The Warm Up with Kyle Wood - Bootcamp Ideas

Kyle Wood: So lately I've been writing
a lot about how to create a good group

fitness workout or a bootcamp workout,
like all the nitty gritty, like,

you know, warm up for this long and
here's how to brainstorm this idea.

But it's made me realize, as I think back
on it, that, and this happens, you'll

see this happen with experts everywhere.

When they teach something, they
forget about all of the little things

they did, all the little sort of in
between subconscious things they did.

That actually contributed
quite a lot to their success.

Um, recently I saw one, uh, fitness,
uh, he's not in the fitness industry.

He's another professional, but for years
he was telling everyone with marketing,

be everywhere, like, all at once.

Like, be everywhere, be
everywhere, be everywhere.

And he recently said, like,
this was actually bad advice.

While long term you should be everywhere,
when you're, um, Getting started.

You should actually just focus on being in
one place learning that and then growing

from there, and I think it's similar with
creating really good Unique interesting

workouts are gonna get clients coming
get the word spreading That there's

some like little things That really good
trainers out there do and they sort of do

them without really thinking about them
so today I want to share with you what

they are because if you're someone who's
Struggles with, um, like your classes

just don't seem to be gaining traction.

You've sort of got the same group
of people, maybe you've been running

them for a long time, maybe once upon
a time they were really popular, and

now they're less popular, and sort
of the same group of people coming.

Or maybe you've just gotten started
and you just sort of, you got

your first sort of 10 people and
then it's just plateaued at that.

So, I really want to speak to
you today because you might be

like, Hey Kyle, I've been reading
your newsletter, your articles.

I'm, I know I'm doing everything right.

I'm planning everything out in advance.

I'm taking the time, but
I'm really struggling here.

And it's struggling, I'm struggling to
stay in business because I just, you know.

The maths with group fitness
is it's less expensive for

people, so we need more clients.

Um, if we don't have classes that
are full with people, it just doesn't

work out for us, um, as a career
or as a way of earning income.

So that's what I want to talk about today.

Uh, and I've got my notes here, so
that's why you'll see me looking down

if you're watching the video of this.

Um, so, some things you might
have tried, um, already.

You might have tried just doing more
of the same, just being more you,

just, just like maybe I'll put more
classes on and be more available.

Um, maybe I'll, uh, make longer
classes or do things like that.

Um, you might be really focused on
keeping your existing clients happy.

And that can be really dangerous
because that often stops

you from trying new things.

Because you're like, well, if I
change things too much, it might

alienate who I've already got.

And then our brain tells
us, I'm going to be even.

Even a worse position than I
thought I was, than I already was.

You know, what if I've got my
eight regulars, and what if I

change things and five of them go,
and now I'm just down to three?

Really common to think that way.

Um, so we end up doing that thing that's,
that quote that's out there that's

attributed to Einstein, but I believe it
was someone else who actually said it.

And it's like they're doing the
same thing over and over again

and expecting different results.

The definition of insanity,
and I get it, we all do it.

I'm guilty of doing it as well, I'm
guilty of being like, This isn't

working, I'll just do it more.

I'll just do it faster,
I'll just do it harder.

Um, instead of taking a step back
and being like, Oh, maybe there's

something else that I'm missing.

Um, and then, yeah, the other thing
you might be doing already that you're

trying, Is like, you're trying out, you
know, you're using some of my workouts,

You're using workouts that you see
people put on Instagram, You're trying to

think of some interesting creative ways.

To improve your classes,
but it's still not working.

Still got the same people coming,
um, can't seem to get any traction.

So let's talk about maybe these like
little things that you should be doing

or you could be doing, but you're not.

So I'm going to share quite a few
things in this podcast in a minute.

My thing with this is like, don't feel
like you have to implement all of these.

Just have a listen.

And if one or two of these things stick
with you and you can start doing them.

You can start doing them regularly because
that's going to make a big difference too.

It's all about consistency, then I
recommend going for it, going with it.

Um, so let's, I'm going to kind of frame
this in a way of like before the workout,

during the workout, after the workout.

So there's like a simple timeline.

So one of the things you can do before,
especially with a new client, so say

you've got your regular eight and you
finally get a new person signing up.

And you really don't
want to lose this person.

One thing you can do is communicate.

It sounds really obvious, uh, when I
say it out loud, but it's something

that, just because we're fitness people
we may not be, like, unless we've got

a background in, like, communication
or something like that, we may not

be, it may not be something that comes
natural to us to, like, communicate.

And if anything, over communicate.

So an example of this is I
recently had my internet upgraded.

And, we, the company that was
upgrading the internet, they had

to come, actually come out to the
house and change things at the house.

And, I reckon, in, probably, uh,
I booked it, they, they said they

could come in five days, and I think
in those five days, I got five text

messages from them, multiple emails.

Uh, pretty much a message every day
saying, this is when your appointment

is, we're coming on this date, this
time, this is when your appointment is.

Could they have sent just one message?

Yeah, sure, they could have.

But I think especially when you're
dealing with, you're used to

dealing with big companies that
are terrible at communicating,

um, you cannot over communicate.

I'd rather, and I know as a customer,
I would in that situation have rather

been getting five text messages
than getting zero text messages.

Or getting one message
saying, hey, we received your

application, and then nothing.

So, you might be like,
oh, well I text everyone.

I text them before the session to
say, hey, I'll see you at the session.

And then they didn't show
up for the session, I don't,

I don't, but I text them.

But people are getting like, dozens,
maybe hundreds of texts a day,

depending on how much they like texting.

People miss things, they forget
things, they're human beings.

Over communicate, um, have an
automated text message that goes

out if you're, if the system you're
doing, and then send them a, a

text, personal text message as well.

Like, you cannot over Communicate
enough with people to just

remind them come to the session.

Here's what to bring.

Don't forget your water bottle
It's gonna be hot sunscreen.

It's gonna be cold wear lots of layers
and And send it to them two days

before and then send it to them the
day before as well and send it to them

the day They signed up a week ago.

You cannot over communicate this stuff
you can absolutely under communicate

and not build that relationship and
make people feel like I get it Am

I even important to this person?

Like, am I important as a customer?

And that's one big advantage
we have as a small business.

Unless you're already running a business
with lots of trainers underneath you, but

knowing my audience, most of you aren't.

You're just working for yourself,
maybe you've got an assistant.

If that's you, then you need
to use that to your advantage.

You can give more of a personal
touch than other businesses can.

So that's my thing.

Before, the other thing to do before
is to show up early to your session.

Getting to know your client is about
consistently touching base with them

and a great time to do that is if
you've got clients who rock up early

to your class, be there early, be there
early, be there set up, hang out, chat.

That's another thing I
think if you've worked in.

If your background is working for gyms
and things like that, where, you know,

you're only getting paid for the hour,
you might, and maybe the class has already

been planned for you as well, you might
just skate in on the hour and get going.

That's fine, maybe you're coming from
another gym, you don't have time to

like chit chat with people before class.

When you're working for yourself,
you've got that time, so make

that time, um, turn up early.

Get yourself all set up and so that when
clients start arriving at 10 minutes, 15

minutes, maybe even before the class, you
can just hang out with them and just chat.

How's your day going?

How's it?

Hey, kids going, they're back
at where you're back at school.

Like are they settling in fine?

All that kind of stuff.

That's building those
relationships with people.

And not only are you building
relationships with your clients,

but they're all in a group or
my kids are just, my daughter

just started school as well.

Now they're building
connections with each other.

People come.

For your fitness classes,
they stay for each other.

If you're looking to build long term
clients, they must build relationships

inside of your group with the other
clients and it creates this momentum

inside the group So that's before.

Can't over communicate and You also
want to get there early to every

session if possible, you know life
happens sometimes But every session

as consistently as you can Get there
early, have that time to chit chat.

If you run an hour long class,
you might just sacrifice the first

five to ten minutes for that chit
chat and then get into it, just

so everyone can kind of ease in.

If you're running a 45 minute or 30
minute class, you probably don't have

time, so you need to get there early.

Then of course, during the session,
one thing, and I do send it out, but

in the same way, I'm going to over
communicate to you in the same way

that I recommend you over communicate.

So, use that.

People's names as much as you can.

Um, it just builds a connection.

When you say just add that last great
job there, Kyle, add that last name

builds, I could probably pull up some
studies on information about this, but

it builds that connection also helps
clients learn each other's names.

Again, builds connections between them.

You've got two people working together.

One person's like, Oh crap, I should
really know this person's name.

Because I've been going to boot camp
with them for months, I've forgotten.

You come over there and
say, Lookin awesome, Bill.

They're like, Oh, Bill,
that's the person's name.

And now they don't have to
have that awkward thing.

You're just getting rid of it.

You just, this is, this is, again,
this is, That's what I'm sharing in

this, um, podcast episode, is these
little things that aren't taught,

that you don't think about, that are
happening all the time in the class.

And they do make, they add up.

They make, 1 percent improvements
that add up to multiple percentage.

Um, Results on your bootcamp
and on your classes.

So using people's names is
one I would teach, have taught

for years and years and years.

Something I implemented made a huge
difference to, um, my bootcamps.

Really small tweak.

Um, The other thing to talk about is,
You've planned your session ahead of

time, you've done a great job with that.

You've read my articles, I'll link
to them in the, the notes here.

If you, Have clients in the group who
are either much fitter, or like much

less fit, or maybe you've got both.

Maybe you've got a spectrum, you've
got like a base level that like

80 percent of your clients are,
then you've got 10 percent who are

probably not being challenged enough
in class, and 10 percent who aren't.

Plan beforehand, so actually this
should have gone in beforehand, but

scale the workouts to those people.

Have different levels,
have different options.

And decide that beforehand.

If you've got a new client who's started,
and they're coming into maybe a bit of

a clicky group, that's been training
with each other for a while, so they're

already feeling a little bit on the
outside, they don't know everyone's names

yet, they're a little bit unsure, and
now, you also, um, they're like, oh, I'm

not sure if I can do that exercise, and
you're like, I'll just do squats instead.

I mean, one, maybe they don't even know
what squats are, or how to do them, and

two, Um, it seems like you've just given
them that exercise as an afterthought,

but if you've got something planned
to say, Oh no, instead of doing that,

I'm going to have them do this other
exercise that I've thought about for a

long time, that's going to make a big
difference on How they feel in the group.

And same thing for your fitter clients.

You know your clients who are fit.

If you turn around and say, Actually,
and you're not doing, you know,

they want, usually your fitter
clients, they want to be singled out.

They want to be challenged.

So turn around and say, you're
actually going to do it this way.

And you show them a harder version.

Just having that up your
sleeve to start with.

Just saves your brain power
during the session as well.

Like during the session, you want
to just be focused on coaching.

Uh, which part of that is adapting
on the fly exercises, but just,

just take the time to plan it
beforehand, um, and, and you're done.

So that's another little thing.

Um, the other thing to do is to
introduce new things to your group.

So if your group always exercises
in one sort of way and your classes

aren't growing, you've probably reached
the potential of that class format.

And again, I know you're going to be like,
Oh, but I don't want to upset this group.

I don't know if they'd
really be into playing games.

Just try it.

You don't have to make a
whole workout that's a game.

You could just include it as a warm up.

Or a finisher.

But start trying out different things.

Start bringing in different
pieces of equipment.

I would say that most of your clients
are going to be like, As long as they're

still getting what they want out of the
session, Which is to exercise and feel

better, They will be open to new content.

Like ideas and classes and formats.

Um, and then what that does as well,
it also opens up your classes to appeal

to different groups of people, which
will help you in attracting clients.

And if you're always doing the same
thing over and over again, and maybe

it worked at one point, maybe you
were the different thing in the area,

because you did this stuff this way,
and everyone else was doing it that way.

And now it's not working anymore.

Stop, stop doing the insanity thing.

Stop continuing to do it
thinking this is going to change.

Start introducing some different stuff.

It takes courage, you do have to be
brave, but I know you've got it in you.

Alright, now lastly, before we wrap this
up, let's talk about after the workout.

So what are some little things
after the workout that Maybe

aren't taught very often, but these
little like 1 percent things that

people do and they don't realize

The first thing is Reviewing like how
the session went so you might be like,

oh, yeah, okay I'll I'll message the
clients and see what they thought.

No, what did you think?

What did you think about how the
session went take a minute to maybe

you keep a notebook with the sessions?

Maybe you keep your sessions Plans on the
computer, and so you go on the computer

and you're just going to write like
a couple of notes after the workout.

Maybe it's like, oh, I didn't scale it
hard enough for those fitter clients.

Or, I didn't have enough options
for the beginner clients.

Or, they really love this workout.

Or, they all told me this
workout felt really long to them.

Uh, and just, just went on and on forever.

Like, I know I've had
that feedback before.

On some formats.

So I was like, all right, I'm
not gonna run that format again.

I want people like to be in the
moment and not just thinking,

oh, when is this gonna end?

So tho those are some things you should
do is reflect how do I think it went?

And think about your energy as well, like
how do I feel at the end of the session?

Do I feel like energized and and awesome
at the end of the session, or am I feeling

really drained because teaching this
style of class actually isn't my thing?

Um, yeah, those are some of
the questions to ask yourself.

Then, of course, the other thing to
do is follow up with your clients.

Go out to your, um, clients, wherever
you message them, maybe you've got

a group chat or something like that.

Say, hey, how did everyone pull up today?

And just let who reply,
who wants to reply, reply.

Um, or you might message
some people specifically.

So you might say, hey,
um, what did you think?

Like how did you, how
did you pull up today?

Um, or.

Send them some, um, kind words, so you
might message them and say, Hey, um,

I really noticed that you're like, I
saw you doing some of your push ups

on your toes today, that's awesome.

Or, um, I saw you go up in weights
on the squats, that's amazing.

So just those little, like, observations,
and I'm actually, I've been thinking

about this, I'm thinking about the
impact of that, and I've been thinking

about putting together, like, a
challenge or something that we can

do as a community, um, to That, that
revolves around these like little,

little like follow up messages with some
good examples and ideas for you guys.

Yeah, so if you're interested in
that, that's just a little aside.

But that's one of the things you
want to make sure you're doing.

Make sure you're following up.

And if you've got people
missing, oh my gosh, call them.

Like again, you cannot over communicate.

You can, and you probably will, most
trainers, most small business owners

accidentally under communicate.

They don't want to bother people.

They don't want to be a pest.

So we actually end up making the
person feel like they don't matter.

Much better to communicate, you can always
leave a voicemail with someone and say,

Hey, just letting you know, you don't
even have to ask a question on that call.

You're just sharing information with them.

Hey, just letting you
know I missed you today.

Um, send me a text if you want
to reschedule or, or like, you

know, hope you're doing alright.

And I'll, I'll see you on Friday if
you know they're coming on Friday.

And that's it.

So you're not hassling them.

You're not doing anything like that.

You're just letting them know that you
notice they are missing and That you

appreciate them Again, these little
like 1 percent things that make a

big difference so Bringing that back
if you are someone who feels like

they're stuck with their class sizes.

You've got the same people coming Have a
listen back to this have a look at your

notes if you're taking notes during this
episode and just have a think about Was

there anything that stood out to me?

Was there something here that I
would be like, Oh, I could do that.

I could do that in my class tonight.

I could just start that right away.

Um, and maybe set yourself
up as a little experiment.

Be like, I'm going to do this for a month.

I'm going to trust Kyle, because he
seems to know what he's talking about.

He's been doing this thing for
a while, and I'm just going to,

I'm going to do this for a month.

I'm going to use people's, I'm trying to
use people's names in classes for a month.

And just see the difference
of these little actions.

Um, make long term and that's it.

This is the first episode of the warmup.

My new podcasts are going to
be short episodes like this.

Um, each time with just like,
we're going to focus on one topic.

We're going to dive into it.

I'm going to give you really
actionable advice, or we're going

to go into more of a story mode.

Um, I may occasionally have a guest
on to help me if we're doing a

topic that's there, a specialist in.

But, for now, it's just going
to be me, we're going to pick a

topic, we're going to dive deep.

You're going to walk away
from each episode with lots

of things you can try out.

And just to help your brain, like,
keep thinking about these things.

Keep thinking about, you know,
what are these little things that

I can do in my business to improve?

And um, that's what's going to
keep you around in the long term.

Because if you're not making
money doing this, and you want

to do this as your career.

Then, you're going to find it really
hard, or if you set your business up

in such a way that you're making good
money but you're just feeling like

you're working every day, all day,
and you just need a break, then again,

that's another, that's another thing
we'll be talking about is ways to like

balance and boundary, have boundaries.

But let me leave it there.

Uh, yeah, if you like this new,
uh, podcast format, please follow.

Subscribe in whatever platform you're on.

Uh, there is a video version
of this podcast if you want

to see me staring at you.

Um, and I hope to do some more
fun things with the video as well.

Uh, but for now Uh, you can find me
on YouTube, Spotify All the different

podcast apps and i'm gonna leave it there
Have a great week And this is the warm