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
4-Reasons Why 90% of Personal Trainers Quit Within a Year
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The fitness industry harbors a shocking statistic - 90% of personal trainers quit within their first year. In this passionate, no-holds-barred episode, we dive deep into why this happens and how aspiring trainers can avoid this fate by taking a radically different approach to building their careers.
We expose the fundamental flaws in the traditional path most trainers take: getting a textbook certification that requires minimal knowledge, seeking "experience" at low-tier gyms without proper mentorship, failing to master anatomy and movement fundamentals, and refusing to invest in quality continuing education. This approach virtually guarantees failure in an industry that should offer tremendous opportunity.
The episode offers a blueprint for success that stands in stark contrast to conventional wisdom. True success comes from mastering anatomy (can you name all 17 muscles of the shoulder?), understanding movement patterns for efficient programming, building relationships with medical professionals, and consistently investing in yourself. When you develop genuine expertise rather than collecting certifications, you can command premium rates while working fewer hours.
Our message is clear: stop following the struggling masses and start challenging yourself to reach a higher standard. The trainers who thrive aren't just passionate - they're professionally competent, continuously learning, and committed to excellence. Ready to fish in a blue ocean where the competition disappears? It starts with mastering the fundamentals that most trainers ignore.
Ready to transform your training career and join the elite 10% who succeed? Listen now and discover exactly what separates those who quit from those who thrive in this rewarding profession.
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!
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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: ...
You need to be in an environment where you can ask questions, where people level you up and hold you accountable. If you can't tell me the 17 muscles of the shoulder, we're not on the same level. If you can't tell me the 14 muscles around the knee, we're not on the same level. Don't tell me about your problems, because your problems don't apply to my world and my world isn't better than yours, it's just different. We focus on being qualified, having relationships with medical professionals, working with the best because we are the best. 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. Welcome back to the Show Up Fitness Podcast.
Speaker 1:Today we're going to talk about the four biggest reasons on why 90% of trainers quit within the first year. If you were to go into Reddit or Facebook and you read posts, it's very common to almost create a sense of anxiety, maybe even imposter syndrome, because you're reading about others and their struggles, but what we need to do is take a step back and ask better questions. So that's what I'm going to dive into today on why so many trainers quit. The four biggest reasons are going to be number one the textbook certification. Find me a career where you can literally read a textbook and then take a simple test for 100, 150 questions and then start charging 50 bucks an hour. That's like four times minimum wage. It literally takes more to become a barista at Starbucks than it does to become a personal trainer and I'm not knocking you listening to this or someone for the first time coming across.
Speaker 1:Show up, this guy's making fun of me. He's a prick. No, that's just the case. This is the path that trainers take. They get a textbook certification and guess what they do next? Number two they focus on gaining experience. Now, let that sit in for a second, because you maybe think well, that's what you should do. You got to gain experience, all right, so play with me here.
Speaker 1:Let's go through a couple case examples. You have a friend. They just finished up reading a book on how to cut hair. Are you going to volunteer to have them cut your hair. This is your hair. I'm not talking about the human body, I'm talking about your hair. I guarantee you you're thinking no freaking way. If you're a dude you'd be like, all right, whatever, go ahead, fuck up my head, I'll grow back. But no way in hell if you're a lady are you going to let some friend who just read a book cut your hair?
Speaker 1:But why is it we allow trainers who just got certified to take on human bodies? What if you're a mechanic? Someone just read a book and say, chris, can I start playing around with your engine? I don't know shit about engines, but if you didn't go to school to learn how to actually work on an engine, you had a boss who's overseeing what you're doing. You're not just going to start hammering away under my truck. I don't know what the hell is going on. You sure as hell better know what's going on, and by reading a book I don't trust you. You're a doctor, physical therapist, one or the other. Would you allow one of them to work on you if they learn by themselves? No freaking way.
Speaker 1:So you have these trainers who get a textbook, certification, and then they go out there and they want to get hired at the best gyms Equinox, lifetime. Well, guess what? They don't get hired. They're probably not even getting a callback because their resume is three pages and they don't have any experience. So what do they got to do? I got to go gain experience, chris. So you go to LA Fitness, orange, theory, f45, a low-hanging fruit gym. Nothing wrong with them. But that's just what people do. They hire you on the spot because their retention is about one out of every 100 trainers. So they bring you on. They don't check your certification, they don't care, they just need a body.
Speaker 1:And you're thinking, oh boy, I'm super nervous, I don't know if I can start doing this. And your manager says, hey, stop worrying, you're training bets at two o'clock and you're thrown into it. And you'll read from other people like you just got to get thrown into the trenches. And how crazy is that? That that's the accepted process today. Imagine if that was your mom or dad or significant other the first time working with the new trainer. They have absolutely no fucking clue on how to train.
Speaker 1:And I say this all the time. I'm not picking on you as the individual, I'm calling out the process. Why don't we have more voices like me, yelling into a microphone, firing people up. This is not normal. No other field would allow for this to happen, but we do. Maybe that's why we're not respected. Maybe that's why, when you tell a significant other or a family member or friend you want to become a trainer, they go oh you sure Is that realistic? Can you make money doing that? Because the industry doesn't get respect, rightfully so.
Speaker 1:When you move into number three, which I think is the most important, and ask trainers from here on out when they say it's so hard to become a trainer the big gym takes all the money. I can't find clients ask them for more information on anatomy. Could you tell me the 17 muscles around the shoulder, 14 around the knee? You cannot do it in a condescending way. Listen up, dumb fuck 13. Tell me the 17 muscles of the shoulder? No, just ask a question. I'd love to have a call or a chat with you on a one-off and so tell me about your experience being a trainer. What happened? How'd you get certified? Oh, I got NASA Mesa. I say guarantee it one of those three.
Speaker 1:Yeah, then I couldn't get hired at a big gym. So I went to 24, and I started gaining experience. Oh, that's great. So who was your mentor? What type of internship did you go through? No, man, I didn't have that. It just threw me into the trenches. I had to just learn by myself, grind it out. I just had to train, train, train, train.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, like on the side, were you learning about anatomy? Like, could you tell me the shoulder muscles, cause I think there's like 17 of them? Dude, you don't need to know that. Your clients don't care, they just want results. Oh, so what you're telling me is your clients want results, which comes from an understanding of the human body, so you can program more efficiently, which then yields them results. So you need to have the competency in order to be confident, to show your value, so they sign up with you. Exactly, bro, that's exactly what you need to do. So you need to go out there and just start training.
Speaker 1:So I wonder if I mastered what everyone else is struggling with and doesn't know what would then happen. There's no competition. It is not a saturated market. You can absolutely turn this into a career, but you have to invest hundreds of hours learning this stuff and being a master. Being a master as physical therapists did and do, as doctors do and lawyers. Do they master the fundamentals and our trade? The fundamentals anatomy. Ask trainers, the hardest area. So I don't understand programming so hard. Can you take me through the core movement patterns and how you put it into a program? Oh, dude, bird dogs are cool Not a core movement pattern. I love doing farmer's walks. That's not a core movement pattern. So they're just telling you random exercise. Oh, I saw this influencer do a single leg BOSU ball deadlift. That's not a movement pattern. So you're struggling with programming but you don't know the movement patterns, which the foundation for the movement patterns is anatomy. You will learn, as I have 20 years doing this.
Speaker 1:When you challenge trainers in a way that you're almost showing off, they're going to hate you. Why do you think so many people dislike show up? Because I'm the belt buckle trainer yelling in a microphone or on youtube. I'm the belt buckle trainer yelling at a microphone or on YouTube, getting my frustration and anger out because I see so many trainers fail. I just spent $1,200 on a bundle.
Speaker 1:I'm going to spend the next year studying, which is stupid, and now I'm going to try to go get a job or I'm going to be an online trainer. What when you put these blinders on, or if you take off your blinders and you look at it through someone else's lens your family member they don't know anything about fitness. And if you were to tell them this is how people become quote, unquote, certified you're not going to be able to do it. They'll be like, well, that person's not qualified, exactly. So I'm going to focus on becoming qualified, mastering anatomy. I'm looking at the 17 muscles of the shoulder right now because that's the first thing that we teach in our two month in-person internship to get certified. In two months you will learn more than most college degrees will teach you, because it's specific to becoming a trainer.
Speaker 1:Rotator cuff muscles, the sits, the majors and minors there's five of them. The bro muscles there's five of them. And what are those three funky muscles? The serratus anterior, levator scapulae and corcobrachialis. That gets you past step one. So then you can go into step two and have a better understanding of the core, movement patterns and programming. You master that with the CCA, so it doesn't matter who comes in, you're capable of designing a program for them. So then you get into the assessment process and sales, which is not difficult.
Speaker 1:Sales can be intimidating if you don't have level one, two and three, because then you're just shooting from the hip. So a client comes in and they give you a curveball. You don't have the confidence or the team to help them. So then they give you some bullshit answer why they can't train with you it's too expensive. Let me think about it. I got to talk to my significant other. I don't have the time. When you get that answer, that's basically them saying I'm not interested in you. You can beat yourself up all you want. Well, it's just you know it's bad luck. No, if you show the value in your product, knowing that our world is overweight, obese, pain, we can get them out of that. You didn't confidently add value for their life. You could have some of the technical skills and you're rambling off the Krebs cycle. They don't relate to that shit, they don't care. You could have great people skills but the workout sucked. They didn't feel it. You could have great business and sales skills, where you do sign them up, but then they don't stick around because your retention sucks, because you don't understand the technical side. So when you get all three of those skills and you master them, it's so easy to turn this into a career, and a very lucrative career.
Speaker 1:I just got off a call with one of my favorite students of all time, arim, and he's from Turkey and he didn't have the funds to do our program, which at the time was four bucks. That puts it into perspective for you. So he stole a credit card from his mom. I'm not suggesting to do that, but then when he told me how badly he wanted to get in the program, he didn't say Chris, can I pick your brain? No, he went that the program. He didn't say Chris, can I pick your brain? No, he went that extra mile. He would be open for a call when it was eight o'clock my time in the morning, but 2 am his time. He was a yes man. He now has 250,000 followers on Instagram. He now makes 12 grand a month. He's living like a king, literally. He's buying a house and he sent me videos of the house. I'm like dude, that would be a $5 million house in Santa Monica.
Speaker 1:That is why I do what I do, because when you implement the strategies that everyone else says that they are, but they aren't, because they don't have the fundamentals, you are literally fishing in a blue ocean, no one's around and you can catch whatever the hell you want to catch. If you want to train athletes, you want to train celebrities, you want to train small group, you want to train elderly people, you want to train kids, you want to train rich, you want to train poor, it doesn't matter. You can train anybody, because you understand the human body. And that's exactly why you got into this and the irony around number four, which is trainers are frugal, figuring out a way. You spent a thousand dollars on some bullshit textbook certification that when you do pass, because you have that sunk cost and you don't want to get a refund, you're just going to go through with it. You don't know what you're talking about. Belt buckle trainer, even though you've helped 5,100 people pass these because they came across, show up too late, I'm just going to continue on with this.
Speaker 1:Nine months later, you get certified and you go. What the hell do I do now? And your stomach right now is probably sinking like holy shit. He's really talking to me Because I put this textbook aside five different times and I've spent an extra thousand dollars on pushing my date back out another three months. And then I took it and I failed and I felt like a pile of shit and you internalize that and those voices got louder I'm not good enough, I can't do this, I'm a dumb ass. Those are the natural responses when you do it this way.
Speaker 1:So why do it that way? Why not learn from professionals who are teaching you in an environment where you can ask questions? Arim lives in Turkey. I'm in Santa Monica, but he was still able to gain the confidence and competence by being on the live calls because our certification is online with access to fitness professionals. So when you go out there and if you want to get an interview, we will tell you how to ace the interview so you can get hired. How to find clients, we will tell you how to ace the interview so you can get hired. How to find clients, how to build your network in that community. If you want to blow up on social media, we can teach you to do that.
Speaker 1:The funny thing is trainers don't listen, but they listen to the masses who are struggling. That's the real kicker right there, where we are going to tell you in my book. In my 20 years of experience, this is the way to do it to become successful. You know what. I'm going to go get three other certifications over here my corrective exercise, my bodybuilding and my precision nutrition, and I'm going to do it my way. Six years later, you're still doing whatever the hell you're doing, but you're not training, or you're going to be saying like I'm just doing it as a side gig because it's not realistic for me to really turn this into a career. Well, why is it that we have so many people turning it into a career? It's because it's possible, but the foundation is what takes work. I'll ram one of the sharpest kids when it came to anatomy.
Speaker 1:I felt like within two days, he went through 50 hours of content on our platform. He was watching that nonstop. He'd watch it again and again and again. When he goes for walks he would listen to it. And the cool thing about him is he's had highs and lows. I've even done a podcast with him. He's kicking absolute ass.
Speaker 1:I just love these success stories because we focus so much on how and why it's hard to make money in the industry. We point a finger, play a victim role. It's not fair. It's not fair. The gyms take all my money. Well, why don't you get out there and open your own gym?
Speaker 1:Which comes into the last one, the frugality aspect? We spent $1,000 on a certification. But now you won't go to a weekend seminar for 600 bucks, throw in a hotel, throw in flight. Maybe it's 1200 bucks. So you read a book and you found that valuable, but you don't want the hands-on to level yourself up to unlock potential that you've never even thought about. That's going from 300 followers to 250,000 followers. That's from barely being able to make 10 bucks a month to be making 12 grand a month. You don't want to untap that. You don't want to build something that's so significant you can't even imagine at this moment in your life. I get it. I don't have the money. We'll get the money.
Speaker 1:Approach mom, dad, aunt, uncle, family member, friend, professionally dress up, put a suit on. Hey, uncle Bill, I'm really passionate about becoming one of the best trainers in this area. There's a seminar that's going on this date. This time, if you were to sponsor this for me, it's going to cost $1,250. Give an exact number, don't just say $1,000, $2,000, $3,000. Be very specific. I will pay you back over the next 12 months with interest. Would you be willing to sponsor me? No, I won't. Great, go to the next one. Go to the next one. Go to the next one and do that for 50 people and because guess what's going to happen? Your skills are going to increase so much in your confidence. Because you're getting no's, you need more no's. So, as a trainer, and you pitch your pricing $300 per hour you don't blink because you know you're the best. You can help people get in the best shape of their lives.
Speaker 1:So the frugality one. It just blows my mind because of what people did to get into the industry, but they're not willing to continue on investing in themselves. Look at other careers Doctors come out hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. I'm not saying go buy a Porsche and take photos for your Instagram account, which is going to cost $150,000. No, I'm saying invest $1,000 per quarter. That's $4,000 per year. If you're making 50 grand, that's less than 10% investing into yourself. Get a credit card, build your credit, invest in yourself. It's a write-off.
Speaker 1:If you want to be the 1%, you have to do what the 1% are doing, which is investing in themselves, getting out of their comfort zone, constantly being scared of is this going to work or is it not going to work? You want the life of an entrepreneur, but you're not willing to bet on yourself. You have to take chances and I'm sorry, getting that next specialization online through a textbook isn't going to do it. You need to get hands-on learning, because we work with our clients hands-on, and then you learn to ask your clients better questions and you learn from other people like how is it that Megan worked at Equinox and now is charging 250. Huh, no other trainers do that. They go to a big box gym. They take the price that they were training at and then they drop it down 50%. They devalue themselves Internally. They're saying I'm not worthy enough without this big box gym. Sure, they may be making a little bit more money, but they don't factor in that 20 to 30% of the clients that they steal are gonna go right back, because people go to those high-end gyms for that experience.
Speaker 1:You will have some loyal followers, but then the next question is how do you get new ones? You don't know how to communicate with your clients. Hey, frank, thanks for being with me for four years. If you know anyone who wants to train with me, I'd love to train them. No, that's not how you ask for a referral, but that's how people who are struggling ask for referrals. That's what the trainers at the big box gym who left and stole their clients are doing, charging less and struggling.
Speaker 1:How about you learn to create new streams of revenue and charge more? Because your time is valuable. You want to be training, probably 15 to 25 hours per week, making enough where you are comfortable to have a house, to have a car, to have the things that you want. Take a few vacations a year to wherever you want to go for a couple weeks and not be burning the candle at both ends. That's what this career can be like. If you do what every other trainer is not doing.
Speaker 1:And most trainers get a textbook certification, which means they're not interactive with the fundamentals. They don't master programming. They don't master anatomy, which is number three. They don't master the assessment process. They don't know how to get clients out of pain, because a textbook doesn't teach you that. And then they try to level up their experience by just grinding, grinding, grinding, grinding without someone challenging them on their programming, giving a program to someone who's been doing it for numerous years and challenging you on why? Observing obsession. When was the last time you had another trainer, a professional, observe a session?
Speaker 1:If you really want to level yourself up, find a trainer in your town or area who charges more than you and reach out to them and say I'm going to pay your hourly rate to come watch one of my sessions. I would love some feedback on how I can become a better trainer. Do you think trainers do that? Do trainers do that at big box gyms Pay one another for their time to give them feedback. If they're going to say is hey, bro, can you watch five minutes of my workout and tell me how I did? They want the shortcuts. They're afraid of that feedback. Why not go to a physical therapist and say you know what? Here's 200 bucks. I would love for you to come to wherever I train I'll get you a guest pass and to give me feedback on my interactions with my clients, because you're a professional and I want to be a professional. In order for me to be a professional, I have to surround myself with other medical professionals, because I want to be on your level. Now, do you think that therapist is going to give you respect or do you think they're going to talk shit about trainers? I guarantee you that therapist has never had a personal trainer reach out to them, and it's because trainers don't have the confidence nor the competence to have a conversation with them. I'm literally giving you the blueprint for success and that's what I highlight in my book. Don't be like the 90% who want the shortcut and, of course, I'm going to get pushed back.
Speaker 1:Will you help people pass these textbook certifications in three days? Yeah, because they're super fucking easy. You literally can pass this. I had someone do it in 48 days. Yeah, because they're super fucking easy. You literally can pass this. I had someone do it in 48 hours. I had my niece do it in 30 days. I gave her a study guide and said don't look at anything, just go through this and you will pass it. I guarantee it. 30 days later, she passed it and she's like that's so crazy. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I passed that test. It's super easy. Yes, they all are super easy and if you're struggling with them, it's because you're listening to the noise on social media. Well, this influencer says I got to study this way, quizlet. I got to take all these testing. Oh, this guy on YouTube said shut up, don't listen to him, because they haven't helped 5,100 plus people pass these.
Speaker 1:You got swindled into a bundle, thinking this is going to make you a professional. I'm sorry to be the barrier of bad news, but those do not set you up for success. You need to be in an environment where you can ask questions, where people level you up and hold you accountable. If you can't tell me the 17 muscles of the shoulder, we're not on the same level. If you can't tell me the 14 muscles around the knee, we're not on the same level. If you can't tell me the 14 muscles around the knee, we're not on the same level. Don't tell me about your problems, because your problems don't apply to my world and my world isn't better than yours, it's just different.
Speaker 1:We focus on being qualified, having relationships with medical professionals, working with the best, because we are the best. That world over there chasing Instagram toxicity acronyms behind our name I got my name from CPT. Respect me, please. Little do people know. Putting that in your bio actually gives you less respect for medical professionals. So when you get focused on the stuff that's irrelevant, you're not going to level yourself up. So here's my promise to you Get my book, read it, leave me a five-star review, because by the end of it you're going to be like holy shit, this makes sense. He's not as annoying in the book, but I hear his voice. And now that passion behind his frustration makes sense, because what is his goal? I'm talking from my perspective here. My goal is to get our field respected and in order to do that, you have to level up.
Speaker 1:But trainers are afraid to level up. They put their tails between their leg and they settle for the easy way. Getting a textbook, certification is the easy way. You're not going to turn this into a career and, yes, the clock just begun on whether or not you're going to be a trainer 12 months from now, and I'm a betting person and I'm going to bet that you're not going to make it, because you're doing what everyone else is doing. And if you want to turn this into a career, you have to do the difficult stuff, which is anatomy, mastering, programming.
Speaker 1:Put 10 case examples. Your family members, your friends, co-workers, go on Reddit, yelp, whatever and find case examples. Put them on a flashcard. 42-year-old lawyer struggling with elbow pain wants to get a stronger bench press, full body workouts. Do 10 of these. Put them into a hat, take it out. Tell me a program on the spot. Boom. That's what great trainers can do. If you can't do that, that's where you need to be spending your time mastering the quickness of program development. Spending 15 minutes writing a program for someone isn't going to cut it. You need to be able to do it like that and that's what the CCAA allows. If you enjoyed today's podcast and my rant, I get fired up. Throw it into your story. Let's change the industry together. Let's be respected together. Let's be on that same level. Let's have great conversations and better ourselves as a fitness community, and that's what we're striving to do. I appreciate y'all. Throw that book into your story and remember big biceps are better than small ones and keep showing up.