Jordan Fitness' Director of Education, Allan Collins, has just returned from Fitnessfestivalen in Gothenburg, Sweden where he delivered a presentation on Functional Training for Results and Profit. We thought we would share his presentation with you. For personal trainers and gym owners, if you want to boost your business' bottom line through functional training then read on!

This presentation will highlight new philosophies in relation to functional training, including how to integrate traditional equipment, modern equipment, as well as vintage style exercises. It will highlight how the trend for functional training and group training will impact on your business, and how to get the jump on competitors. You will learn invaluable information on how the industry is changing in relation to setting up or changing functional training facilities, as well as running them in order to be successful, both financially and in relation to getting results with your clients. Aimed at both trainers and gym owners, this is one presentation you need to attend.

- How is the industry changing?

Over the last 10 years or so, more and more individuals have embraced the need for a Personal Trainer or Exercise Specialist in order to help them reach their exercise goals. Whereas for many years it was restricted to the wealthy, celebrities and celebrity ‘wannabies’. Nowadays having a personal trainer is like seeing a physiotherapist – we are the experts in exercise and people will pay for that advice, guidance and motivation in order to help them achieve their goals.

But in the current times of economic downturn, how does that affect personal trainers?

Well in relation to the wealthier clients, it doesn’t. As long as they see results and a value in your service they will still have the disposable income to pay for personal training. However those in the middle range may be ‘feeling the squeeze’ and justifying see a PT 2 or 3 times a week for one-on-one sessions can be difficult. And this is one reason why small group functional training (SGFT) sessions are becoming more a more popular. It allows those clients to receive the most effective type of training for body composition changes, but without the associated cost of one-on-one training. These SGFT classes may be between 4 and 12 people and at a price between £4 and £12 are more accessible that £40 per hour personal training.

- Trends in functional training and group exercise.

The trends in the moment for functional training include suspension style training (such as gymnastic rings, jungle gym XT for even monkey bars), Kettlebells, sandbags and combat style training. Combat Training that takes a mixture of boxing, kickboxing, muay thai and mma fitness exercises gives an all round workout – without the worry about getting hit in the face – and is linked with the increased popularity of MMA with organizations like the UFC around the world, and is surprisingly just as popular with women and children as it is with males. Unconventional equipment like ropes, chains and sleds have also exploded into our industry as trainers look for more imaginative and fun ways in which to engage with individual clients or groups – both indoors and outdoors.

- How can I get the jump on competitors?

Keep up to date with modern trends, but don’t be a sucker for fads! The idea is to always be trying new ideas, new equipment or new methods of training with the same goal in mind – to get results. When you focus your service on getting results with clients, more clients will naturally get drawn to you as your reputation increases. Don’t restrict yourself to only 1 discipline (like Kettlebells), but have a variety of tools at your disposal for you to get results with. This will keep your sessions varied, and open yourself to a larger pool of customers – some of whom will not necessarily want to train with just one piece of equipment. The more education you take, to expand your knowledge on how to get results the better you will be. You just need to make sure that the education courses you take are focused on getting results, and show you how to implement this new ideas or equipment practically both for PT or group training.

- How can I deliver real results to my clients and how can I make profit on it?

Focus on getting the results that the client is after  - usually body composition changes. There are lots of things that may be beneficial to the client (improved mobility, posture etc), but in the end the client is paying usually to look better – leaner, healthier and more athletic. The quicker and more dramatic that you can achieve that the more business you will get as a result of referrals. 12 week ‘transformation’ programmes that combine some one-on-one sessions with group sessions, that are all based around shorter (less than 1 hour) training on functional equipment like ropes, sandbags and combat will stimulate the necessary hormonal responses for clients to get results, but also make the training more fun and stimulating. Setting 12 week timelines means that you saying you cant get results in a week, but that you also don’t need to do this for 12 months to see any difference. SFGT also means that you can double your hourly income rate whilst accessing a larger client base which maybe cannot afford your one-on-one hourly rate.

- Some basics about functional training and our 9 movement patterns and RBT.

Functional Training is all about using traditional (barbell, bodyweight, dumbbells) and modern training equipment (ropes, suspension systems, sandbags) to train the body in all of the 9 basic human movement patterns, and in different planes of motion. Although Functional Training can be adapted to meet bodybuilding and other goals, the basic principles of functional training means that there are specific things that men, women and children should all include within their exercise programmes for accelerated results, improved performance and an increased resilience to injury. The 9 movement patterns are:

• Squat
• Lift
• Pull
• Press
• Rotate
• Smash
• Move-carrying load
• Gait and locomotion
• Fighting

Once you include these 9 movement patterns within your training programme, you will automatically work all of the muscles in a balanced amount – and these patterns have the greatest carryover to sports, occupation and everyday activities.

Results Based Training (RBT) is system that Jordan and its distributors use to ensure that a functional training area is the most effective for the trainers and clients to get results with their training. It also encompasses the education programme – both instructor courses and group training workshops on all of the functional equipment available from the Jordan Fitness group. With the largest range of CPD courses in Europe, led by experts in functional training and strength and conditioning – we set the trends (ignore the fads) and give you the tools to get results.