The Show Up Fitness Podcast

INDIA - Pro Tips for Personal Trainers w/ S&C coach Arjun Jain

• Chris Hitchko, CEO Show Up Fitness • Season 3 • Episode 270

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What if the real difference between a stagnant coaching career and an elite one isn’t a new certificate, but how you learn, coach, and connect? We sit down with Arjun, a Mumbai-based strength and conditioning coach working with Olympians and top prospects, to unpack the real substance of S&C—far beyond “weights inside, conditioning outside.” From injury prevention and periodization to testing, data, and tailored communication, he shows how the job blends science with coaching art.

Arjun shares his path from a college gym in Pune to advanced study in exercise physiology and S&C in the UK, including a COVID-era pivot into entrepreneurship and a grind of multi-role coaching across universities, clubs, and cricket. He reveals practical lessons from programming under tight competition calendars, microdosing training to maintain adaptations, and coaching different personalities—youth athletes who need play and cues, pros who need precision and trust, and general population clients who need pain management, mobility, and strong foundations.

For coaches in India—and anywhere—Arjun lays out a clear roadmap: get the right education to reach the door, then accumulate real coaching hours to open it. Replace outcome-chasing with process, and make LinkedIn your professional arena for value-first networking. Share problems you’ve solved, follow up with what you learned, and become the person people remember when roles open. We close on his north star: contributing to India’s next Olympic medal by being part of the team behind the podium. If you’re ready to move from certificate collector to trusted coach, this conversation gives you the blueprint.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a coach who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find these stories. What’s the next skill you’ll build this month?

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SPEAKER_00:

If you want to become an overtrainer, showfitness.com. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review. Have a great day.

SPEAKER_02:

Hello and welcome to the Show of Fitness Podcast. I'm your host, Devan, all the way from India. And today we have a guest called Arjun Jan. Let's hear from it that who he is and what he does in the fitness industry. I'm sure you guys will be amazed by listening to his story, and you'll get a lot of lot of lot of motivation out of it. Over to you, Arjun. How are you? Good, good, Devon. I'm good. How are you?

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm good, man. Yes. So tell us about yourself.

SPEAKER_01:

Who is Arjun? Arjun, I'm basically a strength introducing coach. I'm uh based in India, in Mumbai. I'm working in high performance sport in India. So I'm currently looking after Olympians, multiple Olympic athletes here in India. Some of them are already Olympians, some of them are upcoming Olympians. A few of them went to Paris 2024. I've got a history of uh being an SNC for about five, six years now. I've worked for England cricket previously in the UK. And then uh prior to that, I was mostly more like a freelance PT, you can call, or an exercise physiologist. Overall, someone who loves to coach, someone who loves to, you know, help other people achieve their goals, whether it's in terms of fitness or performance. So that's Arjun in a nutshell.

SPEAKER_02:

What uh why we are doing this episode is because uh we at Show of Fitness, we believe that uh being a trainer is more than a I mean, it's not just a job, it is a career opportunity that many people fail to understand. So, what we are trying to do is we are trying to bring on people like you who have accomplished amazing things in the industry so that trainers and the next generation of the trainers can listen to you and learn from your experiences and they at least have some vision that what's the what they should be focusing on. So that's what we are gonna do. This that's what we are gonna do in this episode. First question. And I have a story about uh behind this question, I'll share it later. But first, okay, what is this uh what is something that most people get wrong about SNC?

SPEAKER_01:

I think uh that it's uh somewhat of a different uh field or a specialization altogether. Uh, I think uh there's a lot of vagueness involved when it comes to SNC, specifically in India, because I think there's no regulating body. And I think you'll also agree whether it's in terms of, let's say, personal training or SNC or exercises, you already there's so many different fields within a particular umbrella of fitness coaching that you know sometimes people fail to differentiate between who's an SNC and who's a PT, or uh what an SNC brings versus what a PT can bring. Both have their own pros and cons. It's not like one is over the other, but it's just different specialization. Like, for example, if you go to a doctor for a particular disease, you'll know whom to consult, or there'll be someone you know you can go to because that person specializes in that particular area. I think similarly, SNC is something that you know we specialize a lot more in injury prevention, performance enhancement. Our concepts and knowledge are based around a lot more training, periodization, you know, how to help someone come back to injury and perform like at the highest level, how to help someone get faster, stronger, better. Uh, I think a lot of people think of SNCs as uh trainers for athletes, which in simple terms it is, but it's a much more complex uh profession, I'll say, because it's a lot more not just coaching, it's a lot more programming, it's a lot more uh testing, it's a lot more analyzing that data, it's a lot more communicating and how you're communicating through the athletes, it's a lot more adapting to different communication styles based on the personality. Sometimes you'll get an athlete who's very introvert, who likes their own space, so you can't go out, you know, just directly interact with them and kind of uh coach them and expect them to listen to you. Someone who's very extrovert, they might react completely differently. It's simple. Simplest example is if you're coaching a cricketer, let's say, for example, in India, and I think a lot of people will be able to understand. If you're coaching an 18-year-old cricketer versus a five versus six-year-old cricketer, how you coach those two people are two different ball games altogether. You might be able to tell the 18-year-old, okay, do a particular sets of squats, a particular sets of deadlift, you can coach them. Tell that to a five-year-old, six-year-old. They won't understand what you're trying to say. They won't even care about you know doing that structured program. You need to make it interesting, you need to consider their age. It's a lot more, there's a lot, you know, to SNC than what meets DR.

SPEAKER_02:

The point you bring up, like many people think that SNCs are just uh coaches who train athletes, right? This has happened two years back when I was working with the leading fitness studio in Mdabad. So we were hiring coaches for the for the post of SNC and personal training. So we got a resume and uh he stated that he has done SNC and he is a personal trainer as well. So we called him up for interview. Obviously, when he he entered when and I started talking to him, I got to know that all right, there is a lot of there are a lot of lies in this resume, but anyways, because since he was here, I had to ask questions. So I asked him what is SNC, just explain me in simple words. What is SNC? And I still laugh at his answer. I mean, no disrespect, but yeah, yeah, he said SNC means uh strength means uh strength and conditioning. I was like, I'm not asking for full form, just tell me the meaning of it. So he was like, uh, whatever we do in the gym, we do lift we lift weight, and whatever excess we do deadlift squats, it is about strength, and whatever excess that we do on the ground, it is conditioning. So yeah, and so I mean, majority of the trainers are like this, they don't understand what is SNC. They still think that uh let it be, let's move on.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, so tell me more, how did Arjun start his journey? I think it started with uh like anyone starts a journey in India, I think specifically. You you go to a gym, you hit the gym, uh, and then somewhere you stick along and you kind of see the results in on your own body, and then that kind of you know attracts you more to kind of turn up at the gym, show up at the gym more and more, train more, get better more. And that kind of becomes a lifestyle gradually. So I started similarly. I was in Pune doing my bachelor's, and uh never like a 17-year-old, never had been to a gym all my life till then. And uh I heard a lot of my school friends going to the gym, but I never myself went to the gym. So, first time in college, Pune, I'm like, okay, let's try this place out, let's see what you know gym does to people that so much people are into going to gyms. And uh I joined a nearby gym near like in my just next to my college. Uh, used to go there, you know, after after classes, before classes, sometime like that. And uh first uh, like I think first few weeks, like any anyone's witness journey, my whole body was broken down and I didn't like the process at all. But I was like, okay, let's see. Like, let's like I think I had a coach back then, so he kind of told me it's normal, just stick to it and you'll see what I'm trying to say. And then I kind of stuck along. I suffered a fracture as well during that time, but I I kind of got back to the gym. You know, that was basically what do you say, like a learning project because I basically broke my leg and I had to build up all that strength again to walk again, to learn to walk again. So that during that time I turned up at the gym a lot more along with rehab, prehab. So I think from that point on, the way I kind of saw my body transform, I kind of, you know, loved this thing about training. And then by the end of the bachelor's, I was already like I've had put a significant amount of muscle mass. Um, I was popular in college because of all this thing. So all of these parts were there. But at the end of the bachelor's, I was so keen to kind of do this that I was I talked to my dad that you know, I want to uh pursue something in fitness. And I come from a family of doctors. Every single person in my family is a doctor. And uh they're like, hey, fine, but just you know, let's see, because I came from a commerce background. So they're like, let's see how easy it is for you to switch to a different career field now that you've already done your bachelor's in business. So I started exploring options. I came across ACSM certified personal trainer course in Mumbai. So I kind of joined the course uh initially just to see, you know, whether I still understand biology because I was always keen in biology, but I was never good in physics or chemistry. So I was like, doctor is not a profession for me. But uh I think yeah, I completed ACSM, but I didn't stop there. Uh I think uh back then it was 2017, 18. Uh even then the perception of personal trainer was like, you know, you'll you'll be a very good PT, but at the same time, you know, a lot of PTs in India struggle to make engineers at times, they're just earning just enough to survive. So I had this vision that, okay, if I'll go ahead, I'll have to be the best in the business, or probably at the very top of the business. Otherwise, there's no point, you know, going half-hearted into it. So that's when I kind of started exploring more and more courses. I wanted to go for a master's, applied for a master's in exercise physiology. Um, applied to, I don't know, 10, 12 universities, got rejected out of 10 or 11 because of my commerce background. So I'm like, it's not so easy to switch. But luckily, I think one university kind of considered my application and they kind of let me into the program. So I did the exercise physiology masters, came back to India to kind of work in India, but then COVID hit that time. So I'm like, fine, everything's gone. So this is 2019 when I returned to India, start of 2020. And then 2020, January, February, COVID started happening. So at that point, I was like, what to do? Because I had a few projects lined up, uh, but everything got you know shut down. But I'm like, fine, let's take not take it as a setback. So I started my own uh company back then. I had a friend who was lawyer, so I'm like, I'll start a and I had another friend who had done a BS in Sport Science with me in the UK. So we started a company together. Uh we got a company registered and we started taking on uh like a few clients. We picked up one or two clients from a few referrals, and end of 20, we started with one client, end of 2020. We had like 14, 15 clients within a year. And uh we were training all of them independently online, but then September onwards, I wanted to kind of go more, like in terms of specialize, more, expand my horizon. So that's when I kind of started and decided to go for another master's in SNC. So I went back to the UK, I started my master's in SNC from Loughborough. And then uh right after Loughborough, I was picked up on a scholarship by England cricket to kind of under the coach development program. So I worked there, I worked um during that time, interesting incident. The Indian cricket team was touring England, and uh I used to see that as the pinnacle where I want to be some someday. So I reached out to the coach on LinkedIn and I'm like, I want to meet you, I want to talk to you about how to get here. So he kind of told me that, you know, if you can come to a match, like we can talk probably in between matches whenever there's a lunch break or something like that. So one of my friends was working in cricket that time, so I kind of told him, he kind of got me past it to a nearby indoor like a practice game between India and a county. And during the match, I kind of met him for a few brief 15-20 minutes, asked him about ad these whole list of questions regarding, you know, what to do, where to do, how to get here, whom to connect, how to navigate my way, how to find jobs in India, etc. etc. And then he kind of guided me and then he told me to specialize more. He's like, don't stick to cricket. I know you're already working in cricket, but just go more and more because that's gonna develop you more holistically as a coach. So then I started applying here and there. So I was doing uh two times a week uh coaching ECB, county, or club players. Other times it was more like I was interning at the University of Warwick that time. So I was coaching five or six of their performance squad of different sports. Then I was also doing a contracted SNC role at the University of Nottingham Sport. So I was coaching three of their performance squad. And then on top of it, I used to do part-time as well to earn a few extra bucks. So I was used to work as a PT in the fitness center at the uni as well. So basically shuffling between four or five jobs to kind of make sure that there's some money coming in, but there's at the same time, there's some sort of learning happening as well. So I think by the end of it, uh 2023, I kind of got you know approach to work in the Olympics circle in India, and that's when I kind of transitioned back to India. But by that time, I already had a multi-sport exposure, uh, the right amount of education. So it was good. So that's my journey so far. And uh just now I'm here.

SPEAKER_02:

Damn, that is inspiring. A lot of many questions out of it. I listed it down. First of all, a curious question how a person from Doctor's family is entering commerce stream.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh uh, you can say because uh arts, I didn't want to do uh humanities because uh I don't I didn't I don't think I was too keen on taking humanities. Um other options in my school included maths, and I was terrible at maths at that point, including physics, chemistry, maths. These were my ultimate enemies at school. So I'm like engineering's out of question. Uh top three I can do, but when it comes to prescribing medications, chemistry, all of those things, I'll struggle somewhere again. So I'm like, okay, one of my aunts is an MBA. She's heading a big organization. So I'm like, this looks like a comfortable life, and it's something that I can do. So I took commerce. I even interned at a multinational for two, three months, uh, sitting at a cubicle, and I'm like, this is not me. Because even during that internship, I used to carry 11 tiffins with me. And every year I used to open, yeah, because I every year I used to open a tiffin, eat a meal, work, eat a meal again. So yeah, I was having like eight to ten meals a day, and then at the end of my most favorite part during that time was going to the gym in the evening. So I was like, you know, if I'm so crazy about this, why not just pursue it full time? Because I'm like, this is not me. And I was known as a person who's carrying multiple tipping, and he just eats all day and just works, just to kind of go to the gym at the end of the day. So it was basically a lot more experimenting.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So how was the parents' reaction when you said I don't want to do this and I want to pursue this passion?

SPEAKER_01:

I think they were supportive, like from the very start. They themselves had been doctors by their own choice, and they were like uh, you know, nobody stopped us from pursuing what uh we want. So we are not someone who's gonna tell you to not do this because we don't, you know, we were not able to understand it. And definitely they were not able to understand it that that point, but they're like, you have our support, and uh just go do it and just be make sure that you know you're giving your because technically there's no one to back you up. We're here to back you up, but the technical technically we're not able to make a career out of it for you. You have to carve out your own way. I think I think that's the that's the thing. Like one of my younger brothers, he's a music producer, so neither of us became doctors. So we both took two totally different fields.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so your parents are the last doctors of the family.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. I I am still I still call myself half doctor if you remove the part where we're prescribing medications. I think I'll consider myself as like a preventive medicine specialist because technically what that's what we're doing. I think every PD is doing that.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. So because you mentioned Indian cricket team, have we ever met Virat Godi? This is my favorite question.

SPEAKER_01:

I I've I saw him this close to me. So I think that counts. So uh I was basically there watching a match, and then the entire circle used to go into a semicircle, and then like, what's this concept happening? Why is people going semicircle and full circle? That's when I kind of noticed that Virat was practicing in the nets. So I kind of you know went there to kind of see him, and surprisingly, to like to my surprise, he was walking towards me because I was standing near the staircase. He walked, he turned, and he walked towards the ground. So that was my first ever, I'll not say interaction, but witnessing Kohli like up close.

SPEAKER_02:

By the way, he has a huge role, he has played a huge role in my journey as well. Because uh, same as you, I was uh studying for engineering. I was in the last year of my college, and I saw him doing uh snatch and keen and jerks on Instagram, and that was fascinating for me. Then I ordered some dumples and barbels at home, and I was trying to imitate him, and then I developed the interest of power fitness and all. And fast forward here today. I am so he was a big inspiration for me. So, what I have observed so far, based on what you have seen, uh shared, what brought you here is your hunger of learning. Am I wrong? Yes, yes, that's correct. That's like uh yeah. So basically, what I have observed is exactly your hunger for learning plus the way the way you net the way you have networked with the coaches and everyone. You you went to the coach, you asked him what to do next, what are the steps to get here, and that's how you find your way.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so why I'm uh stating it that it that is because uh what happens in India. I in fact, what I have observed about Indian fitness industry is that whoever is entering the industry as a coach, they enter the industry, they take the highest certification, and then they start earning. Once they start earning 70,000 one lakhs or one and a half lakhs, they get comfortable with it. And uh if you meet them after five years or six years, they are still earning the same. There is no growth financially. Maybe they have evolved, they're evolved in knowledge, but uh they haven't evolved in uh earning money, and that is the biggest challenge in the industry. But what I feel, what I feel is that if you ask right questions to right people, if you go out and uh ask questions to the people who are already doing well, you will be amazed by the opportunities out there. I mean, you will always find a way if you ask right questions to the right person. That's correct, and that's where coaches are lagging. They are all the time inside the gym, they all they think about is how to lift weight, how to get more PTs, and that's that. And eventually what happens is they get the schedule full, then they are not able to even manage their own workouts, their own diets, and eventually they go out of shape out of shape. And this is not sustainable for long term. You can do it for at about 30 or 35 years, but after 35 years, your body won't support you that much. You need to start cutting down on clients, and eventually your income will go down, and that's why this profession is called non-sustainable in the industry. This is my observation. You might, I mean, I don't know if you have observed something else, you can share it. So, the pro I what I think is that the problem is not with the industry, the problem is with the approach of coaches. I mean, if you have hunger, if you have hunger to learn new things, if you know how to network with the right people, the ocean is the limit. I mean, sky is the limit.

SPEAKER_01:

I think it's hunger and uh right direction. I think uh personally, I think from my perspective, a lot of people, specifically in SNC, uh are coming in for all the wrong motivations. They're coming in for firstly the badge that pro everyone wants to work with pro-athletes. They don't when when asked why, they don't have their why. That why do you want to, you know, coach pro-athletes? Like for me, my why is very strong. It's like I want to coach pro athletes because I love coaching. And I love the I share a similar drive that's found in athletes, and that's something that I can, you know, find very relevant. And uh I'd like coaching people with the same drive, whether they're a pro-athlete, recreational athlete, if they're driven, I'm there to kind of help them out. And I've got athletes who are recreational as well, and they're maybe upcoming as well, but you know, they're sharing that drive. So obviously, if you've got a client who's as much interested as in the process as yourself, you naturally would love and enjoy, you know, working with that client a lot more. And a lot of people, I think, yes, and a lot of people I think are coming in who are more outcome-oriented rather than process-oriented. So they want to get the big bucks, they wanna get the name, they want to get the title. But ultimately, if you're talking about the long-term game, they're not there for the process. They're there for the rewards. And if you're there for the rewards, that's not gonna, you know, end too well or go on for too long for yourself. So I think hunger is a correct word, but at the same time, you know, if you've got the right direction, that's where you kind of go. Because let's say if like even I interview a lot of people for job applications, stuff like that. There have been incidences where before even asking for a job description, they're asking, okay, how much salaries am I gonna get? Where am I gonna based? Do I will I get a house? Will I get a house rent alloyance? Will I get, etc., etc.? They're not asking, okay, what's the responsibility? What are the athletes I'm gonna be working with? Who do I report to? How should I, you know, what's expected out of me out of this role? So I think that's the difference. You've got you might have the best hunger, you'll have the hunger. At the end of the day, is it for the right reasons or for the wrong reasons? And if it's all for the wrong reasons, then the career will not be sustainable.

SPEAKER_02:

Since we are talking about differences. What are the major differences? Because SUV worked as PT and now you're working as SNC. So, what is the difference in training general population and training athletes?

SPEAKER_01:

I think uh that's an advice I give to any aspiring SNC that uh go for general pop, go for team sport, go for young kids, go for youth athletes, go for pro athletes. There's every single population has a very different thing. Working with general population is a lot more uh, you'll work around a lot more pain management, you'll lot, you'll work around a lot more mobility, a lot more flexibility, a lot more posture control. And then on top of it, then you'll combine all of that with some sort of strength training, some sort of aerobic, anaerobic fitness training. But it's a lot more uh, what do you say, looking at the person a lot more in front of you and then seeing and driving your decision based on that? Like if someone's coming in with a reduced ankle and a hip mobility and they're not able to, and they're like, oh, I've got a lower back pain. So as PT, you can't go, okay, let's strengthen your lower back or let's get you to do a deadlift that's gonna get you stronger. You need to kind of firstly look at the cause, what's happening, what's happening at different joints, and then you kind of screen through the client. And then you kind of drive your process accordingly as per that. Sometimes it's very I'm a big believer of doing P6 simple foundational things very correctly, and then progressing on to complexities. So I think that's the difference. Even in athletes, uh, I think the major difference is uh similarity is pain management. Some of them, most of them pro athletes will have some or the other pains or aches from training, from competition, from fatigue, but it's a lot more in athletes, it's a lot more workload management because uh, and it's a lot more uh what do you say, smart trainer? Because you need to program what are the adaptations I'm trying to build, uh, how much time is expected for these adaptations to kind of you know get built at the same time, considering their upcoming competition calendar, how do I load in? If I've got 30 minutes a day and the coach, head coach wants me to only go and spend not more than 40 minutes, how do I program that this athlete still gets the same benefits of a proper training rather than you know limiting anything? How do I fit in different exercises at different parts of the day or different training schedule or different warm-up to kind of make sure that there's some sort of microdosing happening, even if the athlete is spending less time in the gym? How do I make sure that if they're playing four weeks of tournament back to back, they don't lose those adaptations and they still have the energy to train a little bit, even if it's like a 20, 25, 30 minute session. So I think it's a lot more managing their workload, you know, considering their calendar, competition schedule, managing their recovery, managing their training loads, and accordingly at the same time making sure that you know they're fit and ready for the next competition. Who are easier as easier ones to work with, gen pop or athletes? I don't think there's anything easy in both. Like a 40-year-old gen pop and a 14-year-old kid. You'll struggle to coach both. Uh you'll have to use different cues. Uh some might you need to cue for a hip hint. For someone, you might use like a demonstration or like a physical cue, uh, something like that. So it's not like you know, it's a there's anything easy, it's just very different. Like you'll have professional athletes coming in training with you. The simplest thing would be some of them already would know a deadlift. And then it's basically on you to kind of see, okay, if they if the even if there's a minute discrepancy in a deadlift, let's say a knee caving in or a in a slight lumbar or something like that. That's when you kind of, you know, you have to see through your coach's eye, and then you kind of need to coach them. But again, it's if you then progress them onto like something like a clean or something else, there's a lot more coaching involved. So I'll say it's just two different things. It's just very, you know, depending on what you want out of that coaching schedule. But at the same time, like coaching either ways, it's very like I'll have athletes who are very easy to coach, then I'll have athletes who I have to coach a little bit more. I have athletes I can tell them that this is what you need to do, they'll get it done. I don't need to worry about it. I might have to, you know, just look that they're doing it safely. Then I'll have athletes who are fairly younger, not that much experience in training. So then I'm like spending a lot more time. So if I'm working with multiple athletes, like a group, there would be a chunk of athletes who are like very well experienced in training, they know the lift, they know the loads. I tell them that this is what you're supposed to do, this is the program, go do it. They're in the same gym, I'm having a look around, and they're doing it. But there'll be a chunk of athletes who I'll need to spend more time. That, okay, okay, let's come to the side, let's make sure, you know, I teach you the correct way to kind of lift safely. Let's let's teach you a hip hinge, let's teach you proper muscle activation, stuff like that. So you'll even like athletes, very different, you know, populations. It's nothing like a general pop on an athlete, anyone's easy to work with, they're just very different with very different goals.

SPEAKER_02:

Previously you mentioned that you did ACSM, right? Yes. So you did ACSM, then you worked as a personal trainer and then went went on for the further education.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So now, if someone is listening to this podcast from India and he's a trainer already and he wants to be where you are, what steps do you recommend?

SPEAKER_01:

Firstly, I mean get your education correct. And uh education qualification, I think, is the first uh thing that's gonna get your tick mark. That's gonna be make you eligible to you know reach the door to enter the athletic world of SNC or a professional athlete or professional sport, but the door is not gonna open for you. You'll reach the door, but the door's not gonna open because you need a lot more coaching exposure. And that's something that I tell everyone because um SNC is a lot more coaching oriented, uh, it's a lot more experienced than privileged. So you might have the best master's degree, you might have a couple of you know, fitness certifications under your belt. But if you don't have the experience of coaching, the chances are you'll never get through the job interview. And that's something I myself learned. Like even when I was working for England cricket, I was applying for different jobs in the UK as well, but because I didn't had that exposure, I wasn't getting even to the interview stage. Later on, when I started interning multiple working multiple jobs, my CV kind of got broader and broader. That's when I kind of got started. Getting a lot more callbacks for interviews, stuff like that. In India, it's a different thing because uh there is no open vacancies. Uh support is a very internally driven field here. So you need to know the right people. So go network, reach out to a lot more professionals out there. Um build uh make LinkedIn your best friend and leave Instagram for a side as well. Because I think a lot more people are focusing a lot more on Instagram. But if you go and search on LinkedIn, the top professionals in professional sport are usually more active on LinkedIn. And uh approach with the right approach. Like a lot of people in India, I think again comes down comes down to outcome-oriented. So they want a lot more outcome from the results from the very start, but they don't want to offer value from the very start. So I get messages on LinkedIn or DMs directly, like, sir, if there's any job vacancy, please let me know. Sir, do you have any job that reliance? Sir, how can I work with you? Sir, how can I join and work as a sincere reliance? Fine. It's all you know valid queries, but what do you have to offer? What do you have in return that you're gonna bring in that's of something of value? Like, even I've networked in the UK and I've networked here in India, and there's a vast difference. There, the people are a lot more process oriented. So let's say if you're a coach working in the Olympics and I'm someone who's wanting to reach, they'll probably be like, Hey Devang, let's get on a call. I want to learn, you know, what you do in your job. We get on a call, we talk for a few moments, then okay. Then I reach out again. Next time, let's say if I coach an athlete and I find difficult, hey Devang, I had the opportunity to coach this athlete, this is what I learned. What's your say? So ultimately it's me basically trying to build that connection with you, showing you that I'm doing the work. And then let's say in future you get a vacancy of uh let's say an assistant role or an SNC role. And you are like, yeah, I want someone. Back of the mind, you'll go, oh, I know this guy, Arjun, he's been talking to me a lot. Let me reach out to him and talk to him and see if he's interested for the role. That's how you get the jobs. If from the very start, I'll be like, hey Divang, if there's any job, let me know. You'll probably remember me for a few days, then you'll forget about me. You won't, and then the next time a job away can be arises, you'll probably see the next best person who's right in front of you or who you know very well. So I think again, like it's a lot more process-oriented. Make with the right approach. Uh, make sure you're bringing in that value. Because uh if you're asking for a job, that's a win for you. But what do you bring in return? That also matters a lot because that's what the people who get you know hired for bigger roles, they're someone who are bringing huge value to the organization's himself or herself, rather than just the organization giving them the job. And then that's how you kind of build your rapper as well, and that's gonna get reflected everywhere, whether that's uh you as a to your coach, to your reporting manager, or even to your athletes. Sooner or later they're gonna find out whether they you're in the field for the right reasons or the wrong reasons. It's gonna reflect somewhere.

SPEAKER_02:

That's what we preach on our show of fitness. Like uh, I have seen coaches who have tons of multi- I mean, they have a whole file with a bunch of certificates. But yeah, when it comes to training people in real, they lack that exposure. They don't know how to network with clients, uh, how to talk with clients, they don't know how to treat people. And uh exactly that you mentioned that they don't know what the value they are bringing on the table. They just they are just asking how much I'm gonna get out of it. And that's that. Exactly. And uh, this is the worst approach I have ever seen. I mean, we are in the problem-solving industry. That's what I feel. And if you are not solving a problem, you are not gonna be, you are you are not going to sustain this career anyways, anyways. So that's why networking is more important. Is the most I mean, every trainer should focus on hands-on training only. I mean, yeah, fine. If you want a certificate, you can have it, it will add a credibility to your resume. But when it comes to training actual people, you need more hands-on learning, you need to know how human body works, you need to know how to deal with different individuals. Now, we have to be on the last question. Okay. What are your visions and big goals for the future?

SPEAKER_01:

I think right now it's just basically helping, like being a part of the next uh Olympic medal. So someone whom I'm working with, they go on and win the Olympics. So I think that's a good uh vision for me. Like that if even if I in future I go and look back at my life and be like, you know, there's one Olympic medal in India, that I also had a small contribution that I made towards that medal. So I think that's the long-term vision for now.

SPEAKER_02:

So in future, if India wins the gold, we know whom to thank. Hopefully, yes. All right, Arjun. Thank you so much for your time, man. It was really insightful, and uh, I'm sure many coaches are gonna take a lot of inspiration out of it. Thank you, thank you, thank you for having me here. Maybe this was the first podcast, maybe this was the first podcast where I have to do very little work. Okay. You carried it all. All right, any last motivational message or anything you want to tell the coaches who are working currently, especially in India?

SPEAKER_01:

I think just stick to the process. Like uh there were moments where I was getting a lot of job interviews uh in the UK, but I was not getting a lot more callbacks. And uh during those times you tend to kind of think that I'm in this industry, I'm halfway through the process. Is it gonna work out at the end of it? You just need to stick along a lot a lot more longer, and you'll you know uh find it your yourself that you know you'll turn out. Like it's it's gonna turn out. Just make sure your efforts, you're making sure that you know you're putting your efforts sincerely. And uh you're doing your homework and you're working on yourself as much as you're working towards something. I think that's the thing. If you're part of that process, I think things are always gonna be in your favor.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. Thank you so much, Arjun, for your time. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.