I had always envisioned, when I set up my studio that it would be different. Different to every gym or yoga studio you walked in to. Different in the focus being on the whole person rather than part of that person. Different in the standard set and maintained in the service provided.
I grew up in gyms, leisure centres, private health clubs as well as home gyms. I learnt a lot from working in the variety of environments. Not only about providing a knowledge based service on front desk and in the gym, but also how to understand and help a client/customer, turning a poor situation around into a positive outcome. I picked up nuggets of information from more experienced trainers, management and clients. The industry is fast paced, constantly evolving, but there are certain core values that no trainer / manager or business owner, should fail to provide.
Humanity. You can have a PhD, but if you cannot show basic understanding of another person's thoughts and feelings you are going to struggle to create any real long lasting connection or trust from your client. And all the knowledge in the world wont make up for real world experience of overcoming life's challenges. Being as good at listening, as talking, is key.
2: Professionalism. Most PT's know there is a line between ensuring good form and invading a client's personal space or touching inappropriately. Equally, believing you know it all, really doesn't hold sway. Being honest enough to say, I actually don't know let me investigate and I will get back to you, will hold far more ...
3. Adaptability. Being able to adapt quickly. If you're lucky, you may have a client who's sessions run to rote every time. But usually, its more likely you will have to adapt and change the training, modifying for injury, tiredness and stress to name a few.
I set up my studio to cater to clients who wanted to work out and improve their overall strength, health and happiness but whom felt intimidated by the gym environment. A place where the space was entirely devoted to them. I wanted them to understand that their sessions were tailored to them in such a way that we could easily move training into a yoga, mobility or mindset session. To create an experience that had the perks of what you might expect from a private club but with the community support you found at your local leisure centre.
Building this from the ground up, I have invested my money into creating a fully equipped studio and a wellbeing community that is supported not just by myself, but also by its members, with regular video content, ancillary services such as reflexology, NLP and massage and wellbeing socials and challenges. Surrounded by the countryside, allows clients to truly escape their work and home lives to focus purely on themselves.
Recently, all this hard work was recognised by Shepton Mallet Town Council in the Shepton Mallet Innovator Awards. Thanks to client testimonials, The Energise Wellbeing Studio was awarded for Best Wellbeing, Sport and Leisure Provider in Shepton Mallet.
I believe the sooner we recognise the impact of not just developing a healthy body but a healthy mind, the sooner we can start to see a real turnaround in current fitness norms as well as how we approach everyday life.
If you would like to know more about The Energise Wellbeing Studio based at Chesterblade Hills, near Shepton Mallet, UK for in person and online training, please visit www.energisewellbeing.com
Energise Wellbeing provides 121, Joint, Semi Private Group Training and Yoga Classes.