Fitness and Nutrition Trends in 2016.

Want to keep at the cutting edge of health, fitness and well-being, well look no further.
These are my predictions for the top trends in 2016. Some could be real, some could be tongue in cheek, some could be both; I'll let you decide.

1.Bulletproof Tibetan Tea

Bulletproof coffee is so 2012. This year Tibetan Tea will be big. Yep, if butter is good for you, then Yaks butter must be better, plus you are getting all the health benefits of tea. And if that wasn't enough the added salt will help with your electrolyte balance post workout. Lastly, you will be helping to support local Yak herders, bonus!

Tibetan beverage: Tea, Yaks Butter & Salt. What's not to like. Image source www.fitfoodhouse.net

What could be better than Tibetan tea? This Super Chai Tea recipe that I have just invented.

Super Chai Tea (Bulletproof Monk tea)

1 teaspoon of Matcha green tea (if not available PG Tips pyramid bags will do fine)
25ml of MCT Oil (if you can't find this, organic Yaks Milk or butter is a good substitute)
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
Sprinkle of cinnamon
Stevia or locally sourced raw honey to taste.

Brew the Matcha green tea in the traditional way, then blend in the MCT Oil/ Yaks milk/ butter and turmeric. Sprinkle  cinnamon on top, add in stevia or honey if you like it sweet.

This brew packs a powerful punch. There is the antioxidant, tumour fighting, thermogenic tea mixed with antiviral fat based fuel of the MCT oil/ Yaks milk. Add in the anti-inflammatory turmeric, and the insulin modulating cinnamon, making this the ideal breakfast concoction.

Please note I just made this recipe up but I have refused to google it just in case someone is actually drinking this stuff for real.

By drinking Bulletproof Monk tea you are supporting your local Yak Herder

2.Mindful everything

2015 was the year of mindfulness. Eating food mindfully, mindful breathing, mindful corporations, mindful colouring books and so on. We already have a mindfully based exercise system called Yoga, but there is no way to capitalise on this. Hence we need a 'mindful workout'.

In mindfulness meditation a common practice is to count your breath and count to 10. And when else do you need to count to 10? When you are counting reps in the gym that's when. And mindfulness resistance training is now born. It has to be counting to 10, low reps such as 3 while deadlifting won't work. Also when deadlifting you are focusing on making sure your back doesn't explode. Same goes for olympic lifting. But bicep curls are perfect, 10 reps of focused curling, the ultimate mindfulness exercises.

The mindfulness workout can be applied to anything in the 8-12 rep range, isolation exercises are perfect. It used to be called bodybuilding but there is no way I can sell that to you or sell it to the female market.

Les Mills Mindful will be launched later this year combining pump, balance and mindful breathing/ counting.

Follow up your mindful workout with a beverage from the land of mindfulness and loving kindness meditation - that's right a Tibetan Tea.

3.Post Natal Exercise... for Men

F**k Dad Bod. You've been sitting at home pretending to help out with the new born, but mainly you seem to be drinking tea and eating the cake that everyone keeps bringing around. Aside from the quick hoover round and nappy change your calorie output is close to zero.

You have re-discovered daytime TV and have realised it hasn't changed since you were a student. It still consists of older greying men with younger female sidekicks (Pip Schofield and Holly Willbesomething, the bloke on Countdown who used to be on The Apprentice plus a younger female number counter, and even the Daily Politics Shows has Andrew Neil, who borrowed his hairstyle from Donald Trump, and a younger female Millbank side-kick to help him out).

It's time to do something before you start looking forward to the latest spring fashion slot on the Lorraine Show. You need to get fit. But where to begin? Post Natal Classes for men of course! Where you can all get fit in a mutually supportive environment with other men, no one will judge you for having baby vomit on your Nike Dri Fit wick-away top. Then afterwards you can have a coffee and discuss whether Andrew Neils hair is real, the misogynist nature of media, if Piers Morgan is actually a cyborg sent from the future to annoy us and if you drink Tibetan Tea( bulletproof monk tea) will you be able to fit in those skinny jeans for summer?

4.The rise and rise of online coaching, Vloggers, Instagram experts and apps

Somewhere in Shoreditch a woman in her early 20's is opening a Tibetan Tea cafe using start up money from her parents who live in Cambridgeshire. One day she is frothing up a Yaks Milk Latte for a customer and realises that someone may be interested in her flex-vegan Italian-paleo recipes.

She immediately rushes home and her housemate videos her making a pasta/ paleo mash up dinner. They link this to her house-mates own Youtube page, he is trying to carve out a niche playing banjo fuelled electro pop folk fusion. They put one of his tracks over the top of the video. Her other house mate works for a local PR company and is currently working on promoting locally sourced beard grooming products which he then mentions in their Vlog.

Before, she knows it, she has 20 million Instagram followers and a 10 book publishing deal. Even though she has no nutritional qualifications, is not a qualified chef and knows nothing about fitness she is soon on Daytime TV being interviewed about her weight-loss tips.

Meanwhile a Dad is sitting at home, while changing a nappy and eating a rocky road,  he hears her mention Tibetan Tea. He then tells all his mates at the Mens Post Natal Class. Before you know it, Tibetan tea has gone viral and a Shoreditch resident opens up a series of Tibetan Tea shops, which she then sells to a hedge fund.

Her banjo playing friend ends up in a structured reality TV show and then realised his own fitness DVD. His debut album is released on itunes...

5.Steady State Cardio makes a comeback

The last few years we have had HIIT and Tabatas and WODs. And these are all hard. Recently Hybrid training has started it make an impact mainly due to Alex Viada. And it makes a lot of sense.

The next logical step is the rise of steady state cardio. Problem is, it is very hard to re-package and re-sell, even harder to base a PT session around someone going for a walks or doing 30 minutes on a bike at conversational pace.

Les Mills have covered most areas, lifting weights, combat sports, dance, spinning, old people, young people. But they haven't covered walking yet.

Enter Les Mills Walk and Talk. The easy workout you can do anywhere. Just download the app, and every month they update your walking play list, get out there and power away the fat with gut busting steady state tunes. Two of the tracks on the initial Les Mills Walk and Talk release are from a Banjo electro pop artist based in London.

Can't walk? Don't worry there is Les Mills Chair. A series of chair based exercises with the latest motivational music. We do, however, recommend that you buy the specially constructed Reebok Chair TM, if you are going to be doing this in a small group fitness environment.

6.Strongman training for all. Strong man/women classes

Powerlifting is so 2 dimensional, and crossfit, and who's got time to learn how to do a muscle up or a handstand walk?

But strongman, that is 3 dimensional training and you get to lift lots of cool things. Re-brand it has fat burning and glute sculpting and you've got a product.

Now you need some equipment. A company has already made a fitness specific tyre, and are charging �650 for something you can essentially pick up for free at your local tip. And someone has already got a piece of plastic, filled it with water and called it The Surge. So what can you do? Atlas stones,  but we can do better, lets make it more primal. How about a rock. Yep, its a special rock, after all you can go and pick up a rock for free. But if you take that rock, paint it pink and call it Igneous Based Training System (IBTS), you've got a product.

A rock. But paint it pink, charge �200 for it and call it Igneous training and you've got a product.

Or just do some strong man inspired training with the equipment you've already got, and reap the benefits.

7.Gluten will make a comeback

Could we all be wrong, could gluten be a superfood? A special type of gluten of course, it won't be found in a loaf of Hovis. Special artisan gluten supplements harvested from a South American plant.

Or anything could become the next superfood. Personally I'm hoping it will be cheddar cheese.

8.Super hero workout.

The new Star Wars is out. And the lead character happens to lift weights, kerching. Combine with the mindfulness trend and you've got the Jedi Workout that you don't have to live in a swamp to do. Replace Yoda with a weighted vest. Or even better, if someone at Disney marketing has got their head screwed on they will produce a Yoda weighted vest.

In the summer there will also be Batman v's Superman v's Banana Man v's SuperTed. Expect all these workouts to appear in Mens Health at some point.

Banana Man v Iron Man will start production this year. The banana man workout will appear in Mens Health. Image source www.bttm.co.uk

9.Backwards running

We've had barefoot running, Hoka trainers, tough mudders and all that. Its time for backwards running to go mainstream. The easy way to avoid injuries.

Plus, you can't run backwards run on a normal treadmill, so someone will have to build a backwards running treadmill. Retail cost �15,000.

While we're at it, obstacle course racing needs to evolve. Yes, it could be run backwards or why not add a Krypton Factor element, where you have to build a 3D puzzle blindfold at the half way point.

The Krypton Factor. When obstacles and tracksuits were proper. Source: www.tvcream.co.uk

10.Carb side loading

I have no idea. Its just a buzzword phrase. But carb back loading exists. I will figure out the details of the diet later. But trust me its going to be big.

11.Nano gyms

Space is at a premium, what's smaller than a micro gym? A nano gym of course. Combine this with a Tibetan tea bar franchise and you've got a business.

Well, there you go, these are my top predictions for 2016, lets see what becomes big. All ideas are trademarked, copyrighted and patent pending.

Leisure is dying. But something new will emerge. Part 2.

For part one go here

So in part one we looked at some of the problems facing the industry, now we have to ask some tough questions and be open to new answers.

Sacred Cows and Lost Opportunities.

The most important thing we can do to find new solutions is break out of the old model of doing things. And the first way to do this is in the way we listen and really go back to the basic fundamental question of why does this business exist and who is it for?

U Lab and Otto Scharmer talk about 4 levels of listening. Most listening we do in meetings is at the basic level 1, this is where everyone sounds the same, talking nice and saying what the boss wants to hear, we are not learning anything new. Even at the next level of debate, all we are doing is listening and reacting, trying to defend our position, not getting beyond our point of view.

Scharmer gives an example of when American automobile executives visited Japan in the 1980's to look at the they way they were producing cars. When they returned they were  convinced the Japanese hadn't shown them the real factory as it was too clean and organised. They couldn't get past their own perceptions of what their industry should look like even when presented with evidence there was a different way.

To really move on we need to go to the next level of reflective dialogue and collective creativity. We need to ask genuine questions, to move away from blame and not just defending view points and excepting all the sacred cows we cannot change.

Here are a few leisure industry/ fitness industry sacred cows and trite statements and products that we persist with, that we all buy into:-

• Of course no one is in this industry for the money
• Swimming pools are a money pit but we can't get rid of them
• We have a sauna and steam room that most customers don't use
• We have a monthly membership
• People buy PT in blocks
• Of course we need to have PT
• Why do studio instructors get paid 3x more than lifeguards
• We have to open at 6am, 7am, 24 hours to compete
• We have to have student discounts even though this group is already spending �9000 a year minimum on education and is therefore willing to get into massive debt
• We have to have discounts for the over 60's even though at the moment this age group have more disposable income than people in their late 20's
• We have to keep running kids birthday parties even though they are a massive hassle, we can never find the staff to run them and the parents complain
• We have to have badminton courts that make us �10 per hour maximum where a small PT gym in the same space as a court would make �100 per hour
• We're not in it to make a profit but we do have a profit and loss spreadsheet. Leisure is somehow different from all other industries and can't make any money
• We need a certain amount of cardio equipment even though most evenings now most of the cardio equipment is empty and the free-weights area is full, people's exercise habits have moved on
• We don't have online coaching or products because we have a building. We can't have an online & physical business. See the example of John Lewis later for an answer this
• We need changing rooms and showers
• What would happen if we closed the studios and expanded the gym?
• What would happen if we closed the gym and expanded the studios?
• Our IT systems are too complicated and don't work for us, they make the job of the people on the front line harder, but there is nothing we can do.
• etc etc

I'm sure you can think of a few yourself. In the words of U lab we need to 'turn the camera around on ourselves'. 

And realise that as an industry we collectively created these problems. It's easy to blame other individuals (Peter Senge, Ulab interview) rather than looking at our part in this as well.

We are all weird now

Seth Godin has made the point there are no average people now. As an industry we still think we can attract all people at all times. We can't. The middle market that leisure centre and health clubs are all clamoring for disappeared a long time ago or never existed in the first place as a substantial business sustaining segment.

We thought we could all be Tescos and be everything to everyone, but even supermarkets can't do that any more.

Does Top Shop try to appeal to the young teenager and the old pensioner? No. But we try to, with the same space, with the same gym and then wonder why the pensioner then complains that the music is too loud. I'm never going into Hollister to shop, and I am not meant to, its not for me.

Add up all the tribes, the outliers in fitness - powerlifters, cross fitters, Les Mills (which even breaks down into sub tribes, those who only like Body Attack, those who like Body Combat), figure competitors, olympic weightlifters, yoga (which then breaks down into different types of yoga) and all these tribes out number the middle mass market.

Solutions.

From the above discussion hopefully a few points have jumped out already... nothing is sacred, what can you safely remove from your business with no detrimental effect, what do you need to hold onto, what differentiates you, how can you craft an experience?

Pull up the weeds...

Richard Boyatzis of Case Western Reserve University (Coursera.org course Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence) gives an example of a vineyard in the wine country of Barcelona.

This vineyard was making cheap $10 a bottle bulk wine, and it was a loss maker. It couldn't even make money. Then one day the two brothers running it noticed some of the grapes were exceptionally good. And they thought, what if we could produce a vintage wine only using these grapes?

They had no previous history of producing quality wine. So they went to the rest of the family and explained their vision and what they would have to do. They would have to pull up and destroy the poor vines, and start to only grow the best vines.  They also went to the other growers in the area to explain their vision.

They would have to accept a transition period. They knew it would take time.

Now a bottle of wine from the Mas Doix region is worth $140 and is rated as one the best wines in the world.

So what are you best products, your best grapes? What can be ripped up and abandoned? How much of a transition period are you willing to accept?

Seth Godin gives the example of Jackson Hole ski resort when it transitioned from a resort aimed at everyone to only aiming at extreme skiers.

Yes, when you remove certain products you are going to piss off a certain number of people. There will always be that person who uses the sauna or whatever but you have to accept you cannot please everyone.

You have to ask fundamentally Why are we here as a business? And like the two brothers in Barcelona, the emotionally intelligent thing to do is take into account other peoples feelings and ideas to create your shared vision. Yes involve stakeholders and customers, but mainly involve your ground level staff to create a shared vision.

The perceived degree of shared vision predicts success (Boyatzis,2015 Coursera). If your staff aren't with you then it is already over.

And bear in mind you may not get it right first time.

'Nothing important will happen with the first try' (Ulab edx.org)

Staff again.

How your customers feel about your company is how they feel about your staff. You can either make the customer feel a little better or a little worse (Boyatzis, 2015, Coursera).

Isabel Guerro (former Vice President of the World Bank) states in an interview with Ulab)

"Remove as many obstacles as possible for people on the front line"

If the world bank can do it surely a club or centre can do this. Really think about the obstacles your staff have. Are you making your product simpler or more complicated? Are support staff helping or hindering. Are ideas lost or adopted? Do your training systems, recruitment strategies and rewards work or not?

"The people working on the front lines are often better positioned to drive continual improvements." (Robertson, 2015;33)

What your HR department thinks your organisation looks like

But really are your systems working for you?

What your organisation probably looks like, source: www.integrationtraining.co.uk

The experience.

As alluded to previously in part 1, the new economy is experienced based. The whole book Stuffocation is based on people looking for experiences rather than stuff.

People go to Disney for the experience (and it may not be an experience I want, and that's okay they are not aiming at me). People go to see Star Wars for the experience of the film.

Pine and Gilmore in Welcome to the Experience Economy state

"Experiences are a distinct economic offering"

and are they are memorable, is your club or centre memorable for the right reasons?

I see some people confusing the idea of experience with architecture. Yes, if your experience is predicated on fantastic changing rooms and designer towels and shower gel you've got no choice. But experience is much more than this. No one goes to Westside Barbell or Metroflex Gym or any crossfit gym for the shower gel and towels. It is a distinct experience.

I would say a company like Les Mills have grasped this. When I visited their Head Office in London they had very much realised that the design of the group fitness space, the instructor, the music, the lighting, the feeling of a tribe (and which tribe they were aiming at - millennials or mums) were all part of the experience. Even if many of the places that buy the licence for their product have not grasped this concept. (I have no affiliation with Les Mills by the way).

What do people remember about the experience of your product, and remember the experience doesn't just have to be in your building, it can be online too.

"I don't want stuff. I want the need or experience it fulfills." (Rachel Botsman quoted in Scharmer 2013;134)

Do we even know what experience we are trying to produce? And please don't say friendly and welcoming with good customer service! Who doesn't want to be these things, experience goes beyond this.

A company like John Lewis has grasped experience (as well as a different way of employee remuneration). A few years ago they had no online presence, now they have a massive online presence. But this hasn't taken away from their stores. Their Christmas advert has become a tradition in a few short years. People still go to their stores and buy things, especially at Christmas, even though they can buy the same things online.Why? They have created an in-store experience that people want to be part of.

Experience is about participation. The customer has to be engaged. When I switch utility suppliers I don't really care about participation, it's a passive thing. But when people come to a club or centre they are actively choosing to spend at least an hour of their leisure time with you. How do engage them, how do you make them feel like they are part of something to justify your price being more than a budget club. After all, they could easily go for a walk for free outside or put some weights in their garage, why are they with you?

What adds to your experience, what detracts from your experience? A few ideas

• Does a vending machine selling the same stuff as your local petrol station add or detract from your health and fitness experience?
• Does your class booking system add or detract from the experience?
• Does the entry point, music, layout, staff uniform add or detract from the experience?
• etc etc

 


Fundamentally ask why does the world need us and our product? (Robertson, 2015).

Conclusion.

You may have noticed I haven't given you a prescriptive solution, as in you need to get rid of this and focus on this. First of all, every place is different, what your strengths are (your award winning grapes) I might not have even thought of.

For you the answer might be to have a hall that only has badminton, you've figured out a way to make money from a badminton only business (if someone can make a ping pong bar then this is probably viable). I hereby copyright 'Badminton Bar'!

Or your strength is rehab and GP referral and this should be your niche. Or you've figured out a way to make a business based on swimming lessons (and make a profit?!)

Or should focus on youth strength and kids fitness. Or you should have a great group fitness experience that only does Les Mills or indoor cycling like soul cycling.

I don't know what your experience should be, but please don't just try and tack on the above ideas to what you already do and hope for the best.

Secondly, collaboration is a powerful thing, I don't have all the answers, but I bet your team has all the answers you need if you let them tell you.

You should know what dead wood needs to be removed, you should know what your strong products should be, and the experience your customers should have.

Start with

"If this was my company, what would I do?' (Robertson 2015;25)

Key points

• Have the conversation with the front line staff, really listen they have some of the answers
• Are managers and support staff adding value to your business?
• What is the shared vision?
• This vision decides which choice grapes you focus on and which weeds you pull up
• Accept transition and you can't please everyone
• What is your experience going to be? Craft it.
• Keep evolving, creating and improving.

Yes, I was melodramatic at the start of part 1, is leisure dying? It will still be here in some form, of course, and it will drag on in its current form for a while until everyone goes and opens their own microgym or goes to work for Lidl to get paid more.

But something new will emerge. And collectively we can create this. Exciting times.

 

"Decades of scientific research have revealed that great creativity almost always springs from collaboration, conversation, and social networks�challenging our mythical image of the isolated genius. And research shows that when a group is in flow, it�s more likely to resolve problems with surprising and creative solutions." (R Keith Sawyer quoted in The Science of Happiness, University of Berkeley, module 7,edx.org)

Film reference of the day: It depends on why you built it, where you built it and who you built it for. image source: www.corumgroup.com

For more on all this stuff please see the following posts from me
The digital disruption of the fitness industry
Induction, Program, Leave, Repeat
No Joining Fee. The Fitness Industry Epic Fail

References and acknowledgements.

This whole thing has a big debt to two Massive Online Open Courses. (MOOCs). The future of learning probably isn't �9000 a year institutions any more.

Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence. Case Western Reserve University. www.courser.org
U Lab: Transforming Business, Society and Self. www.edx.org
U lab website

plus

The Science of Happiness. University of Berkeley. www.edx.org

Books

Goleman D, Boyatzis R, McKee a (2002) The New Leaders. Transforming the Art of Leadership into the Science of Results.

Scharmer O & Kaufer K (2013) Leading from the Emerging Future.

Robertson B (2015) Holacracy. The Revolutionary Management System that Abolishes Hierarchy.

Wallman J (2015) Stuffocation. Living More with Less.

Journals
Pine & Gilmore (1998) Welcome to the Experience Economy. Harvard Business Review.

Leisure is dying. But something new will emerge. Part 1.

To be clear leisure as an activity is not dying. People will ride bikes, go to the park and visit the cinema. What is probably dying is the business of leisure centres and health clubs.

In part one (yes this so big it's a two parter) I will identify the reasons and diagnosis/ evidence it is dying and then in part two offer some possible solutions.

And this comes from a point of honest and open discussion, if we all just shut down and hope for the best or keep repeating what we have always done then we are doomed to failure. I happen to know about leisure and fitness, you could apply these ideas to many types of business that are dying right now.

Imagine a business where 1) most staff get paid minimum wage 2) the company doesn't have to pay rent on it's premises 3) you don't have to pay VAT 4) and if you are lucky someone gives you a grant each month as well. If this business can't make a profit or break even, then their business model is in big trouble, it is a failure model.

Film reference for the day.

The same goes for the big monolithic health clubs. They have more overheads but still follow the minimum wage model, and yes they can raise some money from the private sector for a while but eventually the house of cards collapses. There is no sound business at the core of what they are doing.

The pressures on these business are considerably higher than they were 10 years ago. The market has fragmented and exploded. The competition comes from budget clubs charging �16.99 a month, from micro gyms (so called boutique gyms, but I don't like this name, makes it sound like a clothes shop in Camden), crossfit, workout in the park, fitness apps, online coaches, people buying programmes from someone on instagram.

Too big to fail? Of course not, visit any high street, where has Blockbuster, Woolworths, Virgin Megastore and a hundred other big business's gone? They failed to adapt to the emerging future. And remember the financial crisis, several banks only exist now because they were bailed out. And then there are governments and nation states which fail all the time, such as is happening in Europe right now. To think that the people running the leisure industry are any different would be myopic at best.

You think anyone is going to bail out the leisure industry when it goes pear shaped? Local governments are �10 billion in the hole, their priority is not going to be to save your LBT class (although, local councils do seem to love swimming pools for some reason...)

The basic business model centres and clubs hasn't really changed since the 1980's. Have a big building. And the contents of these buildings have evolved from squash courts to multi gyms to big gyms, and always the ubiquitous swimming pools. And in the 1990's the big health club chains expanded and most leisure centres just followed this model with monthly memberships and gyms and studios and all that, and nothing has really changed. Then there was the concept of leisure for all, even though it never can be because at some point you have to charge some money and even if it was free some people don't want your product, and now most budget gyms are way cheaper as well.

Actual money pit and perennial excuse.

If It can happen in the private sector, anyone remember Esporta, Holmes Place, Canons? Then it can happen in the semi private/ trust/ charity/ council funded sector as well.

Signs & Symptoms.

"most companies perish while their management is frozen with terror" 
(Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2002;320)

A few key pointers that an industry is in trouble:

• Heavy discounting of the product, hoping that somehow this will attract new customers (as Seth Godin says, if someone doesn't want your product, discounting it won't make any difference).
• Raising the price for existing customers. If they are already with us, may be we can make them pay more.
• Reverse pyramid management structure. The front line service is cut but you still have a whole bunch of middle and upper managers (people rarely make themselves redundant).
• A 'sell more' one trick pony strategy. We just need to sell more, this isn't a strategy but a shrill shout of someone who has run out of ideas. This is like the manager of a football team saying 'what you need to start doing is winning', and 'if you keep kicking the ball at the goal one of them is bound to go in'. Thanks coach, we all know what we need to do, but how, where is the plan, where is the coherent strategy?
• And engaging in a whole process which Otto Scharmer and U Lab at MIT would call 'absencing'. There is closing down, holding onto what we already know, holding onto the patterns of the past and collectively enacting results that no one wants.
• Continuing to pursue aspects of their business that do not make money in the hope that these will somehow magically transform into something that makes money and they don't want to piss off the minority of people who still use these services.
• In his book Holacracy Brian Robertson lists some other warning signs about organisations including "emails flying around with many people cc'd in, often for unclear reasons" and "people have lots of ideas about what 'we' should do... but 'we' doesn't do it" (Robertson 2015;41)

Cutting costs, skimping on staff, not fixing things, does that sound familiar? It's the standard model for most failing business's.

"It's what most companies and institutions are doing today - they respond to challenges by doing more of the same: cutting costs and becoming lean and mean, but not reinventing themselves." Scharmer & Kaufer (2013;245)

Clues

#1

A lone person with a Skype connection can make more money and influence more people than most of the current traditional fitness industry.

#2

Micro gyms don't follow the same old tired model. In some ways they have figured out that 80% of their business comes from 20% of their clients (Paretos Law). However, I do see some micro gyms which end up following the same path as the business's they left. They decide to have monthly memberships with all sorts of discounts for all sorts of people, they then decide that what they need is longer opening hours and before you know they're paying some poor sap (coach) to sit on a reception desk for minimum wage while not actually coaching anyone. At this point they have become a single site version of what they tried to avoid except the owners have some equipment that they personally like in their gym. For how to do it properly see Cressey Performance, Cosgrove and Mike Boyle to name a few.

#3

50% of people in management positions are not adding any value. Another 20-30% may be adding value in one persons view. Therefore 70-80% of people in management can be removed from their role and the organisation will run smoothly. (Boyatzis, 2015, Coursera.org)

Think about that for a second, and if you're a manager really think about that. Does your organisation really need you, do the customers in your club really need you. What do they really need, what value are you adding?

#4

The only asset you have that can't be copied is your staff.

Most aspects of your business can easily be copied, anyone can rent a space and lease a load of equipment. Anyone can have a really good website these days. These are not hard things to copy.

The only thing that you have that cannot be directly copied because they are unique are your staff. They create the culture, they create the atmosphere. But how much are we investing in ground level staff?

Despite this, the turnover of staff is very high in leisure at the lower levels. How can you retain customers when you can't retain staff. The holy grail of member retention is lost before you've even engaged with a customer.

Right now, Sport Direct have announced that they will be paying above minimum wage. This means that a company that is widely regarded as being one step above working in a gulag has just trumped most of the leisure industry.

And why do most people leave?

"The number one reason that people cite for quitting is dissatisfaction with the boss. In a tight labor market, when people have the ability to get an equivalent job easily, those with bad bosses are four more times likely to leave than those who appreciate the leader they work for." (Goldman, Boyatwzis, McKee  2002;105)

#5
Thinking this is a service industry when it's an experience industry.

It's easy to think you provide a service, here is a room full of machines, here is a swimming pool. Thinking in terms of pure utility. And there are some customers who want a pure utility, a cross trainer, a class taught by anyone in any old room. These people are going to go and buy the lowest price option.

In the world of renting telephone lines and broadband, this idea of service works. All prices are pretty much the same, the same line is coming into your house whoever you rent it from. However much these companies think they are different they really aren't.

It's easy to confuse customer service and experience. One way to think of it is explained by Pine & Gilmore (1998) in their seminal article:

"An experience occurs when a company intentionally uses services as the stage."

And guess what, if you think you are in the service industry you probably turn your product into an experience everyday you don't clean something or someone gets told the wrong thing at reception and the complaint comments flood in.

"The easiest way to turn a service into an experience is to provide poor service." (Pine & Gilmore)

More on this later in the solutions section.

That's the end of Part 1. The stage is set, we all know what the problems are, but how do we change it? See you in part deux, which is here.

For more on all this stuff please see the following posts from me
The digital disruption of the fitness industry
Induction, Program, Leave, Repeat
No Joining Fee. The Fitness Industry Epic Fail


References and acknowledgements.

This whole thing has a big debt to two Massive Online Open Courses. (MOOCs). The future of learning probably isn't �9000 a year institutions any more.

Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence. Case Western Reserve University. www.courser.org
U Lab: Transforming Business, Society and Self. www.edx.org
U lab website

plus

The Science of Happiness. University of Berkeley. www.edx.org

Books

Godin S (2011) We Are All Weird

Goleman D, Boyatzis R, McKee a (2002) The New Leaders. Transforming the Art of Leadership into the Science of Results.

Scharmer O & Kaufer K (2013) Leading from the Emerging Future.

Robertson B (2015) Holacracy. The Revolutionary Management System that Abolishes Hierarchy.

Wallman J (2015) Stuffocation. Living More with Less.

Journals
Pine & Gilmore (1998) Welcome to the Experience Economy. Harvard Business Review.

The (almost) universal belief that January will be different.

We humans like landmarks, patterns and milestones.

No one starts a new diet on a Tuesday afternoon in December (and if you did, please don't write to me to prove I'm wrong).

But people start new exercise programmes on Monday mornings all the time, and at the start of the month, and especially in January.

Even though these days and months are arbitrary.

And what's more, we are more likely to write something off if we fail early. Well, I've eaten badly all day, no point starting now, this evening, might as well wait until tomorrow.

Missed exercise on Monday and Tuesday, no point starting now, might as well write off the whole week and start next week.

And I'm half way through the month, no point starting now, I will wait until next month, next year. January, the mother of all beginnings, the mother of all failures.

I wonder if in countries where the new year starts in February or the day of rest is Friday or Saturday the same thing happens?

Of course, the best time to start is now. Right now. There is no other time. You don't need a specific plan, you don't need to wait until your organic paleo meat/veg box arrives or buy those new trainers.

As my colleague once said (and I'm paraphrasing) 'I could give the best programme right now, I could give you George St Pierre's programme but it won't make you George St Pierre, you don't need a programme, you need a habit, and you need to stop that other habit you have of drinking a bottle of wine a night; that will do more than any programme or personal training session.'

How to fail 100% guaranteed and how to succeed.

The number one easiest way to fail is to be vague. Nebulous statements like I want to get fit, eat more healthily and have more energy are a road to failure. Well, how much energy do you have right now, how much do you want to have? It's like saying you want to be happy. What specifically is going to make you happy. This is why most people entering the gym in January will fail, they have a vague idea that they want something to be better, but they don't know what.

They want the future to be a certain way but they don't really know how (see Daniel Gilbert's book Stumbling on Happiness, for a more complete discussion of why people are bad at predicting the future and what will make them happy). Hint: Your view of the future is distorted by the present, for the same reason the produces of Back to the Future II thought 2015 would be full of fax machines.

The second way is making the goal too easy. If there are no consequences, if it can be achieved easily you are more likely not to bother. Yeah, I'll get around to that at some point, it doesn't matter if I skip this workout or eat 2 kilos of Dairy Milk.

As Heidi Halvorson in her book Succeed says

"Difficult but possible is the key. That's because more difficult goals cause you to, often unconsciously, increase your effort, focus, and commitment to the goal; persist longer; and make better use of the most effective strategies."

and

"Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence."

Case in point number 1:

I entered the Leadville 100 trail run in 2014. It just so happened that the day you can enter is 1st January. For me this was a big goal. It wasn't until August, but I went out for a run that day. I knew it was difficult, and furthermore it had cost me a couple of hundred dollars to enter and I had a plane ticket to Denver that cost me $1000. Therefore, there were physical and economical reasons why I was not going to go at this half hearted. For me, a local 10k race wasn't going to cut it, it wouldn't have had the same effect; it would not have made me go out and run in the rain and snow - I would have skipped training sessions.

But everything is relative. The goal should be difficult for you, whatever that may be and you have to attach consequences.

And the last reason for failure is lack of planning.

I often hear people saying they are going to attend the gym 2-3 x week. This is not a plan, its a wish. A plan would be writing down exactly what days and times they are going to the gym, what the routine will be etc etc.  Most people don't do this, they don't want to be held accountable. Even though the research shows this is the way to do it.

Again to quote Heidi Halvorson

"Planning when, where, and how you will take the actions needed to reach your goal is probably the single most effective thing you can do to increase your chances of success."

Now, I have written before about SMART goals here and here , and I don't think it necessarily has to be in that format.

And for me intent and 'wanting something' comes before planning. For example, I could write a detailed plan about how to become an accountant. But I am never going to do it because 1) I have no interest in being an accountant and 2) There are no consequences if I don't become one.

Conversely, when it comes to exercise I don't have a plan. The thing is I find training intrinsically motivating and satisfying, I enjoy going to the gym 3 or 5 times a week. I like training and lifting weights for the sake of it with no outcome goals. However, training for 100 mile run is different, for me that needed a plan and a mindset change.

And for me nutrition is something where I can easily drift off into a world of cakes, cheese and carbs. Eat 'better' is something I want to do, there are consequences health wise if I don't and therefore a plan works. If I write a shopping list, if I write a rough template of meals for the week, if I prepare for the week on Sunday then it works.

Case in point number 2: 

For years I tried to meditate and practice mindfulness. I knew what the research showed, I knew it was a good thing to do, I knew it would only be 10-20mins out of my day but I just never did it. I would do it once and then not bother and then it was something I was going to do in the future.

Then this January I decided to do 100 days in a row. I followed a course of meditation and when that finished I followed another one. I committed to doing something everyday, even if it was 10.30pm and I was tired I committed to doing 10-15 mins at least. There was no immediate reward, there was no end goal, the goal was the process, the goal was to do it. And I did. And then in a very subtle way I could feel the change, it wasn't dramatic but it was a habit. And now if I miss a day I don't beat myself up, because I know I still do it more days than I don't.

But this isn't about goal setting.

If you want to read about goal setting I recommend reading the Heidi Halvorson book.

And this isn't about my goals, the above were just examples from my own personal experience. I know what its like to set goals, fail goals, miss opportunities, try again, succeed, put maximum effort in, put no effort in and hope for the best. And along the way I found out one thing.

It has to matter to you. It has to galvanise you. It can't be someone else's goal or idea of what is good to do or not to do. The most important thing is to start. What is the spark that will set the wheels in motion (yep, I mixed some metaphors there).

If the gym isn't your thing please don't waste your time and money (and mine by writing you a programme that you will never follow). But conversely, you have to give it time, it should be hard, it should be challenging, you won't see results in two weeks. And eventually it should be satisfying.

All I can say is don't waste time thinking about it, don't wait for the perfect moment. Don't look for the approval of others. Start now, there is no time to lose. Doing something will move you closer to the outcome than doing nothing, however small that 'something' is.

And the last word goes to some Japanese fella back in the day:

"But don't dawdle. Imagine yourself on your deathbed at this very moment. What alone can help you?"

"The problem of birth and death is momentous, and the world moves fast. Make the most of time, for it waits for no one." - Bassui (quoted in Kapleau 2000: 190-192)

Really think about that for a moment. And then use it pursue whatever you need to pursue and don't lose sight of the impermanence of everything.

This moment will pass and it will be lost. Don't lose another year, don't lose another second.

If the day you happen to start is in January, so be it, but it won't be different to any other time of year unless you are different in your approach.

Have a good 2016, make it count.

Do you think this guy knew he was going be Iron Man back in 1995? Image source: www.weknowmemes.com

References:

Gibert D (2006) Stumbling On Happiness

Halvorson H (2010) Succeed. (Kindle book)

Kapleau P (2000) The Three Pillars of Zen

Nutrition: Stop making it so complicated.

Paleo, keto, LCHF, vegan, vegetarian, carb back loading, if it fits your macros, fruitarian, banting, intermittent 5:2 fasting, vegan-paleo (surely not, these people must die of starvation pretty quick), low fat, dukan, gluten free, dairy free, taste free, just eat grapefruits. Confused, you will be.

Once upon a time nutrition was easy. There was a food pyramid and government advice of a balance diet, and it didn't work. People got fat, adult onset diabetes went through the roof and everyone was happy because we didn't know any different.

Failure on a plate: The food pyramid has now been replaced by the Eatwell plate in the UK. Notice how sugar and fat get the same segment. Good luck finding the research to support this. Source: NHS

Due to the media and the diet industry, and in no small part the fitness industry the general public are confused. It's easy to think that the average client knows all these different diets, knows what they mean and is going to follow your advice exactly. However, it is shocking how little the average person knows, or wants to or probably more accurately is willing to implement and change.

Your average client probably wants some weightloss, wants to get a bit more energy and feel better. They are probably not stepping on stage any time soon or trying to get contest ready. You may have your favourite nutrition approach, or the one that worked for you but it doesn't mean it is going to work for them.

And while as an industry we argue and squabble over minutiae in comment threads and who is right and wrong the public are generally getting fatter and sicker. Meanwhile some fella in France is eating a cake for breakfast and laughing in your paleo-face.

Almond croissant: French Paleo. Source: essential baking.com

Case in point: I have had people approach me for weight-loss advice who are eating 5 bowls of coco pops a day, drinking 30 glasses of juice and munching through 5 bags of crisps before lunch and want me to write them a nutrition plan. Now of course, most right minded people can probably figure out that eating 5 bowls of coco pops and drinking 30 glasses of juice a day is not that good for you. Except this person either hadn't or was in denial. (Of course, somewhere there is a carb back loader chomping through 1kg of Haribo and thinks 5 bowls of cereal sounds reasonable after a leg workout).

I can write the perfect plan for the above client right now, and it won't work. It would be too strict, too much of a change, they won't do it, even I wouldn't follow it so why would I expect someone else to. In reality this person needs to make gradual changes, behavioural changes. Whether they sub-consciously know that their diet is terrible or not is difficult to say. And even if they really knew nothing a quick google search or even some deep intuition would tell them that vegetables are quite good for you and replacing at least 10 glasses of fruit juice with some water or a couple of pieces of fruit would probably be a good idea.

Most people are not going to start tracking their macros on an app or start weighting their food. In fact, some recent research shows that people who use tracking apps like My Fitness Pal are more likely to cancel their gym membership than those who don't. Now the study didn't factor in age, as in younger people are more likely to use apps and younger people also happen to be more likely to cancel gym memberships than older people.

Extreme advice and preaching appeals to a minority. Your approach needs to be flexible, taking into account what that person realistically is going to change, do and achieve. Don't get too wedded to one approach, for example, deciding  everyone has to be paleo meat eater and then one of your clients is a vegetarian. You can tell them to not be a vegetarian but that is not going to work and is not necessary. Alcohol is a another big sticking point for a lot of people, if someone is drinking half a bottle of wine a night (which I see on a regular basis) telling them to not drink at all and sign up to the 12 steps is not going to work, they need a different strategy.

And as a trainer don't be afraid to admit that certain things are beyond what you can do in a 60 minute   training session. People lie, they tell you they have the perfect diet, they eat 800kcals a day, except they aren't losing weight, and they get defensive and they don't want to be judged. And much more so than when you talk about their exercise habits. You start get in depth and personal about what people eat, and drink and their relationship to food and happiness (and sorry to stereotype but especially with women) then you can hit a psychological hot spot and before you know it they are shutting down. I've lost count of the number of people who have told me their diet is fine, almost perfect, all they need to do is exercise, right?

Some things may be beyond your skill set, you may need to refer out. This person may need a nutritionist, and needs to start working on behavioural change. If it is not your area of expertise don't pretend it is, even if you personally managed to get beach ready and post some good photos on instagram.

The fact is there are populations all over the world living long healthy lives eating a variety of diets from Mediterranean, to vegetarian based, fish based, some eating more vegetables, some more fruit, some more meat or nuts. The commonalities are generally obvious - more fresh natural foods, less processed shit. Unless you're French, then you can keep living the paradox.

We need to stop confusing the public, the most powerful changes most people can make to affect their health are normally the simplest. The basics are generally obvious, and a flame war on the internet is not changing the lipid profile or BMI or diabetes risk of anyone sitting in a doctors surgery right now.

Focus on changing one thing at a time, keep it simple. Be honest, be flexible. What else can you do.

(Note: I wrote this while eating a pain au raisin and I'm fine with that).

Of course any carb that Nigella makes is perfectly fine.

How to stick to exercise. Is making it fun enough?

I was covering a class the other day, one of the exercises I gave was press-ups. I demonstrated full range press ups and even gave three quarter press ups as an alternative. One lady however, was doing box press ups, half range of movement.

And at first I thought, how can you still be doing poor box press ups after years of coming to classes? In the same class were people who couldn't hold a plank, were doing half range squats or avoiding lunges because of knee issues, complaining of back pain doing press ups or bent over rows or planks. I had to give one lady bird dogs, as that was all she could manage, and another lady alternatives to press ups because of tendonitis, as she couldn't support herself on her hands.

And then I thought, why have you all come to a general exercise class? You all need to get referred out and get all your poor movement patterns and injuries sorted out. Why don't you book in for a tailored one to one program in the gym, rather than going to a general class, why don't you go to an osteopath or physical therapist?

But then I thought, hang on these people have actually made the effort to come to a class. In some cases they have been coming for years, they may not seem to be getting any stronger or changing shape but they are still coming. They have formed the exercise habit. They are in the minority.

Of all the people who join gyms, up to 20% never attend. That's right, they join and then never come back, not even for their gym orientation. Don't forget, that only 12% of the population join a gym, or health club, and of those 2 out of 10 never come back. And after 48 months about 90% of people have left. It's actually a surprise that there is anyone in our gyms and clubs!

So does it matter that these women weren't doing the best exercise program, or that some of their technique was poor, or in my opinion they needed to work on their mobility and strength? After all, they were showing up and doing something on a regular basis. To them smart goals, and the latest exercise science were irrelevant. I guess, they continued to attend because they enjoyed it.

What is fun?

There is a big push to make exercise fun now in the industry. As members who are having fun stay longer. I will examine this later, and explore if it is really true. Plus, there is the crucial question of what is fun.

I read a blog this week, where the author berated this idea. You can read it here . (Note: I don't know this person or their background). On many points, you could say I agree, the industry is full of chancers and pretty much un-regulated on the internet. However, I am that guy who has all the level 4 qualifications and deals with the special populations everyday. BUT, I don't see it as much of a problem that people are following programs off the internet or ones they bought via online advertising.

Because, if people are doing this, it is because we failed as an industry to offer the product that people wanted. And we can moan about that, but we are to blame as well.

Does it matter if people are actually doing something. They are adults. It is highly unlikely that the middle aged woman with high blood pressure is going to buy a 12 week bikini body program off of someone on Instagram, it's just not the market. No more than the obese guy with diabetes is going to join a Crossfit gym, statistically, he isn't joining any gym, and when he does, he probably wont go back.

Yes, the workout put together by some unqualified person on the internet may not be the best or logical, but I've seen classes designed by so called master trainers that made no sense and were completely illogical. As these people hadn't really full grasped the fundamentals either. (Of course, by default, I have to believe what I design and write is better and makes sense).

I spoke to someone recently, who had bought a 12 week program via a trainer on Instagram. The reasons were clear 1) A 12 week program cost the same as a one to one training session 2) She had a session with the trainer, but felt the trainer hadn't really listened to her needs and had written a program that was more about what the trainer liked. 3) The sense of community, people sharing photos and progress online.

So the three things are:
1) Price
2) Listen, product to fit the clients needs
3) Community and support.

This person had no big goals, wasn't looking to step on stage or run a marathon. But she like training, she liked the process, she enjoyed working out, it was fun. And it was challenging and structured.

But what is fun for one person may not be fun for another. As an industry, we have decided that fun needs to be infantile. We have decided, that the mythical client who is put off by the gym and classes is a middle aged woman who likes Zumba. It could be, but it may not be.

Some peoples idea of fun is Zumba, for some, dancing in public is a nightmare (most men). Some people enjoy lifting weights, or doing a crossfit WOD, or running a 100 miles (okay maybe not fun, but satisfying and we will come to that later). There is no universal fun activity. Everyone is different. And there's the rub, you can't be all things to all people.

This is a route to creating a mediocre product for mediocre people.

Mindfulness and Satisfying.

There is something that makes people stick with exercise, and it is satisfaction. The more satisfying exercise is, the more people enjoy it. This is subtlety different from just being fun. But, how can you make exercise more satisfying and more enjoyable? Make it mindful. This article here , in the NY Times, gives a run down of the most recent research. Being more mindful with the exercise, makes you more satisfied with it. But, the habit of exercise has to come before mindfulness.

Mindfulness, means being in the present moment, fully experiencing the activity at hand, and accepting how you feel, moment to moment. (See the work of John Kabat Zinn for more information on mindfulness).

We have built our facilities to be anti mindful.

A True Story.

The other day a lady came to the gym, and due to a technical fault none of the TVs on the treadmills were working. At which point, she said she was going home as she couldn't work out with the television. Despite, the fact that she had already made the trip to the gym, and other equipment still had TV's working, she was going to leave and not workout. She was looking for distraction, the antithesis of mindfulness. For her, exercise without watching Eastenders was intolerable. Of course, she could have watched Danny Dyers haikus and would have got some mindfulness at the same time. (see video below, if you don't live in the UK, you have no idea who Danny Dyer is or what Eastenders is!).


Of course, I will point out that she was still coming to the gym, more than most.

I've known someone cancel their gym membership because they could never watch BBC 24 hour news on the equipment, yep, that was how mindful they were.

We have sold our facilities and products on the premise of distraction. We are saying to the public, we know you wont enjoy this, so why not watch TV or play sudoku. Rather than saying exercise can be enjoyable, satisfying and mindful. BUT, we have to realise that everyones definition of fun and enjoyable differs. There are some commonalities, but people are all individuals and different. What we do know is that certain types of activity promote flow.

Flow.

The concept of flow was developed by  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (professor of psychology and management) with a name that's impossible to pronounce. Whole books have been written on flow, but in short it is:

"In positive psychology, flow, also known as zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity" see here

The type of activity where hours seem like minutes. The activity has to be high skill and high challenge to induce flow. In leisure time, the highest flow activities tend to be games, sports and hobbies. Something like watching TV is low skill and low challenge so doesn't really produce flow, but could be a mixture of relaxation, boredom and apathy depending on what you are watching. (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997).

In the context of gyms and fitness, we could consider things like Olympic weightlifting, gymnastic type moves, rock climbing high challenge and high activities likely to produce flow.

Cruising on a cross trainer watching Pointless on the attached TV is low skill and low challenge and more likely to produce boredom and apathy, the opposite of flow and satisfaction and more likely to result in the person never coming back.

And classes...

There is the idea that people come to classes because they want to get told what to do, there is no coaching, there is instructing. You get told what to do and you don't have to think. BUT maybe there is some flow going on here. Yes, something like Yoga has always been considered mindful. However, could the person in Zumba or body attack also be in flow? They are learning new moves and routine, they are being challenged,  their heart rate is up, add in some music and a social atmosphere (socialising can be a flow activity for certain types of personality) and boom you've got a whole room full of people in a flow state; an hour has passed in what seem like minutes, all their worries forgotten and they have booked in for next week.

Yes, these people may not be competing in a complex crossfit WOD, but for them the activity was satisfying and challenging enough.

In conclusion.

• The members and clients you should focus on are the ones in your facility.
• 20% of people who join aren't coming back, you could spend all your time chasing them down or focus on the people already in the building.
• Pareto's law, 80% of your income comes from 20% of your customers. Focus on them. Tailor products to them.
• Find out what your customers enjoy, what is satisfying and what produces flow for them.
• This has to also match your values. Be authentic. If for you flow is kettlebells and olympic weightlifting, then you are more likely to be able to sell this. However, don't dismiss the fact that for some people its an LBT class.
• Machines with TV screens are pretty much anti flow, anti mindful and are not what you want to sell yourself on.
• I've said it before, there are no special populations anymore, the general population is the special population. Nearly everyone entering your facility will have an injury, ache, niggle or medical problem. Decide how you are going to deal with this. Bear this in mind if you are selling yourself on high intensity fitness. Know your proposition.
• There is no universal idea if what is fun, find your niche and build it.
• To beat the people selling programs on Instagram or facebook, you have to provide a better a product. Listen to your customers. Why aren't you selling yourself this way too?

Fun doesn't have to be infantile and it doesn't mean easy either. Sometimes, we have to take things seriously, but sometimes we can have fun, makes something satisfying and educate people at the same time as making them feel better about themselves.

"Matters of great concern should be treated lightly." Master lttei commented, "Matters of small concern should be treated seriously." - Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure.

References:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/how-mindfulness-can-jumpstart-our-exercise-routines/?_r=1

Csikszentmihalyi (1997) Finding Flow. The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life. Basic Books

The Retention People. 10,000 study http://theretentionpeople.com/5-proven-ways-for-new-joiners-to-succeed-at-your-club/

EDX online MOOC course, University of Berkeley. The Science of Happiness. https://www.edx.org/course/science-happiness-uc-berkeleyx-gg101x

Danny Dyer words of wisdom.

Do you need a program? Why do you want to fail?

Four examples of people who obviously aren't following any type of program.

Example 1: Guy walks into the gym, the very first thing he goes on is the pec dec, then followed by something random like the calf raise. Note: this guy does not look like Dorian Yates.

Example 2: Guy walks into the gym, goes over to the free-weights, picks up a pair of 50kg dumbbells with no warm up and does a set of dumbbell bench press. He does this every single time he comes into the gym. He has found something he is good at and is sticking with it.

Example 3: Woman walks into the gym, goes on the cross trainer for 40 minutes and then does every variation of crunch known to woman kind.

Example 4: Guy walks into the gym, goes over to the free-weights, stands as close as he can to the rack and then does a super fast set of alternating partial range bicep curls to warm up, followed by declines press on the smith machine.

None of these routines can be found in a magazine, or fitness website or fitness book. None of these routines were written or designed by a professional.

In a  recent survey in the gym where I work over 90% of people were not following a program. They gave all sorts of answers such as 'I freestyle it', 'I have a routine I like to do', 'I kind of do my own thing'. All code for I am making this stuff up and have no idea what I'm doing. Strangely, the people most likely to be free-styling were the beginners and neophytes, the people most likely to be following a routine written by themselves or more likely a coach were the most advanced.

So why don't people follow programs? Do they need one? Do they subconsciously want to fail? And should you be doing intuitive training if you have no idea what you are doing?

Do beginners need a program?

Firstly, the most important thing is to show up (I think Dan John said that). By actually showing up at the gym you are already way ahead of most of the population. Well done.

Next up, what to do in the gym. You would think that considering the vast amount of programs on the internet and fitness apps available, people would be following these? Right? Wrong. Most beginners are not following any program.

So you would think they would take advantage of the offer of a free program? No, offer someone three free appointments and a free program and most people never make it past turning up for appointment one. After session one, they figure they are good to go, they know how to start the machine and watch E4, so let the results based training begin. Although, if someone is actually paying for a program, they do actually turn up and take notice. There is a lesson there.

I think the first issue is comfort zone. People don't like being uncomfortable. For most of them, just coming into the gym is uncomfortable, you start asking them about their goals and their plan and they get decidedly shifty. They want to keep their head down. They have already decided what they are going to do. You tell them in the most polite way possible that their plan of coming to the gym twice a week and doing a bit of cardio while not changing their diet will result in zero weight-loss, and one and a half stone is not shifting with this approach, and they don't like it.

Cross trainer. The fitness industry nemesis. The anti-program machine?

Hard work doesn't sound like what they signed up for. They want to be taken to the edge of their comfort zone so they can justify the tub of Ben and Jerry's but they don't want to actually go much further and get results.

Expertly drawn picture of why the no program strategy doesn't work for beginners.

A real conversation between one of my colleagues and a new member

Trainer: I can offer you a movement screen, write an individual program, get you booked in for three appointments with us, at no extra cost.
Client: No, I just want to use the cross trainer and a few machines
Trainer: I can show you how to press quickstart, but I don't want you to think in three months time that you didn't achieve anything or get results
Clients: I'll do my own thing for a month, then if it doesn't work I will come and see you.

Good luck to her, but it wont work.

Hardly anyone thinks they can teach themselves to drive or ski with absolutely no help. A few could probably do it after watching some youtube videos. But most couldn't, they seek expert help, because if nothing else it's quicker. But with fitness, they aren't doing this, they are free-styling it, not even turning to the internet. You learned to walk intuitively, but you are not going to grasp a sumo deadlift or kettlebell swing intuitively, so you will avoid them or do them really badly.

Beginners don't need an individual program. Bu they do need a program. And a program that is progressive, if you are still lifting the 1kg dumbbells in 6 weeks time, there was no improvement. The program can be simple, more simple than people think they need: walk everyday, body-weight squats, body-weight step ups, glute bridges etc but with good technique and a progression!

There is no place for intuitive training with the absolute beginner, how can you make intuitive choices about exercises you are not even aware of?

The beginner needs to be guided with exact reps and sets and time, because they have no frame of reference to make an informed decision.

Who needs a program?

Beyond the beginner there are a range of programs available. I have personally followed programs off of t-nation, and by Eric Cressey, Bret Contreras and Brad Schoenfeld. They were all good and gave me some structure. Though I doubt any of them would have been useful if I didn't know how to squat, deadlift, press etc.

I have also followed programs written by myself and others. (My running training is a different matter, as I will explain).

You don't need a program, but you do need a plan!

It is okay to be flexible. How many times have I walked into the gym and wanted to use the rack for squats but it is in use. I could be that guy who stands there for 30 minutes waiting for the rack to become free, as he cannot deviate from his routine, or I could go and do some trap bar deadlifts or kettlebell front squats.

I have a template in my mind, but anyone who has ever worked out in a commercial gym knows you have to be flexible.

You don't need a program but you do need a structure!

So you need to have enough experience to know when to deviate from the plan, but also to know when you are kidding yourself and wimping out.

Cybernetic periodization and autoregulation. What, Cyber-men are coming?!

These days the terms intuitive training and autoregulation have become conflated. Intuitive training is essentially making it up on the day and doing what you like (no squats, bench all the way!). Autoregulation is actually way more structured, see Siff (2003: 129).

More useful for the medium to advanced exerciser is cybernetic periodization. Which sounds more complicated and Dr Who than it actually is. Siff (2003:135) defines cybernetic periodization this way

"..in which loading, in a given training scheme is modified regularly according to a subjective rating of perceived exertion (RPE), rating of technique (RT), objective physiological measurements and actual sporting performance."

and further more

"cybernetic programming... is a quantified extension of what may be termed intuitive training, an approach which probably is as old as the history of physical training." (Siff, 2003:297)

Note, this doesn't mean you just go into the gym and make it up. You have a plan or even a specific program. Maybe, you are meant to do 5x5 on squats on a particular weight, but you back off on the last set that day, or only do three sets, or if you are feeling strong and technique is good, put more weight on the bar.

This approach works if you know how you body responds to exercise, if you are on week one of squats and still using just the bar, then you don't have enough experience to make the decision. That's where the coach comes in.

Avoiding qualities you need to work on. 

Another reason to have a program is the tendency to avoid the things you need to work. I think it was Duncan French who said we need to work on the qualities that have been trained out of our athletes (I'm paraphrasing) and in essence this is the same for the general public. People are rounded too much, sit down all day, then come to the gym and do too much bench press or sit on a bike. They need to do the opposite of what they have become accustomed to and comfortable with and by extension reasonably good at. And not many people want to do things where they might start off looking bad, ego stops more people than anything else for asking for help and getting a program and results.

A confession.

As I stated earlier I have followed resistance training programs from a whole range of sources and got good results.

When it comes to running, its a different matter. I trained for Leadville 100 mile with no program set in stone. I didn't write my mileage down, I don't know how many miles I covered each week. Don't get me wrong, I read every source and book on run programming and ultra running that  I could from Brad Hudson to Bryon Powell and way too many more to list. And I took influence from all of them and then constructed my own plan. Call me egotistical, with my background in resistance training and rehab I thought I could construct a better plan for me than anyone else.

Also things like run 3k at tempo, then 5k at marathon pace etc just don't work for me.

Don't get me wrong, I had a plan, but in essence I was using cybernetic periodization. And also because of my work schedule I had to be flexible as to when my long runs and gym sessions were. The actual description of what I did is a whole other article. But below is a brief summary:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Approx 10k trail or road run depending in schedule, plus gym (dropped gym in later phase of training)
Wednesday: easy road run 30-40mins
Thursday: Hill session, anything from 8 sec sprints to 1 mile repeats
Friday: Gym
Saturday: 10-20k road run or treadmill incline
Sunday: 35-40k trail

This schedule would switch and change all the time, sometimes Saturday & Sunday would reverse, sometimes I would add in a gym session on Tuesday or Wednesday evening, sometimes I would be working weekends.

The important thing is I had bench marks to hit, 50k run by first week of June, 70-80k run by 7th July.

Sometimes I would feel good and do more hill repeats on a Thursday, sometimes I would do more work, sometimes less,sometimes faster than I thought I could, sometimes barely making it to the end, but I never missed a session.

The plan was there, the basic structure was there, and thought the thought of blowing up on Hope Pass kept me motivated to not kid myself and take days off and avoid things I needed to do (run up hills in the rain and snow).

Anton Krupicka (ultra-runner with awesome beard) has said, if he had a coach and a program, he would almost certainly get better. But mountain ultra running is about something more than that. So if you are exercising because you want to get into a flow state, or enjoy running for the sake of, and like exercise purely for stress relief and to help mindfulness, then you probably don't need a program. But most people join a gym to lose weight, tone up, increase muscle mass and all the usual reasons.

Anton Krupicka. Intuitive training is fine if you know what you're doing and you have an ultra beard . (Picture chosen by my girlfriend!)

Failure & success, it's a fine line.

Most beginners don't have a plan or structure. Sometimes they have a vague idea of a routine that they have constructed out of the ether. Okay, at least they are doing something (but please stop doing sit ups while holding onto a sandbag!)

Some have a random approach, random workouts, random conditioning. Mostly staying well within their comfort zones, and working on the qualities they already have rather than the ones they have lost. And random workouts can be fun, but you need to earn the right to do them. Learn to read and write before writing novels.

Yes, as a beginner without a coach or a program or plan you will fail.

Yes, an infinite number of monkeys given an infinite amount of time may write Supertraining. But we already have Supertraining, and we already have hundreds of programs that work and good coaches that can help, so why are you still free-styling your way to failure?

Most advanced lifters and athletes are following a program. You don't need to plan every single rep, but you do need a road map. Athletes and advanced lifters will work on things they don't like, with the help of a coach, as they know it will make them better.

You are probably less advanced than you think you are, you probably need some help to get results you actually joined the gym for in the first place. Yes, you will go out of comfort zone, and it may be hard, but a good coach and program will get you to where you want to be. Trust them, it will be worth it.

References:

Siff M (2003) Facts & Fallacies of Fitness. 6th edition.