Top PTs gather to share learning from the best at UK’s first Meeting of the Minds
‘Don’t stop learning’. That was the verdict from some of the industry’s top Personal Trainers and thought leaders at this year’s Meeting of the Minds, hosted by FitPro and Lifetime Training, who almost unanimously voted on the importance of ongoing education and training beyond becoming a Level 3 Personal Trainer.
The day-long educational event – Movement, Mindset and Metabolism – was the UK’s first Meeting of the Minds (MOTM), which originated more than seven years ago in Colorado under FitPro’s PTontheNet, and saw around 160 leading industry professionals receive exclusive invites to attend ExCel in London and learn from world-renowned speakers and authors.
Presenters included Rodney Corn, Annette Lang and Anatomy Trains author Thomas Myers, as well as industry innovators such as Bobby Cappuccio, who explained that ‘all successful fitness trends are community driven’ and Douglas Heel, who believes ‘if a client isn’t ready to do the work it’s not your job to fix them’.
Brian St Pierre advised the audience to ‘only make nutrition as complicated as it needs to be, not as complicated as it can be’, whilst Ian O’Dwyer controversially claimed our industry is lacking direction and leadership, and Anthony Carey posed the question: if tissue heals why does pain remain? and explained it’s bio-psycho-social – not all in the mind or all in the body.
On registration, attendees filled in a questionnaire and, throughout the event, took part in an interactive wall survey giving their opinion on sector specific issues, such as ‘how is technology changing the way you work with clients?’, ‘do you believe the health and fitness industry is evolving at a fast enough pace?’ and ‘what would be your top tip to becoming a successful PT?’.
One of the main takeaways from the day was the value of learning with 99% of those voting on the interactive wall saying education beyond a Level 3 Personal Trainer qualification was important or very important.
“This was backed up in the registration survey where over a third independently said the key to being a successful PT was knowledge and education and a quarter, unprompted, gave their top tip as ‘don’t stop learning’,” explained Mike Jones, Commercial Director for Lifetime Training.
Not surprisingly, the registration questionnaire also showed there was an overwhelming importance placed on the client and client relationships, with attendees citing the most important factor to being a successful PT as listening, communicating and interpersonal skills (36%), while deciding another top tip to being a successful PT was all about building and maintaining good client relationships (35%).
“With so many talented minds all in one place, we sought to use the event to capture new thinking and find breaking trends, which we certainly achieved through the registration questionnaire and interactive survey wall,” continued Jones. “Our development team will put all of this feedback into use when looking at new initiatives for 2016, to ensure we continue to create products and services fit to drive our industry forward.”
Attending the event, which was also partnered by Matrix, TRX and PTA Global, was well-known fitness expert, Dean Hodgkin, who is currently working with the Energie Group and Ragdale Hall. He said: “The event was educational, enlightening and entertaining in equal measure. The opportunity to jump off the roundabout for a day and to take an objective view of what we’re doing as an industry and how I fit into that puzzle was most welcome.”
Brent Hallo, FitPro’s Founder and Chairman said: “The event was an altruistic effort to gather top industry experts together to deliver cutting-edge information in a TED Talk format to selected individuals who represent the pinnacle of practical leadership in the region in a bid to further enhance their knowledge and training base.”
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Editor’s notes:
Lifetime Training is one of the UK’s largest vocational training providers. Established in 1995, it now delivers innovative training programmes to more than 20,000 people a year. More than 250 Lifetime trainers and tutors work directly with learners at over 3,000 workplaces and educational centres in order to deliver on both educational and business needs. Lifetime Training is the 2014 Flame Awards Supplier of the Year.
www.lifetimetraining.co.uk
FitPro is the world’s largest development firm for fitness professionals, with more than 150,000 members across 82 countries. FitPro delivers the only worldwide accredited certification for PTs, alongside a range of products and services to support the FitPro family.
www.fitpro.com
For further information contact:
Abigail Harris at Big Fish Public Relations
Tel: 07738 331019
Email: abigail@bigfishpublicrelations.co.uk
