The Warm Up with Kyle Wood - Bootcamp Ideas

kyle-wood_2_04-08-2025_090525: Today's
episode is for every trainer who's

ever looked at a fully booked class
the night before, only to show up the

next morning to half the room empty.

If you've ever wondered why people
keep bailing even when your classes

are great, this one's for you.

I'm sharing a powerful listener story
that really stuck with me and I'll

walk you through the psychology behind
client no shows how I personally changed

my own bootcamp model to fix this.

And what you can do, even if you're
working for a gym and you can't change

the signup system, we'll also talk about
building micro communities, what that

is, creating emotional buy-in and how
you can make your classes feel unmissable

without needing to post more on social
media or overhaul your whole business.

Let's dive in.

All right.

I prewrote that, uh, intro today,
uh, because, um, I want to get

better at this podcast thing.

So thank you for listening to that.

Let's start off with, uh, a little
bit about this listener story.

So this is from Moira.

Moira runs, uh, a bootcamp.

She has her own PT clients,
but she, Runs a bootcamp for an

existing gym, like a fitness class.

Uh, she can take 25 in the class.

She's really proud because
she's built that up to 25.

Even though there's been all these people,
uh, there's been quite a high turnover of

the trainers who run this class before.

So she's built it up, built up interest.

But she says like the night
before, over the last few weeks,

the night before, she'll look at.

Who's, um, booked in class
is fully booked, 25 people.

And then in the morning there'll
be like 10 to 15 people booked.

So like overnight, 10 to 15
book people have canceled.

And she's finally really,
um, really frustrating.

She says she's tried some
things, like she's tried praising

people who come to class.

She's tried to congratulate them
even though she knows we're going

into, uh, we're ending summer here.

We're in autumn, She's in, um, Melbourne.

She's reminded people who's booking
in to commit to the booking, you know?

but then she realized that the
people who don't show up are always

the people who don't show up.

So they're totally missing her stuff.

So she's asking me, how can
I make this class unmissable?

so she specifically says, how can
I encourage or motivate people?

To never want to cancel a
class once they're booked in.

And yeah, we've all been there, we've
all been in that situation where

we've maybe got, you know, especially
we've planned an amazing class.

We're like, oh, this
class's gonna be amazing.

It's gonna be 20 people.

Uh, I've got these fun games
planned and things like that.

And then like four or five people turn
up and you can't do any of the stuff

you've planned and you have to just run
like some boring cookie cutter workout.

It is very frustrating.

Um.

So let's talk about why this
is happening, because it sounds

like Moira's a great trainer.

She's built this class up.

People like what she's doing.

So what's going on?

Well, it's just got to do with psychology.

Unfortunately, like she said,
it's getting colder and darker.

We have just come off daylight savings,
so hopefully that helps her a little

bit, but that's gonna be temporary.

Um, you know, the night before or the
day before, everyone has best intentions.

They're like, I'm gonna
book in for my class.

Uh, it's gonna be awesome.

Uh, I'm the kind of person who
gets up early and no matter

how dark it is, I never hit the
snooze button and I'm gonna go.

But then of course, like the
morning, maybe later that night,

they, they're still awake and it's
11 o'clock and they're like, oh,

there's no way I'm gonna get up now.

So they cancel.

Or they wake up in the morning
and they're like, oh, actually

I'm not gonna get there.

I'll go to a later time, and they cancel.

It's got nothing to do with Moira.

It's just our brains will
naturally rationalize the choice

that we think we want to make.

So, you know, for the person at
five o'clock in the morning who's

canceling their 6:00 AM class.

Their brain is like, oh, I really
need this sleep this morning.

Like, yeah, you are right.

You really need the sleep.

Of course, later when it's eight o'clock
and they're up and about, they'll

be like, oh, I really regret that.

I actually had this exact
situation with a friend of mine.

Uh, I recently took up running and
he got all jealous because I was

running and I hadn't invited him.

So last night I was like,
all right, I'll be up.

Let's run.

We'll meet at the cafe at 6:00 AM.

And I get a message from him at quarter
past five this morning and he's like,

oh, sorry, I need the extra hour sleep.

and he's someone who's highly motivated,
like he does all sorts of crazy

amounts of exercise and, um, events,
super 50 K runs, things like that.

So.

It's even with him at that high
motivation stage, but he's got a newborn.

So of course if quarter past five in
the morning, his brain is just thinking,

I just need to stay in bed right now
because I'm tired, rather than I'm

gonna get up and commit to this thing.

Which, um, which I said to
commit to, which like, it's fine.

I'm not his trainer so I
don't have to stress about it.

So that's the first
thing I wanna go through.

Like, even with the best of
intentions, people will cancel, not

because they don't love your class.

In fact, later they'll likely regret it.

it's just the way our brains work.

It's just the way our brains work.

And that's why I personally, I've
never activate the snooze, um,

feature on my alarm because either
you're gonna get up when it says

to get up or you've missed it.

the next bit I wanna talk about is
my own story around when I noticed

this happening in my classes now
I run things a bit differently.

I was in control of the signup process.

people will sign up for four week
fitness cohorts, they sign up for

four weeks, we train together.

But I did notice a similar thing,
especially with new members.

And yeah, coming into winter, but it
was happening all year round, especially

with new members that if they missed two
or three sessions, the habit that they

formed began being that they miss sessions
rather than they come to sessions.

It's a very fine line that people
will miss or come to session.

So there is one client in
particular I'm thinking about,

and She was missing sessions.

I didn't.

Say anything to her.

Um, and then it was like two weeks and she
hadn't come to a session halfway through,

she'd paid so she was losing money.

She'd paid up front, but she still
wasn't coming to the sessions.

And this is similar to
what Moira is dealing with.

'cause Moira said there is a late
cancellation fee, so if people

cancel her class last minute,
they do get charged for it.

So.

But that's doesn't seem to be enough
of an incentive to get them out of bed.

And same thing was happening here.

This person was missing the classes.

And then I realized that this was actually
an issue, not just with this one member.

When I started looking at the stats, I
noticed this trend that if people missed

like a week of classes, they tended to
fall off and the big issue was that they

didn't sign up again for the next round.

They hadn't built up that routine.

So there's always a lot of enthusiasm
when people start a new exercise habit

and they come and they get there.

And what we need to do is we need
to make sure that we capture that

exercise habit and keep it going.

So what I did in this case was the
next round I was like, okay, if

anyone misses two sessions in a
row, I'm calling them on the phone.

Like, I'm not gonna let it get to
a point where I'm trying to reach

out to 'em two weeks later and
I'm just being ghosted by them.

I'm gonna get.

On a call really quickly with them.

So one session they get a text from me
saying, Hey, you know, I missed you.

Um, not sure, you know, we
missed your class this morning.

Hope everything's okay.

There's no, like, where are you?

Why didn't you do this?

It's just we missed you.

And then if they wanna
respond to that, they can.

If they don't respond to that, however,
and they miss a second session, or even if

they do respond to that first one and they
miss a second session, I'm calling them.

I'm calling 'em, leave
a voicemail saying, Hey.

Miss you again today.

Just checking in.

Everything's okay, and not
everyone will respond back to that.

Uh, some people, they've made a
decision, it's not the right fit,

but if it is the right fit, and
it's just a matter of them, I.

It's just a matter of that initial
enthusiasm wearing off, knowing that

someone is paying attention to them, that
someone is noticing if they do sleep in,

if they do hit that snooze alarm, can just
be the little psychological trigger that

when they go to snooze in the morning,
they're like, oh, wait, Kyle's gonna

call me later if I don't show up today.

All right, I'm gonna get up.

And when you call 'em on the phone
as well, you can have a bit more of a

conversation and be like, Hey, like.

What are you finding difficult
about getting up in the morning?

I'm really tired.

Okay.

When are you going to bed?

I'm going to bed at midnight.

It's like, well, you're
gonna bed at midnight.

Yes.

Getting up at five 30 is going to be hard.

That seems obvious, but to someone who's
not been in the habit of getting up early

for exercise, that's not that obvious.

So it's like, use that fatigue that you
now have from uh, doing this for a week.

Start going to bed a little
bit earlier each night.

Don't go try and go to bed at nine o'clock
and lay in bed awake, go to bed at 11, and

then try and go to bed at 10 30 and so on.

it's that personal, follow
up is really what worked.

Simply getting people to pay up
front while it's good, you get paid.

Which is excellent, um, because
you know, you, you want to get paid

for your work, but also you want
people to sign up and keep coming.

And so getting on this, at that early
stage, let the habit become that they

get up early for class no matter what,
that they hit, the snooze button.

As soon as it goes off in the morning,
that habit will build very fast.

So let's go back to Maori's situation.

She's got a few restrictions
because she works for a gym.

So I think having people sign
up and book for a certain period

will bring the commitment in high.

Like a lot of people will see that
and be like, oh, I've paid for this.

I'm gonna commit to this.

These are my training days.

I'm gonna do it.

You'll get a large chunk of people to
do it, and certainly as they recommit

and re-sign up, those training days
will become their training days,

but it won't work for everyone.

Some people will be more affected by
the weather, uh, the how dark it is

outside, how warm and crazy their bed is.

Uh, so we need to help them build a
habit of overcoming that, uh, so that

they can get to their exercise class,
which is ultimately what they want to do.

So, um,

but remember what I said was that.

Even though people were signing
up and paying up in advance, it

was the personal outreach that I
got that got them there to class.

So something I would recommend that
she does is, especially if people

are canceling, they're disappearing.

She can't see who's no
showing the night before.

Take a little screenshot on
your phone, um, or write down

in a notebook who's booked in.

Then the next day pay
attention to who disappeared.

And if they miss two sessions
like that, give them a bath.

Say, Hey, it's, it's Moira from your, from
your session, we missed you this morning.

Or send them, if you don't feel confident
calling people, send them a quick

message that's gonna blow their mind.

Because especially if they've been
missing sessions and no one's been

following up with them, they're
just like, well, no one cares.

No one cares that I'm not
coming to these classes.

No one cares that I'm self-sabotaging
myself and not coming to these classes.

And sometimes just having one
person saying, Hey, I see you.

I'm paying attention.

You know, I'm not going to chew you
out over it or make you feel bad

about it, but I am paying attention.

That can be enough.

You know, we're social beings.

As humans, A lot of the things
we do day to day is because

other people are watching us.

How many projects or activities have you
not started because you are afraid about

what other people will think of you.

So we don't need to add a
narrative to this person's mind.

We just need to say, Hey, I see you.

And their brain will do the rest of it.

Their brain will go, oh, my trainer
noticed I'm not coming to classes.

Alright.

I'm gonna get back into it.

We don't need to put the hard word
on them or put any extra pressure

on them just saying, Hey, I see you.

Hey, I see you and I'd
like to see you more.

That's all we need to say.

It doesn't need to be any
more complicated than that.

So that's one option, and I think
that will fix the majority of people.

But she specifically said, how
do I make my classes unmissable?

I don't think there's anything
wrong with her classes.

I don't think people will be booking
in, in the first place of the classes if

there's anything wrong with their classes.

So I think this is more about what
she's doing outside of the classes.

So, following up is one thing.

Um, you can even say like if you don't
hear back from them, say you send 'em a

message after the second missed session.

And then they miss a third session and
just be like, Hey, just missed you again.

Let me know if you're just
taking a break from sessions at

the moment so I don't bug you.

And then that will at
least solve this issue.

'cause she's got an issue at
the moment of the class books

out and no one else can book in.

So there might be other people who
would be willing and committed to come

to those classes who can't come because
they don't realize that everyone's

bailing on the class at the last minute.

So that will at least get people who are
constantly canceling, who aren't going

to reinvest the energy into coming again.

That will probably at least get
those people to self opt out and

be like, okay, you know what?

I haven't been making these
classes, I'm now told more that.

Yeah, I, I'm actually gonna have a
break from these early classes now.

Someone else can move
in and take that spot.

Um.

And then the other thing I would
check in is, will your, so first,

will your gym let you reach out to
people in a personal way like this?

They should, you are doing the work
for them, you are helping build

community inside their business, so
they should, but check if you need to.

And the other thing I would then consider
doing is starting like maybe a group

chat or, um, just like a mini email
newsletter that you send out to the

people who come to your class each week.

Maybe with a bit of a wrap up of
what you guys did this week, maybe

with like a photo or two, uh,
you might find posting to social

media is a better option for this.

You might start posting photos of
your classes, um, things like that.

Get one of the other trainers who works
there to just like pop in and take a

couple of snaps or a couple of videos,
start sharing what's going on in your

classes, um, and start building that.

I mentioned at the start like a micro
community, like how can you make.

This community a bit of a club.

Uh, if you go back and check out my How
to Structure a six week bootcamp, have

a look at that as well for some ideas of
how could you theme a month of workouts.

So it's actually a series of workouts, so
people aren't gonna want to miss it then.

'cause on this day we're doing this thing,
and on this day we're doing this thing,

and on this day we're doing this thing.

And so rather than just random workouts
for a week, there's actually a flow.

People, if you're gonna love
this one, you're gonna want

to come to this next one.

Or if you're going to, uh, you know,
this day we're doing mostly upper body,

so you're gonna want to make sure you
come on Friday to get your lower body.

So your arms just aren't
the only sort of thing.

But you can start thinking about,
that's more class structure stuff.

You can start thinking about
if you start a group chat.

name, your group.

So actually I asked chatGPT for
this, and it said you could name

it something like the 6:00 AM Crew.

The dawn patrol, like, what do
you want to call this group?

Uh, that gets up early and gets going.

Start with the people who are
coming and then initiate people

into that group as you go.

Um, and then of course one thing
she said she did try was praise.

So when these people do start coming
back in, make sure you just be

like, Hey, this person's back today.

And get them to exercise with a fun
group of people that day as well.

Get them to exercise with your best other
clients, not the most hardcore other

clients who are gonna scare them away
again, but just like your friendliest

other people in the group, run some sort
of team drill again and get people going.

So that's the way that I recommend.

These are all the things that are inside
of your control that you can do, when

your classes are already amazing, which
we know 'cause people are booking, but

it's more about getting people to show up.

to sum up, I'll say let them
know you're paying attention.

If you can get some sort of
group interaction happening

outside of the group, do it.

Um, and then how can you make it kind of
a cool club to be in that you get up and

you do this like all through the winter,
and maybe that's because you're doing a

series of workouts or something like that.

So this is the exact reason that
last year I created a new program

called Group Flow, and it's all about
how to keep people interested and

engaged after the motivation fades.

It's about how to set up
and structure your offer.

If you are a self-employed trainer, or
you've run your own bootcamp or your

own group fitness classes, how to set
that up in a way that's going to entice

people in and also keep them coming back
session after session, group after group.

So if you're interested in
signing up for that, I'm gonna be

opening the doors to it very soon.

So head to the link
that's in the show notes.

Uh, it'll either be my newsletter link
if I haven't started, launching it yet,

or it'll be a direct link to the Group
Flow program where you can read all

about what's involved, what you get.

Uh, and how you can use this to
really create something very special

that people want to keep signing up
for, want to keep coming back to.

So to wrap up, if this is you, if you
are like Moira and you've got clients

who say they're coming to class.

And they don't come to class.

You're not alone.

but you are also not powerless.

You know, start small, start with small
connections, connecting with clients,

letting them know they feel seen,
and then from there, go and create

something that's really powerful,
that's really gonna draw people in

and that people want to be a part of.

And that's all I've got for today.

Until next week, I've been Kyle
Wood, and this is The Warm Up.