How this trainer doubled his PT sessions using the SUF system: How to get hired at Movati w/ Emilio

Most personal trainers get stuck around 10–15 sessions per week and can’t figure out how to grow their schedule. Many assume it’s the gym, the location, or the economy.

In this episode we sit down with a trainer from MOVATI Athletic who broke through that ceiling.

After implementing systems from Show Up Fitness, he went from 10–15 sessions per week to 25 sessions per week, dramatically increasing both his income and confidence as a coach.

We discuss:

• Why most trainers struggle to grow their client base

• The biggest mistakes trainers make early in their careers

• How assessments instantly increase client trust

• The difference between textbook knowledge and real-world coaching

• The systems that helped him double his sessions

If you’re a personal trainer trying to get more clients, build confidence, and turn coaching into a real career, this episode breaks down what actually works.

Follow the trainer on IG: @emi_robledo2911

For trainers studying for NASM or looking to level up their coaching skills, check out the Show Up Fitness resources and weekly live calls.

KEEP SHOWING UP. 💪

Want to become a SUCCESSFUL personal trainer? SUF-CPT is the FASTEST growing personal training certification in the world!

Want to ask us a question?  Email info@showupfitness.com with the subject line PODCAST QUESTION to get your question answered live on the show!

Website: https://www.showupfitness.com/
Become a Successful Personal Trainer Book Vol. 2 (Amazon): https://a.co/d/1aoRnqA
NASM / ACE / ISSA study guide: https://www.showupfitness.com

Transcript

Opening And Certification CTA

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Kill Off Fitness podcast. 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 showoffiness.com. 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 it going up. Hadday all. Welcome back to the Show Off Fitness Podcast. We are coming here from Canada today. Mr. Emilio, how are we doing, sir? Excellent, man. So happy to be here. Great story from getting certified in Mexico to now training at Movati, a very elite high-end gym in Canada. And you have since taken off since January, which was kind of a big day for you because you got certified with the SQF CPT. So let's talk about your life and everything you're doing and how you're helping people. Thank you for taking the time, my man. Oh man, it's a dream. I've been listening to this a long time ago. So a couple years ago, you weren't in Canada. You decided to get certified. You wanted to become a trainer. What was your passion project? Why did you want to become a trainer?

Why Coaching Beat Dietetics

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Great, man. Well, I did a bachelor's in human dietetics. And I don't know, I also felt a little bit inside the box that I saw like my clients like once a month, once every two weeks. And I wanted to start getting a little bit more inside the process of training, changing their lives, getting them a little bit more active. So I got into NASM, NASA, for some trade uh personal training cert. It got a little bit too basic, to be honest. And it I felt that I had a roof with that. So yeah, that's why I looked up for show up to get better at sales, also. That was a good part of it. And yeah, man, it's been great.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

I always love how people come across us. So did you like type in how to improve my sales or how to become a better trainer? What were some of the things that you were searching for and how you came across us?

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Yeah, I think it was like literally it was how to get better at sales as a personal trainer. And just like show up was, I think in YouTube was one of the best, like one of the first hyperlinks. So, like how to get better at sales as a PT. And I was like, damn, that's what I wanted. I just got in and yeah, it was amazing.

Finding Better Sales Education

SPEAKER_00 2:22

So tell us about your gym where you're training at, because a lot of people have probably not heard of this amazing company in Canada, 18 locations. You're at one of them, 30 plus trainers at your location. So tell us more about the gym and then we'll talk about the life of a trainer. Great, man. So Mobadi is a big uh box branch gym.

Inside Movati And Market Fit

Hitting A Sales Wall

SPEAKER_02 2:40

We have five here in Ottawa. And for example, my gym is I think it's gonna be around 8,000 members. We are 30 clients and we're 30 trainers, and it's great, man. I think we have a good, good amount of members and a lot of population. So, for example, if you want to train uh youth, athletes, uh kids, uh you can do, for example, uh a small group for kids, or if you want to train a little bit more older population, there's a lot of people, and I think that's the thing, right? To get your population, to get you going, to build your business and getting better.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

And so, did you find a time when you're just like, you know, I'm not where I want to be, I'm struggling. And so that's when you started looking into how to improve. Did your gym provide much resources to help you become a better trainer? Let's talk about that for a second.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Yeah, man, I think it was around let's say October last year. I did find myself a little bit lost in what I need to get better in and how I how my sales are gonna improve because definitely my sales uh my percentage of uh closing, as my managers were telling me, was not the best, not to say trash. Uh, but yeah, so I wanted to get better, and definitely we have uh usually on Tuesdays, like a meeting, like uh training and development where we try well, managers try to get us better, better. But definitely there's certain amount of things that they can do, and also everyone has their own styles. And I don't know, man. I just love to get better, for example, in an anatomy that show up give you and just all around knowledge.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

As you say in Espanyol, your sales was mierda, mucho, and so what were some of the the techniques that you took from our program that helped level you up to better present your services and your product to your clients? So now you went from roughly 10-15 sessions a week to now close to 30. So you've almost doubled your business. What were some of those techniques that helped with you really leveling yourself up?

Talk Less, Listen More

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Oh man, I think just from the start, uh just the anatomy part helps you a ton because getting you the knowledge to say, like, hey, uh, this muscle should be this, or hey, your trader cough, it's bad. Okay. We're gonna try to look on the assets, muscles, uh, the acronym, so you start like you start showing more knowledge, you start showing more value. Then I think the assessment part was huge. And showed we also have this assets assessment sheets and also assessment calls, so I could see how you assess. And I got like my closing percentage went through the roof just with that, man. Like just changing my assessments. And well, finally, I think also a good part of it was Tyson. He's been a big mentor for myself, man. And he taught me, I think, two two main important points like, hey man, try to get like an 80-20, 70, 30, yourself talking 30%, and them talking 70, so that you get to know them, and that's gonna make them instantly like you, man. If you make them talk, it's gonna, it's gonna happen. And then on the prescription or the last part of the sales part, he told me, like, hey, just bind your tongue, keep it short. Don't like if you the more you talk on that part, the less sure you are. I was like, all right.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

One of my first sales presentations, I remember vividly, Miss Paulette, and this was at Palladium over 20 years ago, and I remember I talked 95% of it, and she never signed up. And it's exactly because I talk too much. And when you have that mentality of, I need to learn more about you, and you learn so much about the psychology, but also just where your clients need support because it could be they just want a great workout, they could need a friend, or maybe they do have some discomfort and they're trying to get out of it. So by asking great questions and just kind of biting your tongue, as you were saying, it allows for that client to feel more confident in you as the professional. And so that's really great to hear. Um, what would you say are some other things that a lot of trainers that you see struggle with in your environment?

Trainer Turnover And Pressure

SPEAKER_02 6:47

I think definitely also programming and networking. I think also like this part of programming, it's a little bit too hard on some of the new trainers. If you don't have a system, like show up teaches you a system, you're gonna be you're gonna be good. Like for the future for harder clients. If you cannot develop a good system, then you're gonna just trying to fly around with exercises, and programming is gonna be a nightmare for yourself. And the other one is networking. If you don't have a good networking with, I don't know, barbers, uh physiotherapist, and I also got this one from yourself, like from being frugal, being like a good, good not just businessman, but also like uh general here in the gym. I got to know the membership guys here, and I even become friends with them. So now, like someone needs training or someone is like a good, good lead, they just like, hey, Emilio, this is our guy.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

I'd be interested to hear. Obviously, it's a small sample size, but 18 gyms is is pretty substantial. If you multiply that by almost 20, that's maybe between 500 to 750 trainers. Have you seen a lot of trainers quit at your gym?

Pay Structure And Opportunity

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Since I've been here, not much, but definitely they have telling me that the in and out of trainers is is how I quit in this gym. Why do you think that is? Oh, I think definitely there's a lot of pressure for performance, and also a lot of people don't have the skills to get clients, keep them, and also build a good business from themselves. It's not that you need to build a business for Mobadi, that you need to build a business for yourself, man.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

And there's lots of opportunities there. It sounds like you get, you know, maybe 40, 42 percent of the session. So if you're charging 100, you're bringing home 42. But a neat thing that they offer are opportunities with that sales package. You were mentioning like maybe eight to 10%. So if you sell someone for a thousand dollars, then you're gonna get you know additional 100 bucks right there. So there's a lot of opportunity to make a decent income. Are you really comfortable and happy with the position you're in right now?

Culture, Support, And Income Ceilings

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Oh, I am. Yeah, I'm super happy. I'm super happy also with the team here. They have been super supportive with myself, man. Uh, and it's great. It's I think it's inspiring to see people uh getting, I don't know, like over 100k doing personal training. We think that it's not possible, but then we see it and it's inspiring. It makes you work even harder. And as I told you, man, like the team here. I arrived here like last year to Canada, and like these guys have been like family here, so it's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

What are some of the um just kind of for the listeners, give them a little more of a breakdown what the gym is like because a lot of people probably never heard of it. So, what what's the the gym atmosphere like? What do they offer, and how many members are there? Just kind of talk to us more about the gym culture.

What Movati Offers Members

Advice For Aspiring Gym Trainers

SPEAKER_02 9:50

All right, man. Yeah, I mean, I think it's great. You enter and they they try to make it that's not a gym. So you enter and you see no weights. However, we have the main gym upstairs for the co-ed space, and we have the pin machines, the plate loaded machines, the dumbbells, and we have a big big part of racks for Olympic lifting, power lift uh powerlifting. Then we have a big stretch area, we have a cardio area machines, and uh, I think what is awesome is we have a studio just for personal training, which is called Lift Studio. We also have some uh studios for the group fitness classes, yoga, uh bunji. Then we have an area or a floor just for women, women's only section. We have a gym underground, which is called like the fuel studio, which is more like it's a crossfit, it has this uh the sleds, it has a lot of racks, and also we have piladis and pools, and a new area, which is the stretch studio, which also I'm involved. It's like a facial stretch manual therapy, which is pretty nice, also. It's like uh quiet, uh this music to relax, which is pretty nice, man. That's that's pretty much like uh the Mulati setup.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

It sounds like very common today. A lot of these gyms are getting away from that old school mentality of just weights and banging stuff around and barbells. It's it's more of a longevity feel, rehab, and it's going for more of like a wellness being. So you enjoy being there and you got great professionals such as yourself. That sounds like it's a really awesome opportunity to train there. What would you give advice-wise for someone who would want to start training at a gym like that?

The Interview And Practical

Goals For The Next Year

Host’s Biggest Career Lessons

SPEAKER_02 11:34

Oh man, I think the first one is yeah, getting certified, I think is the step zero. And I think not just like NASA or something like that. I mean, yes, Canvas Pro and Assembly, they get you here in the door, which is part of it, right? But also getting your knowledge up is gonna be like the biggest thing, man. Because whenever uh uh member, a potential client gives you uh not let's say an objection or something, if you don't have the knowledge, if you don't have the skills, you're not gonna be sure enough to overcome it. What was the interview process like? The interview process, first we have an online interview after doing like all the forms that you need to sign up, uh interview, online interview, soon call, just asking questions like the regular questions of like, hey, how do you see yourself, five years? Uh do you think personal training is a career, or you're doing this for a hobby? And I think that's like one of the most important questions because they also answer, make you answer this one in the presential one or the live one. Uh because yeah, man, I think a lot of people just get in this because they don't have a job or they like to see it as a hobby, and no, it's it's a big career. Then you pass that interview, they make an appointment here at the gym presential, you come here, and usually it's the manager, the assistant manager, or a higher level trainer. I got the manager and the higher level trainer, and it was I would not say it was that hard, but it was it was challenging, which was amazing because they started to uh to ask you and they make you really think like, hey, how would you train a gen population person that comes three times a week? And they expect a good thoughtful answer. They don't expect like, hey, yeah, I just do push through legs, and that's it, brother. No, like they they want a good answer with fundaments, with hey, I'm gonna manage the volume, I'm gonna manage the intensity, I'm gonna manage this. And then after that's over, we go for the practical and we try to teach, well, they made me teach a squat and they made me teach uh a push-up or a press variation. And yeah, like they need you to go over the progressions and the regressions. So, for example, if you just go from the bad and it's like, hey, for a 75-year-old Jam Pop that has done anything, I'm not going for a barbel squat. Like a lot of people just go over that and you know it's over. So yeah. Made you think you go for some good variations, progressions, regressions, man.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

And then after that, they say they loved you and they want to bring you on the team. Was there an interview after that with like the general manager, or was that it?

SPEAKER_02 14:15

That's it, man. That's it. They just tell you, hey, uh, all right, you're great, man. I'm gonna send you the the offer letter. You just check it and sign it. That's it. Starting one week.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

And then you've been there for almost a year, about seven months. Where would Mr. Amelia like to be a year from now?

SPEAKER_02 14:33

Oh man, hopefully I'll I'll still be here growing my business, keeping a lot of my clients. Definitely. Also, they a lot of them have been me with me since I got here. So I just want to see their progress, want to see their going going forward and getting more clients, man. Getting more clients, making helping them, helping their lives getting better, getting to know them, like building those relationships is great, man, because you can keep with them for a longer time. And that means more results for them. So that's that's amazing. I would love to be here.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

That's great, my man. Well, do you have any questions for me before we call them a day?

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Let's say what was your most challenge, like the biggest challenge for yourself as a personal trainer, and then what was the biggest challenge for yourself as a business owner, man?

Managing Bad Days And Staying Motivated

SPEAKER_00 15:18

The challenges in the beginning were overcoming my my complex of thinking I was the best because I was pretty confident, came in with one of the best internships from the University of Connecticut, did an internship with cardiac rehab, physical therapy. I was thinking I was the best out there, but then I came across some trainers who are pretty damn sharp. And that's actually how I came across where I first started teaching at MPTI, learning that there was other places that would teach how to actually train, not just, I wasn't even really familiar with the textbook certification because my background was in kinesiology. And so I thought I was just going to be, you know, training and kicking ass. But then that sales part came in and it was definitely something to adapt. And so I went out there and paid a bunch of money to therapists and other people who charge a lot of money to see how they did it. And then I implemented it into my practice. And I got a lot more confident in that way, just seeing how those professionals did it. Then on the business side, I mean, it's so opposite of one another, because uh you have to take off your training hat and it's now a people game and you have to be super professional and reach out to people quickly. And that's just from the certification side. But when it comes to managing trainers, now you have to go through all the ants, those negative thoughts that they have. And it's the little things that can be annoying where it's like you have these expectations yourself, but other people don't hold themselves to those expectations. And so you think it would be common sense to do certain things, but common sense isn't common action. So when you start managing people, it just opens up a whole new box of ants or whatever the hell that's saying is a can of worms because it's you're not prepared for that. And leadership is getting people to see their worth and their vision and what they want and help them chase it. Because so many people don't have a vision. They don't wake up every day like I do with a fire in my ass because I want to go out there and change the industry. So many people are just kind of farting through the day, and it's like you're trying to find what motivates them. I remember I had a team meeting with some of our instructors and I asked them, what's something that motivates you? And it really just gave me perspective, like, oh shit, people aren't like me. One person said it was money, one person said it was power, one person said it was uh competition. And I just really appreciated that conversation because in my mindset, I'm not motivated by money. It's nice to make a lot of it. I'm motivated by I want to make an impression and leave something powerful for the future where personal trainers are looked at with respect. And we don't have that right now. You know, trainers are out there doing a bunch of stupid shit. They have no idea what they're doing, they're anecdotal. I want to leave this earth and say, you know what, it is a better place for trainers and people look at us with respect. And people want to get into this and make it into a career because we're so far from that. And so I just get it, it was really a fresh breath of air to get that perspective. And it got me thinking different because I can't just place my ideals on everyone else, like, oh, you want to change the industry and you want to go crush these certs and do whatever. I have to find out what motivates you as an individual and then give you that carrot and the tools for success so you can achieve it. So, really almost contradictory to one another. Where when you're a trainer, the most challenging thing is get really efficient at sales, have great conversations with people, ask great questions. But then on the business side, it's really just the learning how people work.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Well, one more question, just for the trainers out there. How do you, as a trainer, how do you manage like these bad days? What do you do? Like two assessments, no closing. Uh, this client comes a little bit low backy injury because I don't know, he got some boxes the last day. And like you're you're a little bit full of like, man, this day's not going well. How do you manage it as a trainer?

Closing Notes And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_00 18:54

We've all experienced that we have those highs and those lows, and it's so easy to let those lows bring you into a just an unhappy time. It's toxic thinking. So find the things that really motivate you and always have it on your plate. And so what I mean by that is it could just be a book about I like the the reacher books, and you're excited to read those because of the story behind it. What is out there that keeps you motivated? And so for so many of us, it's just training, and you have a couple of clients that come in with a negative attitude or they bring you down, or maybe you have some debt that you have to pay off, it can definitely take a toll on you. And so find things that keep you passionate. My pops would always tell me, turn your emotional pain into physical pain. And I really like that because if I'm down, I'll say, you know what? I'm just gonna go work out. I don't care if it's nine o'clock at night. I didn't get a workout today, I'm gonna go toss some weight around. And I've never had a workout when I'm in that mindset where afterwards I didn't feel better. I'm always like, yo, I feel great right now and I'm glad I did that. It just kind of changes my perspective. So something to look forward to that makes you continue to grow. And as a new trainer, it's like, what are we learning right now? What is in your playlist, whether if it's a podcast or a specialization certification or something that you're looking forward to? That day helps keep the momentum going, but it could be I'm going to a seminar in Vegas in two months. And I'm really fired up to get there because right now I may be in a little low spot, but I know when I get there, I'm going to come back super fired up. So have stuff on your agenda and your calendar that you look forward to. And then have time when you take off and just kind of unwind, unplug from the world. Don't go on social media, don't check any of that shit. Just go out there and be happy to be alive. Look at the birds and walk around and do a hike and just be grateful that you're in a great position right now. And there's so many trainers who are struggling because they were not given the tools for success and they weren't able to come across a certification that really set them up for success. So you're doing great. And I'm super proud of you. It's really neat to see your success. And I can't wait to see where you're going to be a year from now. So that's my two cents right there. Hopefully you found that valuable. Great, man.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

All right, my man. Well, enjoy yourself some poutine. Have you had that before?

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yes, it's horrible, man. I still need it. I still need it.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Well, each little country has their little uh national treasures. I had poutine and I kind of agree with you on that one, but I'll stick to the things that we enjoy. But thank you for your time today. Remember, big biceps are better than small ones and keep showing up. Oh, well, that's cool. I love it.