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5 T H I N G S YO U NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HEALTH AND FITNESS IN 2020

Introduction Last year OPEX Fitness celebrated 20 years of providing industry-leading education to fitness coaches. During these years we’ve had the opportunity to work with thousands of fitness coaches from all different backgrounds.

As an education company, it is our mission to stay up to date with the latest coaching trends, science, and news to provide our coaches with the best education possible. That is why during every interaction with our coaches we are always listening, observing, and collecting data to ensure that our education is not only current, but is preparing coaches for a future career in the fitness industry.

OPEX Fitness’s major focus in 2019 was updating our flagship education course The OPEX Coaching Certificate Program (CCP). During the update, we reached out to our network of coaches to get the pulse of the fitness industry and see what is working in gyms around the world.

In this download, we have compiled our findings into five keys to success that you need to know to develop as a fitness coach in 2020. If you want to coach with confidence, competence, and create a successful career then sign up for our free coaching course, Coach’s Toolkit. Sign up today and learn the OPEX System of Coaching.

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

Less is More for Consistency The first observation from our survey of coaches shows that no matter the medium of fitness, clients preferred to train between 3-5 days a week. Coaches reported that clients training in the 3-5 day range were the most consistent and had the highest compliance rates.

It’s easy to get carried away and give clients more than they need in the form of too many training sessions. But consistency is key to achieving health and fitness goals, and planning training for 3-5 days a week is a great way for the majority of clients to get results while avoiding burnout.

The optimal number of training days for a client also varies depending on experience. For example, a beginner client can train their full body 3 days a week with either a rest day or aerobic training day between resistance training sessions. This gives them ample time to recover between sessions and makes it easier to create consistency.

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

An intermediate or an advanced client can train 5 days a week. For these clients, the training can be broken up either by the energy system or body part. However, they may not be able to recover effectively from full-body resistance training each session. Learn more about organizing daily training sessions in this free download.

Average Compliance Rate and Number of Training Sessions

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

Coaches reported that clients training in the 3-5 day range were the most consistent and had the highest compliance rates. 5

5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

Think Outside the Gym The second key to success we found is the importance of helping clients beyond the gym walls by focusing on their nutrition and lifestyle. It is these factors, and not exercise, that were by far the most common obstacles for clients to reach their goals last year.

Achieving health and fitness goals requires a combination of many things. While it is obvious that exercise plays a large role in the success of these goals, nutrition and lifestyle tend to be where most clients fall short.

Examples of common nutrition struggles for clients included over or under-eating, food timing around training, lack of access to healthy foods, and a lack of education around healthy foods.

Examples of common lifestyle struggles for clients included sleep quality and quantity, managing stress, and incorporating movement outside the gym.

Moving into 2020 this would be a valuable service to add to your coaching business. If you are already offering this service, try including how you create and support healthy nutrition and lifestyle practices in your marketing message to stand out from other fitness coaches.

Just coaching exercise right now? Learn how to create holistic nourishment programs and develop quality lifestyle practices in our

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

Biggest Limitation to Client Success

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

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While it is obvious that exercise plays a large role in the success of these goals, nutrition and lifestyle tend to be where most clients fall short.

5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

Coaching is Going Digital Technology is changing the landscape of the fitness industry. Clients now expect that coaches leverage technology to provide greater insight, data collection, communication, and ultimately, results. That is why our next key to success is balancing human connection with new technology.

75% of the coaches surveyed deliver their training programs via a digital training platform. But while platforms like TrueCoach are helping coaches be more efficient than ever, this move to digital coaching has also created a new opportunity—to facilitate coaches to create stronger relationships that extend beyond the gym walls.

With new technology coaches can quickly message their clients, provide feedback on workout videos, give comments on results, track progress, and create accountability for lifestyle and nutrition prescriptions through check-ins and tracking.

Exercise programs will get cheaper over time as AI and new digital apps will be able to deliver programs at the touch of a button. But as a coach, you have the unique ability to work with a client in person and understand what makes them unique.

Combining this relationship-building with a functional use of technology such as TrueCoach and wearables will increase your effectiveness and differentiate your business from fitness apps that aren’t truly personalized.

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

The relationships you create with your clients in person and online are unique and will improve your retention. The fourth key to success below supports this hypothesis.

How Many Coaches are Using Online Coaching Platforms:

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

75% of the coaches surveyed deliver their training programs via a digital training platform. 11

5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

Clients that are Taken Care of Stay The fourth key to success is creating ongoing value for clients with results, relationships, and fun. The clients who stay are the ones who perceive the greatest value from their coach or trainer. And it is the combination of a personalized fitness program that creates results with a strong coach-client relationship that provides the greatest value for a client. In addition, while personal training is a valuable personalized service, it often lacks a cost structure that is sustainable for clients to justify in the long-term.

We observed that Individual Design Coaches have the highest average monthly retention (96%) when compared to Personal Trainers (77%) and Group Fitness Instructors (68%).

With new fitness trends coming out almost weekly it is easy to worry that clients will get “shiny new object syndrome” and flock to the latest fitness trend. But our findings show that retention can be high if clients are provided a valuable and costeffective service.

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

Clients don’t want to change gyms, they want a consistent experience that delivers results. If you can deliver this day in and day out you will have a high retention rate. In 2020, stick to what you know works–build relationships, deliver results, and your clients will stay.

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

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The clients who stay are the ones who perceive the greatest value from their coach or trainer. 5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

The Future is Bright for Coach-Owners The final key to career success we found when surveying our community of coaches is the marriage of business and coaching–the coach-owner. This special breed of fitness professional is not only the gym’s main coach, but also the gym owner. While this may seem like a daunting task, with the right business model in place, coachowners can create a successful and sustainable coaching business.

The individual design coach-owner is able to scale their service and grow their income, while staying connected to their passion–coaching. The communal setting, combined with personalized coaching creates the perfect blend of autonomy and support for the client. It’s no wonder individual design retention is reported at 96% and the individual design model is here to stay.

70% of coach-owners surveyed are now offering individual design inside their facilities, up from 62% in 2018, a sign that the fitness industry is trending towards this model.

When compared to personal training and group fitness there is a greater opportunity for coach-owners to balance business and coaching with the individual design model. However, we do always recommend spending time in the trenches as a coach, developing experience and efficiencies with program design, before making the leap to coach-owner. When the time is right, the individual design model offers the smoothest transition from coach to coach-owner.

Learn how to run your own individual design coaching business with the Professional module inside our Coach’s Toolkit.

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

Percentage of Gym Owners per Coach Type % OF COACHES WHO ARE GYM OWNERS % OF COACHES WHO DO NOT OWN A GYM

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

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The individual design model offers the smoothest transition from coach to coach-owner.

5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

The Takeaways: 1 Clients Need Coaches In 2020, there are many new mediums for clients to experience fitness, but more than ever clients need coaches. Our data highlights that the most common struggles for clients are maintaining a healthy lifestyle and balanced nutrition. While technology can certainly help, clients need coaches day in and day out to hold them accountable and educate them on how to align their nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle beyond the gym walls.

2 Relationships Matter Coaches are in the relationship business. While programs and a clean gym are important, what separates a coach from an app is the relationship that is formed between the coach and client. Whether it be a consultation or high-five as they leave the gym, coaches who focus on building relationships with their clients will be successful in 2020.

3 You Can Thrive as a Gym Owner and Coach While the market might seem saturated with fitness businesses, so many are driven by short-term fads and lack a passionate and entrepreneurial leader. Right now there is room for professional coaches who are willing to put in the work, backed by a solid business model. Our data proves that our education is helping OPEX Coaches gain clients and retain them over time thanks to our refined individual design business model.

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

How to Create a Career as a Fitness Coach Fitness coaching is changing, there is no doubt about it, but the role of the coach is still as important as ever. Clients need coaches to guide them on their health and fitness journey.

If you’re interested in becoming a fitness coach our free course, the Coach’s Toolkit, is right for you.

Based on more than 25 years of research and real-world experience in the science and art of coaching, this course has taught more than 30,000 coaches a better way to work with their clients. Now it’s your turn..

Freshly updated for 2020, the Coach’s Toolkit will teach you a better system of coaching your fitness clients. This course will first develop your knowledge as a coach, then the skills you need to work with clients, and conclude with how to create a successful career in the fitness industry.

Learn a better system of fitness coaching today and start your free course.

LEARN A BETTER SYSTEM OF FITNESS COACHING

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5 Things You Need to Know About Health and Fitness in 2020

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