You do your best to help someone. You dedicate time, effort and energy to a client. So why don’t they stick with you? I used to take it very personally if my client wasn’t successful. An important lesson to remember as a Personal Trainer is to not take things personally. We do our best to encourage and support our clients. You cannot reach them all.             I learned this recently working with a client who had never been to a gym before. At 72 years of age, she was anxious and nervous about being in the gym. Although she felt that way, she decided to buy twelve sessions....

On behalf of the board of directors and provincial council members of Fitness Industry Council of Canada (FIC), I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very warm holiday greeting and all the best in 2019. At FIC, we are very excited about our accomplishments in 2018 and initiatives for 2019. I would like to thank our Executive Director, Trisha Sarker, for her work assisting us in negotiating and ratifying a music licencing agreement with Re:Sound that is fair to both the fitness industry and the music industry.Our agreement will take us through the next 5 years. Trisha was also...

Article originally published in the Fitness Business Canada magazine - January 2017   At our club, we only accept pre-authorized payments via direct deposit or credit card. The only roadblock in this equation is if this method of payment becomes compromised through a cancelled card, rejected withdrawal or non-sufficient funds (NSF). Our clients choose between a contract and no-contract agreement; the no-contract option is more costly. It is our clients’ responsibility to make sure their monthly dues are received by the gym (unless of course the membership is paid upfront in full)....

Customer experience has been ranked as the most important strategic objective for clubs and studios in 2019 and the reason is simple; the competition is tough and the companies that focus on customer/member experience reduce churn and increase revenues – leading to higher profits! For many, customer service and customer experience are seemingly interchangeable. Yet, one is a single touch point with a brand, while the other impacts feelings and emotion, and encompasses the entire customer journey. Customer experience (CX) is defined by interactions between a customer and an organization throughout...

Age is no barrier to a healthy, active lifestyle. Regular physical activity and healthy eating improves general health and wellbeing. It also helps prevent and control Type 2 diabetes. Much of the food we eat is broken down into glucose (sugar) which is used for energy. Diabetes is a disease that prevents the body from using glucose (sugar) properly. To use sugar, the body needs insulin, which is produced in the pancreas. With diabetes, the body does not produce enough insulin or has difficulty using the insulin it makes. Sugar builds up in the blood instead of being used as energy. If left untreated,...