Everything these days is going online and into the virtual world. No matter what career, there is a way to put yourself at an advantage if you master the internet. The fitness industry is rapidly growing, and competition is only going to increase so any advantage is a must moving forward. For a personal trainer that can be in two ways. Using videos for selling yourself as a personal trainer or for teaching purposes. Video is very dynamic and versatile, just like a trainer needs to be everyday of his or her life when working with new and different clients.
Many PT’s today are training clients in gyms but also online. The large number of trainers moving towards online certifications and online training means a lot less hands on with clients. Unfortunately working out and many of the important movements involved in working out are not easily explained through some verbal words. This is where video shines. If you ever go on YouTube there is an absolute plethora of fitness video where a trainer is specifically going through a motion and explaining it all behind a camera. Without video, it would be extremely difficult to try and coach someone into movements or about how to properly do a surcher squat. Take a lift or movement you have never done and try and go read about how to do it online in an article. It will not go very well. This is the reason why the video communication is so important in the industry, especially now more than ever due to the growth of the internet. A renown website known as the PTDC has many articles by John Goodman on personal training. In a recent article he mentions,
People buy trainers, not training. Even online personal training with clients around the world is personal. Any reasonably technologically savvy person nowadays knows that they can click online and find an exercise demonstration on YouTube, but clients are buying services from you, so you should be the one demonstrating.
John wrote an article on why trainers should start making their own video for their clients and for YouTube. Here he is mentioning that there is a lot of content out there for fitness, but the real value comes when your clients see these videos and you are in them. It is that personal connection and communication. With video you can make things your own and be different than others in the industry now. The advantage that video can give a trainer is great.
This leads me into my second point on why video communication is essential for getting an advantage in the growingly competitive industry of personal training. I recently wrote a research paper on body image and how trainers use this as a way to sell their services. It was called aesthetic labor and it is related to this second way of video being important. As a trainer, you basically make how much you want. That obviously has its limits but the more you sell yourself or your program the more clients you make build up and the more money and capital. Going back to how the internet has taken over, the best way to get your services to potential client’s eyes is social media and the internet. I know a specific case personally where I saw a video online on YouTube from someone who was very charismatic and looked fit. About a month ago I purchased a workout program from his online training website. This is perfect example of how this trainer used a short video to show his personality and expertise in the field enough so that people would want to buy into him as a trainer. As well as YouTube, any of the popular social medias like; Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat can be just as effective at getting to viewers. According to Magisto, “You’ve got pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites but pictures and text of your fitness business are no longer enough to get the attention of online consumers. Adding video to your social media pages and feeds increases engagement by 37% and overall views by 94%!” This is a very impressive stat to back up video usage online on social media for trainers. Social media alone can actually bring in a revenue if your views and or following become high enough. Ultimately, as a trainer, that is the only goal is to sell yourself and trainer more people. Video communication is the key to doing this in this day and age of the internet.
Talking, writing, and pictures are all good ways to communicate to people, but nothing is close to video communication these days. Video isn’t just good, it is the best. Down at the core personal trainers are really just teachers and imagine learning math class by listening to a recording of someone or just reading something. It would be much harder than it needs to be and in a society in which ease has become priority, video is the key for trainers. People want results and it is a great way to show someone how to get those results. This why the online personal training industry is growing, because it is just as good as in person training, at a much lower cost.
Works Cited
Goodman, Jonathan. “The Secrets to YouTube for Personal Trainers.” The PTDC, 23 Oct. 2019, www.theptdc.com/the-secrets-to-youtube-for-personal-trainers.
Magisto. “4 Ways Personal Trainers Can Use Video To Pump Up Their Existing Market.” Magisto Blog, 7 Apr. 2016, www.magisto.com/blog/2016/04/07/4-ways-personal-trainers-can-use-video-pump-existing-market/.
Vande Brake, Morgan. “Prostitution of the Personal Trainer: Bodily Capital of PT’s in the Industry.” 13 Dec. 2019. ENGL 201, Dakota State University, student paper.