COVID and the fitness industry snake oil salesman.

Something happened in the personal training industry soon after COVID started. 

Hundreds of thousands of personal trainers were either out of work entirely or earning significantly less than before.

Panic and fear set in.

What happened next?  The “snake oil salesman” showed up.

I began seeing them in many of the fitness industry Facebook groups I belong to.  These self-proclaimed fitness business gurus promise to teach you in just a few short lessons on how to make $10k in your first month using their secret method of personal training.

I’ve been in the fitness industry for over 30 years.  I started my first fitness company at age 24, with the White House as my first client.  My degree from Penn State was in Exercise Science, with only one business class, but I learned as my company grew.  To give back to the industry, I served on the Board of Directors for the American Council on Exercise, now serving over 100,000 certified personal trainers and health coaches.  I currently teach at three different Universities, teaching the business side of fitness.  I share all of that not to impress you but to show that I’ve experienced the life of a fitness entrepreneur and might just know a little bit about the fitness industry.

....and when I see these snake oil salesmen preying on the fears of so many in my industry, I get pissed!

I get pissed because most of the time, these charlatans are selling an empty promise using fear.

I get pissed because we are better than this as an industry.  You want to know why the medical community doesn’t take us seriously?  Look no further.  These experts aren’t teaching science, they are the newest get-rich-quick scammers using social media to make a profit.

I get pissed because I fear so many personal trainers and health coaches who really want to learn the business side of the industry will fall for these enticing sales tactics, lose their money, and give up on their dream.

I played along with one of these so-called experts, let’s call him Jim.  I pretended to be an out-of-work trainer looking to make a pivot during COVID. 

Within seconds of showing interest, Jim was sending me Facebook messages promising me his secret to personal training success.  Join his “tribe” and be one of the few that will make over $100,000 in the next year as a personal trainer by using his proven system in just twelve short weeks.  His special COVID price?  $5,000 (or five easy payments of $1,000 over the next five months)!  Just click on his link, enter your credit card details, and get started today!  

He was slick.  

A beautiful landing page with dozens of testimonials...

His story about growing up poor in a trailer park tugged on my heartstrings, but now at age 25...

He “knows” the personal training business - two years ago, he made $400,000 training but “makes a lot more now” teaching others his business secrets...

He was even featured on Yahoo as one of the topic coaches during COVID (but if you read the small print on the “Yahoo” page, you will see that he actually paid to be listed as one of the top ten coaches).

You know what else he is?  

He is full of shit.  

And so are the many others with the same empty promise.

If you are like me, you got into the fitness industry to make a difference in the health of others.  We all knew getting in that we would need to work hard, and if we did, we could make an excellent career out of it.  

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports that the US average salary of a personal trainer is $40,390, with an average hourly rate of $19.42.  So to afford Jim’s secret plan, the average trainer would need to train over 250 clients, each for 60 minutes, to pay for his “limited time only” COVID course.  

Can some trainers make more?  Of course!  

There are many business classes, even fitness business classes, that are based on sound business fundamentals, teaching what many of us didn’t learn in school.  I know firsthand because I teach these types of courses at the university level and have seen my students graduate and build their dream.  And there are hundreds of others out there, like me, that teach the same.

But until we as a collective community stop pandering to these impostors, they will continue to prey on the vulnerability of our industry

So the next time you see one of these self-appointed fitness business gurus trying to sell using fear, give them a message - we, the real fitness industry, don’t need you.  Get lost!