International Youth Conditioning Association Summit Weekend

Hi there, hope you are doing well and enjoying the summer heat :-)

I went to the IYCA Summit this weekend, and all I can say is WOW!  What an awesome experience, I highly recommend it; great information, presenters that get you pumped, tons of networking opportunities, and a bunch of fitness professionals dedicated to learning, growing, and helping the most important people in the world, kids.  Plus Louisville is fun, and the Brown Hotel is a very nice spot.  I'll definitely be going again next year & bring some of my trainers too.

Cutting Edge Information

The speaker's at the summit were really cool: super successful fit pros who walk the walk, like Mike Robertson, Nick Berry, Brain Grasso, Dave Gleason, Pat Rigsby, & Eric Cressey to name a few.   I've been a trainer for 11 years now, & have 10 certifications, and I still learned a bunch of new stuff, relating to building your business, training kids, and exercise science. Here are a just few of the "clinical pearls" I had to write down:

• When opening a gym, build anticipation by documenting, tweeting, & press releasing every step of the process, from site choice to construction all the way to opening day.  (Ryan Ketchum)


• With a new gym or studio, do free bootcamps or clinics in the beginning, but be sure to hold them in a convenient time & place, promote them everywhere,   utilize your existing network, collect peoples information so you can follow up, always make an offer at the end of the camp.  (Ryan Ketchum)


• Our client's experience is the most valuable marketing resource. No amount of direct marketing can overcome ignoring the foundational components.  No direct mail piece or internet strategy is going to get someone back into your facility or bootcamp if they came in one time & had a bad experience.  (Pat Rigsby)


• The parents are your ambassadors to the community.  Everything you do gets magnified!  (Pat Rigsby)


• Sincere praise, fun, & encouragement is critical.  Kids will follow your lead & encourage each other.  This will create a very positive culture, like an extended family. (Dave Gleason)


• Give kids a little bit of ownership over the process by allowing them to create games, which will develop their imagination, creativity, & cognition, and they LOVE it. Instead of using physical acivity as punishment, use it as a reward with GAMES that are fun! (Dave Gleason)

Your Top 250 Personal Contacts

This right here is one of the most important tips for EVERY personal trainer, fitness professional, or really anyone starting a personal service business.  As Pat said, you MUST create a list of your 250 top personal contacts:

1. family


2. friends


3. co-workers/ former co-workers


4. church, school, sports


5. associations etc

Work your list of 250 every day!  Make a personal call, send personal emails, even better personal visits!  It takes work, but it works!  Ask them how you can help them! Show them your vision and...

"Meet Them Where They Are At"

Regarding business development, this was the mantra of the weekend, I heard it over & over again from Pat, Ryan, and a few others.  It basically means, make it easy for your potential clients to say yes! (Make it hard for them to say no!) Provide your services in a super convenient location, at super convenient times, and package them in a way that makes it easy for them to buy again and again (automatic billining).  It also means offering your services or bootcamp for free at first, which makes it very hard for your potential clients to say no.

But The Highlight for Me Was....

Dave Gleason! Man is that guy awesome.  If we can clone him, he can pretty much stop the youth obesity epidemic DEAD in its tracks.  I'm convinced of it.  Not to mention make the world a better place to live.  You see, as cliche as it is, kids are the key to the future.  Dave is a rare combination: he REALLY cares, and he really knows what he is doing. He's basically building a community of kids & young adults that work together to get fit & healthy, all while having FUN.  He creates fun games that, at the same time, force the kids to workout and work together.  Red light green light, monkey tag, and crab soccer are just a few of the "fitness games" he plays with his kids.  I hope he comes out with a DVD or info product of all the games he uses, he said there are over 100! And he is having a blast doing it, I have no doubt about it.  He's found his calling, and it really shows.  Lets just say I was really inspired because...

As A Society, We Are Setting Our Kids Up For Failure

Seriously, they way we treat our children now is terrible.  Shut up, sit down, sit still, learn a bunch of stuff that MIGHT make your rich but will not make you happy or healthy, and eat this processed crap while your at it. Dave mentioned in his presentation that he thought our way of developing and educating kids has some huge holes in it.  This is something I think about all the time.  Fitness was a key component for helping me transform from an anxious child, through some very self-destructive teenage years, to the man I am today.  So I want to share fitness with kids, because I know it will help them develop & make them smarter.  (That's right, exercise makes you smarter, literally.) One of my favorite internet videos of all time is on this very topic, of developing kids more completely.  The video doesn't specifically mention exercise, but I think exercise not only fits within the framework he outlines, but can support the entire framework for a new and much better way of educating & developing our children. There are key pieces missing in our educational system, as outlined in this video, and personal trainers & bootcamp owners can really make a difference in filling in the gaps. In my personal opinion, here is what's missing:

1. Exercise (Daily, non-competitive)


2. Spirituality (prayer, meditation, yoga, tai chi)


3. Food, Cooking, & Gardening


4. The Arts (imagination, creativity, problem solving, strategy)


5. Societal Paradigms (shift social constructs via travel)


6. Team Work, Social Skills & Competition

Fitness professionals can directly effect #1, #3, & #6,  3 out of 6 ain't bad at all.  This is why things like the IYCA  & Athletic Revolution (the youth fitness franchise started by Pat Rigsby & Brian Grasso) are so important. I can tell you from working with kids, it can be way easier & more satisfying than working with adults.  They are constantly growing & getting stronger.  They don't have bad habits.  The look up to you & are willing to follow your lead.  Not to say that there aren't challenges, but the opportunity to help kids and make a real difference in the world is huge.

What Do You Think?

Let us know in the comments.  Do you have a youth fitness business?  What questions do you have, or experiences that you can share? Until next time, keep your business fit. Johnny Fitness