Successful trainers understand the importance of education and training. They're the ones who are looking for new ideas, new knowledge that they can take and use straight away on the clients.

There are plenty of good trainers out there, but what separates a good trainer from a good training business?

Systems.

A good training business has a blue print they can follow every single time to get an exact result. Smart trainers use their education by buying systems and plugging in their own clients.

There's no new training knowledge out there - just smarter and smarter ways of putting it together to best serve our busy clients.

There's some great stuff coming very soon - systems that make it easy to succeed. All you've got to do is use them.

This is a frustrating time of year for most people in the fitness industry and probably hits personal trainers harder than it hits group exercise instructors. For anyone who is feeling frustrated at a lack of commitment I suggest reading this article from Testosterone magazine. Its been around for a few years now, but it never fails to make me feel better inside for saying all the things that we're never really able to get away with saying out loud.

Ho, ho, ho!

The conversation usually goes like this:

Client: I find the interval program you wrote me really hard so I've just been walking for the same amount of time as the intervals. I also don't like doing squats so I've been using the Leg Press instead. Plus the diet you wrote is hard. I get so hungry and I miss all my sugary treats. So I've been having a few Tim Tams with my coffees each day. Oh…And I really like ice cream so instead of having that serve of steak you told me to have I've been skipping dinner and just having dessert instead. Is that OK?

Me: No.

C: But why not?

Me: Because that's not what I wrote. You paid for my advice. You sought me out, not the other way around, and what I wrote will help you get your goal. But what you're doing isn't anything like what I told you to do. I don't actually know what will happen if you follow that program. You might lose weight, you might not. But the fact remains that the program you are following isn't the one you have paid for and certainly isn't what I have recommended.

C: Oh.

Me: Further more, you signed a contract with me saying that you would eat what I say, when I say; and that you will train how I say, when I say and you are not honouring your end of the contract. If I can't trust you to be an adult and follow the program that we both agreed would be the best option for you then I'm not prepared to train you. I suggest you go away and figure out whether you seriously want to get in shape or whether you want to spend the rest of your life as an out of shape tub of goo.

If this conversation repeats itself in various forms too often I simply stop training them. While that may seem harsh be honest with yourself here -- Personal Training isn't the sort of job that you can earn a million dollars a year from. For that kind of money I'd put up with just about anything. But our job isn't like that. Most PTs are lucky to make $50,000 a year and for that kind of money it's very important that you enjoy your work. Having a client who is a pain in the ass to train and won't follow your program just isn't worth the hassle. (It's also important to understand that clients who don't follow your programs lead to people associating your training with a lack of results -- can your business really afford to be known for not getting results?)

For anyone who has missed this little tidbit, the New York Governeor has decided to place a tax on sugary soft drinks, claiming that they are responsible for the obesity problem.

While I certainly admit that High Fructose Corn Syrup is not something I choose to consume a lot of, the companies that produce those beverages have every right to manufacture and market those soft drinks however they see fit. Its the basis of our entire economy and free trade.

The problem, the real problem in our world, is the total lack of accountability people choose to accept for their actions. I know that eating KFC, Mars bars and drinking Coke isn't good for me. In fact, I know that a single can of coke has the equivalent of two tablespoons of sugar in it. Only a dummy could drink that and think that the effects wouldn't be terrible in the long run!

But no, people are unwilling to shoulder blame for their own gluttony and excess. (Not wanting to get into a bigger issue about society's gluttony causing our current credit crisis, but our world is like an overweight, spoilt child - taking what we want with no thought of the long term effects). The people who will cop the brunt of this idiot tax are the poor shopkeepers. Placing a retail tax on a consumable punishes the end seller - not the manufacturer.

But even then, why punish the manufacturer? There's many products in the world that are not in our best interests, so why pick on only soft drinks? How about we teach people some responsibility and accountability for their own actions. As, supposedly, adults, we should be able to make sound decisions based on good and bad, right and wrong.

And this goes for your clients too. Until they learn to think for themselves, until they learn to separate good from bad, they will never really be healthy. Don't praise poor choices or mediocrity. If they slip up make sure you tell them about it! Our industry is a lone, small voice in the midst of a gluttonous feast. Don;t be shy about telling your clients that their food choices suck.

The original article is here:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,468245,00.html