Guest Post by Copy Sipe, PhD

While at the 2014 Fitness Business Summit, I gave a presentation on “The Perfect Storm: How to train the largest and wealthiest untapped market in fitness history!” to over 500 fitness professionals. After my presentation we were just slammed with trainers interested in the Functional Aging Specialist certification because they realized how huge the potential is for training mature clients.

Later that night, at the VIP dinner, a young female trainer stopped me to tell me a little about her facility and get some advice on how to reach more mature clients. During that conversation she asked me “This question might sound stupid but am I too young to train older adults?” This isn’t the first time I have been asked this question and it is definitely not a stupid question.

I assured her that her age was really not that big of a deal (the trainer looked like she was in her early 20’s although I didn’t ask). What really mattered were things like her level of maturity and professionalism; having good communication skills; understanding that mature adults have different values, needs and desires than her younger clients; knowing how to train them appropriately, safely and effectively; and creating an environment that they feel comfortable in.

Most mature clients (ages 50-70+) don’t really care about the age of the trainer IF they feel confident that the trainer knows what they are doing, how to meet their individual needs, has an appropriate amount of training (degrees, personal trainer certifications) and experience and conduct themselves appropriately. A HUGE turnoff to this population is trainers acting immaturely. Things like talking about their weekend exploits, talking negatively about other trainers (or the owners or other clients), showing up late to appointments, constantly texting or checking their phones, and so on.

The advantage that age has for trainers in their 30’s and up is credibility and authority. It is much more difficult to establish yourself as an authority if you are really young and don’t have much experience. Mature clients value experience and respond well to authority. So if you are a veteran trainer then you can use this to your advantage. Highlight the amount and types of experience that you have including certifications, degrees, presentations you’ve given, articles you’ve authored and notable individuals you have worked with.

Both younger and more seasoned trainers can use the authority and credibility of the Functional Aging Specialist certification to promote themselves to mature clients. The FAS is a cutting-edge program that is based on the most current research and developed by two award-winning, experienced, PhD trained professionals. By aligning yourself with our credentials and those of FAI you associate yourself with credibility, experience and authority. Since FAS is pretty new you could very well be the first and/or only trainer in your city or even state to have this credential. You should use this to your advantage by letting everyone know that you are unique… press releases, email blasts, website announcements, byline, front window decal.

You can do that locally as well. Write and present with other local authorities like physicians, chiropractors, therapists, nutritionists and even other trainers. Demonstrate publicly that you have the skills, knowledge and credentials so that you can become that local “go to” expert for training mature clients.

Regardless of your age, though, is the fact that you still need to consider the aspects I mentioned earlier: level of maturity and professionalism; having good communication skills; understanding that mature adults have different values, needs and desires than her younger clients; knowing how to train them appropriately, safely and effectively; and creating an environment that they feel comfortable in. If you don’t possess these characteristics and follow these recommendations then they will not want to train with you whether you are 20 or 50 years old.

However, the MOST CRITICAL characteristic of an excellent trainer is passion. If you don’t have the interest in working with mature adults then it won’t be an enjoyable population for you to train and they will be able to tell.

But some of you don’t know that you have the passion yet because you haven’t given it a chance. I know this first hand. I didn’t always have an interest in working with older adults. Until I started the master’s degree program at Virginia Tech I never would have told you I had any interest in them at all. My experiences early in life with “old people” were not that positive. I had little interaction with my grandparents. My grandfathers died early on and my grandmothers, although they both lived nearby, were just not that affectionate or loveable. Add in a terrible middle-school experience at a local nursing home and my interest in older adults was pretty much zero.

Later, when I started the master’s program, which included running a cardiac rehab program at the University, things quickly changed. I met a group of mature adults that were active, witty, funny, hard-working, adventurous and just enjoyable to be around (most of them anyway). This created at least a spark of interest in this population which was then fanned into flames in the several years following when I worked at a medical fitness center (while pursuing my PhD). I just never knew I would end up having such a strong passion or working with older adults and now I think it is the absolutely greatest and most rewarding group in the world.

So age is not really the main issue with older clients. You want to catch a glimpse of what it is like to train older adults? Want to see how interesting, fun and rewarding it can be?

Then watch this short video here.

Cody Sipe, PhD

This entry was posted on March 12, 2014 at 1:47 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 Blog, Boot Camp Business, Boot Camp Strategies, Fitness Business by Steve Hochman | No Comments Yet