Can You List Your Priorities?  If you Google the definition of “priorities” you get this: “a thing that is regarded as more important than another” People operate based on what they value and that will translate into a set of priorities that dictate their behavior.  So what happens within a coach-client relationship when you have […]

Dylan Staniec remembers the frustration: The frustration he felt when he wasn’t able to offer a solution to his clients. Then in January 2018, the 35-year-old from Santa Cruz, California opened Sea 2 Summit Training and abandoned his old way of training clients in favor of an individual program design model.

For this to happen, the client needs a solution to his/her problem—to get and stay fit and healthy. The coach needs job fulfillment and an opportunity to make a professional wage so he can have a long-term career in fitness. And the business needs clients and coaches to stick around in order to be profitable.

We often talk about the athlete and the flow state they get into during a peak performance.  In this state, they have low perception and they simply execute.  Low perception means that certain emotions are neutralized so that athletes aren’t lost in the “what if’s” or the “if onlys”.

The moment Abi Hammond came across James FitzGerald and OPEX education, she knew she needed to get involved. “I was coaching at a CrossFit gym, and the owner was a client of James’. He turned me on to the education. I just remember sitting there like ‘Oh shit, there’s a lot of information.

Quitting your day job and launching your career as a professional coach may sound easy. But, for most new coaches actually finding clients to work with is harder than it seems. With more than 20 years of experience in the coaching industry, we (OPEX Fitness) have learned what works, and what doesn’t. Here are ten steps we use to help coaches get their first clients and your next few as well.

What’s the difference between these successes and failures? Strong relationships with their clients. If you’ve ever coached in person you know the importance of coach-client connection. But how do you build and maintain these same quality relationships through a remote medium?

“The coaching profession in general, and I mean fitness coaching, life coaching, business coaching, is a bit of an unfair profession, in that people with the means to gain access to it are the ones who receive great coaching and mentorship,” he said.

For this to happen, the client needs a solution to his/her problem—to get and stay fit and healthy. The coach needs job fulfillment and an opportunity to make a professional wage so he can have a long-term career in fitness. And the business needs clients and coaches to stick around in order to be profitable.

A starting point for all clients is what we call, “The OPEX Basic Lifestyle Guidelines” or BLGs. These are a holistic approach to nourishment that focuses on contributors to overall health. This is an all-encompassing phrase that looks at daily hydration, food hygiene, sleep hygiene, daily activity, self-reflection, and daily stress management. 

The goal of this 30-minute video is to show coaches 5 common program design mistakes and a detailed explanation of how each can be avoided. Coaches will also receive a demonstration of how using The OPEX System of Coaching creates better results for both the coach and the client. You can watch the video here.

Get access to the Free 7-Day OPEX Coaching Course: An Introduction to the OPEX Coaching Certificate Program (CCP) that teaches the business of coaching, how to conduct consultations and assessments, how to write personalized programs, as well as the keys to holistic nourishment plans. When you sign up, you will also receive more than a dozen other resources that will help you help your clients.

From keto to low-carb paleo, high-fat diets are all the rage. But before instructing clients to eat avocados and bacon with abandon, James FitzGerald wants coaches to remember that dietary fat is not a silver bullet. If a client’s long-term goal is to live long and prosper, then there are many factors that must be considered, and fat macros should not be prescribed in a silo.

For this to happen, the client needs a solution to his/her problem—to get and stay fit and healthy. The coach needs job fulfillment and an opportunity to make a professional wage so he can have a long-term career in fitness. And the business needs clients and coaches to stick around in order to be profitable.

First, FitzGerald dives into why the high-intensity model isn’t for the masses. “If a client’s goal is to truly live a healthy life, climb mountains until they are 90, have sex in the morning, and live pain-free the answer is resistance training and easy aerobic work, not high intensity,” says FitzGerald. But, instead of preaching that truth, the fitness industry sells the sexy high-intensity model.

That’s how Scott Brewer explained his decision to leave his General Manager position at a CrossFit affiliate to open his own OPEX facility—OPEX Midlands, in the suburbs of Lexington, South Carolina.

When he opened his doors, he had 28 clients. In the last 12 months, this number has increased to 55. Each of them pays somewhere between CA$299 to $379 per month.

On a personal level, he attended a CrossFit facility as an athlete and joined in on group training regularly. Career-wise, he was building a personal training business. He rented space at two local gyms to train his growing book of clients.

Volke, a life-long athlete, competed in both rugby and track and field at a university level. However, his introduction to training others was not through sports performance, it was out of a need for rehabilitation. Volke’s wife had suffered an injury during a rugby match and was not seeing the results they wanted from physiotherapy. Looking for a more practical approach and taking matters into his own hands, Volke started to study coaching and uncovered his passion for helping others live a healthier life.

June has been a busy month for OPEX Fitness. We’ve traveled to Europe to educate coaches and are continuing to expand our reach with new content. Get in tune with latest from OPEX Fitness this June.