you are trying to be interesting to them. Right, and the more you get other people to kind of talk about themselves, the more interesting you become to that person, right, and so you just I think if you can facilitate others a little bit better by that, that's the way maybe to work through whatever awkwardness that person. You know, if you're coaching a trainer, for example, you know, ask a lot of questions of the people that you're in front of. Don't be so weird. I don't know how you would just tell them. You know that's hard feedback to give, but that would be the thing Be interested, not interesting. The how to win friends and influence people. He's got a pretty cool story in there where he talks about being at a party and he gives a really good example of that where he talks about being at a party and he gives a really good example of that.
Speaker 1:That's a great book and I like that a lot because I can see a trainer prospecting at one of the 106 Equinoxes and they could go up there and try to show off with a new Viper tool, or you know, I want to be interesting. So you get into that. You know that consultation. But then if you take a different approach and you just smile at someone and say, hey, that was a great lift right there and you, just what are we training today? You have a conversation with them and the next thing you know they're interested more in you. You're not trying to pitch your services at them right away, you're truly trying to learn more about that person and you know, be the mayor of that gym, that's exactly right, exactly.
Speaker 2:I remember when we track a measurement or a metric, if you will, called sessions per client, right, how many, essentially, how many sessions does one client do with an individual trainer? And? And so that really means one of two things Right, if you're, if you have people who are training with you often, and let's take money off the table. But if you have people who are training with you often, and let's take money off the table. But if you have people who are training with you often, they're getting results, so your product is good, but they're enjoying their time with you.
Speaker 2:And so one trainer I remember in particular this is kind of early in my career, but I saw him just kind of on his iPad in between sessions looking through headlines of news stories and I'm like, what are you doing? And he tells me you know, what I've learned about working with some of my clients is there's a lot of things that they're interested in I know nothing about, and so I try to really put myself into their mindset before session. So, for example, if I know we're in Dallas, so if I know that you know the Cowboys are playing this weekend, even if I'm not a Cowboys fan, I'm going to go study the headlines so that I can interact with my client, because that's something that they're actually very interested in, and I think that that was a really good tip that I heard from that person early on.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, that's great, especially, you know, we've got college basketball right now. You may not like basketball, but basketball, but you know, learn about what's going on. Just being able to relate to your clients, that's huge. But one of our I did a podcast with one of your top trainers at santa monica, megan, and she it was called, you know, introvert, and you know people will almost label themselves in a negative way, like, oh, it's gonna be so hard for me to get clients. But she was the number one trainer there and she said what amazed her was how difficult it was for trainers to retain their clients. You know they'll sign them up a package of you know, 12, 16, whatever, and then that was it, and she would just build her book and slowly but surely she became, you know, one of the top trainers there. So it's. There's so many different things that you can add to your you know, your your tool belt per se. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah and really comes in. We got to that necessarily right now, but that has a lot to do with are you delivering on what you said you were going to deliver? It's one thing to get somebody to purchase with you one time, that's really actually not that hard Getting them to come back. You have to be delivering on the expectation at that point.
Speaker 1:That's interesting. You said that because I know that industry standards will accept like 25%, 30% closing rates and again sales scary word. But the members at Equinox and Lifetime and these higher end gyms just go walk around in the parking lot I was at the one with the big one in orange county and there's a lambo in front.
Speaker 1:I took some photos. I'm like what the fuck? Lambo, ferrari, all these crazy cars like these monthly payments. They probably paid in cash first off, but if they were to be paid a couple grand a month they can afford. Training absolutely didn't show the value. Right, you're probably trying to be interesting talking too much that's exactly right and so this next one's gonna be kind of a fun one.
Speaker 1:You know I'll just play the devil's advocate and we're gonna say you know, sell me, sell the listeners on why equinox is the best. Why are they better than lifetime? Lifetime has 170 gyms. You know they partner with show up fitness and rcpt, so I'm a little biased towards them. But you know, harvey hasn't given me my, my free membership yet when, even though I've had over 200 trainers hired each james. But that's another conversation. But tell me on on why equinox is the best.
Speaker 2:I I think it's you know a couple ways we could look at it, but I would say overall, it's the experience overall at equinox. Right, I don't know exactly, you know your listening audience, but I think if you've been in fitness for very long, you know who Equinox is by reputation. If you visit an Equinox, I hope that the experience is, you know, matching that reputation that you know we have. We have high expectations about the look and the design of our clubs. That's very, very important. Actually, we have high expectation about the employee standard and the way that we operate in the clubs and we could talk about probably a lot of different. You know reasons that that is and how that might show up, but I think overall that experience is very important.
Speaker 2:You know, I think something else that I don't get to speak about a lot because I'm in personal training, but it's also group fitness and our group fitness classes are unmatched, you know where. I think that personal trainers are probably a dime a dozen. I don't think the same thing about group fitness. I think that in group fitness you can absolutely tell if you have someone who is next level, and I think to be a group fitness instructor at Equinox you have to be next level and it's very innovative, and that's something about our spaces in general, we're very innovative in our spaces. Our group fitness classes are very innovative. We constantly change them, and I think it's very important.
Speaker 2:And then with personal training, you know what drove me to Equinox and the reason I stay is I believe that we're never satisfied and we're always pushing to. You know, I mentioned innovate earlier, but we're always educating and I think you know, especially post COVID, it's probably become more popular for fitness companies to offer some type of internal education. You know, maybe Lifetime does some work with you and maybe others have some kind of contract relationship with different people or entities. You know we for many years have had Equinox Fitness Training Institute, which is our internal education body. We do partnerships from time to time as well at our higher levels, but we do a lot of that internally. And so if you're looking to become, let's say, a personal trainer with Equinox, I think what really sets us apart is the level of accountability that we have with developing the trainers around their education, their business. We have managers that are keenly focused on those things as well, and I think it's the expectation to continue to evolve and get better that really separates us.
Speaker 1:You mentioned on a prior podcast about some advisors not wanting you to get into personal training and I think as a whole, the industry really isn't respected. You look at a trainer. There was a trainer, dave. He was in Houston and he said that it really kind of hit him when he was at the bar talking to this girl. He was hitting on her and he told her she was a trainer and she just turned around and walked away.
Speaker 1:And if you look at like the top 10 douchiest jobs and it was like one of them was a trainer and you know, when people say, I've had numerous conversations with students and they're like I got to do something that my parents can be respected on, and so how do we change that? Because I feel there's this elephant in the room where it's like a lifetime. They call your trainers DPTs, which I think is kind of ironic because you're using that title of a physical therapist and you're trying to like emulate that. But they're not Equinox. You guys have trainers sorry, you have coach on your and so how do we level the industry up to make it respectable?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's. I mean, that's a question I ask myself often. You know what? Why, let's say, an allied health professional world? Why are, why are some seen as a higher level professional than than personal trainers? Right, do with licensures and certifications and that type of thing, and we know that there's, you know, certifications and there's better certifications, right, but we kind of have a national accreditation and that's about it, and I think that that hurts the industry, probably to say, you know, it's not that hard to go get sick, you know, for a personal training certification, and so I think a lot of people probably call themselves personal trainers and they may not be delivering the same type of product that you and I might expect as a standard, but there is no really strong industry standard, right. And so I think that that's potentially the challenge, and I could spend, we could spend our whole time talking about that, probably. But I think what do we do about it? I think we have to have higher expectations as leaders in the industry. So that's something that I know is very important to Equinox, very important to me, and something that we're really trying to work on at Equinox.
Speaker 2:But the other part of it, I think, is, you know, is telling better stories. I think that, you know, probably in social media it hurts us a little bit because a lot of the, a lot of the training is just how do I look right? And and I could tell you, and I'm sure you have many, many stories of people who have changed their lives. And and I'm sure you have many, many stories of people who have changed their lives, and you know for the better, outside of the way they look in the mirror, how they feel mentally, how prepared they are to approach a day or a challenge, you know how it shows up in their work, especially for professionals, how people can be, you know, can extend their careers. I remember a neurosurgeon I worked with once upon a time and he said, you know, can extend their careers. I remember a neurosurgeon I worked with once upon a time and he said, you know, before I started working with you, I thought I might be retiring in the next few years. Now, after I'm working with you, I can extend my career by another 10 years or so. I really believe that. Well, for somebody who's a surgeon, 10 more years, you know, that's 10 more years of affecting people's lives, right? That's 10 more years of income for him it's an investment that's very much worthwhile.
Speaker 2:I don't know why, you know, even in medical practices, you know, if you put somebody with a personal trainer and you do a lot of disease prevention just simply by being physically active, it is a lot cheaper than having open heart surgery years later for not doing it. But I don't think that people think about it that way. I don't think we tell enough stories across our industry about that. It really is more about the stories that get. Attention really are whenever a celebrity is getting in shape for a movie. Attention, you know, really are whenever a celebrity is getting in shape for a movie. Or if we see, you know, like I said, on social media and we see somebody taking a picture because they're on a beach vacation or something like that. And that is a small percentage of what I think our industry actually can do, but it gets the most, I guess, attention and I think that that's something that we have to figure out how to change.
Speaker 1:Trainers are too busy posting T and A and.
Speaker 1:T is the Terrace Major A is a Dr Magnus Right. I agree that's powerful right there. It's going to take some time, but I think, to parlay off of what we were talking earlier with the networking, I think if trainers level up and are able to create better teams, get therapists and dieticians and stop trying to be like this jack of all trades where it's like look at all these acronyms I have after my name which mean absolutely nothing. You're a trainer, you're a coach, that's what you do, and so I liked it a lot. The last little thing I wanted to end on is BHAG. Have you heard of a BHAG before? Bhag goals.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:That's Jim Collins. He wrote that in Built to Last and he analyzed all the best companies and I'll put Equinox as one of the best companies out there when it comes to fitness Big, hairy, audacious goals. Hairy just kind of creeps me out, so I changed it to hunky. What are your big, hunky, audacious goals for Travis? Not necessarily for Equinox. I know that you can't disclose what you guys are doing. I hear rumors all the time. Who knows?
Speaker 2:where you guys will be.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're going to go public, we don't know.
Speaker 2:But what are your specific goals, bhag goals in 10, 15 years? That's a good question. I think it's tough to think about the future and and then also try to balance it out with the present. What I, what I know, is that it seems in my life, no matter what goals I've had I think God maybe has had a different plan for me my goals never seem to come to fruition, but it always seems to work out in the end anyway. And so, you know, the first thing that I that I want to be able to do, is to be a great father, and I have two little boys. I want to be a great husband, and so so those, you know, that's a very, very important thing for me. I want to be able to provide for them, and I and I think you know I'm able to do that in a powerful way, and so I'm excited for that.
Speaker 2:You know, I think I just turned I actually just turned 41. I thought I was 42. I get confused all the time. I just turned 41 in December and and my body started feeling every bit of 40, all of a sudden. No idea why that happened. I thought I would be an exception to that.
Speaker 2:I always hear people talk about it. It just creeped up on me all of a sudden. I don't like it. I am absolutely convinced that I need to figure out how to feel better. I just don't like the concept that people stop doing the things that they were doing when they were younger as they get older. I love I coach my kids when I can and, for example, they play flag football today and I love being able to get out with them and run and jump and fall over the place, and so I hope in the next 10, 15 years I'm still doing that type of thing.
Speaker 2:And then I think you know my, from a career aspiration standpoint, what I've said for myself. My goal is, you know, whatever that ends up being for me, I hope that I have helped improve the professionalism of personal training. That's very, very important to me. It's a passion of mine. You mentioned earlier that I did have people advise me not to get into personal training and yet I've been able to make a wonderful career out of it. And my personal goal with personal training is that it becomes recognized as a professional career path in the allied health professional world, and I think we're we're on our way, but I think we're scratching the surface, and I think that's something that I I really want to continue to help lead I love that.
Speaker 1:that's great. You know, one of my goals is to be hag, is to be recognized as the best certification in the world, and we got to get on that equinox list of approval. We have to have to buy you some whiskey or something to figure out how we can do that, but I appreciate you taking the time today. This was great and, as I say, the most important thing is bigger biceps are better than the smaller ones and keep showing up.
Speaker 2:Okay, I like that. Well, yes, I like that, keep showing up. That's very good, chris, and I appreciate the work. I was able to attend one of your workshops you know with, with different trainers and our team and then, you know, just over the last several months, I've been able to interact and see some of the things that you've you've been doing and just commend you on on that work and I really appreciate you know, show up fitness, really appreciate you and the influence that you have with equinox trainers specifically as well thanks, my man.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that your time's always valuable, so thank you absolutely. Thank you.