I predict in 2012 the Sport and Exercise industry will have completely adopted the same employment models as the entertainment and nightclub scene. A trainer or coach’s entire employment will not be based on skills or qualifications. Rather, how many Facebook friends you have and how pretty they look on camera.
A little bit of Photoshop goes a long way
By the year 2015, 1 in 3 Australians will identify as a personal trainer and 1 in 5 of those will claim to specialize in strength and conditioning, while the rest will teach Zumba to the Macerena.
I then predict by the year 2020, the entire industry will collapse. Trainers will quit, gyms will close (if they’re not already) and the health burden of inactivity will triple.
Slow down, this is not global warming, back up the dooms day truck a bit.
Over the last 5 years the nightclub and festival scene has become a victim to its own success, venues have opened, punters have come out and the number of people identifying as DJ’s has sky rocketed. This sees an already competitive industry become cut throat, in a desperate attempt to bring heads through the door the industry came up with the employment model of ‘Promoter DJ’s’. What this means in theory is, DJ’s are expected to bring a certain amount of people to the venue each week from their own self promotion. That DJ who offered you cheap tickets to a festival or an exclusive door listing? He is on pay for play.
So what we have now is rich kids buying their way to gigs, DJ’s spending more time spamming than mixing and perhaps the most concerning part is a division and competition between those who work in the same venue. However, it is all about the music… Right?
It is plane to see the artistic integrity of the DJ has been eroded.
So, how does this relate to the commercial fitness industry?
Quantifiable Results are irrelevant
In the same 5 years, the commercial fitness industry has seen the same progression; Fitness farms owned by the private equity firms fronted up from overseas. Industry accreditation companies started pumping out personal trainers at the rate of knots and the integrity of service declined.
Now, I personally have been through the ringer trying to find a job, and there are two common themes I hear, ‘we do not hire trainers, we lease you floor space’ and the next is ‘if we hire you how many people will you bring through the door?’
I am yet to be asked if I can produce quantifiable evidence of the effectiveness in my training systems.
So what you have now is rich kids inheriting industry qualifications, paying for pretty photo shoots, buying their way in to gym floors, fighting with other trainers for clients and spending more time on Facebook trying to obtain the holy grail of 5000 friends while legitimate coaches and trainers are left in pieces bleeding on the floor.
Taking the AVON business models is simply not acceptable in any industry. Relying on marketing and promotion, to build a gym is completely un-ethical and ultimately at the expense of best practice modelling. While the original framework of pay for play may have benefited a few, it has lead to a industry at civil war, and like any civil war, both sides end up dead. Now please excuse me, I have to go finish my sport science Degree
No comments:
Post a Comment