FITLETE Radio | A Personal Training News and Fitness Industry Q&A Show

We get to know Eric Wylie in this Trainer spotlight episode of FITLETE Radio.

GEORGE: Introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do and your background.

My name is Eric Wiley, and I run Lakeside Health Coaching. I'm in Lakewood, Washington, which is a suburb of Tacoma. If you don't know anything about Washington, that's also a suburb of Seattle. So kind of point of reference, I'm about an hour south of Seattle. Now, as a trainer, I haven't been in this industry my entire career. I'm in my late 50s now. Prior to being in the fitness industry, I spent 25 years in the IT industry. My undergraduate is in management information systems. After spending 25 years there, I've jumped around careers a little bit. I worked in a guitar custom shop for almost 10 years. That was a nice diversion. But I got myself in shape during that time and decided I need to start over. Being in the IT industry, I see a lot of my fellow peers struggling with their health as well. So I started over as a trainer. I ultimately progressed over the last 12 years into my own business. Primarily, I work with business owners, business operators, founders. Most of them are retired or semi-retired now. And they come to me because they understand that I know what they've come through. And with that, it's really more a case of keep me ready to do anything. They've generally retired or they're retiring. They want to be able to go skiing, go hiking, go do whatever. They've worked really hard on their business in the past. And now it's time for them to work hard on themselves. That's where I come in. I did go back to school as well, and I got a master's in kinesiology. Part-time, I teach at the local university in the kinesiology department, teaching health sciences. That gives me a great connection with younger generations as well, so that I can always put into practice things I'm working with with older adults also work with younger adults. I enjoy working with the young and old. This is pretty cool stuff.

...(Visit https://thisweek.fitletes.com/ for full show notes)

Want more Eric Wylie in your life? You can find’em here:

visit: https://lakesidehealthcoaching.com/

Instagram: https://lakesidehealthcoaching.com/

We get to know Casey Young in this Trainer spotlight episode of FITLETE Radio.

GEORGE: Introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do and your background.

Casey: My name is Casey Young, and I'm a registered dietitian and certified personal trainer. I have a bachelor's and a master's degree in nutrition. I've been a registered dietitian for about the last 20 years and a certified personal trainer for about five years. I started my business about six years ago, and right now I typically work with women over the age of 40 who are trying to get fit and lose fat. The primary focus of my business is to help women, is really just to empower women. A big focus of my training is strength training and really just trying to help women gain confidence and get strong and help them focus on their fitness and their functionality and gear them up for independence as they age. We like to focus on overall health and well-being instead of just focusing on becoming skinny and focusing on the scale. We like to emphasize overall health and well-being. I work out of my home, which is in northern Michigan, close to the Wisconsin border and way far up north in the upper peninsula of Michigan. It is cold here in the winter, but the summers and the falls are beautiful. I do work virtually. All of my services are available virtually, and I do have clients that I work with all over the world, actually. The majority of my clients are in the United States. I have a lot who live in Canada, and then I have clients as far away as Australia. So worldwide are my clients, which is wonderful.

Want more Casey Young in your life? You can find’em here:

visit: https://inspirehw.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fit.nutritionist

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Casey.Young.RD.CPT/

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inspire-fitness/id1731207251

We get to know Alex McBrairty in this Trainer spotlight episode of FITLETE Radio.

GEORGE: Introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do and your background.

My name is Alex McBrarity, and I run an online fitness coaching company called A-Team Fitness, A-Team like the old TV show. And it started as an in-person personal training business in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I'm originally from. I've since moved to the Jersey Shore, and so I'm now completely online, me and my team. And we help men and women all across the country and across different countries to really gain mastery over themselves through fitness. So my background is actually in psychology, is what my college degree is in. And I basically got that degree because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. But fortunately, I got that degree because it really helps me to understand our clients better so that we can serve them better. And I got into fitness because I was out of shape and overweight my entire childhood. And my senior year in high school, I lost 80 pounds. And that was really the start of my personal fitness journey, which then became my career as well. And I remember, I think back to that time of like what really has inspired me through the years to continue becoming the man that I am and the business owner that I am and the coach that I am. And it stems from that teenage Alex journey of I got in shape because I wanted to stop hating myself. And I remember clear moments in my high school years where I would have given anything to trade places with someone who I thought had the life that I wanted or they were cool or popular or whatever the case was. And I'm so fortunate now and where I am in my life to know that I would for no cost trade places with anyone in this world because I love who I've become. I love the person that I am. I love what I've achieved and what I am continuing to achieve and the life that I'm building for myself. And so our ultimate mission at 18 Fitness is to help others do and achieve the same thing where they are so confident in who they are. And they have stepped into their fully authentic selves that they would not want to trade places with anyone else because there is a level of confidence that you walk into your life with when that's the case.... Get the rest at https://thisweek.fitletes.com

Want more Alex McBrairty in your life? You can find’em here:

visit: https://ateamfit.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_ateamfit_/

We get to know Trevor Gutting in this Trainer spotlight episode of FITLETE Radio.

GEORGE: Introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do and your background.

My name is Trevor Gutting and I own TAG Performance & Nutrition. I'm based out of River Falls, Wisconsin, which is about 30-45 minutes from Minneapolis in St. Paul, Minnesota. So it's basically on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota there. And at TAG Performance & Nutrition, I help people become an athlete for life. And what that means is, no, you don't have to be Michael Jordan or LeBron James or Usain Bolt, any of these elite athletes. If you want to be that and you have the will and physical gifts to be that, then great, that's awesome. We can help you get there, but again, mine is more so for life. And that is being able to do everything in life that you love and enjoy without a ton of pain, with energy, and set a good example for the loved ones in your life. I work with everyone from youth athletes, which I really enjoy getting them started and showing them a love of movement and showing them that training can be – is a reward and not a punishment. And then high school, college athletes, and then your former athletes or just your general population, a grandma or a grandpa or a mom or a dad, who are looking to improve their life through training, nutrition, sleep, and building better habits. But I didn't – I wasn't originally a coach. I didn't go to school for it. I went to school at UW-Wisconsin – or UW-Wisconsin – University of Wisconsin-Stout and majored in business administration and sales and marketing. I was in sales and marketing for six or so years after college, working in like the commercial flooring, commercial roofing businesses, and I hated it. Luckily, I got laid off, blessing the skies, 2018, around Thanksgiving. And from there, I decided I'm going to chase something and do something I want. I went on to do – become an intern at like age 29, 30. So I was an old intern at a performance play – sports performance business and then got certified, became a personal trainer. And from there, then I decided to start TAE, performance and nutrition, and that kind of led me to where I am now.

GEORGE: Tell me a funny or interesting story about yourself that help's us get to know you as a human.

All right, so funny, interesting story about me. Well, I have been, if you know me, I'm a baseball player. I've been playing baseball for, since I was probably five years old, so over 30 years now, and still play. Never made it any farther than high school, got cut from college team and things like that, but I still play town ball. So town ball is really big up here in the western Wisconsin, Twin City, Minnesota area. And I've been playing for 18 years now, and it's just a fun way of a bunch of guys, former college players, some former pro players, former high school players, just current college players, all get together and play town ball, baseball, and it's just a good time to stay athletic, stay competing and be part of a team as we get older. But I've been a catcher, and one of the things that I guess I've been known to become as a catcher is a ball magnet. No one gets hit more than me, I don't think, whether it's a fall ball, whether it's just blocking balls. Our pitchers struggling to throw strikes, and I just take a beating back there, literally the backstop and blocking all the balls and getting hit with the balls. But I have a tendency of getting fall balls to the cup, and a good story was, this was probably 10 years ago or so, playing a game, catching, get a fall ball, and he can't really react to a fall ball because it's just so fast. Boom, hits it, takes it, fall ball, bounce off the ground, right up into the nut cup. I keel over on the ground, rolling around in pain, umpires asking me, oh, where'd that one get you? And I'm rolling around, oh, got me right in the balls. And one of our buddies was up in the announcer's booth, controlling the audio and announcing the game, and he decides to put on dueling banjos as I'm rolling around, writhing in pain, so that, so that's kind of just a good, funny story. We can laugh about it now, though in the moment, it was not the best feeling when you get a fall ball to the nut cup.

GEORGE: What strategies do you use to attract and retain clients in your personal training business?

Well, I think the best way to get clients, whether that's to get new ones or retain current clients, is to get them results. And whatever they're trying to do, whether maybe it's a former athlete who just wants to feel athletic again, or a mom who wants to lose 20 pounds, or a grandma who wants to be able to play with her grandkids and get on and off the floor. It's getting them those results and showing them that exercise is a reward, eating well is a reward. It's not a punishment like so many people think it is, or we punish ourselves with exercise. We punish ourselves with eating well is such a punishment. No, it's a reward. And just getting them results, I think, is the best way. And then they're going to see the results. They're going to stick with you because they know it's working. They're feeling better. They're looking better. They're moving better and performing better, whatever it is they do, whether that's work or whether that's a sport. So getting the results is, I think, is the number one way. And then my best way has been word of mouth, kind of getting out in the community, kind of like grassroots style marketing. I also substitute teach. So that's been a big help for me is people know me. And then playing on the town ball team, people know me that way. So that helps. I think they think I'm famous because I play on a town ball team. It's weird. We're just a bunch of washed up guys that still play baseball. And I think they think we're like, especially a lot of kids, they look up to you. They think you're a role model and that's kind of cool. It's humbling. And that's been a big help to me. But again, that grassroots word of mouth from having people get results and they tell their friends and that type of thing or their family members. But also content creation. I mean, yes, it can be a black hole when you get stuck in social media and everything like that. But it could also be a benefit, too, if you're using it to help people and show them what you do and how you've helped people in the past. Again, it's another way to show results. It's a way to have fun and show people how to train and how to eat and what the benefits of it can be to you and how it can improve your life.

GEORGE: What is your process for assessing a new client's fitness level and addressing their goals?

Yeah, typically I like to meet with the person first before we ever start working together, make sure it's a good fit, kind of get, because I don't do just training, I do nutrition, I do habits, sleep, kind of that whole gamut of things to help someone put all the puzzle pieces together and figure out what, where we're going to start, when we're going to start, um, but specifically with like training, again, we'll sit down, meet, figure out where they, what they've done in the past, what they like, what they didn't like, what, uh, what, what kind of injury history they have, what kind of training history they have, uh, what their current training is like, how long have they been training or how long haven't they been, how long they haven't been off, because a lot of people, I find a lot of people will like kind of lie because they want to tell you they've been doing something that they haven't, um, and then we, we got them, because I want to meet them where they're at, I don't want to rush them into things, like you can't take someone who has, has been sitting on the couch for 10 years and immediately start sprinting, um, with them or some super heavy squat or something like that, because it's probably not going to work, they're probably going to get hurt, they're probably going to o…

We get to know Sarah Polacco in this Trainer spotlight episode of FITLETE Radio.

GEORGE: Introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do and your background.

Hey everyone, my name is Sarah Polacco. I own S&P Fitness. I live in Medford, Massachusetts, which is just outside of Boston. I have been in the fitness industry now for, I think, 11 years. I think we're getting close to 12 years. It's at that point now where I'm like, okay, maybe I might just stop counting. And I absolutely love working in the fitness industry. When I was younger, in college, I bounced around from major to major. My actual major is language, culture, and world trade, with like a focus in some kind of like global finance or some s**t like that. It's a lot of fancy words and it doesn't really mean much, but what I decided when after college is I really wanted to go back and get into fitness. I've always wanted to just help people feel good about themselves, feel strong. I also really wanted to be active in my job, and so this has just fulfilled really all those desires for me. As I've grown throughout the years and really gone on a journey figuring out my own mental health, I have also wanted to make sure that I make my coaching space a really safe place for people. I realized how important mental health was to everyone that was coming in. As I was doing intake forms, it was over and over and over again, people would be like, I'm here for my mental health. I want to feel better about myself physically and emotionally, and so that is what I really try to do, is create a safe space where if you're having a rough day, that's fine. You can be in whatever state you're in and we can approach your workout in whatever way feels best for you that day, and I like to try to help teach people how they can do that, how they can calibrate their workout, and maybe if they're feeling good, okay, let's punch it up. Let's go for it, and if they're not feeling as good, okay, maybe we bring it back down, like just listening to your body more. So that's a bit about me and my business.

GEORGE: Tell me a funny or interesting story about yourself that help's us get to know you as a human.

Okay, it took me a while to think of a funny or interesting story, and I was worried for a minute that I wasn't funny or interesting. But I think I came up with a good one, so here you go. Two years ago, I decided I really need to escape the winter here in Massachusetts, and I was going to spend a whole month in Puerto Rico. So the first week, I was there with two of my friends, and we go on this excursion. It's the second day that we're there. And this excursion, they take you into the jungle of Puerto Rico, and they literally take you to someone's house. And when we get there, they have the cutest dog and the cutest little puppy. And I am a huge dog lover, so I bend down, I start snuggling these dogs, and our guide goes, They're adoptable. And I'm just like, oh my god, she's so cute. What an adorable little nugget. And so we go on this excursion. We're like gallivanting in the jungle. We're climbing. We're doing things on ropes. We're in waterfalls. It's amazing. It's wonderful. We come back to this family's house, and they give us this beautiful lunch, this beautiful spread. And I'm still thinking about this adorable little puppy. And my friend goes, what are you going to name her? And my other friend's like, oh my god, that's it. It's done. So I gave her the name of Lettie. And basically, the guide told me I could contact them and let them know if I was interested. And so I wasn't allowed to have the dog at my Airbnb, so I had to wait until the end of the trip. But in the last two days of the trip, I was able to get Lettie. And I had to hide her in my Airbnb for two days. It was a very, very stressful thing the last couple days in getting her to the US, which is a whole other story. But I was able to bring her home, and she is my little baby Lettie. She is still a jungle dog. She's absolutely nuts, but she's such a sweetheart. And I love her so much. And I hope that story was interesting. Maybe not funny, but I hope it was interesting.

GEORGE: What strategies do you use to attract and retain clients in your personal training business?

So this is an interesting question because for a huge chunk of my career, I worked at a gym where I didn't really have to think about what are the strategies that we're going to use in order to bring people in, but we very much did have to think about the quality of the service. So you know, how good we were at coaching and creating a community. And that did help not only bring people in, but also retain people. So that has led me in working for myself to think about the same thing of like, how can I create the best experience possible for this person coming in? So I try to think of from beginning to end, to all the bits in between of how can I create the best experience for them? How can I make sure people feel safe and feel comfortable? How can I make sure that they're feeling listened to, that they're attaining their goals, that they're enjoying the program, that they're moving safely through everything? Those are all bits of how can I be the best coach that I possibly can. I know for beginner coaches, that can feel frustrating because sometimes you want like, okay, you do A, B, and C, and then you'll get clients. But truly, it's just like fitness program where you need to kind of like take your time, be the best that you can be, and those results will come over time. Now I will say that, that has really held true for a lot of my in-person coaching, but I am trying to expand more into more online coaching. And that has forced me to have to think a little bit about getting clients in different ways. Now, in whatever techniques I'm using, or whatever strategies I'm using, I do always think about what are my personal values and what are my business values, and those for me are one and the same. I need to think about what feels good for me, and what do I want to make sure, what message do I want to make sure the person is getting from me? I want to make sure that I don't feel icky, that I don't feel like I'm taking advantage of people, that I'm not feeling like really weirdly salesy, that I just want to be like, this is who I am, this is my product, and if this is a good fit, then wonderful. If it's not, then I'm also happy to pass you along to someone who's a better fit for.

GEORGE: What is your process for assessing a new client's fitness level and addressing their goals?

So when I sit down with a potential new client, I do a 30 to 45 minute call and I ask them questions like, how do they hear about me? What are their fitness goals? And then I like to have clarifying questions of what does that look like to you? So someone might say something like, I want to feel stronger. I want to feel more flexible. And I might be, I might want to ask, what does that look like to you? Or how will your life look differently? If you've attained this, if you say, like, I feel strong, what will you be able to do that you can't do now? So just having more clarifying questions so that you're both very clear on what that means. I also really like to ask why it's important. So even if they've kind of already said, like, I want to be stronger and more flexible, so that way I can play with my kids better. I might reiterate, you've already said that this is important for playing with your kids and for aging or whatever it may be. Tell me a little bit more about why this is so important to you. And I like that clarifier for myself, but also for them. It helps make things really clear for them as well. The next question I also really like to ask, which I think it might not be as common of one, is how do you relate to fitness and movement? And just the way someone answers this question can tell me a lot about a person. So someone might go into, like, their relationship with a sport and how and their identi…

We get to know Lorelei Capuzzi in this Trainer spotlight episode of FITLETE Radio.

GEORGE: Introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do and your background.

My name is Lorelei Capuzzi. I was fortunate enough to get my undergraduate degree from Georgetown University many moons ago. I have a number of certifications. I have my personal training certification. I am a women's coaching specialist, a menopause coaching specialist. Both of those certifications are through the Incredible Girls Gone Strong Academy. I also have a pain-free performance specialization. And I started at my local YMCA. I loved working there. It gave me the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients. I got the chance to work with individuals with intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, youth, elderly, athletes, all of it. And I genuinely think it made me a better coach, and I'm so grateful for my time there. Post-COVID, I switched gears and opened up my own business, Siren Call Fitness. And I actually operate out of my home gym just outside of Boston. I get the chance to work with a lot of different clients, but I think my true passion is helping middle-aged women, kind of 35 to 40 plus, fall in love with the process of weightlifting. I grew up, I'm 49. I grew up in a time of thin at all costs. Exercise was a means to burn calories, low-fat diets, all of it. And I really want to shift the narrative to helping women feel empowered, really embrace their strength, find their strength, and fall in love with the process. And to finally kind of put themselves on the list. Oftentimes, we have this long list of people that we love and we care for, and we're not always on that list. And so encouraging my clients to do that is tremendously rewarding.

GEORGE: Tell me a funny or interesting story about yourself that help's us get to know you as a human.

So in April of 2022, I had a niece who was playing professional soccer in Lithuania. And my great-grandparents were from there. I had the opportunity to go a couple of years earlier with my parents and one of my sisters, and it was amazing. So I decided this was going to be the perfect opportunity for me to take my five children to Lithuania. Mind you that this was very soon after Ukraine was invaded by Russia. So I planned this whole trip. We get there in one piece, and I have a neon green nine-passenger diesel stick shift van. Great. We get in the car. We're in the parking garage trying to make our way out. And I don't have reception, so I don't have directions yet. But, you know, you kind of got to get going with the flow of traffic. Anyhoo, I got onto the highway, start going in one direction, only to see a sign that says Kiev this way. Needless to say, I panicked, thinking that's not the way I want to be heading with my children. So I pulled over on the highway in Lithuania, had a moment of panic, then righted the ship, managed to get the car moving in the right direction. Only to then, several hours later, have one of my sons confess to me that he had also seen the sign and also panicked, but somehow managed to stay calm, cool, and collected and not freak out as I was internally in the car. So I feel like this paints a pretty picture of probably a not entirely sane woman doing things, but somehow managing to find a way to make it work.

GEORGE: What strategies do you use to attract and retain clients in your personal training business?

So piggybacking from coming off of working in a commercial gym where I had the opportunity to train a lot of clients, when I transitioned to being in business for myself, a lot of those clients chose to come with me, for which I was tremendously grateful. You know, I'd been working with clients at my local YMCA. The Y had to shut down, as most of the world did back in 2020. And I think a lot of people weren't entirely comfortable returning to that kind of public gym setting. And so my advantage was that I have a home gym and, you know, one client at a time working with me. And I think that was attractive to a lot of people. I am the mother of five children. I have coached soccer in our town for many years. And so another avenue that a lot of clients come to me from is parents of kids that I have coached over the years, which is, you know, and that kind of word of mouth. So I think it's important for people to know, like, and trust you. And so a lot of the people who knew and trusted, and I guess liked me for some reason, chose to come and work with me. And I genuinely believe the best way to retain clients is to create deep and meaningful connections. It's not just about, hey, you're going to lift this weight for 10 reps and, you know, call it a day. You know, I think one of the most meaningful parts of my job is when someone lets you in, when someone is willing to be vulnerable with you and kind of share their struggles and their histories with you. I don't take that lightly ever. I am always humbled when people choose to be open and honest and vulnerable with me. And so I do really find just the human connection is a great way to keep clients.

GEORGE: What is your process for assessing a new client's fitness level and addressing their goals?

So I was really fortunate. My first boss who hired me as a brand new personal trainer who had literally zero training history working with clients really took me under his wing and kind of pointed me in the direction of really amazing coaches in our field. And so I immediately started following and learning from Mike Boyle, Dan John, Tony Gentilcore, Eric Cressy, all of these really phenomenal coaches who'd been in the business for a long time. And so one of the things that I learned quickly from Tony Gentilcore was, you know, the fact that most people don't really love to be assessed in kind of like, hey, you do this and I'm going to watch you and then tell you all the things that are wrong with you and, you know, that you don't know how to move your body or you have no body awareness, these kind of things. And so my assessment of clients is really walking them through a manageable first session. I like to get people performing foundational movement patterns, you know, so I'll ask them to do a squat, hinge, lunge, push, pull, carry, those kind of things, without telling them, hey, I'm watching you to see how you move and what's wrong with you and then I'm going to give you a laundry list of things that you should be ashamed of. And that's just me. I know that I get self-conscious when eyes are on me and so I try to remember that clients coming in, especially those who might be deconditioned or this is their first time doing, you know, strength training exercises, it can be intimidating. And so I like to kind of walk them through a session and it's less about, you know, kind of highlighting any malfunctions and more about figuring out like, okay, this is the path that we're going to take to get you towards where you want to be.

GEORGE: What certifications do you hold, and how do you stay updated on the latest fitness trends and research?

In addition to my personal training certification, I hold two certifications from the Girls Gone Strong Academy, the Women's Coaching Specialization Certification and the Menopause Coaches Specialization. I also have the Pain-Free Performance Specialization through John Russen, and each of these certifications also have ongoing education groups online where you're continually interacting with and learning from other coaches. Each also have like very active Facebook groups where you can kind of pick each other's brains and learn in that way. I'm also connected with just a lot of coaches like you, George, who I've met from various conferences, etc., and tend to do the same with them as well. You know, what's working with your clients, what's not working with your clients, or, hey, I've had this pop up with a client, any experience, any tips, any tricks. So I would say in addition to actual continuing education thr…

In this Trainer spotlight episode of FITLETE Radio, we get to know John Moljo.

GEORGE: Introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do and your background.

My name is John Moljo, and I'm the proud owner of Team Moljo Strength and Conditioning. We are an appointment-based training facility located in Westchester County, New York. We offer private training and small group training. Our facility is about 8,500 square feet and the primary clientele we deal with is student athletes grades 5 and up and the adult demographic age 45 to 65. I have five team members here who are all incredible and awesome in their own unique way. If you are familiar with me you know that I tend to represent the acronym STRONG on either a hat or shirt.

STRONG represents our business's core values, my core values, standing for self-discipline the S, teachable the T, relentless for the R, O for optimistic, noble for the N, and grateful the G.

The mission has been simple, we help build a strong and healthy community in a fun and empowering environment. I have worked in fitness exclusively for my entire professional career. Once I graduated college I became a personal trainer at a local health club and three years after that I opened my first facility and here I am still doing it in year 16.

GEORGE: Tell me a funny or interesting story about yourself that help's us get to know you as a human.

So I'll start this story by giving I guess a fun fact or an interesting fact about me. And I think this fact will help people kind of profile me right out of the gate. But my favorite piece of fitness equipment is the air bike, which is arguably the number one most hated piece of fitness equipment amongst coaches and clients. And for years now, I've been an avid air bike rider looking to challenge myself, push myself, design programming, just pretty much trying to bring the air bike to center stage for people, because I think its benefits are deserving of that. But an interesting story was I told myself in 2021, wow, the first blizzard that we get, I'm going to take this air bike outside and I'm going to do a 999 calorie ride. And for those of you who are unaware, 999 calorie ride on an air bike is a very challenging and daunting workout. And my goal was to do it in under one hour. So I lug this bike outside. I live in New York, pretty decent blizzard. It's snowing and I just start going and the snow is snowing so hard that it's blocking the screen. So I can't really see my RPMs. I can't see any data. So I'm like wiping the screen off without trying to press any buttons. And I finally hit a button that stops the workout. And one of the most important things of doing a 999 ride is actually getting the screen to populate when you're done and say 999. So 255 calories in the bike stopped and reset. I came back in for a hot second, threw a quick temper tantrum to my manager, got back on the bike and just restarted the workout. 65 minutes later, the workout was done. The last 15, 20 minutes was absolutely miserable. The bike was squeaking. The belt was icing. My normal pace is about 70 RPMs. I was going like 50 RPMs. It felt like 70, but the workout got completed. I share that story because I think what I like to highlight about myself is putting myself in positions of discomfort, challenging myself, getting out of my comfort zone. And as a business owner, I think that's a very important quality.

GEORGE: What strategies do you use to attract and retain clients in your personal training business?

With my primary education coming from business, that's been pretty advantageous for me running a successful fitness business. And what I have found over time is successful coaches don't really just rely on their ability to structure programming and deliver the X's and O's of fitness. From experience with some of the philosophies we teach here at Team Muldrow and what I have seen through years in the industry and being at seminars and workshops, is some of the best coaches are great people and they're great people's people. They understand the importance of developing and cultivating a strong relationship with somebody and what it takes to maintain a relationship with someone. And part of what has made us successful here at Team Muldrow is we have great people who can become great coaches. And too many times we see people who are great coaches in the X's and O's, but they're not necessarily great people. They don't have the soft people skills to engage in a relationship, make someone feel comfortable, make them feel special, make their day. So I think, one, having great people skills is an excellent way to attract and retain clients. Next would be, I think, obviously your professional expertise. People come and see coaches for some level of education, some level of results. They want to make some progress. So you need to understand how to deliver that to people, but stressing the importance that how you deliver that to people is going to be best if you individualize it to that person and their lifestyle. So someone's ability to look at someone's entire life as a whole and make recommendations based on their entire life as opposed to structuring a program based on some type of end result is, A, will allow someone to be more successful, but, B, I think demonstrates a higher level of care and coaching. So I think people skills and looking at someone's entire life can really be advantageous in terms of building a coaching business. It sure has been for us.

GEORGE: What is your process for assessing a new client's fitness level and addressing their goals?

Any new client we take on undergoes some type of fitness consultation. And generally that consultation is a two-way street of education. And what I mean by that is, A, the client needs to educate us on as many variables in their life as possible. Everyone is going to have some type of end goal. They want to lose X amount of weight. They want to do this lift, perform this or perform that. And as a coach, you need to understand that fitness and exercise is a very small variable, for the most part, in contributing to a client achieving their goals. There's going to be a lot of other variables that you can help impact and educate on that are going to allow them to experience success. So the first direction of education is the client informing the coach about as much as possible. What do you do for work? What are your stress levels like? What are your recovery modalities? How do you sleep? What's nutrition like? What are you doing for exercise? What injuries? What restrictions? What limitations? Give me as much information as possible because the more information you provide me, the better of a program I can create both in and outside of the gym to help you achieve your goals. And then the second portion of education obviously comes from the coach helping that client in those areas make certain adjustments. Clients are unaware about the benefits of sleep. They're unaware about how they should be training, which is why they're coming to you. They're unaware about adequate nutrition. They're unaware about stress management techniques. So you as a coach need to educate them on as much of that as possible, but also let them know that, hey, this is going to be a process and we're going to tackle things little by little. But the long term plan is that we eventually have provided some education and have taken some serious steps into making progress in these areas. So you need to learn about as many variables from the client as possible. And as a coach, you need to let them know about all of the variables you can provide support for them. So that's generally like a 60 minute conversation.

GEORGE: What certifications do you hold, and how do you stay updated on the latest fitness trends and research?

Regarding certifications, I am a CSCS through the NSCA. I have my PPSC level 1, and I generally travel one to two times a year for workshops that are generally at least one, two…

In this Trainer spotlight episode of FITLETE Radio, we get to know Kate Moore.

GEORGE: Introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do and your background.

Hi, I'm Kate Moore. I'm disruptive by nature. I'm a ginger woman of the South who cooks with butter, believes in the art of putzing around, and is deeply familiar with being too much, too fiery, and too big. The other side of the I'm-not-enough coin that so many of us get handed in this lifetime. I grew up playing the roles that I was shown. Girl, woman, wife, daughter, mother. Nice, confused, and right. Small in body and power. Like a switch in the midst of a breakup in my early 20s, that voice came in like a sword in defense of my life and said, girl, this ain't it. It can be better. Go for it. I went for it, and yes, I've looked back many times, but I wouldn't turn around for anything. I've listened to her ever since. Over the years, her voice has gotten louder, and I understand her more. She is wise and firm, and she is fiercely kind. I quit my job in the music business in 2014 because I was told that a woman could be one of two things in that industry, a doormat or a b***h. It was a warning, because I am the latter. I opened up my first gym in Nashville in 2014. It was the gym that I needed. I signed all of our emails. I'm glad you're here, no matter how you're here. We believe that all bodies are good bodies in just the way that they are. I learned to be in relationship with mine just as she is. That gym disrupted fitness as it currently existed. She was living proof that it could be better. I started co-leading Heartfelt Retreats in 2016. They disrupted our circle's idea that having a self-study practice should be fueled by you're not enough and this will fix you, or you're too much and here's how to be less. The retreats grew, evolved, and impacted us all in ways that we never saw coming, because they show you how to be who you are and that who you are is incredibly good. I sold Get Fit 615 in 2021 to Jess Thompson, who's grown and evolved to the physical space into the Radical Wellness Collective. In 2023, after a big move back to my hometown and some huge personal shifts, looking for a place to become a trainer and not an owner, I walked into the doors of More Than Fitness before they were open to the public and the second that I saw Russell Moore, the owner, also a Ginger and also a Moore. He had hand-painted all the dumbbells in rainbow colors. I knew it was my new gym home. I'm proud to call myself a business partner in More Than Fitness as of 2025. Through the self-study program, The Duality of Harm and Healing in Fitness, Yoga, and Wellness, a training and limited series podcast, and through my work as a trainer at More Than Fitness in Richmond, Virginia, I'm here to help trainers, coaches, and clients alike become more fully who they are. I help people bridge the gap between who they want to be and how they actually show up by showing them just how worthy of it all they actually are.

GEORGE: Tell me a funny or interesting story about yourself that help's us get to know you as a human.

Kate: I just threw the best birthday party of, for starters, my life, but also some people who came to it said that it was the best party that they'd literally ever been to. There was an 80-year-old woman named Barbara there, and she had flat out told me that she'd never been to a better party, so we'll just start there. But I've never thrown myself a birthday party, and then I woke up, like, the morning after my 24—wait, no, how old am I? 34? And I was like, it's time to throw myself a birthday party. So for a whole year, I planned my 35th birthday party, and the theme of the birthday party was You're So Easy to Love, and I sang for all of my friends. I hadn't sung in public since I was in high school, and I made the playlist. I flew a friend in from Nashville to play the piano for me. I brought all of my closest friends. There were a hundred red roses in the house. I made my own skirt out of tulle. And yeah, I cried the whole time, and my dad sang with me, and it was the best thing to date that I've ever done for myself.

GEORGE: What strategies do you use to attract and retain clients in your personal training business?

You know, I had a yoga teacher way back in the day who was like, Kate, this is a good thing about you and it's going to be something that makes your life really hard. And honestly, she's right, but it's impossible for me to not be who I am. But the nice thing about that is when I'm out in the world, I am pretty much the same flavor of myself that you're going to get as a personal trainer. So I wear the gym, I wear gym merch all the time. I like, I like to feel like I'm like on a team. And so I wear gym merch out into the world and I love going to a coffee shop or like, I don't know, I like, I like things where people are. And so I go where people are. And before you know it, I'm like chit chatting with somebody at the table next to me. They're like, oh, what is this shirt that you have on? And it's either like something that I do in coaching or it's gym related. And before I know it, I'm talking to this person about my business. They're feeling seen, heard, understood. They recognize that I'm kind. And then a lot of times there's just like there's either just a draw towards me or not. So like I hit them with a little bit of authenticity and then they're like, wait, how do I get more of you? And so like when I help people bridge the gap between who they are and who that like how they actually want to show up. Like what I'm what what I think is like being who you are is the best way to get new trainers and whether that means being who you are. I mean, to get new clients and whether that means being who you are on the Internet or if the Internet like isn't your place. Like, how are you going out into the world and being who you are? And then just like letting people know that also this is what I do for work. But yeah, the best strategy, I think, for getting new clients for me personally. And I do think that this is different for trainers, but it's where the gym merch and then like let yourself be open to talking to people. Because then they'll just see you and they'll see the merch and they'll have that little moment of like brand recognition. Because building like a great book of clients happens one person at a time, and I don't do that. I don't like that whole like toss the net and see who you get. I like that one at a time, like slow build.

GEORGE: What is your process for assessing a new client's fitness level and addressing their goals?

I really think of every single session as an assessment, honestly. My bread and butter of client, the people who I like working with the most is like gym pop. I love working with people who are intimidated by gyms and like just kind of new to movement, honestly, or like figuring out how maybe do they like to move. I love working with people who are trying to figure that out because I, you know, I think we should all be moving because I think fitness is supposed to help you feel good. So one of the things that I think can be really intimidating for people is the idea of coming to a gym and then having to go through this like assessment process where some trainer might take a bunch of measurements or take some pictures and then run you through certain movements and then try to figure out like your VO2 max and like all that kind of stuff. I don't do anything like that with clients. I've never taken measurements. I've never weighed a client. There's not a scale at the gym. So I use, I ask a lot of questions. I ask a lot of questions about like, hey, tell me, tell me what this has like been like for you. Like what is your, what would you say your general exercise routine is like now? You know, like I think people want to be, wow. Yeah. They're afraid they're going to be shamed at a gym. And so I think the assessment process can often feel really sha…

GEORGE: Introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do and your background.

Chris: My name is Chris Liddle. I am certified to coach people in both fitness and general nutrition. My official business name is Chris Little Fitness, but I also have a trade name Invigorate Training, where you can find me at invigoratetraining.com. You can also find me at christianlittle.com. And to get there, you have to spell little with D's, L-I-D-D-L-E. My job title is typically personal trainer, online coach, but I also do a lot of media consulting, both inside and outside of the fitness industry. I work for businesses in the U.S. I do a lot of contracts and just like consulting throughout the fitness industry. I do videography, drone stuff. I produce podcasts as well as help behind the scenes at the occasional fitness conference. I'm kind of just one of those guys that wears a lot of hats. I like to travel and as such that kind of supports me in working with people where sometimes travel is required to meet them at conferences, support them with different things, or solve problems. I would say the mission of my business is whenever I consider everything that I do, I like helping people and solving problems, no matter what the odds are, no matter what the obstacles are, and no matter how creative or innovative I have to be. Even in a struggling economy, I like to help people get one percent better, whether it's with their fitness and health or whether it's with their business.

GEORGE: Tell me a funny or interesting story about yourself that help's us get to know you as a human.

Chris: First and foremost, I love that we are telling funny stories because that's one of the ways that I connect with my clients. And with that said, I would love to share with you a funny story that occurred between me and a client back in about 2019. I was working with a female soon-to-be mom, and she was squatting. And now, unfortunately, in one of the squat repetitions, she may have let out a little bit of a stinker. However, I was fast on my feet, and I did happen to locate the resident duck of the gym. I was like, oh man, those ducks, those ducks making noise again. And so I was able to remove any embarrassment for bodily functions that, of course, the duck had made. The duck just periodically shows up whenever these coincidental situations arise where sometimes people question if they, in fact, farted or not. Now, the duck tends to leave me hanging when I fart, and I just have to take the blame for that. But fortunately, I have been able to conceal most of them by just kind of going for a little walk on another part of the gym. This is a term that we like to refer to as crop dusting.

GEORGE: What strategies do you use to attract and retain clients in your personal training business?

Chris: I am a professional yapper. This is a phrase that I saw on somebody's Instagram bio recently and it resonated with me because when I was younger people would tell me that I talked too much. I have found a way to leverage that within this industry. So when I first started out I've spent a majority of my career self-employed or having to source out a lot of my own clients and so the way that I do that is I just continue to make connections no matter whether I'm busy or whether I'm not busy. I get myself out to events. I talk to people in my community. I talk to lots of people on Instagram. If I'm feeling shy or introverted I put them on my podcast. I just find ways to be present even if that is just simply registering for different sports teams and playing some rec basketball, soccer, etc. Volunteering, going to educational events, finance seminars, business events and when I do have clients then I treat them like they're my only client and I make sure that they understand that their feedback is valuable. I am extremely understanding of anything that may come up where they might have to cancel on me because that resonates with them. It enhances the quality of testimonials that I get and with that said I gather testimonials from everybody. I will gauge their comfort level to see if I can do a video testimonial or whether I can do a google testimonial or just a written testimonial whether it can be public or whether it has to be anonymous and then I showcase that throughout my website which I'm actually in the midst of upgrading right now so then it'll showcase even more testimonials and I will improve the SEO of these things so just making sure that it's very visible if somebody's doing a google search that they'll be able to see that I am a trainer in the Edmonton area for in-person and that I offer online as well for anybody who just might be broadly searching for an online fitness coach and throughout all those ways in addition to any podcast appearances I do in my own podcast my own hosting of it myself that is how I get the word out. I make sure to have business cards in my pocket and I make sure to say hi and be kind.

GEORGE: What is your process for assessing a new client's fitness level and addressing their goals?

Chris: So whether it's online or in person, I'll get a general assessment of what their body weight squat looks like. Sometimes I'll have them squat to a chair just so that they kind of have an end range of where they have to go, especially if they aren't used to squatting regularly. And then in addition, I will want to see their plank, their push-up, sometimes their wall sit, depending on the context of the situation. Sometimes I'll also ask to see some single leg exercises, even if it's just like a single leg balance on one leg and reach for the floor or a single leg squat to a box. And I'm just conscious of letting them know that there's no expectation that it has to be perfect. And I just try to make sure that they aren't too nervous about how the exercise looks. It's simply sort of a lens to help me select the most appropriate exercises for them as the program unfolds.

GEORGE: What certifications do you hold, and how do you stay updated on the latest fitness trends and research?

Chris: The current certifications that I hold are the Certified Functional Strength Coach certification as well as Precision Nutrition Coach certification, but on top of that I've gone to a lot of in-person seminars where there's a lot of hands-on stuff, like for example I've gone to Dr. Pat Davidson's seminar, I have done a lot of like online mentorship stuff, a lot of stuff with Compound Performance, and because I work so closely with so many coaches, I get to see a lot of different case studies, and I can compare notes with people. I work inside of two different fitness businesses where I can understand some of the roadblocks that might come up, and if I'm not helping somebody else overcome a roadblock, they're there to support me. I go to probably on average two in-person seminars or conferences I should say per year, and I generally seek out continuing education based on my client base, so I don't necessarily look for things that are for my own interests. If I need to be better at communication, or if I need to be better at understanding a certain demographic, or assessing things for a certain demographic based on the clients that I'm currently working with, then I will just look for perhaps an online certification or course, or I will seek out certain speakers to understand their point of view, their career lessons, and anything that might help me to improve, but it's just it's a constant ongoing process where I would never get to a point where I would consider myself finished learning, or fully evolved, or fully certified. You can never stop learning, and as an aside, I think one of the best things that I've done for myself is follow programming of other coaches just to get an idea of what it's like to be a client, and what it's like to do a different style of programming, and also just seeing how they coach, how they cue, and how they describe exercises.

GEORGE: How do you envision your personal…

GEORGE: Introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do and your background.

Alison: My name is Alison Katschkowsky and I am a 30-year health and fitness entrepreneur. I've been in the industry since I was a college student where I started teaching group fitness and cleaning machines for $5 an hour at the time in a very large public gym, which I think for those of you listening that are in the old category like me can probably remember those days. That was really the best way that we had to serve our clients was in person. And so being that my decision to go into fitness was really a plan B and has subsequently rewarded me every single year since then is that this really is my plan B that turned into a plan A. I started out working with individuals on a one-on-one basis and in groups before I opened my first brick-and-mortar studio. And I built a small team, was incredibly successful, and then about 10 years ago started pivoting more into the business space. My expertise has always really been in getting really creative on how to create different ways to make money. I can remember my very first business was a lemonade stand on the golf course when I was a child, and I needed to make some extra money for a trip that I wanted to go on. And my parents had told me that I could go, but that I needed to earn the money to go. And so I was never ashamed or shy to do that. In fact, I always sort of saw it as a challenge. And so what's really surprising now that I've been in the industry as long as I have and now that I'm for the most part a business coach is that I love showing other entrepreneurs the hidden opportunities where they can actually make money in their business. Now, because fitness is my first love, I still work with a handful of private clients. My expertise mostly lies in functional, everyday fitness, helping you stay fit, healthy, energetic for the lifetime, and avoiding injury. Most of the people that I work with are over the age of 55. They've been around the block a few times, and they're looking to, quote unquote, keep all the parts moving in the right way. And so that's really my job. And I love being creative and finding a customized, personalized approach that really works for them so that they don't feel like they're just being pigeonholed into something that works for everybody else. So that's what I do.

GEORGE: Tell me a funny or interesting story about yourself that help's us get to know you as a human.

Alison: I love this question because I feel like it's so important as professionals that we show different sides of us, right? It makes us more human in a world that seems like it's becoming more and more reliant on technology and being robotic. The story I'm going to tell you is one that, it's a story where I like to say how I ended up where I am. It's really the plan B that turned into a plan A for me. When I was a junior high school student, I decided I wanted to become a physical therapist. I had watched a friend of mine rehab a pretty serious shoulder injury and she was able to get back in the pool and compete at a national level. I was blown away and I thought that is what I want to do. Being an athlete and somebody who was already into fitness, it was really not a hard decision to make. So I planned my entire college career around doing that. Then when the time came to apply, of course it's very competitive, I had great grades, recommendations, the whole thing, and I got waitlisted. So I reapplied and I got waitlisted again. I really started to think, okay, I'm really going to need something, I think, to do so that I can actually go to PT school. That was the great irony in the room, is that I felt like I needed to actually do more to get in. So I decided on going to graduate school in exercise science and in fitness, which is consequently what has become my career. The funny thing is, is that not only was I accepted right away to start into my program at East Carolina University, which is where I subsequently got my master's, I never really looked back after that first year. I started getting opportunities that fell in my lap, literally, and opportunities that I didn't even see coming. So my lesson is, was, and still is, is that sometimes the universe knows more than we do. The great irony in all of this is, is this is exactly what I teach my clients, when we're reworking in our businesses, when we're, you know, reworking ourselves to position ourselves better for the future, is that sometimes the universe always has something better in mind, because we get really set on thinking that we have all the answers, when really we don't. And that's the really funny thing, and that's one of the things that I love teaching my clients now.

GEORGE: What strategies do you use to attract and retain clients in your personal training business?

Alison: Well, when I first started, really not the only way, but the best way to get clients was in person. And so if you think back with me, for those of you listening, and remember back in the 80s and the 90s when you would go to the big, large in-person gym or health club, chances are you probably walked in with a free pass or a tent card. Remember those little fold cards that you could actually get off of a restaurant table or from some other type of public place? The other thing that we did a lot was flyers and lead boxes. And so my first employer out of grad school was I worked for a chain of health clubs to sort of learn the business of the industry. And we got really good at those outbound strategies, but one of the other things that we got really good at was what at the time was called cold calling, but now I really call it reach outs. It's a strategy that I teach my clients now when they're trying to really utilize the online space to build their business. In-person isn't going anywhere. In-person is still, I think, going to be a very big player in our industry for the future. But the online space is growing at exponential speed, and this is where all of the changes are happening. And so if you're a business owner in the health, fitness, or wellness space now, you really have to have a working knowledge, in my opinion, to be able to work both. So in order to retain clients, to answer your question, I still think it's really important to be creative with in-person strategies and sometimes have an in-person strategy that can work today is some type of in-person event. Sometimes it could be a ladies night out. It can be a men's night out. It can be a retreat or an event. This is something that we do a lot of here at CU Fitness and the Allison K Agency, which are my businesses. But online, one of the strategies that I teach is what I call the rule of three, and this is where you're using your content to attract. You're also networking a lot through a number of different means, and you're using podcasting, not just for yourself, but to build what I call your virtual footprint. This is your working online presence. I really believe the businesses for the future are going to be using both means. In other words, both online and in person to help build their business.

GEORGE: What is your process for assessing a new client's fitness level and addressing their goals?

Alison: I love this question because I feel like it's a great opportunity to speak into some new ways to assess fitness, but also to remind people of really the old ways that we used to do it. You know, it's like I said, when I first started and we were a hundred percent in person, we would take measurements, we would use a skinfold caliper to take body fat, which I personally believe if you know what you're doing and your technique is good, it's still fairly accurate. But the key is to really understand not only how to take the measurements, but how to put them into a system to give you the best overall outcome. Most of the time what we use is a table. You know, you would use a table for the total of the skin folds versus what yo…