Personal trainers                            acknowledge that their business is                         “personal” and that relationships are                        vital  to their success and to                      advancing their  clients’ interests.

Programs are customized to clients’ goals, finances and commitment level. And, the role of a personal trainer is expanding beyond gyms and workouts. IDEA, after surveying 2,800 fitness professionals, identified many of the trends shaping the personal fitness industry.

IDEA reported an increase in the number of trainers offering life coaching services. It also found that personal trainers were providing more nutrition assessments and nutritional coaching. And that as a compliment to more traditional fitness programs, they are incorporating mind-body activities like yoga, tai chi and Pilates.

Stoll said her clients often want a “big picture” approach to wellness. “It’s important to be

empathetic, to find out what the underlying needs really are. For a lot of clients, you have to become a counselor, more like a therapist.”

In addition to workouts, Stoll provides healthy eating programs for people who want to lose weight. She cautioned that matching solutions to people’s needs requires a solid relationship, adding that, for as long as she can remember, people have felt comfortable confiding in her.

It’s a comfortable fit with Stoll’s specialty, which she said is fitness for middle-aged and older women, some of whom over age 25 have morphed from clients to friends. Inevitably, some of these clients who have moved out of the area continue their sessions via Skype, another trend shaping the industry. That training can be staged digitally, is both an opportunity and threat to personal trainers.

YouTube is loaded with fitness programs that can be tailored to an individual’s need sand ambition.

Altogether, the industry in its many forms, like exercise DVD’s and downloadable workout programs, supports many pricing models.

The cost of hands-on personal training varies widely, but for the most part it isn’t cheap. Stoll charges $40 an hour at her Lansing studio. At the YMCA, Alexa charges $25 for a half hour and $50 for a full hour session. For classes, the price drops sharply: $20 to $25 for a six to eight-week session. And some classes are free.

At health clubs likes the MAC, personal training sessions cost between $65 and $75 per one hour session. Half hour training programs cost less and the industry recognizes the trend of small group sessions, quick time sessions, which cost less for clients, but can be lucrative for instructors.

“People want to get in and get out,” said Alexa. “They just don’t have time, which is why 30-minute-hit programs or boot camps are popular now.”

Personal trainers A lucrative up-and-coming addition to the fitness industry - MICKEY HIRTEN  December 2016 (Page 2)