Will COVID-19 impact Personal Training forever?

Guest writer, professional personal trainer and owner of Positive Impact Fitness, James Drabble, shares his views how COVID-19 will impact this thriving industry.

And so, we come to the end of this mini-series of blogs on what you can do to benefit your Personal Training business during the COVID-19 outbreak.

To finish proceedings, I’m going to very quickly look at how Coronavirus may change the landscape of our thriving industry. And let’s not forget that: The industry is thriving and will continue to thrive. We all just need to stick at it for a little while.

My gluten and dairy-intolerant gut tells me Personal Training, as a product, won’t be affected by the current state of play. The nature of what it is to be a Personal Trainer may shift slightly, but the business will always be there.

People want to work out. They want to stay fit. And for all those comfortable producing their own plan via various sources they’ve amalgamated over time (and fair play to them, I hasten to add), a huge crop remains of those wishing to be trained personally. That is where we will always carry weight.

This period may prompt some to continue training remotely. If you’ve been successful in your tablet-based transition, it may even suit your business. It may even improve it.

Physical, human interaction at close quarters will always be my preference, but so too is adjusting with the times. If this is the next phase of Personal Training, my business can adapt to it.

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And we will have to adapt. We will have to continue innovating and thinking of fresh ideas to combat the biggest challenge our industry has ever faced.

Large swathes of friends have taken to online platforms in a bid to workout together, free of Personal Trainers. Awesome. I implore anyone to follow suit. But I also remind them of the necessity to get it right. A group of my mates started strong in the first two weeks of lockdown, yet without the required knowledge to vary the workout and the inevitable plateau then creeping in, numbers waned. We can harness that enthusiasm and convert it into business.

In fact, there’s a business opportunity right there: Remote Group Workouts for one lump sum. You don’t make as much cash per client, but for the equivalent of one session, you potentially earn more. Simple math.

Outside of remote Personal Training businesses, I do have concerns for PTs working within public gyms. The fallout of people willing to share space with others will be an ongoing issue after lockdown measures have been lifted. As will the idea of using the same equipment. While gyms will no doubt put measures in place, ensuring complete cleanliness 24/7 (many gyms are now open all day, every day) will undoubtedly prove to be a logistical nightmare.

None of this is easy. And it’ll potentially get harder before we return to some semblance of normal. What this time has given me, however, is an opportunity to recalibrate. An initial reduction in clients allowed me to take a step back and view my business from afar. It meant I could revisit and reinvigorate my passion for all the ideas I had as an up and coming PT before, you know, life took over.

Now, in a rather bizarre twist of I do not know what, life has eased up a little. And as a consequence, I am full steam ahead.

Hopefully, you are as well.

Onwards and upwards.

James

About James

Owner and Founder of Beaconsfield based Positive Impact Fitness, James takes a whole body approach when working with people of all ages and abilities. Providing his clients with a variety of exercise techniques as well as realistic nutrition advice. James has a vast experience working with injury rehabilitation as well as sports specific conditioning.

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