If you’re a personal trainer thinking of starting a fitness business, then let me let you… this is going to be your year. The results of my annual State of the Industry survey are in and 2014 is looking to be as promising as ever, especially with the economy bouncing back and spending on the rise.

Check out my fitness industry report and predictions for this year. There’s some interesting stuff you wouldn’t want to miss.

I response I got this year was amazing. It’s awesome that there are so many of you out there that are dying know which way the business is heading. The survey I took reached more fitness professionals than ever before, over 100,000, through different means like social media and my email subscriber list, which gives us a pretty accurate sample of the fitness industry and the professionals in it.

Here’s what was asked:

1. Primary source of business?

Group Training and Fitness Boot Camps - 57%

One on One Personal Training - 43%

2. Gross total income for 2013?

Group Training and Fitness Boot Camp - $238,376.84

One on One Personal Training - $66,768.29

3. What would you like to learn more of in 2014?

 - Online Fitness Marketing and Client Attraction

- Fitness Information Product Creation and Marketing

- Offline Fitness Marketing and Client Attraction

- Personal Training Sales and Closing Skills

In the past couple of years I’ve done this survey, the top two answers to the question “What would you like to learn more of” have always, hands down, been online fitness marketing and offline. But this year is a complete turn around for fitness info product creation, as it was chosen as the second most popular thing that fitness professionals want to learn more of. #1, of course, was online fitness marketing and client attraction, but it’s awesome to see that so many of you are interested in creating and selling online fitness info products.

So for 2014, expect more posts on online marketing tactics, fitness info products and how to create them as well as how to market them to the masses.

Top Trends and Predictions for the Fitness Industry in 2014

1.) Nutrition and the rise of clean and healthier eating. Finally, people are starting to see that diet and nutrition a huge part of weight loss and fitness success. And not only are people catching on to proper diet and nutrition, we’re starting to see a big increase in diets that were typically only followed by athletes or really fit celebrities. Diets like gluten free, vegan, sugar free, Paleo, unprocessed food free, have been gaining popularity throughout 2013 and is sure to stay for 2014.

Just by taking a look at the top selling recipe and cookbooks for 2013 tells you that more and more people are taking their nutrition seriously. This is awesome news for personal trainers because what we’ve been saying and preaching all along is becoming more of the norm and accepted among more people. There’s less of a stigma for people to hire a personal trainer to help them with their weight loss.

2.) Challenging workouts are here for the long haul. Whether you love or hate them, intense workouts like those from CrossFit and P90X proved that challenging and dynamic workouts are exactly want the public wants. I see it all the time in our Fit Body Boot Camp locations where we use unconventional gym equipment like battling ropes, straps and sliders, kettlebells and sandbags, plyo boxes and resistance bands to train the “average” people who want to get fit, lose fat, and look like an athlete without being one.

Clients don’t want to see the same boring equipment, so it’s important to start incorporating some new and exciting exercise tools… if you haven’t already. They’ll get more out of it than they would passively jogging on a treadmill anyway, train them hard (but safe) and your clients will love you for it. (Though it may be a love/hate relationship!)

3.) Keep your workouts fresh. Do your best to make sure that each and every one of your workouts are unique. Clients are not okay with doing the same workout over and over again, even if you are using unconventional equipment or it produces awesome results. Our clients want change, and they want it as often as you can give it to them. It’s our duty to make sure that they’re paying attention so that they keep coming back to work hard for those results.

Unfortunately, a lot of personal trainers who own their own business tend to get burned out, and start to fall into a pattern of complacency and repetitiveness. And if you’re not careful, your clients will start referring you less and less and eventually find a new place to workout.

4.) Fitness info products are certainly going to be huge in 2014. The web is amazing at giving you the power to share your knowledge or special skill with people all over the world, not just in your area. Home workout videos, diet products, recipe and cookbooks, dynamic training programs continue to gain popularity and demand.

Who knows, maybe you’ll come up with the next big thing and reap massive profits this year.

5.) Higher expectations for personal trainers. Because the public is investing more in their health, that means they’re demanding more bang for their buck. Gone are the days of the “meat-head” personal trainer and replacing them are the personal trainers who specialize in different areas. Just like when a doctor chooses to specialize in a specific field of medicine to earn more money, the industry urges personal trainers should do the same.

Are you a fat and weight loss expert? Are you good at getting people to bulk up and build muscle? Is there a certain group you prefer to train, like teenage athletes or new moms who need to shed some baby weight? Decide what you’re going to specialize it and run with it because that is what’s going to set you apart from all the other personal trainers in your area. And, because you’re a specialist, you’ll create a higher demand for your services and will be able to command more money for what you do.

But ultimately, it comes down to how passionate you are about the clients you serve. If you go out of your way to do what’s best for your clients, and have a burning passion for it… then there is no way that 2014 won’t be your year of success.

Cheers to the new year!

Bedros

This entry was posted on January 11, 2014 at 2:42 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Fitness Business, Uncategorized by Steve Hochman | No Comments Yet