Fitness Industry Survey Results, Trends, and Predictions 2014

This is going to be yet another amazing year for our industry. With the economy improving and discretionary spending money per average household on the rise, all signs point to the start of a “boom” in the fitness industry.

Watch the fitness industry survey results and industry predictions for 2014. Pretty eye opening stuff…

The industry survey reached over 100,000 fitness professionals through Facebook, My Fan page and through my email subscriber list which gives us a good cross section of the industry and the entrepreneurial minded fitness professionals in it.

Here are the three questions from the survey and the results: 

1. What is your primary source of business? (57% said Group Training and Fitness Boot Camps while 43% said One on One training.)

2. What is your gross total income generated in 2013? One on One personal training business owners averaged $66,768.29 gross income while Group and Boot Camps business owners averaged $238,376,84

3. What can I teach you more of in 2014?

1.) Online fitness marketing and client attraction

2.) Fitness Information product creation and marketing (all time high)

3.) Offline fitness marketing and client attraction

4.) Personal training sales and closing skills

In past years, the top two answers to question #3 have always been online fitness marketing and offline fitness marketing. Often times those two would flip flop around. HOWEVER, this year, for 2014 the #1 thing you asked to learn is still online marketing to get more clients… BUT the #2 choice was “how to create fitness information products and sell them on the internet.”

Our industry continues to evolve, grow, and mature

Top Fitness Industry Trends and Predictions for 2014

1.) The rise of eating clean… very clean. Finally, folks are seeing that diet is the biggest determining factor of their success in fitness and fat loss. And with that we’re seeing the mainstream acceptance of diets that were once considered “athletes only”. Gluten free, Paleo, processed free, grain free, sugar free diet have become mainstream.

Just look at the best selling diet, nutrition, and recipe books on Amazon, Clickbank and your local book stores. This is great news for us as fitness professionals because what we preach is no longer the obscure, rather it’s becoming the accepted norm amongst those who workout.

2.) Hard workouts are here to stay. Love them or hate them CrossFit and P90X proved it and the public wants it. In fact I see it first hand throughout Fit Body Boot Camp locations worldwide where we train “average” people who want to lose fat, get fit, and gain energy like athletes using unconventional equipment like ropes, straps, pull up bars, sliders, sand bags, dumbbells, and plyo boxes….
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…at least it’s unconventional equipment to them, the clients, who are used to seeing big bulky machines, bench presses, squat racks, pulley systems, and smith machines in commercial “box gyms”. We train them hard, but safe and they love the fact that they’re training like athletes. After all, they’re in the game of life!

3) Change, challenge, and keep it fresh. Make every workout unique like a snowflake. Seriously, if you think that your clients are okay with doing the same things over and over again, you’re wrong. Sure you and I may be fine with running though the same two or three workouts over and over again. It’s what we like, it’s what we enjoy, and we’re okay with that.

But our clients want change and they want it often. You know why? Because they don’t like to workout like you and I do. Like it or not it’s our job to keep their attention, keep them coming back, and keep them getting results. I travel the world dozens of times each year and I cringe when I walk into a big box gym to catch a workout and see the trainers there running their clients through the same old tired routine.

Sadly many trainers who own their own businesses do the same. They get burnt out, complacent and they stop improving their skills and the workouts get boring and become routine for your clients. Watch out… that’s the first thing that happens before your clients stop referring you new business and eventually move on to a “better” program.
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I can’t speak for other training centers but I can tell you that no two workouts at a Fit Body Boot Camp are the same. In fact, some months we’ll add new exercises and equipment and other times we’ll take away an exercise or three for a while. It’s not just about selling the steak, it’s about selling the sizzle IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR CLIENTS FOR THE LONG HAUL.

4.) More fitness trainers will create info products to sell to the masses 2014. The internet is the great equalizer and it give you the power to share your specialized skill or knowledge with the masses, on a global level instead of just in your community. Diet product, follow along workout programs, recipe books, and unique training programs such as jump rope, kettlebells, body weight, battle rope, suspension strap training and garage workout will continue to grow in popularity.

Maybe you’ll create the next unique training, workout, or nutrition program that will break massive sales records online.

5.) The raising of the bar goes even higher. Just as there’s a bigger separation in the financial class where the middle class quickly disappearing, there’s also going to be a bigger separation of class of fitness experts. The days of the “meat head” trainer are fading. Clients have higher expectations of personal trainers, and that’s a good thing.

Clean modern facilities will command more money.

Professional and skilled trainers who deliver results consistently will command more money.

Those who specialize in a specialized outcome or with a demographic will command more money. My coaching clients Dan Ritchie and Cody Sipe come to mind. They own a 7 figure generating training center specializing in boomers and senior fitness. Then there’s Joe DeFranco who’s known for delivering awesome measurable athletic results to pro and non-pro athletes and if you’ve ever watched a Youtube video of his, you’d know he’s doing pretty darn well for himself.

But in the end… it’s about our clients and our passion. That’s really what it all distills down to. If you truly do whats best for your clients and if you’re passionate about what you do, I mean so passionate that you’d do it for free if someone paid all your bills, then you’ll have every level of success that you want.

Here’s to an amazing year!

Bedros

PS. Will be you joining me and 500 plus world class fitness pros at Fitness Business Summit 14 this March?