Michelle Bridges 12WBT - tips to transform your fitness business

Most people know by now that you can’t out train a bad diet. As most trainers will tell their clients: You can train as “hard” as you like, but you won’t see any lasting results until you “clean up” not only your diet, but your whole attitude to food as well. Every person is different, believes Gabi Bruce. She’s the team leader of fitness and nutrition on the popular Michelle Bridges’ program, 12 Week Body Transformation or 12WBT. If you are living in Australia it is pretty safe to say that you have encountered the hugely popular life-changing program. If you’re not doing it then your neighbor probably is, along with her sister’s best friend and the friendly barista at your local café.It’s immensely popular and Gabi Bruce is proud to sit at the head of the 12WBT team.Gabi has been with the business from the start and boasts a lifetime of experience in the health and fitness arena. She is a firm believer of “walking the walk” and “talking the talk” and is truly passionate about motivating others to reach their health and fitness goals.We asked Gabi for her top tips on how to build a successful personal training career:Question: What are 3 tips for those looking to get started in the fitness industry?Number 1: Get a qualification.Gaining a Certificate III in Fitness as a minimum qualification is a must. “A trainer must always aim to continue to educate themselves as much as possible” she advises. Gabi also suggests keeping qualifications current and providing the updates to your employers as you receive them.Number 2: Get experience.“Knowledge is power, but you need to apply it in order to help others. Work with mentors who will guide you as you build your ‘real life’ experience in helping others” she adds.Number 3: Establish a good reputation.“It sounds like such a no brainer but this is something I often see people trip over when starting out” Gabi stated. Gabi suggests following up with clients to build credibility is a must for trainers- “Follow through on what you say you will do, return phone calls, emails and texts (promptly) - even if it is to say ‘no, I can’t teach that class’, or ‘no, I can’t cover that training session for you. I’m sorry” she adds.Question: What makes an outstanding fitness trainer?Number 1: Passion.“It is vital to be passionate about the industry and what you do!” she shared.Number 2: Education.“Never stop learning, there are new advances and developments to do with our industry all the time” she said. Gabi advises to always keep abreast of the latest information in order to stay relevant.Number 3: Great communication skills.“These are very important with helping you to convey your passion, knowledge and experience to your clients” she adds.Gabi suggests that trainers “Get out there and make yourself known by auditioning, doing work experience, apprenticing to another personal trainers and enlisting the help of mentors” in order to build a client base. “Say yes to all the opportunities you can even if they are the ones you like the least. Over time as your client base grows, you’ll be able to mould it into something that works great for you - but this will require you to put in the hard yards and groundwork first!” she said.Certainly, her rise to the top of the Australian fitness industry has come with a lot of dedication and effort, growing from a group fitness instructor in New Zealand in the mid 90s, to a group fitness manager and now the head of 12WBT. Gabi stresses that she loves what she does and it’s clearly paying off for her.This article was originally published by Open Colleges. The article has been shared and edited to suit OneFitStop audiences with the author's permission.