"BootCamp" OR "Session Class"
Group fitness instructors have offered bootcamp programs for many years in the club setting. It is somewhat interesting to witness the advent over the last couple years as “bootcamp” programs have grown in popularity outside the club, that group fitness instructors are rarely found leading the class.
Spending quite a bit of time on the business side of fitness (nationally/internationally) And, having the opportunity to watch my wife as she implements various fitness camp programs or marketing tactics within our local operations, gives me an interesting perspective.
I also see much of what is being offered as business education & programs to the fitness professional and I have the opportunity to create and test our own.
It’s clear that within the fitness industry a lot of attention has been paid to the personal trainers while the group fitness instructors seem to be a forgotten specialty when it comes to outside the gym “bootcamp” styled programs.
Programs like Mega Marketing, BootCamp Blue Print, or Fitness Business Revolutioneach are targeted to the Personal Trainer and the list goes on. It is much tougher to find programs to assist and teach the group instructor that has an entreprenuerial mindset.
These programs can all be made applicable to the group fitness and yoga professionals if you are willing to look at your professional fitness specialty as more than just a part-time job working for a club. Personal trainers are figuring it out and it might just be time you do as well.
Tell me, which certification is geared toward group training? I’ll give you the answer; The one that has the word “group” in the title. That being the case, why is it that small group training and “bootcamps” are dominated by the personal trainers?
Bootcamp is simply one format out of many the average group fitness professional is capable of running.
Trainers are using these formats to generate incomes of well over $100 per hour. They are taking advantage of internet marketing and building lists of participants that they can continue to market to into the future. They are also diversifying their business and offering related fitness products, supplements, information, etc.
… I say, “good for them”, but shouldn’t the group trained instructor be working within these programs also?
Group Session Classes of any Format
I do not see the Group Fitness and Yoga Instruction professionals doing the same thing at all. They (of course not all) seem to be content to work only for the facility and are missing out on many opportunities that are available to them.
You are trained to create group programs, monitor participants of various levels, and to safely provide modifications for all to actively participate. Because of the focus of these training on groups, YOU are well qualified to be leading the bootcamp” (actually, just session classes) styled programs.
There are personal training principles which are important in the operation of these programs. The group fitness instructor can learn those principles in a well designed “bootcamp” training program at least as well as a personal trainer can learn the skills specific to what the group fitness instructor does.
There are several reasons personal trainers are utilizing group training tactics outside of the standard gym setting. Here are some great reasons you should too!:
- 85% of the population does not belong to a fitness facility.
- 60+% of the population is overweight or obese.
- The diet industry is huge. The fitness equipment industry is huge. The anti-aging movement is huge and growing. – bottom line is that people are spending lots of money on things you can actually provide.
- Group trainings lowers the per person cost to participants. You will make more dollars per session/class while charging individuals less.
- Bootcamps, which are most often variations of high intensity interval training (HIIT), have proven extremely effective in assisting participants in achieving their fitness goals for a variety of reasons.
- Bootcamp is a format of group fitness. What we are really providing is the business model of offering session classes. Group fitness instructors can offer this under many different formats, not just a bootcamp program.
You are leaving money on the table, allowing your brothers & sisters from the personal training side of fitness to dominate the large and growing bootcamp business model.
These programs are not rocket science, but will help you reach more people and make a greater amount of income. We continue to work on a program specifically for group instructors to help you get started.
While I encourage personal trainers to get training to work with larger groups and add these types of programs to their offerings list, you the group fitness instructor have a few advantages right off the bat and I’d love to see you take advantage of them.
- You are trained specifically to work with groups of various fitness levels.
- Group fitness instructors generally have the ability to offer multiple formats of classes. BootCamp is only one style that can be performed in a gym, field, or apparently a combat zone. Just because this is the primary format that personal trainers have attached themselves to doesn’t mean you can’t take your other formats outside the standard gym setting or offering structure.
- I believe it is generally easier for a person who has picked up the principles and abilities important to group fitness to get further training and diversify themselves as personal trainers rather than the other way around. What you do is not the same, but it is similar. A small amount of related training will make you very proficient and capable to run these programs.
I hope you consider what you may have been passing up. You have skills that can be provided in many different locations, can reach many fitness needy lives, and these skills can be utilized to generate a great deal of income for you and your family with minimal extra work.
This is an updated re-post from our original blog. As the program continue to be developed your thoughts and concerns are still of interest.
