Transcript From How to Write Killer Programs

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Hi, my name’s Mark Ottobre. I’m gonna teach you how to go from being a good personal trainer to being a great personal trainer. This is our first video in the sequence, and this video is The Secret to Writing Killer Programs which Will Transform Your Client’s Body Almost Every Time.

Now, who am I to make such a bold claim? Well, folks, I’ve been PT’ing since 2006. I finished my Cert Four in 2005, and from that I was working at Genesis Ringwood, really stumbling over my thoughts and how to do things correctly. And basically, I did do a lot of things right from the very early on. I think one of those things was I believed in me. And there was a lady there training, and her name was Janet Kane. Some of you may be familiar with this lady. She’s won four Australian titles with me coaching her. She’s won the Arnold Classic three times and a bunch of other stuff. She was my first client who wanted to be very audacious and had very ambitious goals in competing. So, I got to test my craft.

Now, what does that got to do with writing killer programs that transform your body? Well, the reality is it’s not just about writing a program. Your clients jump through hoops; and the way you talk to your clients is the way they’re gonna actually respond. So, it’s down to the concept of casting.

Cast your clients as champions

For example, you say to someone, “You always speak to me like my mother.” Well, you’re casting yourself in that example as a child. People do this unconsciously all the time. I do this with my clients but in a positive way. I cast my clients as champions. I speak to my clients as champions. I say, “Hey, you’re late. Would a champion be late? Hey, I thought you were serious about results? Someone who’s serious about results would give me three more reps. You know, that’s what a loser does.”

I challenge them. I throw out frames constantly to ensure that my clients understanding that this is the way I see them because it’s the way I’m presenting them and presenting a frame, they’re able. Now, that’s just a little side note of communication but how do I write programs that transforms bodies every single time or almost every single time?

Assess your client’s lifestyle and nutrition

The first consult you should do with your client should be a nutrition and lifestyle consult.

Now, for a lot of trainers out there, they might be thinking, “Oh, but you know, they’re paying me to train them.” No, no, no. That is incorrect. They’re paying you for a result. I mean, you can pay to train them, and this is the way I used to operate my PT business back in 2006 and ’07, and I didn’t make much money that way until I flipped it on its head and thought, “Wow, these people are really paying me for a result. How do I need to structure my services to get that result?”

So, I changed it up. The first session we do is a nutrition session, lifestyle session, speaking about it because without that, and I say to the client, “Without that core element, I can give you … you can train with me seven days a week. It’s not gonna make a difference if you’re not fueling yourself the right way, and you’re not eating the right foods. We’ve gotta make sure we hit that one on the head.”

Now, if you’re watching this video and you don’t know what to do with nutrition, in Wolfpack, we obviously had four modules, four videos, we’ve got hours and hours and hours of exactly what to do with nutrition and supplementation, so we can definitely teach you that.

But first things first, you wanna make sure you set up that plan. The reality is in this industry, the more you know, the more you can help people, and the more learn the more you can earn. And you wanna become a specialist, and a specialist in the field of when people come to you with specific problems, you’re able to give them specific solutions to their unique problems.

So, first things first, look at their sleep, look at their nutrition, look at what they’re doing. Get a map of what they’re currently doing, understand what they’re currently doing, and then come up with a plan of attack that’s gonna lead them to a better outcome and better results. That’s first. And then that’s not just enough to set it, you know, it’s no one time plan. This is the myth of nutrition is that you know, I’m gonna write you a plan, here’s your plan. You’re gonna come back to me in 12 weeks. That’s very average … well, not even average … I’d call them below average trainers do that earn below average wages.

Track your client’s progress consistently

If you wanna be earning the top of the top you’ve gotta be monitoring that stuff weekly. So, I’d highly recommend you learn, and obviously we can teach you this in Wolfpack as well, you learn how to do caliper testing. You learn how to do biosignature, that’s another great course that you can do, so that way you can offer a service of actually tracking your client’s progress to ensure that they’re actually hitting their results and they’re following the plan because when I give a nutrition plan and people start changing what they do, it’s not just a matter of, “Oh, you know, I think I’ll implement it.”No, next week. How’d the plan go? Let’s test.

I do their body fat. “Oh, your body fat’s gone up. You haven’t been following the plan have you?” “No, no, I haven’t been following the plan, Mark.” Yeah, I can tell because you’re umbilical went up or whatever the site may be.” So that’s really, really important.

Carry out a structural assessment on your client

Then in the second session, we’re doing a structural assessment on them. That’s where the five e-classes you may have seen. We structurally assess them, see where they’re at so we can create a fantastic plan that is specifically for them going forward. And it becomes their first block.

Program according to your client’s goals

And obviously in PT, you wanna have the longer the better but I think about programs in 12 months. I think about where does a client wanna be in 12 months? And from that point, where are they now? Where do they wanna be? And what are the steps? What are the chronological cycles of training that they need to get to?

So, if your end goal is they wanna be on stage, let’s say for example, you know, fitness model, let’s just say 10% body fat or whatever it is, and right now they’re 20% body fat. Well, and they can’t move properly. Well, the first phase I’m gonna give them is a structural assessment phase. The last phase may be a fat loss phase. So I know I’ve got 12 months, so I’m not gonna rush because I can’t get them to the end phase without making sure they’re the first phases.

Now, again, you might be watching this, you might not know much about me. At Enterprise, we do 300 personal training sessions every single week. We’ve worked with Commonwealth … I’ve trained a Commonwealth Games gold medalist. One of my coaches has trained a Commonwealth Games gold medalist. We’ve worked with Oxygen Magazine cover models. I’ve had Mr. Australias, Miss Australias. I’ve trained, you name it, boxers, Australian title holders. And now, my team has trained over 250 first place trophies.

The other thing is we do work with, obviously, general population, and pretty much our bread and butter is transformations. But not just transformations that are over in 12 weeks. Transformations that actually stick, and that’s why our retention rate at Enterprise Fitness is so phenomenal and what we get is people get a result with us, and they don’t go backwards.

So, who am I to make such claims? Well, I know my shit, right? I’ve been doing this for a very long time and people pay me very good money. In fact, I retired as a PT, I stopped coaching at $350 an hour. So, if you’re watching this video, I’m guessing that you’re not charging that much money or even in the vicinity of charging that much money, so kid, listen to me when I say I know what I’m talking about and I’ve got a whole team of trainers who are charging very good rates that get very good results.

Key takeaways

So, to recap, there is no one program that’s gonna transform your client every single time. It’s all individualized but if you follow these key steps you’re on your way to Writing Killer Programs that Will Transform Your Clients Almost Every Single Time is:

1. Speak to your client as your champion. When you cast them in the role of what you want them to be, don’t cast this as a loser. And I say this as a fundamental mistake, which is a mindset mistake that people make all the time. They don’t believe in their clients. They don’t speak to their clients like they believe in them. So, fundamentally, you need to start speaking to your clients like you believe they’re actually gonna achieve what they’ve set out to do.

2. Assess their lifestyle and nutrition in their first session.The first session that we do at Enterprise Fitness is a nutrition and lifestyle session to see where they’re at because without that, they’re not gonna be getting the results that they want. Okay? It’s just not … you’re never gonna exercise a bad diet. You’re never gonna out exercise a bad diet, so make sure you look at their sleep, their digestion, what they’re putting in their mouth, and make sure it’s conducive to the results. But again, in that, it’s just not enough, because you have to…

3. Do regular check-ins and track their progress. Not weigh ins because body composition can change. You need to do body fat assessment and, by the way, plastic calipers don’t cut it. We use a 12 site body fat test. We actually use the biosignature, which is a great test but you gotta get the calipers, which really will tell you.

4. Do a structural assessment on your clients. See where they’re at physically, and then find out where they wanna be in 12 months. And then create your plan.

5. Write their training program according to their goals. They’re gonna have a new training program every single four weeks, and it’s gonna keep them engaged in what they’re doing. This is how to outlay your personal training services but it’s also the way to get client results.

Now, is everyone gonna listen to you? Well, maybe not. Not everyone’s ready to listen to you. But, I’m like a stubborn mule. I’ll say the same thing a thousand time and guess what? More often than not, I’ll say 90, 95% of the time, I break through. It’s just a matter of when I breakthrough to get those results. You always get those outliers that aren’t gonna do no matter what you do, but they’re not gonna make or break your business.

So, folks, enjoy this class. I will see you on the next one. My name is Mark Ottobre. Until next time we speak, train hard, supplement smart, and eat well.