Fitness Marketing Personal Trainer Marketing

Switching it Up

So it’s been a loooong time since I posted on this blog. Mainly because I started it up as a method of gaining potential clients.  That wasn’t working, so I decided to spend more time through different venues of marketing.

Right now, I’m changing my whole game plan.  I’ve decided to go from the general personal trainer, to being more a sport-specific trainer.  After training a few of the clients from the studio owners, I find that I enjoy turning people into athletes, or atleast becoming more athletic.  I feel when dealing with weight loss with clients, too much of it relies on the client’s willpower to stick to their diet, which is usually the first thing to slip.  I don’t like knowing that I’m out there busting my but to get someone to burn 600 calories in an hour when their going to consume 800 more by the end of the day in crap food.  When losing weight, I like to think of things as being 40% exercise, 60% diet.  Both go hand in hand and neither component can be done without the other, but emphasis on a clean diet is what really seperates results in 6 months from results in 6 years. And I feel like I failed myself and my client when they’re not seeing results because I can’t be with them every minute of the day to monitor what they put into their bodies.

Here in Tampa, it’s Golf Country.  I train out of 2 studios (or at least will begin training out of the second one once clientele pops up). The studios are about 18 miles apart door to door, and in between them and in the local area are at least 15 golf courses.  I’ve so far gone to about a third of them looking to promote myself, and just promoted over in Pebble Creek Golf Club this weekend.

A Quick Grocery Suggestion

So as much as I enjoy home cooked meals, there’s always the convenience of frozen dinners.  In my never-ending search to eat something healthy and actually good-tasting out of a microwave,  my search may have ended.  They’re called Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers. http://www.healthychoice.com/frozen-meals/cafe-steamers.html

What it does is have a sauce on the bottom tray with an upper tray of say white meat chicken and pasta, and you keep the plastic over it on.  As the sauce on the bottom heats up, it steams the upper tray contents, so the chicken and pasta have a steamed texture to it.  They’re pretty damn good.

Anyways, next time you guys go shopping, think about that when you pass the frozen meals section. Tell me what you think!

5 Different Reasons to Have a Personal Trainer

Don’t think you need a personal trainer? Maybe you’re not in the best in shape, but have that “I don’t need to be fit because my life doesn’t require me to be” mentality.  First off, if that’s the case, then why are you reading this blog??

Okay bad example…let me just list 5 NEW reasons for a personal trainer (besides the obvious fat loss, muscle gain,  workout motivation, increased self-esteem, positive outlook on life, and overall health benefits).

Here are 5 tests you can do at home (preferably when no one else is watching…and please, perform these moves at your own risk):

1. Stand up.  Lift one knee up until your upper thigh is parallel to the floor and knee is bent at a 90 degree angle.  Now hold it there for 20 seconds.  Can you do it?? Now switch legs and try again!

2. Stay standing.  Both feet on the ground this time shoulder-width apart.  Now put your hands behind your head…and squat down until your butt is as close to the floor as possible.  Look at your feet now.  Are your heels raised off the floor? Do you lose balance when trying to place your heels on the floor?

Newton’s First Law of Motion, and Momentum Results

Newton’s First Law of Motion:

Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

Mark’s Law of Momentum Results:

The results of actions tend to build momentum over time until an external force is applied.

Allow me to explain…

Have you ever heard of someone going into a “downward spiral” in life? Have you ever seen someone who seemed to start off on the right track, and as time went by, seemed like nothing could stop them from becoming a complete success? Let me tell you, both instances follow my law of momentum results.  In both scenarios, the mindset and things that people do over time builds momentum.

In the downward spiral case, say it starts off with bad grades in high school.  Bad grades in school leads to dropping out.  While all his classmates are in college, this individual is working full time at a grocery store.  After work, he hangs out with some of the other guys from the store and drinks with them.  If we were to fast forward ten years later, and that person never did anything to “change his swing of momentum”, where would he be? Chances are, he would be a 28 year old full time grocery worker with a high likelihood of starring on an episode of “Intervention” for alcoholism.

Now let’s examine Mr. Successful.  He starts out with good grades in high school. He does well in college while maintaining website design part time for small companies.  After graduation, he decides he loves website and graphic design, has the experience and skills to do so, and with a little help from some wealthier people he’s networked with, starts his own business in graphic and website design.  Ten years down the line, if Mr. Successful doesn’t get into heavy drugs or makes a U-turn in life, where can we expect him to be? On top of the world.

Facebook Ad

So today marks the second day I’ve had this blog up on Facebook Advertisements.  For those of you who are reading this through it…Thank you.  Hopefully you did so because in the corner of your screen you saw an ad for “Personal Training” and were intrigued enough to visit this site.  And let me be the first to congratulate you on taking a small step to helping yourself out physically as well as mentally.  You may not be instantly ready to commit to a personal trainer, but let me assure you, the benefits of having a qualified one is ten-fold compared to going to a commercial gym working out by yourself.

If this is your first time here, I’d like you to do two things:

1. Click on the “Mark Lopez-NASM CPT” page on the right side.  If you’re truly interested in hiring a personal trainer, that page will give you a general idea of who I am and why I’m here. And I know it’s long, but please try to read the whole page.

2. Read some of my blog posts. They’re packed with helpful information you can use even today (some more of just a rant than others).

I hope that after you’ve gone through those, you get a better picture of what I have to offer you as an individual looking to get in the best shape of your life and keep it that way.

If after all that, you feel that I am qualified enough in your mind to try out, click on the “Contact” page.  There, you can reach me through the studio phone, studio website, or my personal e-mail.  We can set up a free assessment and training session to help finalize your decision.

Again, thank you, enjoy the readings, comment if you’d like, and have a great day!

Changing My Blog Name

So I decided to change my blog name today.  One, because after seeing it so much, I slowly realized I didn’t like “Marked 4 Fitness” due to it being a bit corny and having my name in it. And secondly, because this new name came so natural to me.  I just asked myself what I wanted to rename it based on my views as a personal trainer, and from a ton of research these past few months, I realized something…

Gone are the days of a commercial gym.  For $50/month, you get 3000 sq. ft. of expensive crap you’re never gonna touch.  You have a gym staff who doesn’t give a damn what happens, what you look like before or after, or if you ever even show up, as long as you don’t sue them.  And you have “personal trainers” who you see rotate every 3 months or so when they realize they’re working a sales job, not a professional offering a service.

My First Experience With Summer

So I was at the community pool with my daughter this weekend (my first time at a pool/beach this year), and couldn’t believe what I saw.  It happened to be our community’s Easter Party, so all the children in the neighborhood where around being watched over by their parents, and maaaan was I upset.

What I saw was about 100 children from maybe 2 years old to preteen splashing around the community pool, with at least half of them overweight.  If not overweight, then with that “pouch” which used to be explained as the “baby fat” pouch, which I now believe to be poor diet choices on the parents’ part.  Why do I blame the parents? Because more than 50% of them were overweight! Do you know what kind of shock that puts on someone in the fitness industry to see a pool full of overweight children splashing around with their overweight parents watching them from afar?  Now I didn’t come to the pool to judge everyone around me, as I’m not exactly shredded muscle right now, but I at least look like I work out on a regular basis.  And at least when playing in the pool, I have the energy to play alongside my child.

Is There Really Such A Thing As Being Too Competitive?

My day isn’t complete unless I do one thing better than someone else. Cocky? Or competitive? Call me a typical guy, but there is just some burning desire inside that tells me that I need to be better than the next person.

But in a sense, we all need to be competitive in something, if not everything.  Why not be better at doing your job than the guy/girl next to you? Or run a bit faster, or dress with a bit more class? All that translates to is you making a concious effort to excel in various aspects of your life.  And by competing against others (even if they’re not aware you’re doing so), you accomplish the feat of working hard and doing your best.  Is that something to be ashamed of?

After all, there’s the old mantra that goes along the lines of “Life is a sport. You’re either the player or the spectator.” Who the hell wants to be the spectator? Its the players in the game that do what they love and do best and make the money, and the spectators that hate their jobs and hand their paychecks over to support the players. People might complain about certain pro athlete salaries…well maybe they should stop buying their team jerseys and buying tickets to their games.  Don’t hate the player hate the game right? And its the players in the game (game of life that is) that get the most out of life.  They take what they love to do and try to be the best they possibly can at it.

…It’s March Already??

So it kind of just hit me that the year is almost 1/4 of the way over! Seems like last week I was celebrating the New Year and how much I planned to get accomplished.  For me, 2008 was a flop, as I didn’t know where I was going or what I was doing.  I had no definite goals except I wanted to make more money, but had no definite means of achieving that goal.  The last four months of the year was spent with me sending in an application/resume to any job on craigslist, monster, and careerbuilder, then blowing my money on alcohol that night at the bar I work at.  After the New Year when I signed with AAP to train out of their studio is where things changed.  I found what I wanted to do in life, and it happened to be something I’m passionate about, where I could be my own boss, pick my own hours, pick my own clients, change people’s lives, and make money all in one.