The Show Up Fitness Podcast
Join Chris Hitchko, author of 'How to Become A Successful Personal Trainer' VOL 2 and CEO of Show Up Fitness as he guides personal trainers towards success.
90% of personal trainers quit within 12-months in the USA, 18-months in the UK, Show Up Fitness is helping change those statistics. The Show Up Fitness CPT is one of the fastest growing PT certifications in the world with partnerships with over 500-gyms including Life Time Fitness, Equinox, Genesis, EoS, and numerous other elite partnerships.
This podcast focuses on refining trade, business, and people skills to help trainers excel in the fitness industry. Discover effective client programming, revenue generation, medical professional networking, and elite assessment strategies.
Learn how to become a successful Show Up Fitness CPT at www.showupfitness.com. Send your questions to Chris on Instagram @showupfitness or via email at info@showupfitness.com."
The Show Up Fitness Podcast
Imposter Syndrome w/ Adam | 10-Years Experience building two successful PT businesses in San Diego and Boise
Send us a text if you want to be on the Podcast & explain why!
Become a SUCCESSFUL personal trainer with Show Up Fitness. Coach Adam Baldwin IG - adambaldwinfitness Learn how to combat the most common fear that personal trainers experience, IMPOSTER SYNDROME. Adam was a personal trainer with a simple textbook certification and felt lost. It took him numerous years and the humility to ask a highly performing NEW personal trainer at Self Made Personal Training gyms in San Diego to overcome his fear. What was the solution, hands on learning via Show Up Fitness CPT in person internship in san diego. If you want to become a successful personal trainer like Adam (who's built two successful personal training business in person san diego and now boise), learn how to level up your skills in three areas that trainers lack, technical skills, business skills and the people skills.
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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. Today we got the big hunk. Mr Adam, trainer of 10 plus years. Teacher at Show Up. Let's talk about life. How are we doing bud?
Speaker 2:Doing pretty good. Just yeah, I've been focusing on teaching, mentoring a couple students, and then, yeah, growing my own business and focusing on training a lot of hockey clients right now, which is fun because that's the sport I grew up with, that's the one I love the most and it's by far the best.
Speaker 1:I love it because he has a show-up beanie on. Right now he's in a shirt, I got a sweater, I'm in shorts and it's freezing here, but you got five inches of snow on the ground, yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's not too bad, though I'll take the snow any day up here in Boise than I will. The wind, the wind is, I think it's whipping through and it's I mean 40 degrees. Will feel like 15 when that wind's coming through. So snow is not too bad.
Speaker 1:That market's exciting for me because I think it's going to be like a Vegas, like a Nashville, like an Austin. It's definitely highly sought after, especially with the cost of living and everything.
Speaker 1:So you're in a good place right now and we were talking before this about you and I are one of the few who like to go in the depths of hell of Reddit and check out what people are talking about and we constantly see the topic around imposter syndrome and we have doctors and therapists who we work with, and it was Tony General Corps' wife Lisa who actually corrected me and said it's actually referred to as imposter phenomena. It's more commonly referred to as imposter syndrome and I think it's a great conversation to talk about. And so, as a trainer of 10 years, what are your thoughts and what comes to mind when you hear other trainers talk about imposter syndrome? Does it bring you back to when you first started out and your journey of becoming a trainer and what your thoughts you were having?
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, definitely. The funny thing is when you say that, because when I hear about imposter syndrome or imposter phenomenon, it's been brought up, we talk about it. I don't necessarily hear a lot of other trainers that are talking about it per se, because we're, you know, trainers, and especially on social media, we're really good at just putting on a facade. And you know, I didn't realize until I kind of dealt with my own imposter syndrome of how many other people were had the same struggles of feeling, you know, like a fraud. You know, feeling inadequate, feeling like they didn't know what they were doing. Because that was me for the first. You know at least five years of training. You know I got into it because I loved fitness. I was always an athlete.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, when I first got into weightlifting, you know I was this scrawny, you know, tiny little guy. You know I'm only five, five, five, six, but I weighed like a buck 25 in college. And then I was like, you know, I want to get more into, you know, working out. I'm not playing sports as much and throughout the years I just kind of developed a love for the gym and someone was like hey, you got the look, you got the personality. You know, why don't you just become a trainer? Just go get any online cert and you know I'll put you on rotation. Because I was already working full time at this community center I was at and the fitness manager was like, look, we can supplement some of your hours if you just want to train a little bit. And I was like you know, sure, I guess that's all I need. I can do that.
Speaker 2:And then right away, my first client was like a 92 year old, you know gentleman didn't really have any like major health issues, but it's like he can only do so much, you know, and I'm in there trying to throw up 225 on bench for as many reps as I can and then trying to figure out what to do with you know this five foot three, 110 pound, 92 year old. And I quickly realized, man, I don't know shit, you know. But you know, it's kind of that whole like well, I guess I'll just fake it till I make it. But I mean, for five years I kind of did that. I just never, really ever, felt like I was all that knowledgeable about it. And so, yeah, I just I mean, I really did just feel like a fraud because in.
Speaker 2:Part of it was I didn't think anyone else was dealing with it because no one else was actually talking about it at that time.
Speaker 2:Anyone else was dealing with it because no one else was actually talking about it at that time and still to this day, more people will talk to me about it now with being in the role I am with mentoring and teaching, and so I'll have you know in class or some of the you know trainers up here that I'm mentoring or working with will bring it up with me.
Speaker 2:We'll talk about going to have worked through certain things and you know how to gain more knowledge and experience and confidence, especially in what you're doing. But for a long time I struggled with it because I kind of thought I was alone. And then it's yeah, as I got older, a little wiser, got more knowledge, and then, yeah, then you get on like you talked about. You get on social media, especially Reddit. You realize, oh man, there's a lot of trainers out there that aren't just new. They've been at this for a while. They still struggle with just being like, still trying to figure this out, and then it's really just speaks to the volume of the type of education that people are getting when it comes to training and working with clients so you, what certification did you get?
Speaker 2:uh, it was ifa, international fitness, uh association. So it was. I mean you know they're not, I mean they're technically accredited, but there's, I mean it was the easiest certification to get.
Speaker 1:So and that's just so crazy. I think and we keep on having this conversation, it feels like beat a dead horse, but it needs to be had is because the process of what people go through to become a trainer it's like this is like your first badge of honor is getting that in the syndrome because you're going to get it. If you do what every other trainer does. They get a textbook, certification and, if you like, compare. I really would love to talk to Arash and Chad more. You know Dr Arash and Waterbury therapists and see if that is a common experience for therapists to go through. Because you look at the schooling but at least they have that dietetic internship where they're learning hands-on and they have a professor they can talk to.
Speaker 1:And then you and I are in class and we're going through advanced anatomy. When we go out and have a couple of drinks I can say like dude, I don't know what the hell I'm doing, and you say the same thing. So we can kind of relate. But gym culture it's not like that at all. Now I was over at Equinox doing my, my workout today and I saw the trainers doing their their little pitch where they try to get people in and the process is you do a floor shift and then, when you're done, you don't go and seek mentorship. You don't find other trainers who are doing great to mentor you. Typically what we do is we go home and we isolate ourselves.
Speaker 1:And so then it's like oh man, I was on the floor today for six hours and I didn't talk to anyone. I don't have any clients. Or I had an assessment today. They had what the hell's a labrum. They had a labrum.
Speaker 1:It's oh my gosh, what do I? I didn't know what to do and so I just said, yeah, I've worked with that before, but the client can sniff it out of you the confidence in the delivery of that interaction. We feel like we got through it. But the client's going to say something like, ah, no, thanks for the workout, let me think about it, or it's too expensive. But actually what the client is saying? That you weren't confident in your delivery, I don't see the value in working with you, and so that really just settles internally. And then you start having all those ants, those automatic negative thoughts that go this isn't for me, I'm not smart enough, I'm a dumb fuck. It's like those are natural toxic behaviors that we tell ourselves. And so how do you coach up new trainers to get over that hump, which is natural, and what are your suggestions? I mean, yeah, one of the first things is just natural.
Speaker 2:And what are your suggestions? I mean, yeah, one of the first things is just be. The first thing that pops in my mind, kind of reflecting back on my own experience, is be humble and just don't be afraid to ask for help or ask for some guidance, because, like I never would have found show up and then thus I wouldn't become the trainer I am today and thus become a disruptor, if I just didn't suck it up and go ask another trainer for help. And it was Rio, who you know we've we've talked about before who was going through show up at the time we started at we were both at the self-made training facility out in San Diego and we all started at the same time and our trajectory was kind of like neck and neck. When we first started, we both brought in a couple of, you know, clients and friends that we knew just to kind of get some experience, start working with, and then all of a sudden, you know I've seen her with like five clients, six clients, 10 clients, and then she's doing like group training and it wasn't just the fact that she was bringing clients, the way she was engaging with them, the way she was getting you know, like hands-on and programming in this. I mean, she was standing out even from the trainers that I had been training for 15 plus years and I finally was just like Rio, you're kicking my ass here, what are you doing? That's different, I have to know. And she immediately, you know, talked about you and show up in this and she was like just come to class with me and come check it out. And I was like done, because what I'm doing is not working.
Speaker 2:You know, and I was asking, you know, I was asking other trainers and you know, for advice and it's all the same kind of you know regular. You know, like you know BS about, just you know, get on social media or email, like reach out to people and the stuff. That's not bad, but nobody was actually giving me stuff that was building up my confidence. You know that that much. And so I just really had to just be humble and ask for help. And even to this day I still I mean, I've asked other trainers that I've mentored and I'm still working with here. Like there's this one guy, cody, who's a phenomenal trainer. I'm still working on trying to get him into the program, but like I've taught him a lot of what you know we've gone through. But there's times I'll see him engaging with his clients in a particular way or cuing them in a way that I'll kind of pick up on. That's interesting. And I'll go and ask him like hey, can you teach me what you were doing with that client, even though it's like I'm supposed to be the expert. In the time I was his boss. I want to keep learning and it's just have some humility with it.
Speaker 2:And I also understand that you're not alone in feeling like you're lost because you kind of get thrown into this. You know, after getting like your textbook certification, like all right, we're gonna start having to work with clients, and then you kind of deer in the headlights of, okay, wait, I don't actually know how to apply this. This doesn't even really make that sense. I didn't get a chance to practice this. It's very overwhelming, it's. You know, it's scary, and but then you kind of feel like, figure it out.
Speaker 2:Well, all of us have gone through that in some way. So ask for help. And then, alongside that, get a mentor, get someone that you could really learn from, attach from, you know, get trained. That's why I tell you know, I've told a lot, a lot of trainers where I've trained other trainers at the gym I was at before where I'm like because I used to get like a huge discount for training, like it would only cost them like $25 a session to train with a trainer. So I'm like train with me, train with other trainers, but get someone to train you even just once a week. You can afford to do once a week and just learn from them, pick their brain, get trained, but put yourself in the client's perspective and learn that way too. And so those are the things like the two things that kind of stood out where I'm like those are easy things to do right away that are going to make a huge difference.
Speaker 1:After you finished the two-month in-person did you experience much imposter syndrome afterwards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I would actually say, to this day I still do to an extent, because and I think that's the other thing a lot of people don't realize it's not kind of you know at least for me, I don't know if it's something that ever 100% percent goes away because you know, as you keep you leveling up and you gain more knowledge, you gain more experience and you start having, you know, bigger goals. You realize there's more and more you still need to learn, there's still more ways for you to develop. You still realize there's a whole other you know level of, you know professionalism that you can reach with your you know with your business and with your clients and you know so it's. You know I look back at, you know where I was. I'm like I've grown so much you know. But then I also look at you know where, like, other trainers are at you know, as far as, like you know, like you've mentioned before, you know Dr Chad Waterbury and you know Dr John Russon. Well, you know I want to get to that, but I'm not, I'm not ready, I'm not that you know, like I can't do that, and you kind of you know you get those ants that that creep in.
Speaker 2:The thing is like, even though those I don't think, those thoughts, and that was going to ever fully go away you lean back on your you know, on your experience, and realize, like you know, we are going to have those thoughts, but you can, you know, you don't have to give them power. You know realizing you've already shown that you can grow, that you can develop, you can learn, and that comes from you know, like you know, you talk about you know always be learning right, and so I kind of keep that in mind like read the books, get a mentor, you know, take classes. No matter how experienced you are, like there's always more to you know to learn. And so, like for me, like I still, you know, deal with it, even after going through the internship, I still dealt with it a little bit, because then it became more about you know, I moved into a position where I was the training manager of a, of a studio gym and you know so, which was a great experience, but then I was kind of in charge of, like, helping bring in new trainers and growing the business and you know things I didn't really have a lot of experience with, and so it was kind of like I don't know if I can actually you know I'm now good at training clients.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I'm good at the business side of it, and you know the business development and you know management and you know and all these different things but I felt better suited for it because I realized, okay, with the right people around me, with the right mindset of learning and growing, you know I can, you know I can figure it out. And then again, just being humble, like I would go to the owner if he asked me, like, hey, I need you to do this. Okay, well, you've already brought in so many trainers. Well, what worked for you?
Speaker 1:If you can give me some guidance and help, like I want to learn, I want to do this, but I suck at this right now and I don't want to, and that really helped in that aspect. I think a lot of it does come from just the lack of being prepared, and what you're talking about is natural, where you have an eagerness to continue your learning. So, like, we were in Charlotte last week and we'll be in Vegas at the end of the month, but we had a student there, a trainer there, and we were doing the QL release and he adjusted the client in a way that I didn't think about before I go. Oh, that's great. And we were doing the QL release and he adjusted the client in a way that I didn't think about before I go. That's great. And we had a conversation about it and we went over anatomy and we just had a normal conversation. That's a superior method. Great. Now we're going to implement that, whereas a new trainer, like you're saying, thrown into the battlefield per se.
Speaker 1:But they weren't prepared for what's going to happen when you read a book, a textbook, and it tells you oh, so this is what diabetes is, and this is how you do the overhead squat assessment and this is the VO2 max or whatever. And then you get into the environment at a gym, you don't have any of that part of the equation. The textbook that you read literally does nothing for your job. And so now the manager goes hey, you need to get five contacts a day. And so you go out there and you start cleaning up stuff and you're like I don't want to talk to people, I don't want to talk to them. What do I do? What do I? And then you have that initial conversation. It's probably awkward as hell. You say, oh, your phone was wrong. And they're like okay, whatever.
Speaker 1:And then you start internalizing that and that dialogue is what's so important, because that's what knocks people down. And so when you level yourself up and you really just master the fundamentals, that's what's going to give you that confidence. So when you have that person in front of you because your head is thinking, okay, I need to make sure to train someone with shoulder pain and hip pain and do a little back assessment, you have all these just whirlwind of thoughts. But then when the client asks you like, oh, I'm just trying to grow my glutes, and then you take them through a HIN specific workout and you show them a couple of exercises they feel it in their glutes like wow, that was great. That builds your confidence.
Speaker 1:And so when you look at what helped you overcome that imposter syndrome was action with the proper suggestion and supervision, someone saying go do this, this is how you're going to get them. And I really do feel for the trainers that take the alternate approach, which is I'm just going to get great at sales so they learn just certain recipes on the homeless, how to scare people into working with them. But then the syndrome comes back. Because guess what happens after 12 sessions they don't sign up.
Speaker 1:And so then your book of business drops and you go oh man, I'm great at sales now, but I can't keep my clients. Why is it so hard to keep my clients? And so then, as you continue to progress your career, get more specializations, mastering the assessment process, and your sales confidence moves up. But then you know how to implement the science to get clients results, and that's psychology and all that stuff. It slowly goes away but, like you're saying, it creeps its head back in and you're going to experience it again when you start teaching seminars and you got 30 trainers in front of you like, oh shit, they're all here for me.
Speaker 1:But the facial for me, it's the facial expressions. Like every time I teach a class there's probably 30 in this last one I'm looking around and everyone's just kind of like staring at me. I'm like why the fuck aren't we like? Well, what's going on? Are they making fun of me? It's just natural stuff to go on. But you just have to remember that you're the qualified individual, whether if you're an instructor, whether if you're a trainer helping someone for the first time, yeah, and kind of circling back to something you said with.
Speaker 2:We're kind of talking about the assessment stuff, because I, I see a lot of when you're talking about, you know, the imposter syndrome like that. Where it probably creeps in the most is during, like those assessments and those initial consultations. And you know, I see a lot of trainers going kind of like the you know the fear-based assessment. You know we see a lot. You know, yeah, you know you're. You know we see a lot. You know, yeah, you know you're. You know quote unquote upper cross syndrome, and you know it's like you're overactive under, you know, kind of like the, the NASA terminology of being like, oh, we got to fix this, this is bad, and they try to scare clients into it because and I think a lot of that stems from, yeah, they don't. You know where, for me, like I kind of take the you know the opposite approach, which is, hey, like you might have stuff where you know, yeah, maybe you have a little bit of weakness in this particular movement, but it's like no, like no, you're resilient, you're tough. You know, like I love when I um, for a while I would just I had like kind of a string of like clients that I signed up that were all moms of, like younger kids and you know they kind of talk about you know like low back pain, shoulder pain, and you know I would tell them, like you've got two young kids, like you're tough as shit, like don't think that you're broken, you know type of thing, and you know it's like you know how. You know how much does your son weigh? He's like 23 pounds, like great, so you clearly can lift and carry and move 20 plus pounds. Um, you know already, and so I kind of build them up and be like, look, it's not to ignore. You know maybe already, and so I kind of build them up and be like, look, it's not to ignore. You know maybe that there are some, you know potential, you know weaknesses or imbalances, but when you have that confidence and knowledge, you know like, hey, we can get you stronger. It's not about like fixing what's broken, it's about strengthening what's already strong. It's kind of like more how I take it. But then, alongside that and this is something actually like I just finished listening to the podcast you did with Tori, which was, you know she did such a phenomenal job it's something that she mentioned a couple of times, which is kind of the same approach I take is just, you know, being as empathetic as possible with the clients, just letting them.
Speaker 2:You know, like where the last gym I was at, where I was assistant director, the director of fitness there, a guy named Jake Gold, great guy, great trainer. You know he would re-emphasize all the time whenever he was you know teaching uh, the trainers to go through doing like the assessments. You've got one mouth and two ears for a reason. He's like listen and don't try to. You know like you know over talk but really hear what your clients are, are saying.
Speaker 2:And the nice thing about the way that we teach and program with you know like the movement patterns and then the exercise. You know variations and then even you know you know learning more about. You know doing more like the trigger point therapy and different things you know for clients is that you go through our program. You have that confidence that you can work with anyone you can. You really genuinely believe you can help them.
Speaker 2:Because I see trainers will kind of like try to, okay, we need to work on this and do this, but then so many of those trainers would come to me afterwards and be like, okay, I got this client now that has, like this knee issue, what do I do so they kind of convince them, they scare them into doing it and they still have no idea. You know what they're, what they're doing and I think, getting that proper education and that confidence. But then, yeah, also just remembering to be empathetic with the clients, because I've I've had, I mean, like the client I was talking to you about earlier, who you know I'm working with, he's got the two you know, kids that play like one college level hockey, one pro, you know pro hockey. I started working with them just because they were with the trainer before. That would literally just would not listen to them, be like, hey, we want to push a little harder, we want to work on specific things.
Speaker 2:It just wouldn't listen to anything they were saying. But it's like you have to like you may have your ways in which you want to train and you know, do stuff, and we know, obviously, the best ways to program and progress clients. But you have to make them feel heard and I think when you have this idea that you, you know you're not, you know, good enough, if you start deviating from what, the little bit that you know, like that you're, you're too scared to like take those chances of trying to adapt and adjust things for clients. And that's where I see, if you sign someone up, that's where a lot of times we'll see the trainers losing clients is because they're not listening to the empathetic, they're not, you know, tailoring things specific for their clients while still adhering to what's you know fundamentally sound with the program.
Speaker 1:I actually like to my new intro for the seminars is I go off of my quote from my book 90% of trainers quit within the first year, 18 months, in the UK. And that morning I was scrolling through Reddit and there was an actual post that said 90% of trainers quit within the first year. Why do you think that is? And so then I asked the group in Charlotte. I said why do you think so many trainers quit? And let's work backwards to giving those skills that will prepare people to be successful so they can overcome imposter syndrome. And like clockwork, we went around and we started talking, and the number one reason they're not good at sales, that's the business side started talking. And the number one reason they're not good at sales, and that's the business side. And then some people would say they're not good with people or they're in their head too much and they're not that social. So that's the networking slash, people skills. And then others would say well, they don't have the competency, they don't know movement patterns, they don't know how to program, they don't know anatomy. Those are the technical skills. And so when you take a step back and you go into the big three NASM, ace, issa their books don't have that. And so you literally are going out there without the most essential skills that are needed for success People skills, how to network, how to talk to people.
Speaker 1:And I was leaving Equinox today and they had these little workshops, and I didn't do it on purpose, it was just a natural reaction. I just finished, you know, walking and reading. I did some skier stuff. And I was walking by him and this guy was new retainer, was like hey, do you want to do this contest? I'm like nah, man, I'm good I got to go and it was just natural for me to leave. And I, when I was, when I left, I was thinking like I wonder if that affected his mindset at all. No, no, I don't want to do it. And so I went back to thinking like, okay, those people skills are really important. It's not that he's at fault for doing what he's supposed to do, which is this little shop thing where you're trying to get people to sign up and you get their email and then you bring them in for an equal fit.
Speaker 1:But there's so many techniques and little strategies that he could have done better. That would have got me involved, like, for example, he had a football in his hands. How hard would it have been to say, hey, man, catch, he throws me the ball. So now I have to give it back to him. And then he could say oh, what'd you do today? What was your workout? Who are you pulling for this weekend? You're going for the Chiefs, you're going to go for Philly?
Speaker 1:Oh, we got a cool little contest. You got 10 seconds, let me take you through this. And so then he could set it up where it's less threatening, because it's really like this little show over here and you have four trainers and they have like this big chart and it's kind of intimidating. So if you're a member there and you see it's like, ah, I don't want to be taken out of my comfort zone right now because the gym is scary as hell. And now you have a trainer who's trying to put me on stage, almost like a cattle being prodded, and so those people skills are so important and unfortunately, what trainers do is they lead with the technical stuff that people in the gym sometimes don't give a shit about. Like if someone comes up to you, adam, like, oh, you're benching off and your right shoulder is a little wonky, it's probably not going to sell you on a train to work with that trainer, right no?
Speaker 2:not at all.
Speaker 1:But if I were to say man, that's a cool hat, we have a conversation. All of a sudden I find out you like hockey. We start talking about hockey. You're going to be more inclined to have a further conversation with me because of those people skills.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100%. One of the things, too, that I would encourage the trainers at the last gym I was at when I was working at the big box gym, is because that's one thing we would tell them is like, as you're getting clients, be on the floor clean, but use you know, but use it as chance to, you know, engage with the clients and, you know, get you know prospective leads. I would always say, you know, compliment, not don't correct. So if you see someone, even if I mean you know, unless you're seeing someone who's like actively, you know dangerous, like trying to squat 315 on a BOSU ball, you know that might be something, you know that might be something just to keep in mind.
Speaker 2:But even so, if you see someone you know doing something, just compliment them, be like, hey, man, you know that was like, you know that was an impressive lift, or you know looking good, and just you know, start the conversation that way, cause I've I've done that before where I mean, especially if it's someone I've known or you know or engaged with before you know, I'll just give them, you know, a little dap and say that was really good, say you know you're pushing harder than thanks, and um, you know, and then sometimes, like, as they know me, they'll just be like, hey, like I'm in, you know shoulders feel a little wonky. I'm doing this, like do you have any tips? I'm like, yeah, you know, I, you know. Say, hey, have you ever tried? You know, you know doing this. Like I just you know I was sometimes.
Speaker 2:I'm going to put it like I just learned this um, like technique for you know, if it's like, uh, you know, do like a close grip row, like, for instance, where it's like on your last set, um, you know, maybe drop the weight a little bit and then, you know, do a bilateral row, and then that usually leads to a conversation, but then that usually provides more opportunity to kind of show like what you may be able to offer.
Speaker 2:And you know, if that person doesn't sign up, it's like other people are watching this. You know, and I've had a lot of people when I do things like that and you're properly engaging with the client, that will come and be like, hey, I see the way you are with your clients and just you know, like it it's noticed and it's like not why you necessarily do it, but it's you know. You know we talk about all the time I show up. It's you know, because when people come through, it's like, oh, the market's saturated, you know, and you know you repeat this all the time and the time, and especially you know, with being like it's not saturated if you look at it from the point of like qualified trainers, and so it really isn't that hard to stand out.
Speaker 2:um and you know, but it's yeah, a lot of it does come down to those, those people skills and properly engaging and, um, you know, one book that I could like I need to go back through it, but that really helped me too is, um, I remember the actual name. It might have just been called violent communication, um, but it's basically what about is that sometimes, even when we're trying to be complimentary or positive with someone, is like we tend to communicate, like you know, aggressively or violently, like, hey man, like that was so good, you kind of get in someone's face and you know sometimes like raise your voice too much and it's like people might have to, kind of, you know, back off a little bit. So you learn how to approach things from a you know, a non a nonviolent, communicative standpoint and make yourself approachable.
Speaker 1:I love that because we are actually, interestingly enough, in juxtaposition. As an instructor, when we go to our seminars and we're working with trainers, it's very similar to a new trainer trying to get clients because these trainers at Lifetime most of them have never heard a show up. And so for me to get clients because these trainers at lifetime most of them have never heard a show up. And so for me to get on stage and start saying this sucks and this is stupid. Both balls are terrible. I lose credibility for those trainers that like that. So I obviously don't take that approach. And when we get out there in the practical portion, I'll see some trainers doing some stupid shit. I don't go over and say that's a dumb ass exercise, Just like you were saying, like posturing, I'll usually will go over there and I go to a knee so that I'm less threatening. They'll say that's a great exercise, what was the reason for you choosing it? And then I let them to talk through it and then, just like you said, with that eccentric with the cable row, then I'll show them a variation to get them to think a little differently. And then at the end of it, like whoa, that was crazy. I really felt it in my glutes, and then I don't see. See, I'm right, you're wrong. You just let the proof in the pudding speak for itself. And then now what you've done is you've gained some credibility in that person's mind and I didn't sell them at the moment. Later on they will come up as the last seminar, and I'm really struggling with sales right now. Do you have some suggestions? Great, Well, what are we currently doing? What are we closing in? How many clients do you have? And then you can kind of step backwards and you can put yourself as the authority, because I've been in that person's shoes. I know what they're going through. And knowing your numbers and your business, which is that other portion, those things, those three circles when you fill them up and they're at their, you know their peak performance, your confidence is through the roof. And so for a lot of trainers, their people skills not that high, Technical skills not that high and then their business skills pretty low. So overall, we need to fill these tanks up.
Speaker 1:And so when you start giving them suggestions, you got to know how many clients you have. You got to know how many sessions you're doing per week. If you don't know, if I ask you right now and I do this all the time how many sessions you do last month, I don't know. Let me think about it Like I don't know. Like maybe 40, maybe 45, 56. You don't know. Ask a basketball player Like what are you averaging? They know when was the last goal you had? I don't know, maybe a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1:You know that stuff because it's important. Know that stuff because it's important, and so the statistics from the business side of it. You need to know your business and what that does is it gives you power during the sales portion, Because if I have to talk to 25 people to get 10 people in for an assessment and right now I'm only closing at 20% then you need to bump those numbers up. But as you become more confident, those 10 assessments are now going to be five assessments that are being closed. So it's a constant dance and it's an art, and I wish that trainers went into this with a positive mindset, like I'm going to get a lot of no's.
Speaker 1:I'm super excited to learn more about sales, because this is exactly what I have to do, versus the trainer on Reddit who's typing away all the negative stuff. It's like oh, we're not salesmen, we are. You should think of it as fun. I'm going to ask you to commit to working with me. How many days a week do you want to train? Three Awesome 12 sessions per month costs this, 36, costs this. What would you like? How do you want to pay for it? And, like you said, the tone is so important because you could say maybe $100 is kind of expensive. Do you want to do 12? I mean, is that like you should get 12 sessions because you're out of shape? You have to do this. Both of those are very one's passive, one's negative, and you just learn about the delivery that's the people skills and everyone should probably be reading that book you just suggested.
Speaker 1:We can put it in the show notes but also how to influence friends and win people. It's a huge one, just to understand what's going on in that other person's mind, because too many times we get stressed out on what's going on in our mind. So put that lens away and just remember when in doubt. Focus on that person across you, be be empathetic and you will get better at this.
Speaker 2:It just takes time, yeah, and I think one of the kind of along those lines, like one other thing that you know it's funny, like when I was still in college I think I got roped into trying out doing Amway, you know I mean if you're not good if you don't do an MLM at some point in your life, you know, are you really living?
Speaker 2:But I got roped into, you know, trying that out, but kind of my pipeline mentor or whatever. He, you know, gave me a book to to read and so it's. You know, no matter what situation you're in, I always feel like there's opportunity to learn and grow and, you know, at least glean something from it. But a book there that he gave me just called a kick in the attitude and he kind of talks about, as you just mentioned, like the nose where it's like, instead of if you're trying to do sales where it's you know it's like yeah, if you have 10 assessments or 10 opportunities, you know you might, you know you, you know you might close one, but you start just focusing on one, like, oh, like I just need to get that one, I just need to get that one.
Speaker 2:You don't get it and you start, you know, those ants start creeping in and you know, you're just, you know you it's. You feel like a failure and that's a lot of. You know we're talking about the imposter syndrome. When you feel like you know there's that whole like fear of failure that really comes, you know, with that. And so when you're constantly like, oh, I'm failing, I'm failing, I'm failing, I'm failing, that's just that compounds. You know, for me that's something I definitely dealt with a lot, especially with. You know, you know I got pretty severe and so there's a lot of times where it's like I know I'm smart, I know I've got creative ideas, but it's sometimes implementing the action. Or you know there's also like that, that rejection, you know, part that sometimes will makes it hard for me to like constantly be told no. And you know, I know a lot of other trainers struggle with that.
Speaker 2:But something that kind of flipped for me was, you know, if you know that you're going to need to, like you said, ask a certain amount of people. If you're going to ask 10 to get that one, yes, don't chase the one. Yes, chase the nine no's. Um, you know, he's like you know, just keep asking me. Like you know, like try to get the no. That way, when you get it, like great, I've succeeded onto the next one.
Speaker 2:And he's like you know, when you have a better positive mindset it tends to go better. But even you know, then it keeps you consistently, you know, going after that stuff. And he's like you know, you get good at it. You start chasing those nine no's all of a sudden by the time you know on the way to doing that. But it just kind of it.
Speaker 2:Just it changes your attitude, it changes your mindset when you know, instead of beating yourself up like oh, I can't do this, like no, like focus on the positive, what you're achieving, like you're, you're doing, you're putting into action. Uh, I don't know if you remember this, it was one of the. It was right after I finished, uh, doing like the in-person internship, me and you went and grabbed a beer at uh, carl strauss, and you know we talked about a couple different things, but I remember even you telling me you'd be like, hey, like you've got some great ideas, I don't really give a shit like let me see, let me see the action, you know, and you know it wasn't maybe exactly how you, but it was.
Speaker 2:That's kind of how I took it. Like okay, you know what, like I needed that because I do get a lot of good creative ideas. But it's like learn, know, find ways to put into action. But sometimes we get paralyzed by this fear of failure, not feeling like enough and it's you know. So if you can reframe, you can have a whole paradigm shift of how you're going to look at it. So, yeah, you might need 20 assessments to get one new client. So chase the, you know the 15, 19, 20 knows it's going to take to, you know, to get that.
Speaker 1:I remember vividly because you were talking about your big vision. I told I don't know. At the time I said BHAG, but you wanted to go and open up a gym in a like a second or third world country, right? Yep, remember that vividly and and I think it's you know, guys, you can take a different approach when you have an athletic background. I know you had an athletic background and you can have more of a straightforward.
Speaker 1:Some would say it's a tough love, but it's like imagine in sport where you go to your coach. You know, coach, I really need to talk to you. I'm feeling down right now. Oh man, I haven't scored a goal in like the last three games. I'm just really pathetic and I'm a pile of shit. I'm not good at this. Blah, blah Coach if he's a good coach or she, but the enemy's back.
Speaker 1:Put your big boy pants on, put your jockstrap on and get back out there. And you got to keep on going. What are you failing from? Is it the teams? Is their defense better, or maybe we gotta get better at offense? Maybe we're so focused on shooting that you're not seeing the people around you. So how about you focus on giving the ball away for the puck away for a little bit and then let other people do it, and then you're going to get into your group. But they give you a solution, but most of the time they say go back out there and do it, and so, like in sport, if you want to get better at basketball, you shoot more free throws, you practice, you go in the game, you miss a shot, you don't give up. The thing you do next is I want the ball so I can shoot again.
Speaker 1:But we don't take that approach when it comes to training. We take it as comes to training, we take it as. Oh, I talked to this person over here and they said they don't want to train with me. I'm not a good trainer. No, they just don't want you for whatever reason. Go chase those other nine no's and one of those people will probably end up saying you know what?
Speaker 1:I do have that shoulder issue, I have that hip issue, and that was the funny thing about Parks in Charlotte. He's almost the number one trainer there and he's been there for like three months. And almost the number one trainer there and he's been there for like three months, and this is the top performing Charlotte. They do over, I think 400,000 a month in revenue. And the manager there said like he just talks to everyone, so it's like he's a great trainer, yes, but he doesn't get hung up on the fact that someone could say something negative or say no, they don't want to work with him. He knows that there's 10,000 people that go to this gym. There's plenty for everyone to eat. So take that approach If you're at a gym like the last one that you managed how many members were there?
Speaker 2:Oh, there was like 10,000. We'd have like 1,200 check-ins a day.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. It's like there's 1,200 people that are coming in here. If you can't get 1% of that that's 12 people your mindset needs to shift big time, because all you got to do is just talk to people. They need to know you're a trainer here. You can classify yourself as oh, I'm a weirdo, I like this, or I can't relate to the people with this, I'm an introvert or I'm nerdy. You will fucking find someone who relates to you 1%, I guarantee it. You can't get hung up on Adam over here or Terry over here who's going out there and crushing it. You have to do what you need to do, which is just act. You got to act, you got to show up and ultimately it will come to fruition.
Speaker 1:I really feel for the trainers and this always comes back to my passion and what drives me the trainers that get that textbook cert. They go to the gym, they don't have good mentors or managers and they quit within a couple months. And then they're the ones that are now real estate agents doing something different and they're talking shit about the industry. Oh, it's all about sales. No, you just didn't. You weren't given the tools and the keys to succeed, and so if you had that good manager, that person you could talk to about your weaknesses.
Speaker 1:That's why we have calls with you on programming or when it comes to exercise variations or sales, whatever it is. You talk about it and then, just like Rio did with you, seeing it from the fly on the wall almost, she was given homework to go out there and do it and she was doing it and you were singing like, oh shit, that's pretty impressive. You had the humility to go talk to her and level yourself up. More trainers need that, because you absolutely can turn your passion for fitness into a career. You can make a lot of money if that is your goal, but, most importantly, you can make enough to make this into a career and you can be happy helping people, and that's ultimately what we want to do, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's where I mean I think, like 99% of trainers that you talk to that want to get in the industry, want to get it for that exact reason, and you're kind of like the last thing I'll kind of, I guess, kind of say along you know these lines is is like embrace not, you know, not knowing, because you know, as we kind of talked about, you know being humble, but also you know, when you feel like you're so inadequate, like you're afraid to let anyone else see, that you know and so that's why you know, you put on the facade and you say what you know. You hide behind your physique or you know, just for things on like social media. But one of the other things you know, alongside that is be OK, like not having the answer no-transcript worked with a client, that's, you know, told me about something that they've had going going on and I'm like I'm not a hundred percent sure and I've literally like in the middle of a session, be like, let me reach out to one of the DPTs in my network.
Speaker 1:I was like because I don't have have people you could go to.
Speaker 2:And so it's you know, and I've, literally in the middle of a session, I've texted a dpt and had them get back to me but before that session was over, like, oh, they said you have a few minutes.
Speaker 2:Like they said to try this, let's you know, see how this works.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh, like that feels, you know, you're really good, you got to be careful about that, you know, to an extent because dpt is not going to be able to diagnose or be able to give you know too much, but you know they can kind of give you know some suggestions.
Speaker 2:And but that kind of idea of like, yeah, not knowing, you know, and but having the right people at your table, right, the right people in your network to be able to, you know, go to and talk with and, you know, just let a client know like, hey, I don't have the exact answer to this, but I'll find out, I'll figure it out.
Speaker 2:I'm going to learn and I already have people that I know I can trust it to go to, and that was huge for me of knowing like I don't have to have all of the answers, but I need to be that that one person that my clients can always feel like they can go to because either I will, or I'll get them the answer or I'll direct them to the right person, and that was really big and like building up my confidence, my ability to have client retention and just kind of you know, understanding where my value really lies as a trainer and a fitness professional that's so awesome because that's exactly how it should be, and no point did you think like, oh, I'm not a good trainer.
Speaker 1:It was more of a curiosity, and that humility that you brought to the table really separated you from other trainers, but it gave you the credibility in your client's eyes. The unfortunate thing is how many times has that happened? There's 1.1 million trainers in the United States. There's 70,000 new ones that are coming into the industry. What happens when it occurs with them? So that trainer will probably either go online, type in. I had a client today with a shoulder issue, whatever what are some pointers and you have butt fuck 13 in his grandma's bunker.
Speaker 1:They're telling you, oh, this is what you got to do. And then that trainer tries it and it hurts the client. Like, oh, what did I do wrong? At no point did you ever think that you were going to hurt your client by implementing these variations that you got from an expert telling you their suggestions, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, never did. And it's also like understanding, you know, movement and anatomy also allows for me to be able to discern if something's going to be, you know, safe for a client or not and really to be able to implement stuff on my own for the most part. But again, you know I never want to step outside of my own expertise and my scope of practice. But having that baseline knowledge of you know, anatomical function and movement patterns that you know, allows for me to you know cause.
Speaker 1:Some people even have a client to be like.
Speaker 2:Hey, someone suggested this movement for me. I can be like you know, we, that might be a good idea. Let's try to regress it a little bit first, to make it a little bit, maybe more you know safe or just to see where you're at with the movement. But you know, or I can get suggestions from other things or see something. But then I have the you know, the knowledge and experience where I can discern whether or not, like this is an appropriate thing to try with the client. And if I can't, then again I can, you know, refer back to, you know, those trusted DPTs.
Speaker 1:Thank you for the time today. It's a great conversation. Adam, when can people find you?
Speaker 2:Adam Baldwin Fitness. Instagram, tiktok you know the main ways to find me, so Instagram is probably the easiest way for you to communicate with me.
Speaker 1:You want to meet this big hunk in person, you can DM him and he will send you a discount code for the seminar in Vegas because he will be there. It is $5.99, but we do have payment plans and also that will be $100 off if you reach out to him, excited to meet you all in Vegas. Help trainers level on up. Thanks for your time, adam. Have a great day. Keep showing up. Thanks, chris, appreciate it. Have a good one.