Choreographytogo

17th May 2012 Instructor Newsletter 2012

RachelLHolmes — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:48:05 +0000

Hi and welcome to the C2Go newsletter. Hope you are well, fighting fit and classes are booming.

It’s been another great week and, as ever, developments in the fitness industry and at C2GO are moving along at a rapid pace.
Last week I launched the Fitness Pilates Wellness and Vitality Boutique and the response from Pilates instructors has been fabulous.
It transpires many Pilates Instructors are thinking along the same lines as me: which includes, as a way forward for Pilates and Pilates classes, to include a nutrition, mindset coaching, daily habits progressive exercise, meditation and relaxation as a complete holistic package.

The Boutique works well delivered as an online product, but many of the Boutique Instructors are planning on setting up a live Boutiques of their own. The daily workouts and mindset coaching videos have gone down really well and I plan to expand on this on future Boutiques.

If you missed it this time around, or it was full when you came to enroll then email or tweet me today as I’m looking at setting the next Boutique start date. You need to be Pilates qualified.

This week’s newsletter has some great articles by Jill Gardner, Sally Ghafoor, Claire Mockridge whos brand new workshop is happening this week (Good lure) and, of course, Andrew and Jayne.

Please keep your feedback coming in via Twitter/Email/Facebook @RachelHolmes and hit the “like”button over Choreographytogo Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Choreographytogo

Following the Media

Last week I wrote about ideas for you to Tweet and Facebook status update with. I suggested following all the daily newspapers and relevant magazines, plus subscribe to BBC health news and Fox health news. I have also discovered that Reuters Health contains lots of interesting snippets throughout the day.

Commenting on health, fitness and nutrition news of the day is a great way of positioning you as our fitness expert. It also encourages your followers to comment and get involved in these daily discussions. Especially if you are trying to get more ‘likes” on your Facebook business page.

I can’t recommend this technique enough and if you are serious about building your fitness business online, this will most definitely improve your positioning on social media.

The Illusive Fitness Passive Income by Rachel

Creating a passive income stream seems like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Traditionally if we wanted to earn more money we have to teach more classes, train more clients and generally work harder physically. There comes a point when you really have to add up the cost of traveling, insurance, continuing education, updating yourself, not to mention the wear and tear on your body as you continue with a punishing schedule.

But honestly, where really do you start when trying to create a passive income?

When I talk to C2GO members and ask how they want to develop, they all say “expand online and create digital income”

The following points may seem basic but I know a lot of instructors who aren’t getting the basics right and then becoming disappointed when their online endeavors to create a passive income stream don’t work out.

Here are my top tips in skills you need to survive online.

1. Know your way around your computer. If need be take basic computer course, attend a class or go to your local college.

2. Get camera savvy. Use your iPhone or blackberry and record videos of yourself talking about your services, classes and products. Upload weekly to social media. To transfer physicsgital you have to get in front of the camera

3. Just because your target market isn’t online now they will be coming online very soon. Many instructors say to me:
“well I target older adults and they aren’t on social media, they don’t have e-mail addresses”

Newsflash, the fastest growing sector coming online are known as the Silver surfers, be prepared or the other I get is

“My market aren’t on Twitter/Facebook/Youtube etc etc” Yes but, billions of other people are and they could potentially be your customers.

4.Build your business online, the same way as you would off-line, network, talk to people, spend time on social media, let people know the services you provide and offer and build your brand and personality on the Internet.

When I first got an Apple MAC about 3 years ago I had not got a clue. But I went every Thursday to the Mac Shop in Meadowhall, which is an hour drive away from me and attended the free training lessons that Mac hold in their stores. I learnt how to use imovie, publisher, itunes, iphoto in fact all of the programs. Yes, it was a pain in the neck going to Sheffield every week BUT I can now create all of my own videos, books, newsletter mp3′s and podcasts which is priceless.

Don’t let technical obstacles hold you back.Find someone to teach you the skills you need. I guarantee the fitness professional of the future will be harnessing the power of websites, webinars, apps and social media more and more. So, upskill yourself and get ready as the way we deliver our fitness and health information will become more than just instructing a physical class, whoever your client group is.

As the UK population ages new opportunities and fitness brands will start to emerge to serve these new markets and I will bet my bottom $ technology will play a huge role in delivery.

Music

The CD that I have been using all week has been the Noughty Nineties by Pure Energy – It really is a winner side A for Conditioning and Side B for HiLo

http://www.pureenergydigital.com/product-display/album/noughty-nineties-mg00394223.aspx

UNITE

Our new program UNITE that Jayne and I are running on 16 June in Derby looks to becoming a record breaking event. It’s the first time we have properly launched a new program on one day and we have secured press, journalists and magazines.

But, what exactly is Unite, who is it aimed at, and who will be able to teach it?

We both feel the time is right to launch a new hybrid holistic program which mixes the best of Freestyle Fitness Yoga and Fitness Pilates. The consumer we have in mind for Unite is the person who loves group exercise, has attended aerobics, body conditioning etc in the past but now due to creaky joints and is not able to do all of the high impact work. Although she enjoys Yoga and Pilates she is looking for a class that combines the best of both and includes conditioning and dynamic strength training.

The music that Unite will use is going to be a mix of 70s, 80s, 90s right through to now and is from Pure Energy. We both want Unite to represent a workout that is holistic, fun, and unites the best of mind and body training. There will be monthly updates, teaching ideas lesson plans and DVDs, and, of course, we are both on hand to help, support and promote you and your Unite classes.

The 45+ market is looking for something more sophisticated, trendy and cool and Unite will tick all of those boxes. You don’t need to have trained in Fitness Pilates or Freestyle Fitness Yoga we just want the best, most proactive, and progressive leaders to take Unite foreword.

We only have a few spaces available now and we are only launching this program in Derby on 16 June we aren’t touring or launching anywhere else in the UK. You can book on via Choreographytogo and Group X Training.

The Dirty Thirty Club – 30 workouts in 30 days for June

The KSFL2012 has been extremely successful, partially due to the daily 10 min workouts. I have created so many workouts that you can do at home, or use in class, or slip into your own training in the gym.

Therefore, I have now created a new workout project due to start June 1 aptly titled The Dirty Thirty Club – 30 Workouts in 30 Days

So, what is The Dirty Thirty Club?

It’s a challenge for all Fitpros (and anyone else) who want to get leaner, fitter, increase strength, muscle tone and flexibility and maybe have been neglecting their own training.

I’m creating 30 x10 min workouts that you can watch on your phone, iPad or PC

You can then work out with me every day for your own training and use my training ideas in your own classes, you will be able to keep all of the videos and save them for future use.

The Dirty 30 videos will be e-mailed to you every day beginning on June 1. So, why not get the family involved? Your partner involved? Your work colleagues? And all see a huge improvement in our own fitness levels and body composition.

There will be a mix of Bootcamp, Cardio, Flexibility, Fitness Pilates, HIIT Training and Conditioning videos and have tons of training ideas that you will be able to implement into your own classes and workouts.

If this concept sounds appealing then please E-mail me or tweet me @RachelHolmes so I can gauge numbers and interest.

Jayne Nicholls – I Smell Change

We are changing, the industry is changing, the question is – are you changing?
Rachel and I have worked tirelessly to create new and exciting branded products that will catapult your group success rate into business land. We watch the industry both here and abroad and we react, in fact no we create changes. Unite is a fantastic example of this and one that will serve the people attending well in the future.

Most of the emails that we are getting are from a mass of instructors who want the freedom to work independently and have the opportunity to demonstrate their creative skills. ”Soft skills” something that are rarely discussed including customer care, interaction, face to face contact, people skills – what other industries pay thousands to train their staff in are our biggest asset and we rarely champion them. Mix your soft skills, with the freedom you desire and a little help from myself and Rachel in key content and you have Unite a branded program that is good to go and perfect for any age group and demographic.

This week we have both received this email from about 200 people.

“Dear Rachel & Jayne WHY CAN I TEACH UNITE? I am not qualified to teach either Yoga or Pilates, how can I do this? I wonder why you are not licensing the product and charging me to use the name and I am interested to hear why you are making it so easy for me to teach something new. I would also be grateful if you can tell me why you are not coming to my street on yet another back breaking tour that will age you 10 more years”

Now DO NOT get me wrong, we LOVE YOU all and we have proved our loyalty to you and to our industry but moving forward and we are going to move forward, we all need to input, be pro active and take the opportunities that present themselves.

jayne@groupxtraining.com

Stress and its effects on you by Sally Ghafoor

Stress is a Western disease. It’s a new disease. If you look back to the beginning of the 20th century, the biggest killer was infectious diseases. The flu killed millions. In 1912 during the First World War there were 8 million war deaths – in the same year 20 million people died from the flu.

In the 1920′s physicians were brought to see a very rare case of someone who had been diagnosed with lung cancer. These were not big killers back then. The majority of people would die from some kind of infectious disease. Today however we live longer and we have stress in our life. Today’s world die of diseases that slowly build up over time and some of those diseases can be caused or worsened by stress.

Let’s look at a stress response. Most of you will probably have read the book “why zebra’s don’t get ulcers” lets look at the zebra analogy. Stress to a zebra is a short term physical emergency. A lion is about to pounce, the zebra has a stress response to help it out of this emergency.

What is a stressor? The body has an ideal – we call it homeostasis, an ideal temperature, and ideal everything – the body is in balance, a stressor is anything that comes along and knocks you out of that homeostasis balance.

So back to the zebra, it becomes stressed, the bodily response kicks in, it escapes and the body goes back to normal. The stress system within the body is designed to be switched on for 30 seconds/ 3o mins/3 hours whilst you’re dealing with the stressful situation. In today’s society we are switching it on for 30 years. There is even the fact that we worry about things that may not happen, you tell your body it’s about to be knocked out of balance – even when the outcome is that it may not. You become anxious, neurotic – it’s what humans do. Does an elephant give a shit about mortgages? No the only stress response other animals deal with are stresses in response to physical emergencies, which when resolved they go back to normal. They don’t worry all day long that they might get eaten that night. Stress is a good thing if it’s for 30 minutes or 3 hours – it saves your neck, do it for 30 years and it will kill you.

Stress response

Let’s look at how our body reacts to stress.

Firstly you need energy and you need it now. You’re in a mess, it’s an emergency, so your body mobilises energy. Next you need to deliver that energy as rapidly as possible; you need to get it to the muscles that will save you. Your cardiovascular system increases, your heart rate speeds up, so does your breathing rate – anything that will help get that energy into your muscles.

You turn off long term building projects – so you turn off your digestive system. Sensible really, if you are being told the river is going to burst its banks in 5 hours and flood your house, you wouldn’t start cooking the dinner, no you would be getting the hell out of there. Have you ever had to stand up and give a presentation in front of people, ever noticed how your mouth goes dry? That is your body’s response to stress – its turning off the digestive system, the first part of the digestive system, is saliva production. It turns off growth hormones and reproduction, does the body need ovulate during an emergency – no it just can’t afford to. Stress will shut down growth hormones

The Immune system gets switched off; it makes antibodies to help you in a week, but will do nothing in 30 seconds to help your stress.

Your mind gets sharper with the onset of stress – your thinking – clearly/memory/hearing/clarification. Just think you always remember stressful situations because your sensory information is so hightened. Bet you can all remember where you were when Princess Diana died, it was a stressful situation – but you can’t remember where you put your keys or maybe your phone 5 minutes earlier…. You become sensitive to sensory information when stressed.

What happens if you turn on same response for much too long a time? What if it is purely psychological reasons causing you stress. If every day is an emergency, your body will stay in an emergency, you will get sick and pay a price in long run.

Look at what the body’s response is, the need for energy – you are constantly burning energy, you never store that energy. Your muscles start to atrophy from the stress, you get exhausted, your wasting energy with being stressed, the need for the body to quickly find energy and then get it to the muscles as quickly as possible will leave you exhausted.

If your chronically stressed you are more at risk of developing adult onset diabetes. This doesn’t exist in developing world – it is a disease of the western world.

Your Cardiovascular system – stress elevates your BP levels. if your blood pressure is high all time you become constantly hypertensive, chronic elevation of blood pressure, after a while will damage the surface of blood vessels, plaques form, fat glucose cholesterol stick to the damages areas and form plaques.

Stomach ulcers – bacteria can give you ulcers – bacteria can cause holes to form in stomach walls, under stress, the immune system shuts down, bacteria divide like crazy = ulcer.

Colitis and irritable bowel syndrome – The small intestine is there to absorb nutrients, all day long, that is the job it does. Once the food goes into the large bowel it cannot get any nutrients out. During stress you turn off digestive system. You stop secreting saliva, your small intestine stops churning everything shuts down. The Large intestines, well the waste matter is just sitting there, it is not needed, so the body evacuates it. Have you ever spent ages on and off the toilet when stressed, well here is why. The small intestine stops absorbing the nutrients and stops working, the large intestine starts churning and rids the body of the waste matter as quickly as it can.

So something stressful occurs, this turns off the small intestine and turns on the large intestine, you go back to normal, you get more stress and it is repeated and repeated, things get uncoordinated, the bowels start doing things at the wrong time. For example both turn off at the same time and you become constipated. All signs of IBS and Colitis.

Growth – As a child you grow, you have an abundance of growth hormones, but what happens when stressed? There is a very rare paediatric endocrine disorder that causes kids to stop growing for purely psychological reasons called stress dwarfism. The body is very sensitive, even with how we grow. The good news is if you take the children with this disorder out of the stressful situation they begin to grow as normal (more info on this in the book why zebras don’t get ulcers).

So when you are chronically stressed you fail to put calcium into your bones, up until 5 years ago the consensus was that if you were chronically stressed you would get near to having osteoporosis then someone discovered if you want a scientific answer study women instead of men – here is what happens when a male gets stressed – high levels of stress hormones, growth hormones goes down – hints of osteoporosis. Here is what happens with women – high levels of stress hormone, low levels of growth hormone and oestrogen levels go down. Oestrogen holds off osteoporosis, stress causes oestrogen to go down, hence osteoporosis entails.

Along with that chronically stressed spells failure for reproductive systems. Female reproductive system, cycles become irregular, longer or disappear completely – amenorrhea . Males – testosterone goes down. 60% of men who go to the doctors with reproductive issues is psychogenic, completely stress related.

Immune system – infectious diseases, they will be worse. Psychoimmunology – what goes on in your head has an effect on how you react to infectious disease. The common cold becomes more common, you become ill for longer

The same hormones that are secreted during stress that you leak into your brain to make you think more clearly, if done chronically can damage your brain. These hormones can kill neurons and brain cells in the part of the brain that is needed for learning and memory. How does stress damage neurons in the brain? The total amount of stress you are exposed to in a lifetime determines how much memory loss / function you have.

it’s about successful aging; lots of people can at age 90 can run marathons whilst others can’t. The way you live your life over the decades will have an effect on the way you pay the price at the end.

If you are a zebra you need to turn on stress response to survive, in humans if you turn it on for too long you will pay a price.
www.facebook.com/sallyghafoor

The countdown is on…

By Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Hi there,

How’s everyone doing on this fine Thursday? I’m very well. The countdown is now most definitely on for me and the Ante/Postnatal Instructors booked on my Pre/Postnatal Exercise and Marketing Workshop this weekend.

I’m so excited to be delivering this content live to so many passionate instructors like myself at this one-off live Event for 2012. It’s going to be huge, and I’m aiming to make some pretty dramatic changes to mindset amongst the group. Too few Pre/Postnatal Instructors aren’t being rewarded their worth, in my opinion, and it’s time we changed this. I’ve mentioned to you before, Pregnancy Pilates is THE most profitable class on my timetable and it regularly runs with a waiting list. To give you an example, 6 ladies have already booked and paid for my next course which starts on 26 June, so I must be doing something right.

The countdown is on. I’ve finished my Powerpoint slides, I’ve practised my aerobics routines, I’m aiming to over-deliver. If you want in, then you’d better be quick!

As you know, it’s taken me a fair amount of dedication and tenacity to get to where I am now. If you’re reading this thinking “I wish I could do something similar”, or “I’d love to do something like this” then what’s stopping you? The countdown is on.

I suddenly realised late last year that I’ve been working with pre/postnatal clients for 6 years, and to date, have signed up 800+ pre/postnatal women to my classes. Because of this, I really feel it’s time I gave some of my knowledge back to the industry to help instil some confidence in newly qualified instructors, and also pass on all of the business acumen skills I’ve obtained too along the way, associated with marketing to a niche client group such as pregnant and postnatal women (which is gold, by the way).

No other pre/postnatal training course in the UK provides you with business and/or marketing skills. Sure, on other courses you’ll learn the theory, you’ll learn the practical, but what you won’t learn is how to make your business a success. “Bridging the Gap” will help you.

Working with pre/postnatal women is both rewarding and challenging. To be honest, I think they’re probably one of the hardest groups to market to, reward and retain. But, if you’re booked on my Workshop, you’ll learn all of my tricks to the trade when it comes to getting “bumps on seats” so to speak.

I’m really excited to be delivering this one-off live Event, specific to my niche. Again, it’s about the passion, isn’t it? Here’s a list of what you’ll walk away with from my 2-day Workshop:

*4 hours’ worth of cutting-edge exercise content for your pre/postnatal classes
*marketing and advertising skills to add a successful pre/postnatal arm to your business
*what works, what doesn’t and what’s imperative when working with pre/postnatal clients
*how to create a successful pre/postnatal passive income stream to your business
*a guide to using Social Media, specific to pre/postnatal Instructors
*how to raise your media profile locally, nationally and internationally as an Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert
*a feeling of belonging to a community of ante/postnatal instructors who’ll support you along the way

If you’ve done your Level 3 Ante/Postnatal qualification, or are studying it now, this Workshop is a must. You know yourself that the Level 3 Ante/Postnatal qualification itself is fairly basic. It’s heavy on theory and light on practical. I have over 4 hours’ worth of exercise content planned for pre and postnatal for my Exercise and Marketing Workshop, so you’ll walk away with endless ideas on keeping the content of your pre/postnatal sessions fresh, and more importantly, I’ll be giving you the confidence to try out new exercises with your clients from someone who’s been there and done it.

Are you struggling with advertising and marketing to pregnant women or new mums? I have answers to all of these questions too. I know how frustrating it is to put your heart and soul into a new venture, only to watch it fail. Follow my marketing steps, and you’ll enjoy full pregnancy and postnatal classes, with waiting lists in operation, just like me.

So, if you’ve done your Level 3 Ante/Postnatal, or currently studying it, here are the details:

Pre/Postnatal Exercise and Marketing “Bridging the Gap” Workshop ~ 19-20 May 2012 at David Lloyd in Derby. It’s not just pre/postnatal exercise content you’ll learn here, it’s also the marketing and business acumen skills required to find, retain and build rapport with pre/postnatal clients. For more details of this Event, see: www.clairemockridge.com/instructors

To listen to the Podcast I did with Rachel Holmes about Bridging the Gap, listen in here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZwLvipC9zE&feature=youtu.be

If working with pre/postnatal clients appeals to you, why not join my Private Facebook Group for FitPros who either: a) want to get qualified to teach pre/postnatal or, b) are already qualified, but want hints and tips on making their business more successful: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/clairemockridge/

Or, connect with me here:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/clairemockridge1
Twitter: www.twitter.com/clairemockridge #BridgingTheGap
Blog: http://clairemockridge.wordpress.com/

Bye for now.

Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Cooking up a Fit Pro storm – YOUR recipe for success by Jill Gardner

Ever worry that you are not getting it right? Ever worry that someone is doing it better than you? Every worry you will never get it right? Maybe you have felt like giving up?

Please don’t worry if you don’t feel very confident with this recipe. It takes a lot of patience and practice to get right and it’s very rare that anyone gets it right first time. With a lot determination and daily practice you will have this nailed before long!

I like to prepare this recipe surrounded by great, motivating people. There is nothing better than being cheered on when the going gets tough. Don’t be afraid to ask someone who has cracked this recipe before for help and guidance. They had to learn it once too! Having someone mentor you can help encourage you, prevent a lot of mistakes and save a lot of time. No two recipes will ever be the same and mistakes are inevitable so getting it wrong to start with can actually help make the recipe even better in the long run!

Ingredients: make sure they are all fresh!

1 HUGE bowl of passion
A burning fire in your belly
A measure of inspiration
A couple of large handfuls of clear focus
A few glugs of clarity
Equal dollops of patience and persistence
1 large measure of determination

Instructions:Following set instructions can save time but experiment until you find the formula that works for you

Mix all the ingredients together well. Don’t leave anything out!
You need to cook outside of the box for this one – be different!
Don’t be distracted by what others are cooking! You have the best recipe!
Others may try to tell you that you’re doing it wrong – only listen to those you trust!
Don’t try to cook it too quick or be tempted to use cheaper or borrowed ingredients – be unique!
Finish this recipe before starting another one!
Don’t leave it to sit on the shelf as it will go stale – eat quickly!
It’s best hot and straight out of the oven!
Trust your gut. If it tastes good you got it right. If not, then just keep tweaking until you get it just right for you!

I am still working on my formula. Each day it gets better and better. There is nothing more rewarding than the aroma of your own hard earned sweet success!

Here’s to your successful recipe! I would love to hear how it goes. You can follow my unique recipes and general positivity here at: www.hateitchangeit.co.uk or on facebook hateitchangeit.

Big love, small tummies and lots and lots of success!

Jill – The Fat Controller!

How many ‘faces’ do you have by Cori Withell

As fitness instructors we have so many ‘faces’ that we put on for our clients.

Energetic
Happy
Positive
Supportive
Sympathetic
Empathetic
Encouraging
Motivating
Enthusiastic
Awake
Smiling
A bit nuts!
Boundless energy
Strength even when ill!

The list goes on and on and on. So where, in all of these faces does the ‘real you’ get placed?

Do you sometimes feel that you have lost the ‘real you?’ In amongst all of those ‘faces’, looking after everyone else before yourself and then by the time it gets round to you, well, you are so exhausted you just collapse into bed. You probably tell yourself that it will be different tomorrow but it rarely is because ‘stuff’ gets in the way every single day.

Do you ever think about the amount of added stress you are putting on yourself day to day by trying to ‘be so many different people? This takes its toll over time, you will get tired more often, the ‘faces’ will get harder and harder to put on. Your patience will begin to wane; you will become more irritable at more people with less reason. You will get frustrated with yourself because you won’t understand why all this is happening. Well, I am telling you why and I am also saying that it is crucial that you take all of those ‘faces’ off and have time to just be you. You may even find that doing that is exhausting. If you have been working like a Trojan and going from one ‘face’ to another without a breath then you might have slightly lost yourself but you will get you back, sooner than you think too. Once you just allow yourself some true ‘me’ time then the relief will be immense. You won’t have realised just how much energy is consumed in living that way, until you s witch off and that is a great feeling. Once you have done it once, you need to keep doing it

More help in more areas such as loneliness, depression, stress, competitors, work life balance and more can be found in my new e-book The FitPro Mind available to buy at www.cwfitness.co.uk/shop/

Here is some of the feedback received so far,

Thought I’d read a few pages and couldn’t stop reading. your book is brilliant!! Reading just a small part of your book has actually helped lift my mood, so I’m hoping for a good nights sleep. It’s comforting hearing someone else experience, especially someone in the fitness industry. I’m not very clued up on supplements so I’m interested to know which can help me. Glad I purchased the book. Louise Watson

Bloody brilliant book!!! I strongly recommend it. Suzi Sullivan

You can also follow me on Facebook www.facebook.com/cori.withell and Twitter www.twitter.com/CWFitness and my daily blog at www.cwfitness.co.uk/blog

Health and happiness x
Best wishes
Cori x

To Claim……. Or Not To Claim…?
By Andrew Crawford

“…I bought this or that ‘Wholly & Exclusively’ for the purpose of my trade..”

By the end of this article, I want the above sentence to be engrained on the forefronts of your mind. Use it or lose it…….like your muscles…!!

To aid you….I will be subliminally working this sentence in and out of this article so you won’t forget…..

Before that….I would like to thank the cute little Helen Ttofa over there in Bolton for asking the question which led to this weeks article. Thank you.

I will copy it below so you can see the queries and information being disseminated amongst our brothers and sisters of the fitness industry fraternity.

“…… Can I pick your brains, my friend has just been on a workshop about self employment and they are saying that we cannot claim for trainers, fitness clothes etc unless they are branded with our company stuff, is this right?…”

This type of question I get asked frequently…..

In addition… I would like to say that I am still losing pounds.!!…..not GBP but in weight pounds on the KSFL maintenance…… I want to be firm, fighting fit, fun & feisty… not firsty or frisky but pinky & perky…so I continue on my quest to reach my fighting weight with the programme that works …mofo…!!

If you can’t remember what I looked like at my fighting weight take a look here…this is ‘wholly & exclusively’ for your eyes only…!!!
www.fitnessindustrytaxadviser.com

Excuse the red cap….it was for effect….ha ha ha!!!

Oh…….and if you say that it is photoshoped….that is utter b….. rubbish ….it’s ALL genuine….lol….. and…..in addition……that was on a staple diet of KFC, fillet-o-fish from Mackie D’s…tenants, special brew, brandy, champagne, Wray & Nephew (Jamaican overproofed white rum)..deep fried chips and a BIG piece of highly battered fish…water and salads??…your having a Steffi Graff….I stayed clear of those rabbit foods..lol….go figure..!!!
Back then there wasn’t all this …14 days to this…Bootcamp that….The Pretty Boy Pamper Weekend……..It was just pure grinding…..opps I mean …. working out, jogging with press ups, sit ups, pull ups, hand grips, swimming….The Bull Worker…(Those of you around my age will remember that equipment…!!)..and the ‘Ab cruncher’..!!!
Seriously…..I had to start something now…..because I was sick of the sight of myself when I stepped out the bubble bath and looked….glanced even…in the mirror..uggh..!!

So Andrew….What has your red cap (and outfit), the bull worker and being feisty, frisky, pinky and perky and the obligatory grinding got to do with Accountancy and finance?

Provided your expenses were primarily wholly & exclusively for the purpose of your business, it doesn’t matter if you derived some personal benefit from it.

So I’m sure that ALL your major expenses and trips were made “wholly & exclusively” for your business….therefore claimable…..or not?
If you made a research and development trip abroad, make sure you can demonstrate how it helped your business and that it wasn’t just a jolly ole ‘knees up’ with the boyz….& galz..!!
Eg. Say you went to Lanzarote to visit a client in the summer, for a bona fide business purpose. You might as well enjoy yourself in your spare time! As this was just a fortuitous and pleasant side effect from the main business purpose and reason that you went there for….wasn’t it??

Instead of quoting statute, company law, sections and subsection s and all that stuff us Accountants had to quote on our exam papers to impress the examiner . … I’ll leave that to the other ‘grey suits’ to try and impress you with their knowledge…!!!
Nothing is new…. after my particular style of explaining the following scenarios; I will leave it up to you, as the tax payer ‘to claim…or not to claim’
Fitness Clothes
This is where I and some other Accountants disagree…..

As a former Fitness Instructor, Personal Trainer & Presenter ALL my clothing were put through and claimed….Why?

They were bought…’WHOLLY & EXCLUSIVELY for the purpose of my trade’….. Fitness..!!!

There is a famous case which Accountants use…Re: Drummond Case where it was held that the clothing for the Solicitor was for ‘warmth & decency’…and therefore was not a claimable expense.

However, in our case….me & you…..would we be doing classes in a skirt, blouse, fish nets ( yum yum) and high heeled shoes….or a 3- piece suit and stuffy tie?????

Exactly!!…So we buy clothes appropriate for the job….specifically designed for the purpose of training… Lycra and baggy stuff, they don’t need to be branded.

Usually you can stick a logo on it and call it a UNIFORM….Why?……Uniforms are a specifically claimable expense. You would do this more with a tracksuit….’Personal Trainer’ or ‘Instructor’ emblazoned across the back!!

Think of it another way…………………..

You went out SPECIFICALLY to buy FITNESS CLOTHING for YOUR business…..(clothes which you wear ONLY for the classes that you get paid for…..you therefore LOST money to GAIN money….part of your business….right?

Therefore….. Claim your clothing..!!

Trainers
Let’s jump straight in…..
During my days as a Fitness Instructor …..before Beto came up with THAT word starting with ‘Z’….. I was wearing things they called ‘plimsolls’…!!
OK…that was back in middle school…. they cost 99p from Woolworths.
Now, I did a paper round, so I was able to afford the more expensive £2.99 Dunlop green flash.
Then they came out with the addidas mamba, samba, bamba…. Lord have mercy….!!!
Nowadays trainers are £100 plus or the cheaper ones are £60 – £80.
As a trainer and Presenter I was getting through a lot of these. I’m sure I had the first reebok pump me ups…I had to go to the states to buy those.
My point is this…
Buy 2 sets of trainers.
One for personal use costing £9.99 or thereabouts…the other one you buy ‘wholly & exclusively’ for the purpose of your business…costing £100 plus. (Keep the receipt for this one…it’s claimable).
Wear the cheaper one to and from your classes, they are for personal use.
Change into the expensive business ones and wear them exclusively for your classes and clients. (Don’t forget to change back to your ‘personal’ ones when you finish your session).
After say 2 – 3 months…those £100 exclusively for business trainers are ‘old’ and a bit smelly…from sweat extra..so……
You will need another business trainer.!! The cost?….£100 (keep the receipt).
The old trainer (originally costing £100) is no longer good for its purpose that you originally bought it for….therefore it has to be relegated to ‘personal’ use.!!
And on it goes…..until the 5th April or your year end for a company.
Therefore …Claim your trainers.!!
In closing, make sure that your expenditure falls within the wholly and exclusively rule….remember, its up to you to argue your particular case… for companies, the rule is a bit stricter, expenditure has to be ‘wholly, exclusively and necessarily’ incurred for your business.
So when you are faced with a decision remember ‘To Claim…or Not To Claim’

Speak soon x

Andrew Crawford
Visit our website at: www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com for more FREE resources and articles.
‘Like’ our page at: www.facebook.com/fitnessindustryaccountants
Andrew Crawford can be contacted on twitter @tax4fitness or info@fitnessindustryaccountants.com

Hope you have a wonderful week
Love and Hugs
Rachel xxx
Tweet me @RachelHolmes
Facebook /Choreographytog

Instructor Newsletter 10th May 2012

RachelLHolmes — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:05:17 +0000

Rachel’s News

Hello and welcome to the choreography to go instructor newsletter, I hope you all had a fantastic bank holiday weekend and are now raring to go for the summer term.

This week’s newsletter, contains a great article by Cori Withell on what exactly is the work life balance. Cori has just written and is launching her brand-new book – The Fit Pro Mind on Monday, check out Cori’s article in the newsletter below.

You will also find an inspiring article from Katie Bulmer, Katie has had tremendous success networking on Twitter, and Twitter really is the social medium for networking and engaging with potential client’s, partners and other businesses, Jill has written a great article on loving your clients and of course Andrew has some sound Tax advice all written in Andrews usual inimitable style.

Plus contributions by Jayne and Claire Mockridge.

After the event last week I have been thinking a lot about the basics of creating your online fitness business, and how important getting the basics right, thus some articles from me addressing this topic.

Fitness Pilates Wellness & Vitality Boutique

I had an amazing response last week from Instructors interested in this new project and it launches tomorrow.

Its a 14 day project which includes 14 x 15 min home Fitness Pilates Workouts and challenges coupled with motivation and mindset coaching videos and a Health and Vitality eating plan. This plan will be about eating for energy and health rather than fatloss as the two goals are very differnt.

If you are interested in this email or Tweet me. There will be 20 places.

Need Music?

If you need some musical inspiration this week check out the new Can you Feel It mix from Pure Energy, Im loving this now http://www.pureenergydigital.com/product-display/album/can-you-feel-it-mg00414623.aspx

19 DayOnline Fitness JumpStat Course with Rachel

We are now approaching day 10 of my 19 days Jumpstart your online fitness business course, and it’s really interesting. I strive to help the team understand the basics of creating an online business and brand. Building trust and a solid and sustainable business is key to online success, just as it is off-line, and I feel, it’s imperative that fitness entrepreneurs understand this is definitely not a get rich quick avenue.

Tips for Creating an Online Fitness Business.

1.Don’t worry so much about the online part. Instead, figure out how to create value, through services and products your niche want and need.

2. If your off line fitness business is successful, recreate the same values, community and service digitally.

3. The Internet isn’t magic, it’s just a more efficient way of doing business.

4. Don’t be afraid to fail, its where you will understand more about your market and products.

5. Lead and be a maverick, don’t follow the crowd, do something unique and different to stand out for the crowd.

6. Work out how to do simple technological changes to your website, your blog, and your digital products, this will save you hours and £’s in the long run.

Create a community – A Third Place like Starbucks – somewhere your community want to hang out.

Hope that helps with your online endeavors.

What to Tweet and Write about on Facebook with Rachel

A question I get asked a lot, especially when I begin working with instructors, wanting to create an online fitness business or brands, is……….

“What exactly should I be tweeting and writing about?”

This is an excellent and important question.

The whole aim of social media, is to build online relationships and trust with customers and potential customers.

It is key to connect, network and engage with the people and businesses with interesting and relevant content. You are chatting, listening and watching, only doing promotional comment online is the fastest way to turn people off.

You wouldn’t walk into a dinner party, and start yelling
” Aerobics class tonight at 730, everyone welcome!”

You would chat to people, introduce yourself, make conversation, talk about current events, politics, the weather, etc, etc. Exactly the same etiquette applies on social media and I think many fitness professionals miss this.

A great way to engage your friends and followers and establish yourself as a credible Health and Fitness expert is to comment on relevant news of the day.

For example yesterday on the BBC News website there was an interesting story about how the number of arthritis sufferers will double by 2030. This was also picked up on the national and international news. Now, if you had picked up on this yesterday, you could of shared on this post on Facebook and Twitter with your followers, and followed it with your top tips to help arthritis sufferers.

The news mentioned how gentle exercise can help, you could of blogged about helpful exercises or come in on a nutritional angle, there was loads of ways to piggy back on this story.

The potential for your comments being picked up by journalists and writers would be maximised immediately, also to your followers, you have positioned yourself as an expert and it cements your credentials.

Throughout the day there are literally hundreds of health, fitness, nutrition and diet stories coming through the via global media, websites and blogs.

Commenting and sharing relevant information pertinent to your followers makes you the go to person for health and fitness information. And that, is very powerful when you are creating an online business.

Tips for Social Media Commenting

1. Follow all relevant Health and Fitness media on Facebook and Twitter. Including all fitness magazines and daily newspapers.

2. Subscribe to all the major news channels blogs and websites. Check these regularly for updates that you can comment on.
Great sources of H&F news are The Huffington Post, Fox News Health in the US, Zest magazine, Men’s Health, BBC Health, Daily Mail Online and all of the usual womens media blogs and Twitter accounts.

When you see an interesting story that you find relevant and may be of interest to your followers, share it on Facebook and Twitter, then write a blog post, article or a vlog with your views and comments on the article.

And, if you are serious about building your online fitness presence then this is a first class tactic, you should most definitely employee.

I would love your comments on this article please twee the @RachelHolmes

My Top Predictions for 2012

I absolutely love doing a my top predictions for 2012 article, especially after the Fitro convention and IFS. It’s an ideal time to take stock and have a look exactly what’s going on. So here goes my list;

1.Small group training – if you look back in the last couple of newsletters you will see we have written extensively, on this subject. SGT is set to grow as consumers are looking for a more individualised approach to health and fitness and nutrition, coupled with the camaraderie and fun of a group.

2.Innovative group exercise brands. Talented group exercise instructors with large followings and a strong client base begin to break away, from teaching other brands and formulate individual classes and systems. These instructors understand their clients are coming for them, and are now working out how to market and design new programs.

3. Creating strong and sustainable online fitness and work out programs. Entrepreneurs who are now building a community online.

4. The increased growth of the Mind/Body genre for group X and SGT. Yoga and Pilates will continue to grow but I predict new and innovative mind/body hybrid classes coming onto the market. As the UK population ages, consumer are looking for classes they can de- stress, relax and unwind in plus condition the whole body in a more gentle and holistic way.

These 4 areas, I predict will only get bigger this year. I’d love to hear about your predictions please Facebook or tweet may which direction you think, the fitness industry will go.

UNITE 16th June 2012 with Jayne and Rachel

Both Jayne and I have been blown away by the amount of interest for our new event. As I’ve documented above in my predications, consumers and Instructors are looking for new hybrid class formats to satisfy their needs, goals and lifestyles
Freestyle Fitness Yoga and Fitness Pilates continue to move ahead, and we are really excited about our new fusion class UNITE which will address that new emerging market.
You don’t have to have trained with us on FFY or FP and this may be your first venture into Mind/Body or you may have trained with us in both programs the UNITE event will arm you with a whole new aspect of teaching and identify a new niche.

We now have only 7 places available on the day so be quick if you want to get in from the beginning with UNITE and look forward to seeing you there.

To book onto UNITE http://www.choreographytogo.com/unite-fp-ffy/

Is it time for a cutural shift? by Jayne Nicholls

Much of our time is spent, doing comparative studies of similar products to ours both in the UK and abroad, namely FFY & FP our most successful and longterm brands. We are looking for inspiration and obviously checking out the competition. I am really pleased and proud that as far as these products are concerned, due to our perseverance and ongoing support there is no real competition for freestyle and independent instructors who service an age 20 to 70 demographic.

I am now becoming really interested in why Brits often look to American fitness trends when the UK is a much more concise and critical source. Is this a general trend for example – Its interesting that everyone knows Bill Gates yet Tim Berners Lee is often harder to place. TBS is British and pretty much gave his invention away for free.

So why do we look to the US for inspiration? Is it the allure of America or is it the actual product that entices us? The UK has some amazing home grown talent and our information is universally current due to the world wide web (thank you Tim Berners Lee).

We would love to hear where you get your inspiration. What do people actually need to do to impress you and what form does it take, words, product, information or class content.

In an age where cliques and gangs are FB based and appear powerful in the most bizarre ways, we need to analyse where we turn to as fodder for our improved thoughts and performance.

Jayne@jaynenicholls.com on a mission to route out where and why we do what we do.
J a y n e

Jayne Nicholls

07989 433 969
0208 488 1451
www.groupxtraining.com

Is it time for a warm shower? by Jill Gardner

You know that feeling……… Your tired and you ache…….. It’s been a long day and you feel sweaty, grubby and drained. Nothing can beat that moment you step in the shower and feel the warmth of the water all over your skin and hair. You let it spray all over your face and down your neck……you just don’t ever want to get out!

Where am I going with this????

Well………when was the last time you gave your clients a warm shower?

Yes that ‘warm shower’ moment that money can’t buy?

It’s ‘warm shower’ moments that can really make a difference to someones day, week, month….. life even!

We are so busy dashing from class to class or from one client to the next we can often forget how much of a difference we can make to their lives. When was the last time you sent a card in the post? When was the last time you just called to see how they were? When was the last time you stopped and chatted….I mean really chatted with them after class or their session? Do you go out of your way to source some useful information or a recipe for them? Do you send birthday cards or texts to motivate them to come to class? Have you ever made them some clean treats to try? Or maybe send them reminders or messages to stay on track?

It’s these ‘warm shower’ moments that can bring real connection between you and your clients. It’s those moments that can bring sunshine on a rainy day. It’s those moments that show you REALLY care!

Often our clients are struggling to make big positive changes in their lives and it’s hard! After all if it wasn’t they wouldn’t be looking to you to inspire them and guide them. They all have their own issues to deal with in life, so what can you do to let them know that you are more than just a fitness instructor or their personal trainer? What more can you do to make you more valuable in their lives?

My suggestion:
Think of a time when you have been the receiver of a ‘warm shower’ moment. How did it feel? What did you think? What’s your lasting memory of that person/company? Were you more likely to do repeat business with them or maybe you have automatically chosen them as a close friend that fills your life with ‘warm shower’ moments.

Now make a list of the things you could do? Think of all the little ‘warm shower’ moments you can give on a regular basis and start right now! Do one today and let me know how it felt. Because when I give ‘warm shower’ moments it’s as if by magic that I get my own little ‘warm shower’ moments straight back in return!

Big love, small tummies and ‘warm shower’ moments!

Jill Gardner – The Fat Controller – Hate it? Change it!

The Power of Twitter! by Katie Bulmer Cooke

Hi C2Go’ers,
Hope you all had a smashing bank holiday weekend!
We all love social media, and it’s a great way to market our products and services to both existing and potential clients. But how else can it help us in our quest to grow our brand and raise our profile?
It seems that we are all so into Facebook that we often forget our good friend Twitter!
Twitter is a great tool that makes contacting people outside of your circle of clients so much easier.
You can tweet celebrities and have direct contact with the President of the United States of America- how mad is that?
So why aren’t we harnessing the power of Twitter to help us grown our fitness business?
Well the number one reason I hear is ‘I just don’t get it’ or ‘I don’t know how to use it’, and I felt the same at first, but putting a little time and effort into it, has really paid off for me.
Here’s how…
Like many of you, I’m a huge fan of the ITV1 show The Biggest Loser, and following his win on the show, I decided to follow, Kevin McLernon (in case you didn’t see it, he dropped a whopping 40% of his body weight).
I tweeted him saying well done and that both me and my clients had found him very inspirational.
He followed me back, and as a results saw the mini biography on my profile.
He tweeted back to say Hi!
I tweeted to ask if he was interested in doing a Skype interview for my weekly newsletter.
He tweeted back inviting me to his home to do a video interview.
I went…
We got on great…
Now, just 4 weeks later we are about to embark on a UK tour together!
And that’s not all.
I did the same with a national magazine, asking if they would like to know more about my small group training program, The Little Black Dress Club.
They tweeted back to say yes…
We did an interview on the phone…
Within a week I was confirmed for their May issue!
Twitter literally cuts out the fuss, as you can make direct contact with the people you want to connect with.
You could connect with other local businesses, local and national radio, magazines and newspapers, as well as celebrities- who knows you could even become their trainer or have them come to your class…the possibilities are endless!
Don’t let these opportunities pass you by! Go set up a Twitter account and start tweeting!
Rachel does a fabulous ‘How-To’ webinar, that shows you exactly how to use Twitter to build your business over at the C2Go website if you want to know all the info fast!
Have a smashing day, and tweet me @KatieBulmer1
Love Katie xx
p.s. if you would like to find out more about my UK tour with Kevin from The Biggest Loser please visit www.katiebulmer.com/tour (would be great to see some C2Go members there- why not bring your clients too!)

What is a work life balance by Cori Withell

Trying to balance your professional and personal life can be a challenge in today’s demanding workplace. With the recession pushing many professionals to work harder than ever and technology enabling work around the clock, achieving work-life balance is more important – and elusive – than ever. being self employed makes this doubly hard.In the last several decades, some industries have failed to embrace flexible work styles or adopt work-life balance initiatives. Recession-related layoffs are piling greater workloads upon workers and many are demanding a better work-life balance. When you are your own boss, YOU are responsible for getting this balance right and it can be really hard. In the current economic environment, work-life balance now ranks as one of the most important workplace attributes – second only to compensation, according to a recent poll of more than 50,000 global workers. The secret to work-life ba lance will differ depending on your field of work, family structure and finances. But some work-life balance principles are universal, saying no and prioritising and these definitely hit home to me as a self employed fit pro – are you one of those that says yes to everything? Yeah, I thought so.
How does this affect me as a fitness instructor?

This is one that I think every fit pro with a family really struggles with. For a lot of us the fitness industry has not been a career from a young age so many of us come into the industry from 9-5 Monday to Friday jobs and this makes the work life balance even harder. You are used to seeing the kids for breakfast, off they go to school and you to work. You get in, work is over and it is family time for the rest of the evening and then the weekends are all yours too.
When you enter the fitness industry, along with the stresses of trying to make your business a success and knowing that you rely on you being busy you somehow, have to make time to be with your family. So, if you are not feeling guilty about not being with your family you are feeling guilty because you feel you should be working on growing your business. I have a really big issue with guilt. I mean, what purpose does it actually serve other than to make you feel rubbish? So, ditch the guilt. If you know you haven’t got the work life balance right then address it but sitting there feeling guilty doesn’t solve anything. You haven’t found time you didn’t have before, you won’t be as much fun for your family to be around anyway and it just contributes to you feeling miserable. Not good, so let’s ditch it now!

The first things you need to do are practical. You need to work out exactly how much money you need to earn from the business with any other incomes coming in and all expenses going out. Sorry if I am teaching you to suck eggs here but I am always amazed at how many fitpros have not done this. Once you know how much money you need to earn you need to break it down, are you going to be teaching classes, pt, small group training, workshops……..If you are already teaching and scared about making changes, please don’t be, change is good So, once you have your work mapped out it is all about implementing it. There is no point knowing what you are going to do if you do nothing about it. As important as you work is, so is your family, relaxation and me time so you need to do the same exercise for that. Now, I fully appreciate that life rarely goes to plan so we need to be flexible in our approach and accept that the re will be days when it simply does not go to plan and not see this as a failure but merely a part of life. When running your own business and bringing up a family it is imperative that you get your nutrition right. You are going to be working hard, stress levels are likely to be elevated and sleep may well be disrupted so ensuring that you fuel your body in the best way is essential.

This is an extract taken from my book The Fit Pro Mind which goes on sale on 14th May.

You can follow me on Facebook www.facebook.com/cori.withell and Twitter www.twitter.com/CWFitness and subscribe to my blog at www.cwfitness.co.uk/blog

Health and happiness x

Striking a balance

By Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Hi there everyone,

Well, I think I’m finally over my birthday celebrations of last Wednesday. I do like to string these things out though, as you know. I had a lovely Spa Day at Centre Parcs on Thursday that my partner booked for us both. I’ll be honest, we do like to spend as much time together as possible, as I’m away for the first part of the week teaching, and he works shifts. Is this something you value too? Do you like to take time out away from your fitness business? Do you wish you could go on longer holidays? Did you actually get to relax on Bank Holiday Monday just gone?

I had my VA look after my Inbox whilst I was out of the office for those 2 days last week. Because we’ve worked together for so long, nothing was too difficult for her to manage. I had a few voice mails to listen to on my return, but, everything other base had been covered. I scheduled all of my fitness tips and blog posts on Twitter and Facebook using Hootsuite, so I still had a presence on Social Media. And, Thursday morning is when my pre and postnatal client Newsletters go out, which although I write the content for, my VA schedules and makes them look jazzy for me by adding in pictures and changing the fonts etc, saving me at least 2 hours of work (and sanity!).

It’s taken me a while to get to where I am now. I’ve worked hard, and who doesn’t like a bit of hard work when it’s something you’re really passionate about? In the early days of self-employment, I worked part-time as a Gym Instructor at weekends (yep, every weekend for 4 years). At the same time, I was trying to set up and promote my pregnancy and postnatal classes, study my Level 3 Pilates qualification part-time and keep the finances ticking over. Now that I think back, I’m not quite sure how I managed to do it.

I think it’s important to strike the right balance when you’re in business yourself. If you have a loving partner and masses of other commitments like children, pets, relatives, DIY and a veggie patch to look after, it’s important that you get the right balance between all of them. The thing is, you should never feel guilty for taking time for YOU. Food for thought there for some of you who seem to be married to your work, I hope. If it all gets a bit too much though, that’s when out-sourcing is necessary.

Have you given your online business some thought this week? I certainly have. I’ll be running a session on this of my own in fact. Since Rachel’s Workshop, bookings for my Pre/Postnatal Exercise and Marketing Workshop on 19-20 May 2012 in Derby have gone a bit mad, so if you’re thinking of booking on and you want some more info on how to drive your pre/postnatal online business forward, you’d better be quick and grab a seat – this train is moving fast.

So, if you’ve done your Level 3 Ante/Postnatal, or currently studying it, here are the details:

Or, connect with me here:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/clairemockridge1
Twitter: www.twitter.com/clairemockridge
Blog: http://clairemockridge.wordpress.com/

Bye for now.

Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert
Health and happiness x
Best wishes
Cori x

Tel: 07729 356133
Web: www.cwfitness.co.uk
Follow me on Facebook and Twitter www.facebook.com/cori.withell www.twitter.com/CWFitness

Beauty…..and ‘The Beast’..!!
By Andrew Crawford

Last weekend at Rachel’s ‘Create Your Online Fitness Business’ I met the most inspiring, motivated, creative , impressionable, and ‘Beautiful’ people you will ever meet within the Fitness Industry.

Beauty…not only radiated throughout the packed room but Beauty also ran through the heart of the delivery from Rachel Holmes, Sally Ghafoor and Katie Bulmer-Cooke.
It was a pleasure to depart some of my own grey matter to the awesome crowd who consumed the information and put what they had learnt in ACTION that very night…!!!

Believe you me….that makes the effort, we as speakers prepare and deliver, worth every minute when people bother to take action.
Sally Ghafoor put it eloquently in last week’s newsletter… My personal purpose is’ to give more, love more and help more.’…Simple as That…..
Dr Lurve…at your service…!!

I know that fully 80% of people will not do what you tell them and wonder why nothing happens to them…20% of the time. The other 20% runs with the ideas and wonders why everything happens to them..80% of the time..(As Jill Garner put it….’The Paretos Theory’ better known as the 80 to 20 Rule…which, incidently can be applied to most things).

I am not revealing what they learnt on that day because that’s the perks of making the concerted effort to be in attendance . ….. they will undoubtedly have a ‘Head Start’ on those that were not there…….PERIOD..!!

I am still feeling the affects of that day and have forged a closer more personal relationship from some of the participants…..instead of trawling the profile facebook pages…..tee hee
In fact….I met a few of my clients there…in person…previously only communicating via email, mobile and facebook….how strange was that???

So Andrew…..
What has the 80 to 20 rule and your purpose of….’ to give more, love more and help more’ got to do with finance??

Well…..A lot of clients who contact me want to pay less tax…Why????

It is worth remembering the reasons why we need to pay our beautiful taxes and the uses thereof…..

The beauty of paying your taxes is to ensure the Government has enough cash reserves to invest in the latest land to ground guided missiles, capable of destroying and obliterating whole cities, colonies and civilisaion , in order to protect us from the terrorist beasts.

The beauty of paying your taxes ensures that MP’s can utilise the funds, via their expenses, to ensure they are comfortable in their £1,000 – £4,000 per night suites, to enable them to be fresh, ready and gagging to face the day jeering each other instead of being shacked up in a beast of a £79 a night bed and breakfast type room.

The beauty of our stealth taxes also ensures that Councils can speculate and invest in dodgy overseas investments mounting to millions of your hard earned English pounds in countries where most UK citizens cannot spell the capital city…let alone benefit from the non-existent dividend and lost investments in the beast.

Remember, that all you Fitness Professionals who are self-employed or run a small limited company…are really running a ‘Partnership’. The Partner, is a ‘Silent Partner’ and allows you to trade, without interruptions all year…The beauty of this is they will only rear their heads at the year end when tax is due…

Try to put away a proportion of your income, so that at the year- end you are not fishing around trying to find money to fund the tax, you therefore pacify the beast.
Don’t forget that the beauty of the tax reserves can even help multi million pound institutions bail out from the beast of the mire and aid in bolstering the big fat allocation of dividends to reward the top executives in charge of the demise.

One thought came to mind……………….What was in the Auditors Report?

True Story.

I went into my local bank…(the one that was bailed out a few times with billions of tax payers hard earned money)….which I as a taxpayer “own”…..(yeah right…!!) and asked for a strong black coffee with 3 sugars…oh….and I also asked for the monthly management account so that I can see how the branch was performing…… !!

Did I get anything?? Not a sausage….they looked at me as though I was a madman…… I’m sure their fingers was on the red panic button in case I did something beastly..!!
Me and you don’t own b*ll*x..!!!

Taxpayers are currently liable for enormous contributions to the £50bn fund to hold together countries within the Euro.

Our government signed up to the fund but under new measures Britain will be excluded from paying into it. Future governments will also be prevented for stumping up more cash for the ailing single currency.
Remember also that the payment of your tax bill is not a deduction from your profits, neither is class 2 national insurance contributions for the self-employed.
There was some confusion over that issue, so I hope the above sentence makes sense. You will therefore have to set aside from the available income amounts which may become due and payable.
I have put together what I call a ‘Ready Reckoner’ which advises you the amount of tax and national insurance class 4 to ‘put away’ until the year end.
You can find it at the bottom if the following page. I will be updating this for year end 2013……

http://www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com/ard/documents.asp?AID=1987&SID=11&FID=37617

So…in closing with Pareto and applying it to everyday scenarios….
20% of people pay 80% of UK’s tax
80% of time spent leads to 20% of output
80% of your profits come from 20% of your clients
80% of UK’s wealth is owned by 20% of the people
80% Beauty….20% Beast
Thanks Jill x

Have a wonderful Thursday

Love Rachel xx

What Shall I Tweet?

RachelLHolmes — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:16:57 +0000

A question I get asked all of the time by Fitpros getting into Social Media and Twitter is
“What shall I Tweet about”

Have a Thought Shower not a Brain Dump with Rachel

RachelLHolmes — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:14:16 +0000

Instructor Newsletter 3rd May 2012

RachelLHolmes — Wed, 02 May 2012 22:38:48 +0000

Rachel’s News

Hi everybody I hope you are well. Another epic weekend has just passed by. My Create Your Online Fitness Business Seminar in Birmingham was better than I ever could have imagined.

70 Instructors, Personal Trainers, Nutritionists, Pilates Instructors and Boot Camp owners all gathered together to learn how to take their fitness business from physical to digital.

The energy and atmosphere in the room could have supplied the National Grid for the next 12 months, it was THAT electric. It is really apparent now that the fitness landscape is changing so rapidly. During the last 10 years of which Choreography to go has been in existence, my goal has always been to inspire and motivate instructors on where I think the industry is going, and to be honest, working on your USP, your goals, Blogging, Vlogging, leveraging your time via social media, the Internet, mobile Technology and apps, in my opinion, needs to be a priority if you want to build an online business that is sustainable and successful.

Before the event I revisited my slides and notes from the last Business Builder workshop I held in November 2011 and immediately it occurred to me how much has changed in only 6 months.

I kicked off the day talking about social media, where we are headed and how as fitness instructors social media can help build your following, spread your message, promote your business and engage with customers and prospects and how you can even run parts of your business using Facebook groups and applications. Social media as a delivery platform is outstanding and very hot right now!

I went on to talk about my “Hot List. My Hot List is my predictions for forth coming trends within online, health fitness and well-being online market. This caused a real buzz amongst the delegates, as I threw into the group some pretty radical and innovative ideas. I truly believe that the online fitness market is moving so fast, and if you don’t jump on now and start making headway with your ideas, then someone else will beat you to it.

Many instructors talked about having a multitude of ideas and a myriad of directions in which they want to go, and this part of the day was filled with passion as everybody shared their inspiring ideas. And, there were some pretty cutting edge and unique ideas.

The fitness industry’s favourite accountant, Mr Andrew Crawford, took centre stage to talk about copyrighting, branding, and protecting your intellectual property. So relevant right now if you want to safeguard your work and ideas online. Andrew also discussed company registration and domain names for your new businesses; it was all so useful and helpful. I wrote a ton of notes on Andrew’s presentation, so big thanks to Mr Crawford for imparting this knowledge.

It was my turn again as I discussed online product development, marketing and branding, which is my current preferred topic to talk about and I can talk for England on that one! Next up was Katie Bulmer, who walked us though the setting up of her unique brand and franchise The Little Black Dress Club Workout. Ms Bulmer talked candidly about how she got the concept together, packaged it and has as of last night sold 20 licences.

It’s an amazing business model that this Sunderland lass has created and everyone was pretty spell bound by her achievements.

I’d like to thank everyone who came along, I’m still buzzing and excited by the whole event.

Small Group Training Update by Rachel

Last week’s newsletter clearly hit some UK nerves as I received a tremendous amount of feedback after it went out. Looks like a lot of you are planning on launching various variations of SGT so go for it; it’s going to be a major trend this summer.

Mobile www.c2go.mobi

As more and more people are using iphones, blackberrys and smart phones and all of the future predications point to mobile websites and apps as being the way ahead, I have created a dedicated Choreographytogo Mobile site where you can access your C2go videos on the move if you need a quick burst of inspiration. You will also be able to get onto KSFL workouts and information very soon as well.

At the moment we have loaded all of the newer videos and you will be able to view the complete catalogue over the coming months but I need a mass group test.

Can you go to your iphone or Blackberry and go to www.c2go.mobi and log in and if you have any of the newest 10 or so downloads please see if you can view them on your phone. It will only allow you to view the latest so any older ones currently won’t play. Please tweet me and let me have your feedback.

@RachelHolmes

KSFL2012 UPDATES

This week my biggest loser was in the Men Only KSFL. Presenter Steve Watson shed 13lbs following the plan religiously which is awesome! The 2 stone + group are all coming along nicely half way through the plan and the 14 day detoxes and KSFL Leaders groups all finished and between us a whopping 1529.8 inches and 1691 lbs. in total.

The next 14 day KSFL DETOX kicks off with me on Tuesday 8th May and you can sign up here http://www.choreographytogo.com/shop/ksfl-2012/

Fitness Pilates Health & Wellness Boutique Bootcamp

This is a new 7 day online pilot program including 7 new 15minute Fitness Pilates Workouts with me and an online vitality and health Kick Start Plan. It’s not a weight loss plan, but a healthy eating regime designed to give you maximum energy and vitality with 7 invigorating Fitness PIlates workouts.

If you are looking for new avenues to deliver your Fitness Pilates classes and unique content and class ideas, then this is something you may be interested in.

I’ve also included 7x 5 minute positivity coaching vlogs to really get your day off with a spring in your step. I’m really excited about this unique wellness and vitality approach to be included into Fitness Pilates. And I will evolve the program further to include mindset, wellness and healthy nutrition.

If this is something you would like to try with me on my first group can you email me as I will only be taking 20 Instructors on this initially. It would be great if you are FP trained but if you are interested in a more holistic, mind body and coaching style fitness come and give it a try.

Email me Rachel@CHoreographytogo.com or Tweet me @RachelHolmes

Online Videos and Downloads

The gremlin we found last week in the video systems is all fixed now so you should be able to log and watch all of your purchased videos.

Jayne Nicholls - Friends United

It has been a week of nostalgia as both Rachel and i have been trawling through our journey in the fitness industry to find pictures and events that have summed up our united relationship.

Here are my top 5 so far:

Our first tour for Fitness Professionals
Being made the first Nike Fitness Athletes
Creating Athletes in Action
Creating our business brands
Creating FP & FFY

i remember one of our Tours when we were Athletes in Action and we presented the news that lying on the floor doing leg lifts and donkey kicks was OVER. We presented the information, the facts and the new workouts. People actually screamed at us in protest on that tour, it got pretty heated, but hands up who does them now? We have moved mountains and I am not ashamed to celebrate it. For a while now we have been trying to create a workout that is simple and easy for every instructor to teach and that blends the best of Pilates and Yoga. After all this is how our individual brands began as a mixed class called Equilibrium. Now we have it, our new UNITE programme is everything and more than we had hoped.

Together we are presenting a 1 day launch in Derby on June 16th which will provide you with full content and business inspiration AND as it is our first event for a long time, we may have a few surprises

Make sure that you are 1 of the 50 people to take UNITE and move mountains with it.

Join us on june 16th – www.groupxtraining.com
J a y n e

Jayne Nicholls

07989 433 969

0208 488 1451

www.groupxtraining.com

Jayne and Rachel UNITE for the Fitness Pilates and Freestyle Fitness Yoga Unite Day in Derby on 16th June 2012

On Saturday 16th June 2012 Jayne and I will be running a brand new Fitness Pilates and Freestyle Fitness Yoga UNITE Day. We will be showcasing our new FP and FFY Unite class, Workshops on running FP and FFY as Small Group Training with our brand new SGT Templates, Meditation, Barefoot and Power sessions plus marketing, business and motivation. Explore our new FP & FFY outdoors session (weather permitting) and we will be giving away goody bags, freebies and hosting drinks and networking. The day will be a complete one off and held at Derby David Lloyd Club – The club is a 1 minute walk from Derby Train station which is on the midland main line and easy to get to from all areas.

FFY & FP Unite Event will represent a fresh, new era for the 2 programs as we both celebrate new developments and new directions.

As of yesterday we had 50 places but now down to 30 so check your train times and come and share a piece of the Mind/Body Future.

You can book here http://www.choreographytogo.com/unite-fp-ffy/

Have you completed one of the programs but not the other?

Perfect. If you have completed one of the programs but not the other this is your chance to take part, enjoy and trial the perfect, complimentary class partner for your business with the creators.

Check out the train times from your area today and come on a road trip to see us. A warm welcome will await you. The day will begin at 12 and run until 7 and put this date in your diary – Mind Body Fitness at its very best.

Sally Ghafoor – Writing an Ebook

Since Rachel’s Awesome seminar, I have so many people contacting me asking about writing ebooks that I decided to write an article for you al., I have decided to take up Andrew Crawford’s mantra of love more, give more ,help more so if you have any questions on anything I write on please do just contact me.

Thinking about an ebook will not get it written, a lot of people say that they have tons of ideas but when it comes to getting it down on paper they have pure writer’s block!!

What do people want to read? You might assume people will want to buy your book but are you sure? Assuming they will is a way to fail, ask them, send out surveys, ask in a blog post, use twitter and facebook. If you’re writing a book that people have interest in, you’re creating a buzz around it whilst writing it that will help sell it along with the fact you are delivering a book they have interest in!

The Title – Do you decide the title first or after? To be honest it doesn’t matter – some people once they have decided the title, it gets them focused on writing their book. So why not give that a try, jot down different titles then if one stands out see if the writing will flow. If not don’t panic, you can just as easily choose it afterwards. However your title is IMPORTANT It can mean the difference between selling a few and a lot, you need a title that catches your target market’s attention. Play around with different names; use a thesaurus to find different words for words that are not exciting

Answer your Question – Every time I write, I start by asking myself a question and answering it in the article. So maybe write a statement before starting out on the ebook. What problem are you going to be answering in your book, what purpose does it solve? How will it benefit the reader? Write about something your audience has a problem with that you can solve. Don’t try and do a book with everything including the kitchen sink, as you will go off track and bore the reader – plus by writing just a subject at a time will give you scope for more ebooks. After you have done all this then you can break this down into smaller objectives within paragraphs to get to the bigger objective in your book. Why not use a mind map? Make sure all your chapters fit together – how are you going to break it down? What is each chapter going to solve. So list your chapters then flesh it out! If you write or blog, why not when wri ting your chapters imagine you’re actually writing an article/blog for each chapter.

What’s your subject – Does it REALLY interest you? Are you passionate about it, if you are it will just roll off the page. My type of writing is completely how I would speak to you, be natural and read your content back, would it interest you or would you switch off, do you re read your paragraphs and think yes I want to read more I get what I am saying, if my content doesn’t flow its scrapped and started again.

Have you researched your subject? There is nothing worse than an un-researched book, remember people will read this and judge you on your book. They might buy the first book but if you are not well researched they will not buy from you again. So if you’re trying to promote yourself as an expert in your field, research become an expert, do not pretend as the public are very savvy they will know and will not buy from you again.

War and peace – So much I see on social media,” I have written a 300 page ebook on how to bore your readers” – it’s about content and quality not how much drivel there is on masses of pages, if you can say it one paragraph why write a chapter about it. Keep your audience engaged.

Would you read your book – Would you? If not scrap it start again.

Remember the three D’s – DO IT, DO IT, DO IT

Want more info go to www.sallyghafoor.com there is a ebook and webinar on writing your ebook

The KISS of life! By Jill Gardner, The Fat Controller

Are we missing a trick by trying to be too clever? Have we forgotten how much some people don’t know about health and nutrition? Are we inadvertently scaring off a huge and potential audience?

I was recently very lucky to be taken on a cruise ship holiday. It was my first time on an all inclusive holiday and I was a bit apprehensive about managing my clean diet onboard a floating palace. I had no idea what to expect.

However nothing could have prepared me for the incredible eye opening journey I had for the 11 days I was on board one of the biggest cruise ships in the world!

As well as a high tech gym and the outdoor running track on the top deck (some 14 floors up) there were over 10 different places to eat. Food was available 24 hours a day. And I was elated to discover sugar free menu options for drinks and foods.

Was this luxury cruise provider ahead of the game? Or was there a much more sinister reason for this apparent nod in direction of healthier menu choices?

It didn’t take many hours before I clocked that over 75% of the 4,000 guests (mostly British) on-board where either overweight or obese. Both grown adults, the elderly and more worryingly children. (apparently the American ships are worse!!)

Of course!!! That’s why they had sugar free options! The ship HAD to cater for all the guests and many of them had already got type II diabetes! The sugar free options were for the growing number of diabetics who travel on cruise ships! The horror was unfolding!

I observed their exercise habits – queues formed for the elevators while the stairs remained empty. The gym was full! Full of slim people! There were a huge number of wheel chairs and electric mobility scooters ferrying overweight passengers.

I observed their eating and drinking habits – plates piled high with beige dead food, bread, rice, potatoes, pasta. Barely any of it fresh or green despite the huge variety of salads and vegetables available. Breakfasts of refined, depleted cereals, bread products, cakes, pastries and sweet things. Lunches of burgers and chips, a la carte dinners of many courses all accompanied by mountains of white bread. There was a continual drip feed of squash, fruit juices, fizzy soda, sweet coffees and cocktails and alcohol – 24 hours a day! Not a water fountain in sight!

Having studied and practiced fitness and fat loss for over 10 years I feel I am in a place where I can call myself an expert. I pride myself for reading the latest scientific literature and books. But it dawned on me! I had become smug! I could say no to the bread basket because I understood the slippery slope to muffin-top kingdom. I understand that refined carbs and sugar can be as addictive as drugs

My message is this. We can devise brilliant and complex fat loss programs that detoxify the body, burn fat in short amounts of time and restore hormonal balance with a complex range of supplements and protocols. But often we are marketing to an existing audience that are already savvy about nutrition and come to our classes.

What about the ones that are slowly unwittingly killing themselves because they don’t have a grasp of the basics. Or the ones that believe most diets are too extreme – after all everything in balance right? But they no longer understand what balance means anymore.

Do they need to know about detoxification pathways, Apoptosis or heavy metal poisoning and chelation therapy yet? Or do they just need simple, easy steps – such as drinking more water or increasing their vegetable intake. Have we have lost sight of the big rocks and instead focusing on the minutiae and on being ‘experts’!

For a growing number of the population, the Keep It Simple Stupid approach will bring about unprecedented health benefits. Whilst wholemeal bread may not be ideal, for some it’s a big step away from their love affair with white bread.

KISS is enough to inspire a great many to take a journey where they WANT to learn more and become empowered. We are in a place where we can save lives and feed them the basics instead of them feeding themselves to death.

What do you think? Hook up with me on Facebook and let me know!

Big love, small tummies,

Jill x

Five Things I’d Do Differently If I Opened A Studio Again by Helen Ttofa!

It’s been four weeks since I closed my very busy and very profitable studio, and

I haven’t looked back once! Most of you are probably scratching your head

wondering why I would shut the door on a business that was making money,

well the honest truth is I just wasn’t happy. I felt drained, uninspired and lacking

the motivation to continue teaching night after night and I wanted to spend more

time with my family and working on projects that light my fire!

I know there are a lot of Rachel’s followers that would love to open their own

studio so I’ve put together my top five tips for things I would do differently if I

had to do it all again. Hopefully, you guys will find some of this information

valuable when thinking about your own ventures.

These are in no particular order; I’ve simply written them as they have popped

into my head.

1. Have a plan.

Yes that’s right I opened the doors without first thinking about any sort of long term

business plans, marketing strategies, and financial figures to steer me in the right

direction. It was literally, open the doors and they will come… luckily they did. But if I

had my time again I would firstly write a business plan for at least the first three months

of trading, and revisit my plan in the second quarter to make any changes. Not having

a road map of where I wanted to go left me rummaging in the darkness for ideas and

inspiration on a daily basis, which is extremely draining.

2. Employ Staff From Day One.

I tried to do everything myself, not only was I completely shattered but when I did finally

bring other instructors into my studio it completely changed the dynamic and experience

that I had worked so hard to create over the previous eight months. Regular clients that

only wanted to do my sessions began to drop off as they didn’t want to train with anyone

else and the newer clientele that followed the new instructors into my studio weren’t

‘my ideal client’ and it really had an effect on the atmosphere. By employing your staff from

day one you eliminate the ‘but we want you!’ syndrome and it also allows you time to

concentrate on the business side of your studio and not the class creation.

3. Have Two Mobiles.

Never ever ever ever give your personal telephone number to any of your clients. Have one

phone for business and one for personal calls. Turn your business phone off at the same time you

close your studio doors. Otherwise you will have the same issues I had i.e. a call at 2am on

a Saturday night from a distraught woman asking you to talk her down from a midnight feast!

You are not on call so don’t get dragged into that sort of situation. Most businesses have

hours of work where you can contact the offices, fitness shouldn’t be any different.

4. Don’t Try And Please Everyone.

My biggest flaw was trying to please everyone all of the time. Trust me I learnt the hard way that

it is impossible. Most people that walk through your studio doors will absolutely love what you

do. Some won’t. I used to lie awake at night wondering what I had done wrong and worry

about why certain people had not come back or had dropped off. That’s the fitness business,

people will come and go. Also don’t try to please everyone with your timetable. I had a group

of women that had followed me from a gym chain that begged and begged for me to put on

a step class. So I bought twenty steps for the studio and only ever got three people attend

the class. Do what YOU think is right, not what you are bullied into thinking is right!

5. Direct Debits/Standing Orders From The Get Go.

Get every single person that walks through the door on either direct debit or standing order

for your memberships. Don’t sell memberships as a cash option, only do PAYG classes

as cash options. If I had a pound for every time someone forgot to bring their purses

when their memberships were due for renewal then I would be a very rich woman!

Don’t be afraid to ask for your money, I used to shy away from chasing people for their

membership money because I didn’t want to embarrass them, but at the end of the day

they are paying you for a service and you deserve to be paid on time. People don’t go and

get their haircut then tell the hairdresser that they will pay them next time so don’t let them

do it to you. Get them signed up on a DD or standing order so you don’t have to put yourself

in that awkward position of having to remind them to pay. You’ll also be able to plan your

finances better if you know what you have coming in and going out.

Guys, there are literally a hundred things I would do differently if I ever opened a studio

again but hopefully my top five tips have given you food for thought if you are in the process

of opening your doors.

If you are about to open your own studio and you need any advice from someone that has

been there and bought the t-shirt then do drop me a line at mail@nogymrequired.co.uk

and I’ll help out wherever possible.

Owning a studio can be a massively rewarding, both personally and financially, but there

are pitfalls along the way to be avoided.

Hope that helped, H x

Helen Ttofa

www.nogymrequired.co.uk

www.relentlessfitness.co.uk

The Essential Ingredients by Katie Bulmer

Hi C2Goer’s,

Following on from Rachel’s Small Group Personal Training piece in last week’s newsletter, I had a lot of people asking me how my SGT model, The Little Black Dress Club, works. As Rachel highlighted SGT is going to be huge in the industry in the coming year. I’ve been delivering it for around 18 months now and I can honestly say I love it!

It’s a combination of everything I love…PT, group classes and getting people great results!

So what are the essential ingredients for a successful SGT model?

Here are my top 7:

A sound nutrition system that has been tried, tested and delivers great results
An easy to follow workout plan. You don’t have to use equipment, and if clients are going to be training at home its best to keep it simple and cost effective
A jam packed manual that covers all aspects of nutrition, exercise, goal setting and tools to help your clients stay on track
A niche. Decide who exactly you want to work with, for example I only work with really busy women
A way to measure your client’s success, e.g. skin fold callipers, tape measure, pictures
A clear plan of exactly what happens at each session, e.g. week one- intro, stats, Q&A, week two- workout, week 3- stats and workout. Also decide on the duration of the sessions and entire program
Have a plan for client retention, post your last week SGT. Have something to offer your clients to help them stay on track- this could be on or offline

If you would like to know more about my SGT model and become a LBDC Elite Trainer, having exclusivity in your area, tweet me using the #lbdc @katiebulmer1

Have a smashing day and here’s to your success as a SGT trainer!

KBC x

Confidence……..booster or destroyer? by Cori Withell

Why are we so afraid?

Having spoken to many, many fitpros over the last few months I have been blown away but the lack of self-confidence in the industry. Our fear of what our peers may think is physically holding us back.

But WHY???????

We decide we want to work in this industry, we go and study our course, we do our exams, are practical assessments, our case studies, we pass (maybe not the first time, but we pass or we decide a different career choice!)

What stops us believing that our knowledge is any less than that of any of our peers or any other health care professional for that matter? Why are we SO worried what other people think anyway? Why is our self confidence and self esteem at an all time low? Why do we always think that other people know better, that their products will be better than our own?

Why do we LET this attitude hold us back?

I know of several of my fellow fitpros that are not launching their product through self confidence. For fear of what their peers may think to their product. Why does it matter? It is YOUR product – tailored to YOUR niche and created by YOU.

What does it matter is someone does not like your product. Their dislike of your product is not going to stop your product selling to your niche. You have done your research, you have done all the leg work, why wouldn’t it sell? If you really think it won’t sell then work out why, decide whether you want to launch it anyway and then tweak it at a later date if you need to.

I have only recently discovered what I really believe I am here to do and lots of people may think I am talking rubbish or think I am on so weird career tangent

BUT

It feels completely right for me, I am doing what I love and quite frankly I don’t care what other people think, fitpros or Joe public. I have spent the time studying and researching and continue to do so. I am lucky enough to be doing what I love and earning money and the best bit is having a really positive aspect on someone else’s life – that is the best feeling in the world as far as I am concerned.

So, have a little bit of self belief, go with your heart. If you create something that people criticise, let them. It isn’t worth your energy worrying about it. Your sales will tell you if you have got it right or not. Oh and by the way, if it doesn’t sell, it IS NOT a failure; you have just learned what doesn’t work so that next time your odds are getting it right are even better

Lack of self confidence can be so totally debilitating and people who don’t suffer with it probably find it a really difficult concept to grasp BUT it can completely stop you living you life the way you want to through FEAR. Even worse, the longer you leave it the worse this fear gets as it mentally ‘grows’ in your head. What started as a fairly small irrational fear of other opinion of failure ‘grows’ into this huge fear that you genuinely believe you cannot overcome.

So, remember that you are allowed to be you, utterly and completely. No one else, ever has the right to affect how you feel about you

BUT and this is crucial

What others think about you is up to you but how YOU respond to it is totally and utterly your decision.

This isn’t easy to change if for years you have let the opinion of others affect how you feel about you but it can make a huge change to how you feel.

Tell yourself every day how wonderful you are and how powerful you are in your own life. You can take your life and your business to any and every level that you want to.

Health and happiness x

Cori x

You can also follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/CWFitness and you can follow my blog on www.cwfitness.co.uk/blog

Foul….That’s a Penalty….!!!

by Andrew Crawford

Firstly, I must apologise to Martin Chidgey I inadvertently spelt his name wrong…I hope he didn’t take offence…Sorry..!!

This morning, as a relaxed in my hot radox bubble bath…I heard ‘banging’ on the window as the rain fell freely from the sky.

The weather report for today was….

Unsettled with showers or longer spells of rain.

“…….Rain should push into northern UK overnight, stalling over north eastern UK to reinforce persistent rain and hill snow here. More showery further south, with showers merging in places to longer spells of rain. Windy in both northern and south eastern UK…….”"

If you remember my article a couple of weeks ago, I posed the question…….

Is there really a water shortage?

My 2 questions for you are these;

Where does water (rain) come from?
How much of this planet is covered in water?

“…The Environment Agency has issued seven flood warnings in south-west England, a region currently in drought.

But despite the heavy rain water companies have said it won’t change the fact that certain parts of the country remain in drought…”

Things that make you go…..hmm.!!

Also….Can someone tell me that why in this era of overweight kids and obese parents, unhealthy eating, no dieting fast food fanatics that they have built a Macki D’s …the BIGGEST ever…at the Olympics Stadium??!!

Good gracious me………!!!

These Olympic Athletes, the best in the world, have spent most of their lives honing their skills, talents, and speed…..by eating healthy, exercising regularly, drinking cleanly, consuming organically, noshing on prime meat, exercising daily, sleeping soundly, stretching safely, practicing religiously, competing competitively & entertaining respecfully…..

Why in the world would organisers think that during their ‘days off’ from their World class races that people like Usain Bolt would dash across from their comfortable Olympic Village and order a soggy big Mac horse burger and a large bag of greasy over cooked fries with coke (the drinking kind…)….to go…..!!

There should be a penalty for serving up sub standard foul food.

I prefer Kentucky fried chicken …..or at least I DID…until I discovered……………………KSFL..!!

Fried chicken??……That tastes fowl…lol

Yes folks…Round 2 is in effect for me.. Rachel Holmes is putting a bunch of us through our paces including lots of people I know…I’m not telling you who they are here. You will recognise them as they sport an old frock they used to wear years ago…or see them squeeze into stretch jeans…..lol

I lost 4 lbs in the first week, (total nearly 2 stones) now counting down 4 days to Sunday…can’t weight…..ha ha ha….excuse the pun …’til weigh day to see all my efforts in lost fat, weight and inches, whilst proudly standing on the scales!!

So Andrew…..

What the. …has rain drops on your window whilst you were soaking in a radox bath, Mackie D’s at the Olympics and Usain Bolt ordering a big mac horse burger special got to do with Accountancy & Finance?

Well….

This week and especially last week, people have been receiving letters from HMRC imposing penalties for falling foul of paragraph 3 of Schedule 55 to the Finance Act 2009.

In other words…their Tax Returns were not sent in on time.

In addition to the above there were letters received which imposed other penalties under paragraph 3(2) of Schedule 56 to the Finance Act 2009

In other words….they didn’t pay all the tax liability due and were therefore charged 5% of the total unpaid tax as an additional penalty.

Whatever happens…please don’t let the HMRC determine anything regarding your tax payments.

Why?

They ‘determine’ a figure which has no substance and you will have no recourse, even if you submit ‘actual’ figures.

Amazing…but true..!!

The Budget Payment Plan

If you can’t pay, they have introduced a Budget Payment Plan.

Unfortunately, this is only available to people whose tax payments are up to date but assuming it is, you can pay, from your hard earned pounds, into the coffers of the safe HMRC.

You can pay weekly or monthly and can change amounts whenever you want. This plan is very flexible.

I use this kind of payment system/method to save for my Xmas activities….did I mention that word?? Yes.

I currently set aside, in the ‘Commercial Bank of Crawford’, between £150 – £200 a month for December. This is so that I can have cash to buy food & pressies…….I don’t use credit cards…!!

Why?

Well I remember in my care free youth..January to March were lean months when I was ‘paying back’ the money I ‘borrowed’ for that week (25^th December – 1^st January)….It was a foul period and I paid the penalty for using credit. It’s CASH now..!!

It may remind you if I showed you again the penalties that are in force at present and believe me…..they are enforcing this…!!!

1 day late

A fixed penalty of £100. This applies even if you have no tax to pay or have paid the tax you owe.

3 months late

£10 for each following day – up to a 90 day maximum of £900. This is as well as the fixed penalty above.

6 months late

£300 or 5% of the tax due, whichever is the higher. This is as well as the penalties above.

12 months late

£300 or 5% of the tax due, whichever is the higher.

In serious cases you may be asked to pay up to 100% of the tax due instead. These are as well as the penalties above.

Having a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline

You won’t have to pay a penalty if you have a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline.

documents lost through theft, fire or flood that you can’t replace in time
life-threatening illness, for example a heart attack that prevents you dealing with your tax affairs
death of a partner shortly before the deadline
industrial action by Royal Mail over a lengthy period of time
issues with the online service, with no work-round – you’ll need to provide the error message you received

Finally, when everyone, including the Doctors at Imperial College London was surprised at how Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees had overcome ”incredible odds” to wake up from the coma…… all I can say to the ‘hand’ that healed Robin and opened his eyes to the world again is……………

……………How deep is your love?

Visit our website at: www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com for more FREE resources and articles.

‘Like’ our page at: www.facebook.com/fitnessindustryaccountants

Andrew Crawford can be contacted on twitter @tax4fitness or info@fitnessindustryaccountants.com

Wow, what a week!

By Claire Mockridge

Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Hi there everyone,

Wow! What a week. What a weekend. And, wow what lovely birthday I had yesterday! Isn’t Social Media fantastic when it’s your birthday? It makes you feel like the Queen, eh? I received so many tweets on Twitter, and posts on my Facebook timeline that my poor Blackberry nearly exploded. Poor thing. Thank you everyone who sent me best wishes via this platform. I was truly touched.

So, what have you been up to? For those of you who came to Rachel’s Online Fitness Builder Workshop on Saturday, no doubt you’re still buzzing and came away full of ideas. It was amazing, wasn’t it? If you missed out on a space at the seminar, try not to let it get you down. Why not feed off the buzz that it’s created instead? It’s really quite infectious. Anyone can create an online product. I firmly believe that.

What have I been up to? Well, I’ve been busy getting ready for own my Pre/Postnatal Exercise and Marketing Workshop on 19-20 May 2012 in Derby, and of course thinking more about my online fitness business. Without me realising, I already have a fairly successful passive income stream, as I have Pre/Postnatal Fitness DVDs and other online products for sale. I’ll be honest with you though, nothing beats the feeling of making money whilst you sleep. I think there’s potential for every FitPro out there to have an online income stream similar to mine, and I’ll be covering this topic in more detail at my Workshop, but I’ll obviously be “niching it up” and making it more specific to pre/postnatal.

If you’ve done your Level 3 Ante/Postnatal qualification, or are studying it now, I have very limited Workshop spaces available, and I’d hate for you to miss out on this live, one-off Event. You know yourself that the Level 3 Ante/Postnatal qualification itself is fairly basic. It’s heavy on theory and pretty light on the practical stuff. I have over 4 hours worth of exercise content planned for pre and postnatal for my Exercise and Marketing Workshop, so you’ll walk away with endless ideas on keeping the content of your pre/postnatal sessions fresh, and more importantly, I’ll be giving you the confidence to try out new exercises with your clients from someone who’s been there and done it.

So, if you’ve done your Level 3 Ante/Postnatal, or currently studying it, here are the details:

Pre/Postnatal Exercise and Marketing “Bridging the Gap” Workshop ~ 19-20 May 2012 at David Lloyd in Derby. It’s not just pre/postnatal exercise content you’ll learn here, it’s also the marketing and business acumen skills required to find, retain and build rapport with pre/postnatal clients. For more details of this Event, see: www.clairemockridge.com/instructors

Or, connect with me here:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/clairemockridge1

Twitter: www.twitter.com/clairemockridge

Blog: http://clairemockridge.wordpress.com/

Bye for now.

Claire Mockridge

Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Have a wonderful Thursday

Love Rachel xx

26 April 2012 Instructor Newsletter

RachelLHolmes — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:27:50 +0000

You will probably think I’ crazy but I’m still buzzing from Fitpro, feeling very inspired and have a definite fitness road map, which I hope to share with you in this newsletter. Firstly, a huge congratulations to a friend of C2GO, one of my original mentoring Instructors and newsletter contributor, Alice Ramcharran, who finally gave birth to Baby Roshan yesterday. Congratulations to Alice.

On Saturday 16th June 2012 Jayne and I will be running a brand new Fitness Pilates and Freestyle Fitness Yoga UNITE Day. We will be showcasing our new FP and FFY Unite class, Workshops on running FP and FFY as Small Group Training with our brand new SGT Templates, Meditation, Barefoot and Power sessions, plus marketing, business and motivation. There will be outdoor sessions (weather permitting) and we will be giving away goody bags and freebies and hosting drinks and networking. Check out all the information below and tweet Jayne or I and let us know if you are interested.

In this week’s edition you will find an article on Small Group Training from me and contributions from Claire, Marv, Jayne and Laura Armada-Bunch, so another up to the minute and action packed edition.

Kick Start Fat Loss Updates.

Last week I started 3 new trial KSFL plans aimed at people with different goals and requirements. The KSFL 2 Stone + which targets those with 2 or more stones to lose with a new, unique diet plan and specialists metabolic workouts; my 14 day Detox for Fitpros and the Men Only KSFL for guys wanting to build more muscle as well as lose body fat. The interest in all 3 groups has been unbelievable and the 7 day results have been the best so far, totally incredible. Every time I run the plan I tweak the training, the mind set vlogs and, of course, the diets, coupled with coaching and support from myself. KFSL is going from strength to strength. I’ve now developed a 3 month KSFL Fat Loss, Confidence and Lifestyle Club which includes working on mindset, energy, confidence and self-esteem issues as well as new detoxes, diets, maintenance and my signature 10minute home workouts. The club launches on Sunday and includes a new Beat the Bloat Program and I’ve filmed a new series of 10 minutes workouts aimed at increasing muscle mass and definition.

Im now looking for a group of 20 people to trial my specialist 55 + 14 Day Trial Starting on Monday, I’ve tweaked the plan and the workouts again, to suit this age group and would love to get your feedback.. If you are send me a Facbook message and Ill email you the details later today.

Exciting times for KSFL

Feedback – As always I LOVE LOVE LOVE Your feedback so please Tweet me @RachelHolmes, or pop over to the Facebook page http://www.Facebook.com/Choreographytogo and let me know your news and views.

Music – For all you Fitness Pilates bunnies my new Mind Body 19 available on Pure Energy Digital is getting some great reviews – Here’s a blog post about it and all the luscious tracks it features http://blog.pureenergydigital.com/

Small Group Training (SGT)

Is a small group of fitness training for you? Rachel Holmes

After last week’s Fitness Professionals Convention I wrote about the emergence of the Hybrid Instructor and Small Group Training.

But what is SGT and how can you implement this service into your business? Is this pioneering style of training right for you and do you already have a potential market?

With the huge class numbers we are witnessing in Zumba and the dance style modalities SGT is particularly relevant to customers wanting to attain specific, measurable results.

Therefore SGT is the perfect bridge between expensive, high end personal training and larger, less personal group sessions.

SGT to is a great option for customers who want to enjoy personalised attention, working directly but spending slightly less money per session with a PT.

You get the camaraderie, fun and dynamics of a group session but with more of an individualised and personal service.

SGT classes can be offered in a variety of formats including Fitness Pilates, Freestyle Fitness Yoga, Conditioning, Boot Camps, FatLoss and Weight Management and Results Based Training Courses.

What does SGT Entail?

SGT classes generally have between 4 to 8 participants under the coaching of one Instructor. Each group has a specific goal and end result as opposed to general fitness and general conditioning. Also, included in the price of training is a personalised tailored exercise program and pre-training consultation, as if the customer was working one on one with the PT. Of course, during workouts the attention of the trainer will be divided amongst all the participants

How to Market SGT

Once you have decided that you would like to offer SGT to your business repertoire, decide where you will be training your groups. This can be inside or outside, Client’s Home, or are you going to rent space,

What equipment do you need?

As you only have a small number participating in this session you are able to explore some of the more exciting pieces of equipment that are available today.

TRX

Viper

Medicine Balls

Sand Bags

Bulgarian Bags

Weighted Balls etc

This can really spice up your sessions and help the groups enjoy new ways of training. It also gives you a chance to create new workouts and training.

SGT – Fitness Pilates (SGTFP) is huge part of an increasing number of Instructors businesses.

Sharon Phillips has been running SGT Fitness Pilates and Freestyle Fitness Yoga for the last 12 months

”I have been working with 6 participants in my FP SGT sessions, they block book and attend weekly sessions of a 10 week plan. Every 5 weeks I do a consultation, review and we set new goals and targets for the next 5 sessions. This keeps us all on track and accountable.

I also offer FFY – SGT session run on the same basis. It has proved hugely popular. I narrowed down my niche and charge accordingly as there is no one in my area offering this service” Says Sharon

Sharon rents a small room in a busy hairdressers and beauty salon on the local high street of the town she lives.

”The Salon owner used to attend my Fitness Pilates classes when I ran them from the local school but I was getting fed up with the school hire fees continually going up, the room being cold in winter and the school canceling at short notice for exams etc. She owns her own salon and the floor above the shop was empty”

Now she only teaches SGT in the daytimes and Saturday morning. I also run SGT FP & FFY for Pre and Post Natal and Older Adults. This business model perfectly suits Sharon and she is extremely successful.

”It’s a small business, I don’t have any staff and the overheads are fairly low. I styled the room into a calm and tranquil place that is light and airy, I have a small changing area and bathroom but no showers but the income I generate is a good living and I’m extremely happy with how things have gone”

Between the salon and I we run ladies evenings, confidence and image booster nights and clients generally come to both businesses for Hair, Beauty and Wellness. It’s the perfect mix.

Many SGT Instructors run session at customer’s homes and utlise the outdoors, weather permitting. You can be as flexible and creative as you want to and offer various packages for your market.

If you teach Group X you already have a customer base that may be interested in your SGT Packages. Why not ask or write an article for your newsletter and see if there is call for this within your existing client base.

If you are a PT and would like to begin to teach groups SGT is the perfect bridge. Consider offering:

SG Kettle bell

SG Viper

SG Bootcamps

Consultation

Ensure you include a consultation with each member of your SG.

This could be online, offline or even a telephone or skype consultation, you don’t have to do it with the person in front of you to maximise your time.

Prepare a Par Q, Targets and Goals, talk to the group and agree together what the goals and outcomes of the sessions and blocks will be.

This will really distinguish your SG from larger Group X classes and show it is a very different service.

I’d love to hear your view on SGT and if you teach SGT already please get in touch.

Tweet me @RachelHolmes or Facebook me http://www.Facebook.com/RachelLHolmes

Jayne and Rachel will be including a new SGT workshop on 16th June for FP & FFY

Create your On Line Fitness Business Seminar – This Saturday at the NEC with Rachel Holmes and Andrew Crawford.

It’s here already, the seminar I’ve been so looking forward to presenting. 2012 is all about moving from physical to digital and starting to make inroads on taking your fitness business online. I’ll be covering all the nuts and bolts of how to do it and over 70 Fitpros have now signed up for my day. Andrew Crawford will also be speaking at the event on Branding, Trademarking, Copyrighting and Business advice. If you do want to grab a last minute spot here are the details http://www.choreographytogo.com/workshop-booking/create-your-online-fitness-business-seminar-with-rachel-holmes/

New Day in Derby with Jayne and Rachel – Hold Saturday 16th June 2012 – Freestyle Fitness Yoga and Fitness Pilates UNITE

FFY & FP Unite Event will represent a fresh, new era for the 2 programs as we both celebrate new developments and new directions.

Have you completed one of the programs but not the other?

Perfect. If you have completed one of the programs but not the other this is your chance to take part, enjoy and trial the perfect, complimentary class partner for your business with the creators.

Check out the train times from your area today and come on a road trip to see us, a warm welcome will await you, the day will begin at 12 and run until 7 and put this date in your diary – Mind Body Fitness at its very best.

Are you doing the Obvious Branding?

At the Fitpro convention last week I was amazed at how few Instructors were knocking around in their own branded clothing. Now, Fitpro is a fantastic opportunity to get you and your brand out there at a high profile fitness event, so it always amazes me how few people are proudly sporting their logoed gear. Apart from the effervescent Girls Love Fit I didn’t see may others promoting their business and services.

You can always spot the GLF girls as they sport their cool hoodys, tops and jackets and so, of course, when the GLF Tweet me or Facebook me I know exactly who they are.

Are you MISSING the obvious branding trick?

Take a leaf out of the Girls Love Fit book and get your clothes logoed and on display. It’s the cheapest and best way to get people talking about you, your brand and services.

1. Work hard on your personal branding, design a logo based around your name, brand your clothing, email signatures and website, it gives a polished professional look.
2. Work on developing your list of people that follow you – as Seth Godin says ‘build your tribe’
3. Write a white paper, manifesto or special report that positions you as an expert.
4.. Re-label yourself as an expert or coach rather than an instructorTrain (one on one and SGT), Coach (online – webinars), mentor and coach clients, speak, write, expand your mode of how you work so you can earn more money and expand your business.

New Downloads

HIIT Aerobics 1 with Rachel

Code: HIIT1
	HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training and I deliver this RH style. 5 x 1 minute choreography blocks intervaled with 20 seconds of Super High Plyometric Moves. I’ve been teaching a full HiLo class like this or you could teach it in the midst of your cardio, however you like to include it. The choreography blocks are super basic and simple. Click here to view the new download
	2 Tokens	Length: 9 mins
	£ 3.99	Size: 56.0 MB

Jayne Nicholls

This week I wanted to talk about class numbers and what they represent. As our industry propels into a realm of business and opportunity, it is sometimes hard to reflect upon the fact that at the end of the day we teach classes and our root income is in the face to face business of teaching fitness and all of the many things it embraces. As we conform more and more to a business model that suits the style of class that we teach, are we losing sight of exactly who we teach and why?

I am not sure about you but I do not run one type of class. I run a timetable of classes, some that cross over and some that are opposite ends of the spectrum. If you ask me to teach Hot Yoga I do it, if you ask me to cover step I am in, if you asked me to cover duck stuffing in the Thames I would give it a bash as the format for teaching is similar and the content, that is specific to the style is well within my grasp.

While I will always and automatically do a head count in every class, I long ago stopped considering both my work and myself a success based upon numbers. Once we are happy with what we do and how we do it, it is simply a case of servicing the demand from the people we target. If the society will take a large group class then I timetable it, if there is little demand then I market a small group and if not then it is 1 to 1 training for the few people that require my skill.

15 people per class 3 times a week is good numbers but it is not a business model. Nothing wrong with teaching classes to decent numbers, nothing at all, it’s what we do and 15 people pulls in a good wage.

What do you think?

Katie Bulmer Cook Updates

Shy Bairns Get Nowt

It’s a little bit scary getting out of our comfort zones…but it’s so worth it.

I got out of mine last week, and as a result, got an amazing opportunity!

I, like I’m sure many of you have, have been glued to this years The Biggest Loser show on ITV1, waiting to see who had lost the most, who would push themselves the most in training, and of course who would eventually win.

It’s fair to say I’m a huge fan of the show, and this year even more so as two of the contestants, Kevin and Amy Mac are from my hometown. Kevin was the eventual winner-losing a staggering 40% of his body weight, and from then I began to follow him on Twitter. His tweets were always positive and motivational and I thought… ‘I’d love to meet this guy!’ So I tweeted him, he followed me back and then I bit the bullet and asked ‘would you like to do a Skype interview’! He replied saying it would be great to meet in person and on Monday we did!

He’s s super nice guy, and has an amazing attitude and positivity.

Here is the link to the video interview: http://youtu.be/Gj0xcC-p5pc

So, the moral of the story- like the title says- ‘Shy Bairns Get Nowt’ as we say in Sunderland, aka ‘Shy Kids Get Nothing’- if you don’t ask you don’t get!

So why not do something today that gets you out of your comfort zone. I did and I got to meet someone I never thought I’d get the opportunity to.

Sometimes to get the ball rolling, you just gotta give it a push!

I hope you enjoy the interview.

Before I started Rachel’s mentoring program, things were ticking over nicely but I had this big idea I didn’t know where to start with. I was running The Little Black Dress Club (small group PT) in my hometown of Sunderland, and the results my clients were getting were magical and I wanted to take the concept nationwide, to help even more frustrated women regain their bodies and their health.

That’s where Rachel came in. Not only did she advise me on how to make his happen, she made me be accountable. She made sure I didn’t procrastinate and that every week I was making big steps towards my goal. Her support and knowledge is second to none!

So, 6 months on, what’s happened?

Well, things are going amazing! The Little Black Dress Club is now in 15 towns and cities across the UK, from Northern Scotland all the way down to Essex! The LBDC Elite Trainers that work with me are amongst some of the most positive people I have ever met- it’s a real family!

Not only that but I’ve also filmed my second fitness DVD and sold over 200 copies, as well as winning IFS UK Personal Trainer of the Year 2012!

My hard work and Rachel’s support has really paid off!

So what’s next?

I’m planning to open a further 5 LBDC locations this year, and I’m looking for instructors in join my Elite Trainer team.

I’m filming my next DVD at the end of the year.

I’m going to start presenting again, and have been sponsored by a fantastic fitness music company (details will be out soon)

I’ve also been nominated and shortlisted to the final 6, for the FIA Flame Awards- fingers crossed!

A big thanks to Rachel for all her help and support!

Please follow me on Twitter @katiebulmer1 and remember It’s cool to be YOU!

What’s trendy these days for pregnant and postnatal women?

By Claire Mockridge

Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Hi there C2Goers,

I hope you’ve had a great week so far. Today I’ll be talking about fitness trends. I’ll be fine-tuning my article and making it specific to pregnancy and postnatal, so I hope it makes good reading.

I’ll start by listing the types of sessions I offer on my timetable: Buggy Fitness, Postnatal Pilates, Pregnancy Fitness, Pregnancy Pilates, Personal Training or Small Group PT.

Now I’m going to ask you: “Which pre/postnatal session/service do you think is the most popular on my timetable?” My answer: Pregnancy Pilates. Why? Well, I think it’s because pregnant women want a safe and effective workout and they view “Pilates” as the best and safest form of exercise for their bodies, and I can’t really argue with this analysis.

The vast majority of clients who join my Pregnancy Pilates classes are new to me, new to Pilates and in some cases new to exercise. I’ve really got my work cut out for me during these classes – trust me! Realistically though, Pregnancy Pilates is probably safer for these individuals listed, particularly if they’ve done little or no cardiovascular/structured exercise up to this point, and because I have years of experience dealing with pregnant women, I’m happy to train them in this setting.

Regarding getting trained to teach pregnant and postnatal women, with the exception of a few brilliant UK Ante/Postnatal Trainers, the standard of the basic Level 3 Ante/Postnatal qualification here is fairly poor, and I’m going to stick my neck out a bit here and say, I think the UK’s a bit behind when it comes to its approach on exercising pregnant and postnatal women.

If you decided to work with a niche client group yourself, and you did your basic qualification, set up your first session or were slightly terrified at the prospect, you’ll know what I mean. I firmly believe, it’s only once you’re out in the field, working with your chosen client group that you find out what works, what doesn’t and what feels “right” for you. I’ve done oodles of pre/postnatal training courses, and I tend to adopt a “pick n mix” attitude when it comes to what practical exercises I take away with me. Just because a Trainer tells you something’s ok to do, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to teach it, and I think that’s the lesson to learn when teaching pre/postnatal women. Exercise shouldn’t be “trendy” for this client group in my expert opinion, pardon the pun.

Exercises come in and out of fashion for pre/postnatal clients (we no longer prescribe sit ups for postnatal women, for example), techniques get termed safe or unsafe (the jury’s still out on this abdominal-splinting thing, for example), and how many of us use the word “functional” nowadays (should postnatal women with abdominal separation adopt a truly functional approach to their training, for example)?

I’m not sure the majority of my clients (regardless of whether their pregnant or not) know what “functional” actually means, but I certainly take this approach when training them. I work my clients pelvic floor muscles in a functional manner, for example. Ok, there’s still a place for “Kegels” and pelvic floor activation, but, if it’s more effective to work their pelvic floor in the upward phase of a squat, than it is when they’re seated statically on a chair, I’m going for the former. Kinda makes sense, doesn’t it? You work lots of different muscle groups in a squat, and if you get them to activate their pelvic floor too, then that’s an absolute bonus in my eyes.

I’ll let you into a little secret here, to be honest, my Pregnancy Pilates classes (the most popular class on my timetable remember) aren’t really “classical” Pilates. Shock horror! I’ve been wrongly marketing them all this time! No, but seriously, I actually do a lot of standing Pilates work in all of my classes, and to be fair, I’d go a bit spare if I couldn’t slip in the odd body conditioning exercise into the lesson plan, modifying it to the client group accordingly. Again, this is what I do to benefit my clients, and I think that’s what you need to do when you teach a niche client group, yet want to keep things fresh. Modify, adapt, offer progressions, yet don’t lose sight of who’s in front of you, and how receptive they are to trying new things. Some clients groups don’t like being your guinea pigs, and I think you’d agree that experimenting too much with the wrong client gr oup could be dangerous.

So, to summarise, when it comes to fitness trends in the world of pre and postnatal, you’ll find there’s a black and white area, and then a grey one. The black and white is very much “you can or can’t do this”, and the grey area is “combining the black and white to get a common-sense grey”. Nothing scientific, but, that’s the approach I think we, as Ante/Postnatal Instructors should be taking.

Tour date for my Pre/Postnatal Exercise and Marketing “Bridging the Gap” Workshop is 19-20 May 2012 at David Lloyd in Derby. It’s not just pre/postnatal exercise content you’ll learn here, it’s also the marketing and business acumen skills required to find, retain and build rapport with pre/postnatal clients. For more details of this Event, see: www.facebook.com/ClaireMockridgeBridgingTheGap

YOu can do the Level Pre and Post Natal

Or, connect with me here:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/clairemockridge1

Twitter: www.twitter.com/clairemockridge

Blog: http://clairemockridge.wordpress.com/

Bye for now.

Claire Mockridge

Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

If you would like to teach Pre and Post Natal Fitness Classes you would need to gain the Level 3 Qualifications which you can do online with Choreographytogo http://www.choreographytogo.com/qualifications/level-3-ante-post-natal

Date and Testing

By Marvin Burton

Have you ever been to the supermarket to do you weekly/daily/monthly shop and

forgotten to buy something you need?

Have you ever purchased something like a clothing item or house appliance, only

to never use it?

Both examples are common and everybody at some point in their lives will spend

time and effort going somewhere, doing a job, paying for something - only to

realise that they actually don't need it, it isn't what they expected or it was

a waste of time/money. But at the time it might seem a good idea.

It is the same with exercise! Thousands of people attend health clubs, fitness

classes or have a personal trainer. Only to realise after 6, 12 or 18 months,

nothing has happened. Initially any exercise will help you to lose some weight,

any nutritional change will affect your hormones and energy levels. So it's easy

to buy into.

The question is, how do we know it works? How do we keep people attending your

class/sessions?

If I was going shopping, I'd make a shopping list!

If I wanted a gift for a birthday or Christmas I would suggest things that I

need to my loved ones (like setting targets)

Data helps us because it gives us relevant reference points of what we need to

achieve, when we are improving or we can plot a timescale for when we want these

points to be reached.

If you don't measure your training, improvements or make some notes on each

session, you are losing vital information for what will ultimately be the

success of your business.

Some quick and simple ways of gathering date might be:

1. Take photos of your clients so that you can analyse their changes monthly/ bi

weekly (visually)

2. Write down your weights. How much your lift or use

3. Make a note of your repetition or heart rate.

The more information you have and the more tests you do, the greater chance you

have at gaining success

This could be as simple as:

- Counting reps each week in a circuit class

- Increasing your weights in a body conditioning class

- Conducting a 10 minute constant cadence drill in a cycling class

- Taking skin fold measurements/compositions as a PT

Data is the statistic you need to give reasoning and justification for attending

your fitness establishment. If you don't measure and monitor your performance

you cannot justify the cost, effort or time you spend.

All industries in the world monitor, analyse and work on improving their

service. This is no different for a self employed fitness instructor or Personal

Trainer. As our economy gets worse, the first cost that people look to cut are

leisure services.

So my final question is. How important is your service and what data do you have

to back this up?

Marvin Burton

www.fitness-retreat.co.uk

We are holding a 1 night summer special Fitness Retreat on May 5th and 6th in

Surrey at Wotton House. For more information visit our Fitness Retreat website

or Tweet @fit_retreat

Marvin Burton

www.fitness-retreat.co.uk

AntiGravity Yoga is…MY PASSION by Laura Armada Buch

For those of you that read this newsletter on a weekly basis, I’m sure you agree they are getting better and better… Last week I thoroughly enjoyed reading Sally Ghafoor’s article about PASSION!!… So simple yet so true.

As a trained Translator and Interpreter in 5 languages I work….yes you guessed…in FITNESS!!…but why and how did I get here?… well Sally has the answer…it’s all about Passion.

I started in the community like many of you simply to help me pay college and once my classes got pretty big I made the big decision of opening my own studio (which I know it can be terrifying). I knew deep in my heart that it was the right decision as teaching and bringing innovative concepts to my area filled me with energy and happiness.

Every time I travelled to the UK or the US and brought a new concept to Ireland my clients would be on a fitness buzz for a while until the next big thing…. and then I found ANTIGRAVITY YOGA: a perfect blend of aerial acrobatics, dance, Pilates and Yoga that allows the average client challenge and move their body in a complete different way, while having fun and flying!!

So I did my training, my adverts were everywhere and classes were packed…and my Antigravity Yoga classes were launched…I expected demand for the first while, as anything new seems to draw in the crowds, but the following was totally unexpected:

- Classes full of laughter from start to finish (who remembers pretending to hang upside down like a monkey when you were a kid?!)

- Tears (happy ones though!)..of clients not being able to believe what their bodies were able to physically and mentally do (building trust is a big factor in this class)

- Miracles (yes I know it’s bit extreme!)..but if for every person that has reported improvements in their back I got a pound…. I would be retired by now (not, cos I love it too much J)

So here I am 2 years on and I can say that with this programme I got into a winner.

From a business point of view it has been the best investment I have done since opening in 2006.

Now as European Master Trainer I can help others spread the WINGS and benefit from it. Currently there are 20 instructors in the UK (so still very new) and the main reason why they all enrolled on the training was to set their business ahead of the competition… and god have they been successful!

If you would like to find out more about ANTIGRAVITY YOGA, teacher training, equipment etc please email me at laura@labfitness.com.

For anyone interested in becoming a qualified instructor we are offering CHOREOGRAPHY2GO readers 10% off Teacher training in 2012 (must be booked by 31^st May)

Follow me

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Antigravity-Yoga-UK/137045386375908

https://twitter.com/#!/antigravityUK

Have a wonderful Thursday

Love Always

Rachel xx

Crisis in the Weight Loss Industry by Rachel Holmes

RachelLHolmes — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 11:26:49 +0000

Crisis in The Weight Loss Industry by Rachel Holmes

According to reports this week a women has been on 61 diets by the time she is 45.

As a Fitness Presenter and Trainer for the last 24 years, I’ve been subjected to all of the usual nutritional, weight loss and fat loss information and advice.

I have taken all the standard nutritional qualifications, read all of the usual books, and applied all of the information to myself, clients and class members.

But, in the back of my mind, I’ve always had many questions over the whys and hows. It’s only after I completed the Charles Poliquin Biosignature Course and began following Coach Poliquin’s Blogs that I really started to change my thinking and methods.

As I dug deeper and deeper and embarked on a course of self experimentation, I realised that so much of the weight loss industry standard information is:

a. Completely flawed, b. No plausible scientific evidence, c. Doesn’t work anyway.

In 2007 I designed the Kick Start Fat Loss Program for Fitness Professionals based around Paleo principals and a Clean Eating diet.

The KSFL Detox eliminated processed food, coffee, tea, alcohol and sugary foods on the premise that by detoxifying the body, the liver and the cells, this will help the body burn fat more efficiently, becoming leaner and stronger.

Busy Fitpros teaching lots of classes, working unsocial hours, are renowned for consuming lots of coffee, eating a mountain of fruit and nuts, whilst on the run usually to have enough energy to work long days and teach multiple sessions and clients.

The result being, many Fitpros carry excess weight around the mid section, are unhappy with their body shape and leanness, and struggle with energy issues and finding the time to train themselves at a high intensity.

This 2 part article is about debunking many of the usual ingrained nutritional/fat loss/weight loss myths that appear to have been handed down from generation to generation like Chinese whispers.

I’ll be examining why they are flawed and offer some research for further reading that may help you.

In the following points you will see a quick summary for readers wanting the quick summary and then underneath an AR section (Additional Reading) for those of you that would like more information and proof.

1. Eat Frequently Throughout The Day – Keep The Metabolic Fire Stoked

Each time you eat, your metabolic rate increases slightly for a few hours. It takes energy to break down and absorb energy. This is the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF). The amount of energy expended is directly proportional to the amount of calories and nutrients consumed in the meal.

Many studies showing subjects eating the exact same amount of Proteins, Fats, Carbohydrates and Calories during a 24 hour period shows no difference, whether they ate 1, 2, 3 or 4 meals in the same period.

Meal frequency does not affect total TEF. You cannot “trick” the body into burning more or less calories by manipulating meal frequency.

The most extensive review of studies on various meal frequencies and TEF was published in 1997. It looked at many different studies that compared TEF during meal frequencies ranging from 1-17 meals and concluded:

“Studies using whole-body calorimetry and doubly-labeled water to assess total 24 hr energy expenditure find no difference between nibbling and gorging”.

Since then, no studies have refuted this. For a summary of the above cited study, read this research review by Lyle MacDonald

Earlier this year, a new study was published on the topic. As expected, no differences were found between a lower (3 meals) and higher meal (6 meals) frequency.

2. Eat small meals more frequently to maintain blood sugar levels and control hunger.

According to pretty much every “diet expert” eating small meals every so often will help you avoid hunger pangs, provide you with stable energy throughout the day and keep you mentally sharp.

In reality blood sugar is extremely well-regulated and maintained within a tight range in healthy people. It does not swing wildly up and down and it doesn’t plummet from going a few hours without food.

Or even a full day without food.

Or a week without food for that matter.

People believe they will suffer severe hunger and mental impairment from not eating every so often. This is simply not true.

Maintaining blood sugar is of very high priority and we have developed efficient pathways that will make it happen even under extreme conditions. If you were to fast for 23 hrs and then go for a 90 min run at 70-75% VO2max, your blood sugar after the run would be identical to the same run performed in the fed state. It would take no less than three days or 84 hours of fasting to reach blood sugar levels low enough to affect your mental state; and this is temporary, as your brain adapts to the use of ketones. During 48 hours of fasting, or severe calorie deprivation, blood sugar is maintained within a normal range no measure of cognitive performance is negatively affected.

What about blood sugar and hunger?

Blood sugar is one of many short-term feedback mechanisms used to regulate hunger and the notion which exists to say that low blood sugar may cause hunger is correct. Low just means lower range. This is subject to numerous factors, such as your habitual diet, energy intake and genetics.

Stronger Forces at Work

I also think there are “stronger forces at work” when it comes to food marketing. I mean who’s interest really is it to promote “grazing” through 5 or 6 meals through the day, or eat 2 bowls full of over priced and over processed cereal for weight loss and do we really need to eat 5 pieces of fruit a day unless of course you want to put weight on and lighten your purse in Sainsburys?

As I sat and watched TV last night every other advert is for food or drink, low fat this and low fat that, literally you cannot get away from supermarket and food commercials.

So What is Fact and What is Fiction.

Since designing KSFL I’ve been digging into the research on WHY we are being advised to:

a. Eat small and often to keep the metabolism fire burning – there appears to be little research to confirm that there is any difference from eating 1 or 2 meals a day.

b.Go without food for 4/6 hours and your metabolism will slow down. This is simply not true. Research shows you can go for 18 hours/ 24 hours and there are some studies that says after 3 days of not eating the metabolism is unchanged.

For me personally this has been a life changing revelation.

In fact I cannot tell you how much this has impacted me.

All of my adult life I have believed I need to be fuelling and eating every 3/4 hours especially as I am the go training and teaching classes 7 days a week, otherwise I would be slowing my metabolism down and doing untold damage.

In fact my whole days were planned around eating – you don’t realize until you change this mindset how much of your time you think about food – what you are going to eat and when are you going to eat it.

Once I unchained myself from this way of thinking, I started losing more body fat and I find I have a whole lot more time in my day.

When you are “grazing” through the day as we are all told to do, eating small meals and often to stave off hunger you actually lose track of the volume you do eat.

No wonder I was in Asda 3 x a week buying more “healthy” food to graze on.

Crisis in the weight loss industry.

You may or may not be aware that balancing your hormones, blood sugar levels, insulin and cortisol and several other factors, not including counting calories really is the way forward for FAT LOSS. I use the term Fat Loss as Fat Loss and Weight loss are 2 very different goals.

This article is only the tip of the iceburg I could go on and on but I’m thinking I’ll write a little bit every week (article grazing!) rather than frighten everyone to death with a full on hard hitting piece.

It’s difficult even for Fitness Professionals to get their heads around never mind the poor general public who keep on trying the same methods of weight loss over and over and over again.

I’m currently writing a book on the subject for Fitpros and all about my KSFL2012 and I’d love to get your views and feedback.

As always you can email me, Rachel@CHoreographytogo.com Tweet me @RachelHolmes or Facebook me http://www/Facebook.com/Choreographytogo.com

Inspirational Fitpros – Cori Withell

RachelLHolmes — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 07:30:40 +0000

Here is a series of Blog Posts about my brilliant Mentoring and Coaching Clients

I hope their stories inspire you!

I joined Rachel’s mentoring programme because I wanted some direction and support in taking my business to where I wanted to be and wasn’t sure that I could do it on my own!

Rachel has such an infectious enthusiasm and unending positivity, right up my street! The initial three months of mentoring were brilliant, the webinars were informative and educational and pushed you outside your comfort zone with the weekly homework. Being held accountable was huge for me. I knew that if I wanted to push my business forward then I had to do all the things that I had put off doing, new website with photos of me, blogs, putting myself out there as an expert. The unending support from both Rachel and the other mentoring students has been brilliant.

When I launched Mindful Health and Wellness I was terrified. This was something completely new, no one else had attacked this angle in the industry. This was completely new and a breakthrough in health and fitness and I had no idea how it would be received. I shouldn’t have worried! The response has been and still is brilliant. With Rachel’s help I launched the Mindful Health and Wellness Coaching Programme and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am now just getting ready to launch my guide for emotional health for fit pros and will be launching one for the public shortly after that. I am now working on a coaching programme specifically aimed at fit pros as we all know how lonely and stressful this industry can be at times and we rarely take the time out for ourselves that we should! I also have another two projects in the pipeline that I am hoping will come to fruition during this following six months of coaching. I have no doubt that I wouldn’t have got to where I am without the guidance and the occasional much needed kick up the bum to get things done! MY confidence has grown to the point that I finally accepting an offer of presenting at the end of the year, something I would never have done before!
Cori Withell CW Fitness

19 April 2012 Instructor Newsletter from Rachel

RachelLHolmes — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:25:09 +0000

Here’s another action packed newsletter. Yet again I have some enormous thanks to give for the continued feedback. As I keep saying in every newsletter, it makes it so worthwhile when I hear from you about the articles. So keep Tweeting, Facebooking and emailing me your comments.

I’ve written a lot today about the Fitpro Covention as I felt this year it was so different, If you came to Fitpro expecting the same as last year – you didnt get it. The winds of change are definitely blowing. It’s an exciting time for all of us in the industry and I wanted to report my highlights to you all today and get your views and take on it all.

Please Tweet me @RachelHolmes and let me know what you think.

Ive added more Tough Girl No Jumping/Power Downloads this week so if you have class members that want to train hard but without plyometrics then have a look. This series has been MASSIVE this week and the most popular download of the week. Click here to see latest downloads

KSFL 2stone + Program

My brand new KSFL2012 2 + for people with over 2 stone to lose kicked of this week. Ive filmed 15 new 10 minute home workouts and rewritten my KSFL Diet for this program and so far its going really well. I’ll keep you posted on the progress and data. Im trying a few new techniques with this group so lets see the results in 28 days time.

Level 3 Online PT Qualification

This week I’m offering the Level 3 Personal Trainer Qualification with £100 discount. If you went along to Fitpro and now are looking to get into teaching and coaching Small Group Training (SGT) thn if you have Level 2 Gym you can now access this course. Click here for all of the information Email me for details

Fitpro Live – Spring Convention

It was the Fitpro Live convention this weekend and it was pretty fantastic. I’m still buzzing with ideas and it’s Wednesday. This year the differences between Fitpro and IFS were vast, in fact it was like seeing the industry from the complete polar opposites. Both conventions had talented and inspiring presenters and speakers from around the world, but both had very distinct focus, look and feel and very different objectives.

Historically, Fitpro is always more academic. With more nutritional, business, research and PT seminars, plus the Group X and freestyle section are much smaller than at IFS. This year, in my opinion, the lectures surpassed previous years just by the quality and standard of information.

This year the FP timetable boasted some of the world’s most prolific speakers. If you came to build your business, learn the most current nutritional information, mindset and goal setting research, then this convention is for you.

The Industry is changing

I have walked away from the weekend seriously contemplating my business, my future and what I can offer over the next 12 months. I came away from IFS elated, happy and motivated, both very different and equally as valid.

Fitpro made me really think hard about what needs to change and how I can progress myself as an Instructor, Presenter and Business Owner and the information I teach to clients and fellow Instructors.

I think Fitpro redefined the future of the Group X Instructor – a little more of this later.

I’ll run through some of the sessions and let you know how I found them.

My favorite presenter was Dr John Berradi. His nutritional, fat loss, fasting, and body transformational information was outstanding, his knowledge was unbelievable and he engaged you completely from the offset. I’m also interested to see how speakers deliver their content, and yes I may have just a tiny crush on Dr Berardi as he is so handsome, but his delivery style captivated me from the offset.

I have come away with so much, new, cutting-edge and inspirational fat loss and body transformational material that I will be applying to my KSFL programs. His material is particularly relevant to what I am doing with KSFL right now, enabling me to implement ideas and knowledge I learnt straight away.

Dr John Berardi is a fat loss pioneer. His information is easy to understand and apply, the mark of an exceptional speaker.

Will Power and Grace

My favorite practical session was by a US presenter, Stacey Lei Krause.

Stacey Lee Krause is the creator and developer of the Will, Power and Grace program. You may have seen this already being taught through the Virgin Active health clubs, here in the UK.

I have seen Stacy on many videos and downloads but actually seeing her in the flesh teaching her incredible program was pretty cool and amazing. WP&G is a very simple concept, but the way she controlled the group and choreographed the routine was outstanding. A mark of a true professional that “gets it”

WP&G fuses Yoga, Pilates with Dance and beautiful transitions and power conditioning, all barefoot. You can see why it’s so popular as it’s beautiful to participate in and watch..

She also presented Barefoot Running, which again is a highly original concept and one which I will take many ideas and inspirations from for my own future presentations. The concept behind barefoot running is to strengthen the foot and ankle building up from running a few minutes a day to running 30 – 45 minutes barefoot

As ever, I enjoyed Bobby Cappuccio, his speaking skills are fantastic and his knowledge on goal setting, and again fat loss made you look at how you deal with clients from a different perspective.

Actually, there were so many amazing sessions, I wish I could do the whole weekend again and attend some of the sessions I didn’t make this time.

Speaking to fellow delegates and C2go members a popular session was presented by the exuberant and highly knowledgeable, Jenny Burrell. Her postnatal workshops were a huge hit as they were at IFS. Jayne and Greg Sellor rocked it with their HIIT Tabatta Team Teaching class and I LOVED teaching Fitness Pilates.

It was wonderful to meet so many people who had never been to my sessions before and to introduce them to FP – My session was the final one on the Friday and I thought it would be quiet and everyone zoned out, but how wrong could I be – I didn’t have enough equipment and the session was busy and buzzing. Thanks to everyone who came along!

I also enjoyed some of the research updates which are a must for all Group X and PTs. Rodney Corn, Ian O’Dwyer and Anthony Carey all presented intense physiology and anatomy sections, that were extremely interesting and useful.

Having said that, the UK really did us proud. Convention favorite presenter, Helen Carpenter -Waters totally rocked it with her Swing and Burlesque sessions. HCW is THE most original presenter. Her sessions are like no other, totally unique to Helen and if you have not had the pleasure of attending you MUST put it on your to do list for the future.

Jayne taught a brilliant FFY with an encouraging number of men attending. Jayne reports more and more men are attending the FFY course which made for a great atmosphere at Loughborogh. Paul Morts session were also well received as was Lisa Cuerdon, Delvin Clarke and Jane Chinery

As Fitpro and Les Mills have now parted company and are 2 separate entities. Fitpro are pushing ahead with functional training and their prediction for 2012 and beyond is Small Group Training.

As you have been reading about small group training in the newsletter for the last 12 months SGT was everywhere last weekend. Using limited amounts of equipment, results based training is where all of the major chains are now looking. With this is the emergence of the Hybrid instructor. An instructor that possesses great group exercise skills and teaching coupled with the biomechanical knowledge, screening and nutritional education of a highly qualified PT.

Cultivating the Hybrid Instructor appears to be the way ahead for Fitness Professionals. Results based training is massive and many sessions didn’t even use music.

The Emergence of the Hybrid Instructor

I’m really excited about the emergence of the hybrid instructor. Personal trainers definitely need the skills of the Group X-instructor and we can teach personal trainers so much about personality, interaction, group skills, camaraderie. Couple that with an in depth knowledge in biomechanics, nutrition and coaching and we have the new hybrid Instructor or coach or even lifestyle facilitator, which is what so many of us reading this at C2GO strive to be.

I was excited by hearing Dr Berradi’s vision of a fitness professional for the future. The Fitpro of the future will be, a coach, will be armed with the latest nutrition and fat loss information, a lifestyle facilitator, and exercise and fitness guide. This instructor will harness the power of the Internet, and online portals via apps, websites and social media to guide help and empower his or her future clients. This is the vision I am most excited about; merging programs like KSFL both online and off-line with group exercise both Large and Small with lifestyle information and advice makes us well versed to tackle the needs and wants of our clients going forward.

Go to the Conventions

I’ve expressed many times that I think it’s vital that all fitness instructors go along to the major conventions in the UK. Not just because the sessions are brilliant, they are inspirational and you do walk away with a whole different mindset.

But the networking, chatting with finding out about what people are doing is completely second to none. And you can’t do that by just reading Facebook and Twitter. You’ve got to get out there, you need to meet people, and totally see for yourself where the industry is going. Attending the convention will give you a clear view of where you want to go and take your business and your teaching over the next 12 months.

There are exciting developments ahead and, of course, I will be bringing you all the most cutting-edge information over the next few months in the newsletter, downloads and podcasts.

If you went along to Fit Pro this weekend I would love to know which sessions you enjoyed. We chatted to so many C2GO members who are diversifying into all different fields of fitness and coaching. It is so exciting and I don’t think there’s ever been a more exciting time to be in the fitness industry than now. Fitpro is leading some revolutionary changes in the UK industry and this is a fantastic time to be involved Tweet me @RachelHolmes

Jayne Nicholls

Still buzzing from the fitness convention last weekend, it takes me a week to get my thoughts into place. It is without doubt the place to be for moving forward and seeing exactly what is out there in terms of advancements, competition and opportunity. I don’t think that I have ever seen such a compatible atmosphere before and somehow the very many different things just all seemed to slot together. When it comes down to it, it was most likely that the hosts were impartial this year. As Les Mills has left the building it was more about ”try it” and less about ”buy it”. We had so many PTs actually take part in our sessions and realise that they can do what we do. Plus it shattered a few myths about how and why we sell group sessions to the public.

The stars of the show were those who can turn their hands to many different things.

The big message was think for yourself, brand yourself, create your own workouts and keep moving forward.

Great discussion with one instructor and one that I pose to you.

Is step dead? Are we looking at this as an industry or as an individual? If I bought steps and put on a class it would sell. If I look to the industry for step motivation I am unlikely to get it BUT as a business it makes good sense due to the fact that no one else is doing it at the moment.

Big question – why do we all want to do and look the same?

The biggest moans were from instructors who mourned the fact that the Convention was not the same as it used to be. This is because it represents change. If we do not change we stay the same.

Let us know your thoughts.

Jayne Nicholls www.groupxtraining.com

Mission accomplished

By Claire Mockridge

Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Hi there everyone,

So, who had an amazing time at FitPro? Wasn’t it brilliant?! I love Fitness Conventions and I always find FitPro mind-blowing and educational from a Professional Development perspective, but, this year for me, it was different. I wanted to go to FitPro 2012 to increase my profile as an Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert, and guess what? It worked! Mission well and truly accomplished!

Primarily, I wanted to expose myself to my target market and to get my networking skills on whilst I was there, so I booked on as many Pregnancy and Postnatal Workshops as possible, because this is where other Ante/Postnatal instructors would be. I made sure I chatted to any Instructors around me about their pre/post PT businesses and classes etc, and made time to talk shop and catch up on the industry gossip with the Pre/Postnatal Presenters before and after each session. We all like a bit of gloss now, don’t we? I’ve managed to organise a collaboration with another Ante/Postnatal Expert now, as a result of this conversation. How awesome is that?!

Another highlight was a session with Jon Lispey, Editor of Men’s Fitness Magazine on “How to build your Media profile”. A fabulous workshop which covered topics such as: how to get fitness articles published in Fitness Magazines, how to get a Press Release featured in local press, how to get on local radio etc. This is something we all want help with, isn’t it? During the session, I asked Jon a rather curly question. The Presenter answered it tactfully, then afterwards he gave me a good 15 minutes of his time to give me further clarification of what he meant, and asked my opinion on a product he’s due to launch soon. I tweeted him the day before he was presenting saying “I’m looking forward to your session at FitPro, Jon.”, and he tweeted me back, so I told him he scored some Brownie points for that, so now guess what?! I’m forever ingrained in his memory, and he has my contact details and we’ve been in touch since then. Twitter is useful in situations like this, so stop underestimating Twitter as a business tool and get on there and get networking. I’ve built quite a few relationships over the last few days as a result of FitPro and being on local radio talking about my Theo Paphitis #sbs Award, so get using Twitter, or follow me, to see how it’s done: @ClaireMockridge.

Another lecture I found fascinating was John Berardi’s “Intermittent Fasting: Fact or Fiction”. It was particularly relevant for me, as I was actually doing a 24-hour fast on the 2 days I was at FitPro. I knew the food on offer at the University would most certainly NOT be clean, and it was definitely the right decision for me to fast both days. Since starting Rachel’s KSFL in mid-January, clean eating has really opened my mind to this subject area and I was keen to broaden and back up my knowledge of this fasting business, and I was not disappointed. This guy was amazing. Really cutting-edge, but his delivery was outstanding. I really didn’t want to leave.

Oh, did I mention I hooked up with the Media guy at John Berardi’s Workshop by casually asking him what he was up to later? Oh, yes, I did. Remember, you’re never going to get anywhere in business if you’re shy. And, if you want to make connections with the right people, sometimes you’ve got to be proactive, seek out and find them. The world doesn’t get handed to you on a plate, unfortunately, and this is true in business too.

What I wasn’t expecting to happen at FitPro though, was for instructors and other FitPros to recognise ME as soon as I walked in to a room. When I first arrived, it took me over an hour to get to the Registration Desk through the Exhibition Hall, because I had to keep stopping and chatting to instructors, stall holders and other industry types. It was all a bit overwhelming, but in a great way. I’d like to say a big thank you to you if you came over and introduced yourself to me. It means a lot. It really does. It was great to meet the faces behind all these Facebook and Twitter profile pictures too, so thank you again.

So, all in all, I’d say it’s been a pretty awesome week for me and my Claire Mockridge Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert “brand”. FitPro was great exposure for me and I will certainly be booking on it next year. You never know, you may even see my name on the Presenters schedule for 2013!

Tour date for my Pre/Postnatal Exercise and Marketing “Bridging the Gap” Workshop is 19-20 May 2012 at David Lloyd in Derby. It’s not just pre/postnatal exercise content you’ll learn here, it’s also the marketing and business acumen skills required to find, retain and build rapport with pre/postnatal clients. For more details of this Event, see: www.facebook.com/ClaireMockridgeBridgingTheGap

Or, connect with me here:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/clairemockridge1

Twitter: www.twitter.com/clairemockridge

Blog: http://clairemockridge.wordpress.com/

Bye for now.

Claire Mockridge

Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Passion by Sally Ghafoor

Passion is one of the things that makes you succeed in life, if your passionate about something – its exciting, you can’t wait to deliver it, you become infectious, everybody wants to know about what your talking about because you are buzzing, you are loving what your doing.

Lets look at the Titanic, well it is the 100 year anniversary and I do live in Southampton, from where it set sail! More so, I want to talk about the Titanic movies, how many of these have been made, a fair few and until Titanic with Leo and Kate came out, they all flopped. So why did Leo and Kate’s Titanic make box office history? It was because of one man and his passion about The Titanic, the director James Cameron.

James Cameron is so passionate about the Titanic, he has visited the wreck on numerous occasions, it has been said he eats sleeps and breathes The Titanic, and with that passion – how could it not have been a hit. He knew everything about Titanic, he took the emotion of the event into the film, he wanted the audience to see what happened that night and realise what a tradegy it was, yes everyone knew the ending – it sinks but not everyone knew the fear, the loss, the emotion of that night and the feeling of loss for decades after. He took his passion and pushed it out to those who thought it was just another movie about a ship that sunk and he made them fall in love with it, his passion put to the forefront of our minds those people that lost their lives that night. The result a box office hit.

So how can you translate this into your life – what are you passionate about, what can you talk and talk about and never get tired of it? It wont seem like working will it, get blogging about what your passion is and watch those opportunities open up. People will be interested in what you have to say because if your so passionate about it you can get it across to them. People are passionate about looking good, we are in the business of helping them achieve just that. So get your passion out there, go get your box office hit.

I launch what i am passionate about next Tuesday – it is the last call for my 6 week online nutrition workshops for more info go to http://sallyghafoor.com/?page_id=24

Sally Ghafoor

Trends and The London Marathon

By Marvin Burton

The past few years have had some influential changes to the Fitness Industry. I can’t remember a time where so many products, programmes and changes have taken place – That have actually shaped the industry.

The “functional” wave of destruction that divided weight rooms into Lifters and movers. You either pressed it or rotated it. Neither understood the common principals which both shared and many battles were discussed only to conclude that they we’re both trying to achieve the same goal!

Zumba. If you had a successful latin dance class, you don’t now! The dance craze has filled community halls and schools with the most expensive pair of green trousers you’ll ever see. Sending Karate schools into a panic because they can’t block book a hall for months on end and service the same 3 kids that were stuck on yellow belt!

Boot camps. Gangs of nut cases that meet at the crack of dawn to take part in a transformed circuits class that nobody would attend until – The only way is essex cast classified it as “cool”

We’ve reinvented Kettle bells and dangled from suspension training straps.

So my big question is… What’s next?

More dance class styles? More Tabata’s? Who knows.

From my trips to the US, as I mentioned in 2011, a reduction in class duration seems very popular and scientifically logical. (30-45 min)

Paleo nutrition is on the rise. It has to be with the effects of man-made damage to the environment and food quality decreasing. It also makes logical sense.

Equipment wise. I’m picking up something called Sand bells next week. I’ll be rolling out education and qualifications across Europe. The Hyper wear weight vest seems very popular with dance classes as well. So the top trend might be Marvin Burton, Functional Zumba!! I won’t be purchasing the trousers though I’m afraid!

Answers on a postcard if you can predict the future or have something you want to make us aware of. Tweet us all with #whatsnext and show us what we’re going to be subjected to. Orange trousers maybe!

The London Marathon

This weekend is the marathon. I’m running in fancy dress. It took me months to decide what I should run as. So many outfits have been used throughout the years. My favourite must have been the suit of armour a few years ago. Last year a soldier had a washing machine of his back. I searched and searched the internet for inspiration but the best outfit was an obvious choice. I have my apparel ready and have already (to my embarrassment) trained in my suit many, many times around my local area. Cars have driven past with people waving and one person even took a photo. This year I will be pretending to be…. A runner!! Untrained and trying my best to be nothing like one of these creatures, I will pretend to be a runner for hopefully only a few hours on sunday morning. I’m not even wearing a watch. That’s how much of an extremist I am.

If you see me. Please, help me. I’m not looking forward to it. I’m living in the shadows of an Iron man last year. I got my space from the ballot, first time I’ve entered and only did it so that if I wanted to enter in the future, I’ve at least got a history of applying.

Not one to be ungrateful at my £30 entry fee, I will run the best I can and be very happy at the end.

In preparation leading up to the event. These are the things I considered to be the most important:

1. Mobility. Daily working on my hips, feet and glutes. Ensuring they are not tight, stiff or restricted. Using foam rolls, tennis balls, power plates, baths and Epson salts (magnesium sulphate) to soak my feet in. Remember not to soak every day though or you’ll soften your skin and increase the risk of blisters and tears.

2. Hydration. Using a product called nuun. I like this! Sugar free and cheap electrolyte replacement.

Drinking coconut water everyday as well. Wonderful stuff. You should research the benefits.

3. Getting everything ready early. The run alone is stressful. So get equipment out early, then spend time relaxing. I like watching success stories from people on you tube, reading books of use (not fantasy) and listening to music.

For anybody entering who hasn’t before. Wear a bin bag! You’ll be standing at the start line and getting cold. Family and support not allowed. A bin bag will keep you warm and you can rip if off like the incredible hulk moments before the start.

Watch me on BBC this weekend.

#getupmarv

Marvin Burton

www.fitness-retreat.co.uk

Marvin Burton

www.fitness-retreat.co.uk

Everything Must Change…..Nothing Stays The Same.! by Andrew Crawford

On the weekend I popped my head into Loughborough to see what was cooking…..I’m glad I did because I bumped into one of my two favourite past Fitness Industry Mentors when I was starting out……Martin Chidley.

The other one, by the way, was Helen Henderson hailing from Newcastle.

Both were inspiring and charismatic people….and still are today..!!

It was absolutely fabulous to see him and hear that he was STILL teaching and inspiring his clients….like he did for me..!! Fantastic.

Martin is [21 x 4 -12+ 9 x 3 + 63 x2-3] years old (work that mofo out…!!! lol)

We talked about how the Fitness Industry had changed and everything in it….since the days when ‘STEP’ was first introduced into the industry.

Remember that? …I think it was around 1990… Lord have mercy…!!

I was also engrossed in a conversation with an Instructor talking about the changes in Instructors fees…….None…..

As far back as I remember..it has been STUCK on £27.00 an hour….apparently the more nimble yoga and pilates teachers command more for their efforts..!

I think I mentioned this before in a previous article but a newly qualified firm little fine figure fresh faced female Instructor can walk into a centre and earn the SAME as a 15 year plus experienced veteran…I mean.. Instructor.. who is multi faceted, multi qualified, multi tasked, multi cliented, varied classed, ppl’ed, insured, (well….at least I hope so…lol), multi conventioned, multi CD’ed, MP4′d, DVD’d, been through the mill…..and back again, multi coloured lycred, various hi tec trainers with Louis vuitton sports bag and smelly sweaty socks…!!!

This reminds me of the George Benson track…words as follows…

“…..the young become the old….Mysteries do unfold

Because that’s the way of time….Nothing and no one goes unchanged…”

Close your eyes and Listen to it here….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ2Cnt96YXc

So Andrew….

What has Martin Chidley, Georgie B, fine figured fresh faced females and change got to do with finance?

Well folks….on the 6^th April everything regarding tax and allowances changed..It was a new financial year….OK……some of them changed…others did stay the same…!

Here is a run down of the areas that may have affected your business..

Personal Allowances

For those aged under 65 the personal allowance will be increased by £630 to £8,105.

The personal allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income over £100,000. So for 2012/13, the allowance ceases at adjusted net income in excess of £116,210.

Tax Band

The basic rate of tax is currently 20%. The band of income taxable at this rate is being reduced to £34,370 so that the threshold at which the 40% higher rate of tax applies will remain at £42,475.

The 50% additional rate of tax currently applies where taxable income exceeds £150,000.

If dividend income is part of total income this is taxed at 10% where it falls within the basic rate band, 32.5% where liable at the higher rate of tax and 42.5% where liable to the additional rate of tax.

National Minimum Wage

From 1 October 2012:

the adult minimum wage rate will increase from £6.08 to £6.19 an hour
the youth development rate will remain at £4.98 an hour
the 16-17 year old rate will remain at £3.68 an hour and
the apprentice rate will increase from £2.60 to £2.65 an hour.

Your having a Steffi Graff…….would you work for £2.65 per hour??…Exactly..!!

Child Benefit

Legislation will be introduced to impose a new charge on a taxpayer who has adjusted net income over £50,000 in a tax year where either they or their partner are in receipt of Child Benefit for the year.

Where both partners have adjusted net income in excess of £50,000 the charge will apply to the partner with the higher income.

The income tax charge will apply at a rate of 1% of the full Child Benefit award for each £100 of income between £50,000 and £60,000. The charge on taxpayers with income above £60,000 will be equal to the amount of Child Benefit paid.

Child Benefit claimants will be able to decide not to receive Child Benefit if they or their partner do not wish to pay the new charge.

This charge will have effect from 7 January 2013 and for 2012/13 will apply to the Child Benefit paid from that date to the end of the tax year. The income taken into account will be the full income for 2012/13.

Working Tax Credit

Basic element – max. £1,920

Childcare element

70% of eligible costs up to £175 per week (£300 if two or more children).

Child Tax Credit (CTC)

Child element per child – max. £2,690

Family element £545

Mileage Allowance Payments

Surprise surprise….there was no changes to the mileage figures for car and vans….although petrol went up again…!!!

Up to 10,000 miles	45p
Over 10,000 miles	25p
Bicycles	20p
Motorcycles	24p

These rates represent the maximum tax free mileage allowances for employees and the self employed using their own vehicles for business. Any excess is taxable. If the employee receives less than the statutory rate, tax relief can be claimed on the difference.

Capital Allowances:

Plant and machinery – Annual Investment Allowance (AIA)

The AIA gives a 100% write-off on most types of plant and machinery costs, including integral features and long life assets but not cars, of up to £25,000 p.a. (£100,000 for expenditure incurred before 6 April 2012 (1 April 2012 for companies). Special rules apply for accounting periods straddling these dates.)

Any costs over the AIA fall into the normal capital allowance pools. The AIA may need to be shared between certain businesses under common ownership.

Cars

For expenditure incurred on cars on or after 6 April 2009 (1 April 2009 for companies), costs are generally allocated to one of the two plant and machinery pools.

Cars with CO2 emissions not exceeding 160gm/km receive a 18% (20%) allowance p.a.

Cars with CO2 emissions over 160gm/km receive a 8% (10%) allowance p.a.

Special rules apply to accounting periods straddling 6 April 2012 (1 April 2012 for companies).

VAT

Annual Registration Limit – from 1.4.12 £77,000

Annual Deregistration Limit – from 1.4.12 £75,000

Inheritance Tax

If your death estate is over £325,000 there will be 40% tax on the excess….SELL..!!

There’s ways around this particular tax that you will never have to pay it…!!

National Insurance

Class 2 (self-employed) flat rate per week £2.65

Small earnings exception p.a. £5,595 p.a.

Class 4 (self-employed) 9% on profits between £7,605 and £42,475 plus 2% on profits over £42,475

Sorry guys that it is facts and figures this week.

Remember….Nothing and No One Goes Unchanged…!!

Regards

Andrew Crawford

Visit our website at: www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com for more FREE resources and articles.

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Andrew Crawford can be contacted on twitter @tax4fitness or info@fitnessindustryaccountants.com

Have a wonderful Thursday

Love Always

Rachel xxx

12th April Instructor Newsletter 2012

RachelLHolmes — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 06:07:11 +0000

Hi Everyone. I hope you all had a fantastic Easter weekend and hopefully you enjoyed a well earned break from classes with your friends and family.

As it was my birthday, Jayne and I had a few days away in Spain to recharge the batteries and relax ahead of another other monster weekend that we have coming up. It’s the Fitpro Spring Convention and I’m really excited to be teaching Fitness Pilates. This is the first time I’ve presented FP at Fitpro so I’ve been brainstorming and planning lots of new ideas, sequences and routines for the session.

As I’ve said in many past newsletters I don’t think you can beat a convention for giving you new ideas, a new perspective and a fresh approach to your teaching and a fresh business approach, but what I think is most valuable at these events is the networking, chatting and spending time with fellow Fitpros. I always find it mega exciting to have a good rattle with colleagues, meet new friends and hang out.

Loughborough is quite different for IFS at Blackpool. Firstly the event is much more spread out and you get many more Personal Trainers and Business Owners. Group X and freestyle is much smaller here and the sessions more intimate, which can be a bonus as you really get to connect with everyone in your sessions. The Business, PT and Nutrition streams are always hugely popular with the best presenters in the word speaking here. Unmissable sessions that I’m excited to attend include Robert Cappucio, Chuck Wolf, Adam Wolf, Bill Sonnemaker, the brilliant Geoff Bagshaw, Jay Blahnick, John Berradi, Michol Dalcourt. In fact there are some amazing presentations that you just can’t see anywhere else.

I’ll be bringing you a full update in next week’s newsletter.

If you see me, do come over and say Hi. I always love to meet C2Goers.

Thanks again for all the fantastic feedback on last week’s newsletter and PLEASE keep your feedback coming in. I read every email, tweet and Facebook. Even if I don’t get back to you I read them all and it helps me massively to formulate what you are interested in and what’s helpful and motivating.

My main objective with the C2GO newsletter is that when you read it you feel part of a group, that you’re not alone and the articles inspire and motivate you to grow your teaching and your business.

You can Tweet me using #C2go Im @Rachel Holmes or Facebook me on the Choreographytogo page or Rachel Holmes Profile page.

Quarter 2 Post Easter – What’s New?

As we head into the 2nd quarter of the year I would hope you have tweaked your timetables; you may be launching something new and have taken away a few classes. Maybe you have taken a leaf out of Katie Bulmer’s book and starting some small group PT or perhaps you are launching you own brand?

Are you now taking your groups outdoors or starting a walking/running group or even a training for a triathlon group?

What about launching a totally new concept?

Think carefully about what your consumers RELLY want.

When creating a new Concept take into consideration the following.

1. Do customers in your local area want to attend a drop in class that’s fun, dance based, that anyone can do and uses great music. A similar model to Zumba, or is that market saturated already?

2. Would something completely the opposite of what is popular now be a better long term option?

3.Consider small group, results driven, more targeted

sessions. Lots of people are finding huge groups a bit too impersonal so small groups will work with the right branding and PR.

4.Bring back the Old Skool – Why give yourself such a headache trying to formulate something new and constantly reinventing the wheel. Bring back Body Tone, Body Conditioning, LBT or similar if you removed this in the past. Lots of people just want to go to a toning class once a week and that it – it doesn’t have to complicated.

5.If your new concept revolves around music. This could, potentially make it more difficult as you will have to a deal with a music company or buy in music which could be expensive. It’s not impossible but it could make it harder if you want to licence a class, sell a DVD, create downloads and sell it on to other Instructors.

Whatever you decide to create make sure you research it thoroughly and road test it. Once you are positive you have the right formula and concept.

Be prepared to invest time, money and a helluva lot of effort into your marketing, PR and plan your launch meticulously.

Have you thought about Wellness Classes and Events by Rachel

The term “Wellness” has been bandied about for a while now but what is a Wellness course and is the Wellness and Lifestyle angle something you my want to explore?

Health, Fitness, Wellness and Lifestyle evening lectures is something YOU could potentially facilitate quite easily.

Topics could include – Healthy Cookery sessions. C2Go contributor Jill Gardner runs highly successful FatBurning cookery evenings with local cookery schools in Milton Keynes.

Make Up / Hair and Image – Could you team up with local Make Up artists or hairdressers and run an Image evening. You could talk about fitness, fatloss, posture, self confidence and exercise and mix it with an image make over and update.

Relaxation and De-stress session. Cori Withell, who I work with on coaching, has recently launched a new Stress – Less ™ class. Could you team up with local massage therapists and run a Relaxation evening, include a class, talk and massage.

There are so many components to Health, Fitness, Fatloss, Exercise and Diet that would benefit a multitude of people in the community. I think it’s important to look at new ways to deliver our messages. We have such an amazing skill set that I think with some careful planning, we can create a new breed of programmes, concepts, classes and courses.

Your new concept doesn’t have to be an exercise to music class as we know it today. It could be a weekly or monthly event; it could be online via webinars or a retreat at a local hotel. Think outside of the box and create a totally new experience for a new style of wellness customer.

KICK START FAT LOSS 2012

KSFL2012 has opened again today all ready to startn Monday 16th April. If you want to jump on the 14 day Fitprso Detox click here for all the information

New Downloads

Check out the new download page for more fresh choreography and class content ideas

Jayne Nicholls

Help me out with this, I have read the 4 -hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss and the jury is out for me. I have always believed that success comes from hard graft and that return comes from the time and energy that you put into your business. This kind of concept leaves me wondering whether I should be trying to work less, earn more or a mixture of both. I have little interest in out sourcing and am over run with people who can teach me to dance, I enjoy travel but love home more and I basically enjoy what I do. Should I be craving more and more free time? What would i do with it if I have it , and in all honesty I don’t just enjoy, I LOVE WHAT I DO. I was giving some advice to one of my students the other day who has 1000 brilliant ideas on how she wants to move her fitness business forward. Each idea is a winner, but when it comes down to implementing what she wants, this is where it all gets messy. The simple fact is that in order to make things work, the idea is the very smallest part of it. Tim claims in his marketing that both small and large businesses will benefit from his writing, is this right? Is our biggest problem right now that we are aiming to high or is it that we perform too low? i suspect that we have been seduced by current trends and tales of being a local success story. We are confusing notoriety with success. Could this come down to the number of man/leisure/work hours discussing what we do on Facebook, I am equally as guilty of this or does it add a percentage value to our business. i am currently confused – what do you think?

Guilt Free Easter by Katie Bulmer ?

Hi C2Goer’s,

Hope you all had a relaxing Easter to recharge your batteries ready for getting back to work!

I had a fab weekend, celebrating my brother in law’s wedding. My little Heidi was bridesmaid- I was proud as punch!

Anyway, my time off got me thinking…Why do I feel guilty for being off work?

I trained my client on Friday morning, then spent Friday playing with Heidi, getting my nails done, having lunch with my Dad then tea with friends, followed by the wedding on Saturday, a chill day on Sunday and a day out shopping for Simon’s holiday clothes yesterday.

But as Sunday night approached I started to feel guilty. I hadn’t turned on my laptop all weekend. I hadn’t checked my emails all day Saturday or Sunday. I turned my phone off. I cleared my diary…and it was starting to stress me out, when in fact I should have been feeling more relaxed.

I said this to my OH, and he said ‘it is OK to take holidays Katie, normal people do! I don’t ring the factory on my days off to find out how many cars they’ve built’. And he is so right… wise words from Mr Cooke!

I think as fitness professionals, we need to cut ourselves some slack. It is OK to have ‘me time’ and disconnect from work for a while. As much as we love it we need a break every now and again, to recharge our batteries. I’ve gone back to ‘work’ today buzzing…as if I’ve poured petrol on the fire in my belly.

As long as we have systems in place that allow our business to continue to run smoothly without us, then maybe we all need to learn to take a little more time for ourselves, it’s not selfish and we shouldn’t feel guilty…everyone else does! And after all if we aren’t well rested and refuelled how can we be at our best for our clients?

So here are my top 5 tips to allow your business to run smoothly without you:

1. Get a website: this way clients/potential clients can still access information on your products/services, book onto classes, and make payments without having to make contact with you directly.

2. Use your ‘out of office reply’ function on your email account, to tell inform people who contact you when you will reply to their email.

3. Use an automated email service such as Mail Chimp or Aweber, to schedule any emails you want to send out while you are off.

4. Get a PA to take the reins in your absence. They can answer any urgent emails, phone calls.

5. Record some short home workout videos for your clients to do while you are away to help them stay on track. You could even combine this with tip #3, and schedule and email containing the video, to hit their inbox while you take a break.

I hope these tips are helpful.

Rest, Relax and Recharge,

KBC xx

p.s. follow me on Twitter for more updates @katiebulmer1

Opportunities – don’t watch them go by…Sally Ghafoor

STOP – I know some people skim read, flip in and out of what might interest them, but are YOU missing an opportunity by not fully reading the articles?

Ah yeah, that Sally Ghafoor – find health bla bla bla – what is she bleating on about today …. Well today I am talking DAVID BECKHAM oooh got your attention! (well one paragraph on the gorgeous god).

Opportunities – well they wait for no man, or woman for that matter. Have you ever looked at someone and thought they are so lucky – me? Yes I have, mainly Victoria Beckham – how lucky is she? married to the gorgeous David Beckham. But what if Victoria hadn’t taken hold of her opportunities to be in the Spice Girls, what if she had given up when the going got tough in a girl group. There was no certainty they would become pop stars. When they got turned away again and again did she give up? No, had she have given up would she have ever met the gorgeous Mr Beckham – doubtful. She met him because of the opportunities she grabbed hold of and shook every ounce of success out of them.

So take a second to ask who you think is “lucky” . You can bet your bottom dollar, whatever you think they have is luck, really is not, they have taken opportunities that you haven’t. ooooh Mrs Ghafoor I hear you say… meeeooowww. Nope just the truth.

Opportunities are always disguised mainly as a problem or a challenge. A lot of the time the people who cant see opportunities live in a world of ignorance or in the whole, glass is half full world. If you’re busy thinking you know best or how bad your life is and how good everyone else’s is you’re going to miss those opportunities, in fact they probably won’t even come knocking on your door.

So back to those “lucky” people, these are the people who take on a challenge, regardless of how hard it may seem, they have the ability to see how big something can be from something so small. Look at a little acorn it grows into a huge tree, but if you didn’t know this and looked at the little acorn, how many of you would toss it to the side and not take the opportunity to nurture it and make it grow?

How many would have the insight to plant it and put effort into it to make it grow – well that would be those “lucky” people.

There is no instant gratification, it will take hard work, perseverance and focus, just because you aren’t where you want to be in 6 months doesn’t mean you won’t get there, but you won’t get there if you give up 6 months in because you aren’t where you wanted to be, so you feel the need to give up. Remember that acorn, nurture and grow it.

How many times have I heard (and yes I have done this myself) “I thought of doing that and now so and so is doing it, but I thought of it first” Well tick tock, tick tock, old “so and so” is doing what you were “thinking” of doing because they saw the opportunity and grabbed it and did it, you unfortunately watched it go by and are now feeling slightly aggrieved that so and so is doing it and you’re not.

Don’t want, just do…. that’s how you grab those opportunities; you have to do what others won’t do to reap the rewards,

As John Foster Dullan once said “The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to solve, but whether it’s the same problem as you had last year”

So whatever you’re dreaming of doing, grab that opportunity and DO IT, maybe you’re flagging lost your mojo? Someone will come and grab that opportunity that you’re about to let slip through those fingers of yours, maybe your acorn needs a bit of nurturing???

I am going to offer an opportunity to those that want to learn more about nutrition. My online workshop sold out in a couple of days last week so I have opened it to just 5 more places at the £97. We kick off on the 24th April, all online over 6 weeks; Watch the online workshop at your own convenience throughout the 6 weeks, for more info go here http://sallyghafoor.com/?page_id=24

I am about to start my online mums in fitbiz mentoring programme, so I can help other fitpro’s grab those opportunities and make them WORK for more info go here http://sallyghafoor.com/?page_id=45

Sally Ghafoor

www.sallyghafoor.com

Accidently On Purpose….By Andrew Crawford

Sinister workings of our Government are in place. Why do I say that?
I returned from Egypt blacker than I went…..I mean….with an ‘All Over Tan’….
Whilst sunning myself in 32 degrees of sunshine, in an all inclusive hotel, sipping ice cold alcoholic cocktails by the tepid flowing deep blue swimming pool, on my sun lounge with book in hand admiring the beauty of my surrounding female bathers, dark glasses hiding the gaze of my eyes and sun cap slightly tilted for that ‘holiday effect’ protecting my delicate skin from the harmful gamma rays of the suns warm caress ……. apparently…there was a fuel strike in the UK and everybody was ‘panic buying’….!!

When I heard this in Egypt…I told someone that this was a load of b*ll**ks and not to spread disinformation on snippets of ‘news’ that they have heard……..there is NO fuel shortage (with the fuel reserves in tankers moored off our shores)…. I said that it was probably all ‘propaganda’.
Was I right?
Almost simultaneously… a bill was passed …but…
..you may not have been aware of it or was not given a democractic chance to vote on it but it will affect EVERYTHING you say and do, on and offline……(very frightening indeed)..
What was it?

Well..Behind Your Backs, ‘In Plain Sight’….whilst diverting your attention towards the supposed ‘petrol crisis’ a bill was passed giving the government cart blanch access to ALL your emails, telephone & mobile calls…!!!
They can ‘listen in’ and ‘Intercept’ with the blessings of our government.
This was debated and passed…I mean..’RUSHED THROUGH’ by a handful of individuals…..’acting on your behalf and for the benefit of public interest’…..who, incidently, had not a scobby doo as to what date and time this bills was being discussed…….
This was no accident my friends……..this was on purpose……allegedly..!
There are many instances, especially over the last few years, when this ‘accidently on purpose ‘ has been happening….Your attention is sought over here…when something important has slipped by over there..!! e.g The sale of Northern Rock at half the price.!! We didn’t even know it was being sold until it was sold. But we ‘own it’ don’t we??
Did you get any money from that sale?
What else…Andrew?
The ‘Hose Pipe Ban’…… what the …… is that all about?
My answer?….Price hikes….Use a ‘hose gun’ instead…!!!
We’ve seen this all before…. “….because of this we will need to increase this…”
With water…they will then be talking about the impact on ‘food’, ‘crops’., ‘livestock’ banana imports…etc…tactics used to control our essentials.
Is there really a water shortage?

My 2 questions for you are these;
Where does water (rain) come from?
How much of this planet is covered in water?
Let me say here and now…I am not anti government…I just happen to think for myself….I believe that once you relinquish what you think and talk about….you’re in trouble….!!
My next question is this…
Do you believe everything you read, see or hear in the Daily ‘Systematic Subliminal Brainwashing Media Manipulation Programme’ ……opps…sorry…. I mean the news?
My answer….
I don’t really buy the papers or pay attention to the disinformation spread by the media (who ‘censors’ everything you read, see or listen to). The headlines are designed for you to ‘buy’ the items…
So Andrew…..what has the supposed fuel crisis, the hose pipe ban and the systematic subliminal brainwashing media manipulation programme got to do with Accountancy & Finance?
Well my peeps…

While they are allowed to ‘secretly’ debate on issues affecting you and me, the powers of investigations of the small business man and woman, have widened and deepened over the last couple of years.
With the additional power gladly given to the HMRC, there has been a RISE in the amounts of investigation into your business affairs and they wish to expose all your business activities.
Believe you me…they have access to ALL records with your name on it., including any properties and bank accounts, CSA, Job seekers etc…all departments are now involved and helping to trawl the cash into the central coffers.
T

he HMRC are now taking a tough stance on tax errors that are ‘small’.
They will make a list of items they will wish to see. This will encompass EVERYTHING..
Their job is to ‘disallow’ as much as possible……………my job is to ‘allow’ as much as possible…..lol
What to do
Always be courteous
Acknowledge any letters in writing. Ensure that you ‘register post’ it or have it ‘signed for’. (There are many instances where online someone on behalf of the HMRC has signed for something and they said they haven’t received it…!!!)
Aside: I was once told…”..Just because you sent it by special delivery and it has been signed and received doesn’t mean the accounts were in there..!!!!” Holey moley…..
Answer all their questions, even if they are ‘outside the scope’ of investigation.
Provide them with all the documentation they request. Any penalties could be reduced if they think you are being cooperative.
Do not answer questions which will open you up for further questioning. Keep strictly to the facts. They will ask the same questions a few times from different angles.
Make them a pot of tea……..but keep vigil…you’re GUILTY until they say your innocent…!!!
Remember these things;
You can argue your case but if the HMRC doesn’t want to accept it and you feel you have a good case you can threaten to take it to a tax tribunal. This will test how strong the HMRC case is…remember the recent Rednapp case??
Provided your expenses were primarily wholly & exclusively for the purpose of your business, it doesn’t matter if you derived some personal benefit from it.
If you made a research and development trip abroad, make sure you can demonstrate how it helped your business and that it wasn’t just a jolly ole ‘knees up’ with the boyz….& galz..!!
Eg. Say you went to Lanzarote to visit a client in the summer, for a bona fide business purpose. You might as well enjoy yourself in your spare time! As this was just a fortuitous and pleasant side effect from the main business purpose and reason that you went there for….wasn’t it??
When you are ‘entertaining’ a business colleague out for a slap up meal, ensure you have an agenda, time, date, business discussed, finance, business development, who you were with etc. This info should accompany the receipt to ensure no further investigation necessary.

Keep your records neat and tidy….when these are presented to the HMRC this will reflect the amount of digging they will or will not do. Good record keeping = less digging and demonstrates that you are not hiding stuff.

Don’t try and claim for 100% of everything! Eg 100% of your mobile phone bill. Or 52 weeks of travel expenses…!! It is better, in my experience to claim 90% – 95% allowing for that odd personal call or 46 – 48 weeks of travel expenses allowing for holidays. Even I don’t claim 100%….95% is me…tee hee….!!

As I’ve said before…the tax law is a grey area…keep backups of all paperwork…and argue your case if you feel you are right.

In brief …the areas which have a high inspection rate are:
Travel
Meals
Entertainment
Business Mileage
Home as Office
Phone calls

Just make sure you have adequate backup for whatever you claim in these areas.

Lastly………..

As I was in my bubble bath this morning before travelling up to Leeds, in my unhosed car, I was having a conversation with Kardy Laguda……What happened???
My mobile slipped through my fingers and dived straight to the bottom of the bubbles….needless to say….. those adverts which show people having long conversations in their baths is a lie…!!! lol …can you imagine the government tappers listening into that..bubble bubble glurp glurp???

See ya.. xx

Andrew Crawford
Ps I wonder if there’ll be a ban on baths?
Visit our website at: www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com for more FREE resources and articles.
‘Like’ our page at: www.facebook.com/fitnessindustryaccountants
Andrew Crawford can be contacted on twitter @tax4fitness or info@fitnessindustryaccountants.com

Why none of my classes are pay as you go

By Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Hi there everyone,

I hope you’re enjoying this mixed weather we’ve been having and that you’ve had at least a day here and there off your busy life. I’ve had 2 lovely weeks off, myself. By Easter, I find I’m well and truly ready for a bit of a break, a wind-down and a good old chill out really.

I’ve been teaching pregnant and postnatal women for several years now, and almost exclusively run sessions for this population. Apart from the odd mainstream Pilates and/or workout class for my postnatal clients to feed into, once they’re no longer postnatal, pre/postnatal women are all I teach nowadays. Can you see yourself doing this too?

Essentially, I’ve wanted to own my own successful business for some time, but it wasn’t until I specialised in a particular population, that I realised how much control I had over the way my business operates. You can have this control too which your business.

Apart from the very first community class, I’ve never operated a pay as you go class like this since. I learnt a pretty hard lesson here, to be honest, and I expect some of you do too. And to be fair,

These are the main reasons why I don’t offer pay as you go classes:

Lack of commitment – When you work with a specific population, it’s important that you get commitment from your customers from the outset. Whatever the niche market is you’re attracting, whether it’s back care, pre/postnatal, kids fitness, older adults, fitness through the menopause etc, remember, at the end of the day, what you’re offering is a specialist service. More often than not, you can’t guarantee these clients their desired results, unless they attend your sessions on a regular basis and you educate them along the process. So, rule number one when working with a niche market: get them to pay upfront, before they attend their first class, and don’t accept any of this: “Oh, can I bring my cheque to the first class?” nonsense.

People take you seriously – I occasionally field phone calls from pregnant women who’ve never met me before who ask a million questions about my classes (even though all of the answers are on my website), yet when it comes to the awkward question about payment, they still insist on wanting a “trial session”. I have a standard response which goes something along the lines of “Unfortunately, I can’t guarantee your space on your chosen class, unless payment is received upfront, first.”. Very rarely do they hang up unsatisfied there and then, you’ll be pleased to know. The vast majority log onto the internet, go onto my website, fill in a form and pay, just like I asked them to. What happens to the small minority that don’t? Well, I don’t really know, and I don’t really care. If someone wants to come along to a specialist class for free, I don’t want them as a client. Harsh words I know, but I’m running a business at the end of the day, and I’d like to be taken seriously in my role as an Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert, and a business owner too. And, at the end of the day, we know that the minority of clients who don’t sign up there and then, have commitment issues, don’t they?

Fear of them not coming back – How many times do you meet new clients who attend one of your pay as you go classes, and you make what you think is a great impression on them by asking them questions, offer to help, correct their technique throughout class, and you rush up to them at the end to get some feedback (which is always really positive with lots of smiles etc), they then pack up and say good bye promising to “see you next week”, and then never hear from them again? If you ran your classes on a pay upfront basis, you wouldn’t have this problem. There is NO reason why you can’t run ANY class on a monthly, school-term or “your own terms” basis, and don’t use “the community” as an excuse. Running your classes as pay as you go eliminates those sleepless nights too, doesn’t it? You know where what goes over constantly in your mind is: “Who’s going to come tomorrow night?” and “Will I have enough people to cover the hall hire?” etc. Break away from thinking your clients want flexibility. Most of them want to be told what to do, when.

Exercise is hard-work if you’re de-conditioned – I often accept new mums into my postnatal classes who I didn’t train during pregnancy. So, effectively, they’re new clients, which actually is great for my business. However, I do have to think long and hard about this, because occasionally, I have to accept postnatal clients who did: a) very little exercise during pregnancy, and b) little exercise during pregnancy and/or before. Essentially, they’re pretty de-conditioned by the time they come to me, and guess what? They sweat buckets throughout my class. Does this lack of energy and poor fitness level put them off? No, it doesn’t. Why? Because they’ve paid upfront for 10 postnatal-specific sessions to really make an impact on their life. If these clients paid each time they attended, chances are, they would find the class hard work, then not come back next week.

No excuses – When the only payment option you provide for clients is an upfront option, they then have no excuse not to attend your class. As long as you have strict terms and conditions in place in regards to refunds, then there shouldn’t be any quibbling involved, should this be needed. My refund policy states that “Refunds will be given on receipt of a Doctor’s Note which states you’ve been ill or injured for 3 consecutive weeks”. Want to know how many refunds I’ve handed out in the last few years? Well, I can probably count them on one hand.

If you’re sick, tired, rundown and really need some time off, my suggestion would be to start running your classes in “courses”. Reward yourself with the time off in between one course finishing, and the next one commencing, or better still, find your niche.

Or, connect with me here:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/clairemockridge1
Twitter: www.twitter.com/clairemockridge
Blog: http://clairemockridge.wordpress.com/

Bye for now.

Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Confidence……..booster or destroyer? by Cori Withell

Why are we so afraid?

But WHY???????

Why do we LET this attitude hold us back? Cori Withell

I have only recently discovered what I really believe I am here to do and lots of people may think I am talking rubbish or think I am on so weird career tangent

BUT

So, have a little bit of self belief, go with your heart. If you create something that people criticise, let them. It isn’t worth your energy worrying about it. Your sales will tell you if you have got it right or not. Oh and by the way, if it doesn’t sell, it IS NOT a failure, you have just learned what doesn’t work so that next time your odds are getting it right are even better

So, remember that you are allowed to be you, utterly and completely. No one else, ever has the right to affect how you feel about you

BUT and this is crucial

What others think about you is up to you but how YOU respond to it is totally and utterly your decision.

This isn’t easy to change if for years you have let the opinion of others affect how you feel about you but it can make a huge change to how you feel.

Tell yourself every day how wonderful you are and how powerful you are in your own life. You can take your life and your business to any and every level that you want to.

Health and happiness x

Cori x

You can also follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/CWFitness and you can follow my blog on www.cwfitness.co.uk/blog

Sugar Addiction by Tanith Lee

This is a subject close to my heart! I have a sweet tooth, yes I love cake

and chocolate. Research has shown that it acts on the brain the same way

class A drugs do. I can really relate to this because I am an addict in

recovery and the addictive cravings sometimes feel as powerful. I find once

I start on the sugar I find it very hard to stop. Sugar raises serotonin

levels which makes us feels good, when that starts to wear off we want more

right?

The answer I guess is not to eat it. It is more complicated than that. I

can be abstinent for about 2 weeks and then I get the calling. As soon as I

tell myself I cannot have something then my brain automatically wants it and

wants it NOW!

I have to trick myself from thinking “I can’t have it therefore I want it ”

to “I can have it but CHOOSE not to have it” . This has really helped me.

Once we have a choice it takes the power out if it.

Why else do we get sugar cravings? We use it as a pick me up, especially if

we are teaching lots of classes. Sugar and caffeine are a dangerous

combination as it over stimulates the body. This can be a vicious circle as

our body starts to depend on this quick fix for energy. Keeping a food diary

helps me to pin point where my nutrition is out of balance which can cause

cravings.

Reduce sugar cravings by

· Reduce or eliminate caffeine (yeah that includes those nasty

energy drinks)

· Reduce or eliminate diet drinks and processed fruit juices

· Keep the carbs low and eat plenty of protein and veggies

· Reduce or eliminate high GL foods

· Ensure you have enough B vitamins which is for energy production

· Chromium and magnesium can help reduce sugar cravings

· Get plenty of sleep which as well as giving your body the rest

helps balance hormones

· Looking after your adrenal glands (sleep, reduce stress, vitamin

C, B5, liquorice tea)

· Take a good quality fish oil – great for elevating mood amongst

other things

· Keep a food diary and note when you are getting the cravings

· Eat a small amount of dark chocolate (minimum 70%) if cravings are

really bad

· Try drinking raw cacao (mix with hot water and coconut milk) -

great for cravings

· Eat ½ a banana before bed and get plenty of sunshine and fresh air

to help raise serotonin levels

Sugar Cravings linked with Perimenopause and Menopause

During menopause the production of oestrogen and progesterone decline and the

delicate balance between the two hormones changes. Perimenopause and

Menopause can trigger fatigue and depression which many women try to fix by

eating sugar. Low oestrogen in menopause can also trigger tiredness,

achiness, headaches/migraines, lower libido and a foggy brain. The lowers

levels of progesterone can cause anxiety and insomnia.

Lower levels of oestrogen in PMS, Perimenopause and Menopause affect the

production of the ‘feel good’ hormones serotonin. Eating sugar raises

serotonin levels and makes you feel good J. This happens because sugar

raises insulin, the insulin drives amino acids into your muscles, tryptophan

is left free to go and make serotonin. As insulin resistance occurs (because

of the over consumption of carbs) the feel good feeling from sugar reduces.

We try and eat more sugar to get the ‘high’ and so the cycle continues.

Eating sugar becomes counterproductive because insulin resistance can cause

a drop in serotonin levels. Lower levels of serotonin can cause depression

and sugar cravings. It is also important for sleep and appetite control.

Research has shown that eating Edamame beans (soybean pods) can be helpful

in raises oestrogen levels. Traditionally Japanese women have eaten them to

ease symptoms. You can buy them podded in the frozen veggie section.

It has taken years of success and failure to get to a point where I don’t

beat myself up over it anymore (most of the time). Sometimes it’s not just

about will power. It about understanding how our hormones and brain

chemistry can affect our feelings and cravings. Listen to your body, take

the time to look after it. There isn’t a quick fix, take that first step and

you will start feeling better

Have a great week

Kind Regards

Tanith

“Believe to Achieve”

http://www.tanithlee.co.uk

07941 093170

Description: Tanith-Lee-Fitness-299

Menopause group for Fitpro http://www.facebook.com/groups/193916640699162/

Check out my webinar on Menopause and fat loss

Say what you see
By Marvin Burton

Screening movements and exercise is always a topic that we may never agree on. How deep should you squat, what should your spine be doing and what is good technique? All good questions and all will never have the same answer for the same situation twice.
Lifting a bar over your head that has the combined weight of two small elephants has obvious safety concern. Balancing on one leg during a Pilates class has other considerations. Using these two examples though, (depending on the instructor) I know Pilates instructors that act like you are about to fall off a cliff if your spine moves two degrees and personal trainers more interested in their new IPad than watching the Olympic powerlifting dreamer in front of them reach the point that their stomach is about to prolapse

From my perspective what I do know is this. The human body was given 70 joints for a reason. The role is to allow for movement to occur in different directions. The joints have a loving relationship with their neighbours (the muscles) in order for them to receive force and pressure – then dissipate (spread) the force between all of them like a pack of wolves eating a buffet lunch. The hierarchy is that the closest to the Prey gets the first bite (for example during a chest press – the Pectorals and shoulder will get a big piece of the action) but then as we move down the hierarchy our triceps, deltoids, elbows and wrists want some of the action. The elder of the group (The lead dog) joins in the feast and ensures that this load is given to the everybody (remembering that this isn’t always an even share) we call this oracle, fascia! (connective tissue) Knowing that their is more fascia in the body than muscles, we don’t want to annoy the fascial system. If we do, the big boss will choose to pull at some other nearby muscles and joints (that are laying on the beach minding their own business) and make them work on their day off. Like the lower back! Often bullied by the body.
An example of this might be when somebody has tight hips. The chain reaction could be that the lack of flexion of a hip will not allow for the rotation of the pelvis (causing lower back pain) the pronation of the foot (causing knee pain) and you will first feel the pain somewhere else. Like in the IT band. So who’s fault is it? You can feel the pain in the IT band (fascia) but if the hip and the foot don’t get attention then the knee will be pulled out of alignment. Result – Knee operation/Torn ligaments.
So in summery. The joint feels the movement, the muscles respond and get tight to the joint. The big boss fascial system steps in to project manage the movement and if we don’t pull our weight (literally) other innocent bystanders will be called into action (synergist) our core muscles are like building site foreman. They oversee the moves and make sure that health and safety is being adhered to. If not they step in and “fixate”
If the system breaks down what will happen? Good question. Well, if its bank holiday, or Christmas Day, your body calls in the army to help out with the industrial strike that your body is having. Often the reply of the ministry of defense is to make a call to your Pelvis. Like Heathrow airport in mid-July there is a load of movements happening here. In your pelvis their are many muscles, nerves and bundles of connective tissue. That means that it can take on additional work, load and movement. The Pelvis is a 24 hour call centre for your body. Like the ghost busters if you don’t know who to call or what to do, you call upon the Pelvis (or the A-Team – depends how old you are)
understanding a little more about movement what we can do when somebody is exercising would be to watch them perform the exercise then look for anything we don’t like the look of (the general movement pattern). For example, when somebody reaches to deadlift a weigh from the ground, did you see their knees bend or back arch. when performing an over head press are they leaning backwards. when running in a treadmill how much movement in their feet can you see and does it look different from left to right. Your not looking for answers or a list of joints to get repaired from your local chiropractor. We are looking for smooth movement, structural balance of the body and upright posture.
When we don’t see it. Say something. Correct people. A coach/trainer/instructor is always assessing the quality of exercise. Reminding the clients or class how to pick up a weight or keep the spine upright is what we all a TEACHING POINT. These wonderful and helpful verbal commands should be ongoing and delivered to your ears more as the class goes on and gets harder. That’s the point where most people forget the basics.
Marvin’s top tips for assessing and screening clients are: look for the Thoracic spine, Hips and Feet. These give you the most feedback on joint movement. Possible reasons for poor movement could be:
The exercise is too difficult (complexity or weight)
Clothing is not appropriate – long shorts or trousers for squatting. Trainers are old and battered
Flexibility of the participant is shocking – due to their job, lifestyle or body fat being high

Obvious signs might be: off balance, leaning or favoring one side, swearing at you, knees buckling, feet pointing in different directions. The list goes on.
Your job is to see it, then say it. Don’t go any further than your knowledge lets you. Remember you can only recommend or suggest exercises and stretches. The Physiotherapist or Doctor do the prescribing part. Learning complex assessment methods won’t give you a quick return on your educational investment. Being consistent, safe and good at your job will get you more referrals and make you more employable. From here and with your own research you will have external people to refer to, a business partner or you may learn these methods.
The underlying message to this is that we should stick with whats most successful (the basics) and when we teach, we stay consistent and within out means of expertise.
Bon appetite
Marvin Burton
www.fitness-retreat.co.uk

Have a fantastic day

Love Rachel xxx