Recent data from the Active Lives Survey shows that only 61.4% of the UK population are participating in the recommended 150 minutes of exercise per week. As an industry it’s our responsibility to break down barriers that may prevent people from exercising regularly.
So on the run-up to our Diversity, Equality and Inclusion event on September 28th we spoke with four independent personal trainers and gym owners who are working with the resources they have to open up their offering and make fitness easier for the public.
The figures
-22% of the UK population having a disability
-14.7% of families made up of single parents
-45% of women that attend the gym attend with someone else because they feel intimidated.
-78% of south Asian women not meeting daily recommended activity
Mara - The Fit Londoner
Mara is a personal trainer with a mission to encourage people across all ethnicities to take part in sports and fitness.
She works with a client base of predominantly South Asian women, and has spoken with LFX about what can be done to make fitness more accessible to this group.
Bring them into the conversation
Find out what clients like and dislike when it comes to physical activity, this will keep the fitness routine easier to follow. Mara said: “Encourage them to think about the movement they do enjoy, I find they often love dancing.
“On a weekly basis I’ll ask them what their schedule is like for the week ahead and we look at dialling things up or down.”
This ensures there isn’t a massive transition into the fitness journey, making it more sustainable and easier to stick to.
Understand the culture of the client you’re working with
If you have a client with a different culture or background to your own it would be naive to prescribe a fitness plan without taking those differences into account.
Mara said: “Often my clients will come to me saying they were told to be healthy or lose weight they need to eat rice, chicken and broccoli - most of them are either vegetarian or don’t like bland food. “They want to incorporate and maintain their south Asian cultural foods into their lives which many PTs will ignore or tell them to drop.”
Rosie Webber - Webber's Gym
Rosie Webber is a gym owner and personal trainer specialising in coaching women who are new to the gym. Since starting her career in fitness she has developed a tool kit of methods that enable her to ensure her female clients are progressing not only with their fitness goals, but with their confidence inside the gym.
Rosie spoke with LFX about simple but effective ways other fitness professionals can ensure their female members are thriving in the gym.
Ensure you’re doing everything you can to make members feel comfortable
We often see female members relying on the ladies only area of the gym, sometimes this may be for religious or cultural reasons out of their control, but in other instances this is simply due to a lack of confidence.
Rosie said: “I have ladies messaging me saying they wish they had my confidence to go in to the gym, they all say the same thing - the gym is daunting and scary. I’ve made sure my gym is a safe space for women to get strong together.”
To ensure members are confident Rosie recommends weight lifting workshops or introductory classes on the public gym floor for women to attend, instead of offering a ladies only area that is often made up of older equipment. Rosie said: “It’s only takes two seconds for a new member to take their first step in to a gym, so we should be encouraging them to train and get strong and not be scared of what other people are thinking.”
Don’t over complicate things
The internet is full of contradictory information about what we should and shouldn’t be doing in the gym.
Rosie does her best to educate and inform new members, without overwhelming them with scientific information that’s difficult to understand. She said: “Don’t over confuse things, speak to members like humans, don’t use fitness jargon too much and get too technical, this can stress newbies out, and a friendly smile never goes a miss.”
Your first few interactions with a new member can make or break their opinion of the gym. If you ensure members feel supported and comfortable from their first visit, their experience will be a lot more stress free and straightforward.
Tom Green - TGFitness
After battling a health condition in his teenage years Tom made it his mission to provide disabled people with a supportive environment to exercise.
Tom works with a broad spectrum of clients with varying health conditions and goals. Since starting his personal training business Tom has gained a keen understanding and passion for developing the health and fitness of disabled people and older adults.
He told LFX what he thinks personal trainers can do to support this demographic.
Exercise personalisation is key
Members on the gym floor often have similar goals so we can sometimes use the same exercises with most of our clients. When working with disabled people you have to get out of that mind set, some of Tom’s clients are bed bound and their long term goal may be to walk 100 metres or comfortably stand up and move around their house.
Tom said: “The goals of most of my clients are to improve activities of daily living - so that means standing, sitting, going shopping or even walking 100 metres. I have a disabled client who was left in severe pain for three weeks after seeing a personal trainer that really beasted her on the treadmill.
“This obviously left her not wanting to exercise because she was scared of going backwards again.”
When coaching disabled clients you may be working in their home or a facility in the community, the gym isn’t always the best fit.
Look at ‘bolt-on’ qualifications
Complex health conditions need to be treated with caution, this means looking at upskilling and other qualifications on top of the industry standard level 3 personal training certificate. Tom has a degree in sports science and health management as well as various specialist qualifications in training older adults and disabled people, giving him a wealth of knowledge on how to help people in this demographic.
Tom said: “When I did my CPD disability qualification I was told I was the first person to do that course in almost 2 years, when 22% of the population are disabled that doesn’t seem right.”
Furthering your fitness education by obtaining a specialist qualification to help disabled people will not only broaden your client base, but allow you to play a key part in improving the quality of life of your clients, as opposed to getting them ‘beach ready’ for a holiday.
Tom said: “There aren’t enough people in the industry that want to go down that route, it isn’t seen as glamorous.
“I think the best thing people can do is the CPD course, you can widen your offering and you’ll find it much more fulfilling.
“There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing someone who was fragile as a result of a health condition or mental health condition return back to their old self as a result of exercise.”
Steve Hoyles - MyGym
Steve owns the MyGym personal training facility in Stockport, his aim is to change the way personal training clients experience health and fitness.
He wants to make fitness accessible for all and break down any barriers he is able to, rather than pushing unattainable pictures and transformations, Steve offers easy to follow and actionable health and fitness advice.
Make getting to the gym stress free for your members
Steve noticed a dip in gym attendance during the school holidays due to parents’ increasing childcare responsibilities, as a parent himself Steve understood how difficult it is to fit in exercise around the children. So to make his gym more accessible he allows parents to bring their children to the gym while they train.
He said: “It’s basically an agreement that any member is allowed to bring their children in as they train, as long as the kids are well behaved, which they always are.
“The idea came from being a parent myself and understanding the difficulties of being able to do things like head to the gym etc when you’re in charge of them.”
“We let members know and it has gone down really well, it also normalises exercise for the kids - they see their parents train and will grow up accepting it as a positive thing.
“It is self-policing and has never caused us a single issue, it’s just become part of how we operate.”
So, which ideas do you like and what are you doing to make fitness more accessible to your members?
I’d love to know.
Get in touch: graeme@mylfx.com
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