Amanda Vogel

From full-length mirrors to social media, there’s no shortage of opportunities for daily comparisons and judgments. This article confronts the comparison trap head on while providing strategies for untangling yourself and your clients from any unhealthy and/or unnecessary perceptions about how we fare among our peers and mentors.

Do trainers in their 50s or 60s have the same appeal to a 25-year-old client/participant as trainers or instructors in their 20s, 30s or 40s? This article examines what it means to mature in the fitness profession and whether fitness consumers care that much about chronological age when it comes to seeking services.

With fitness franchises booming, you may be wondering what they have to offer health and exercise professionals? This article mines the expertise of instructors who teach for popular franchises to uncover major differences associated with working for a fitness franchise versus teaching traditional, freestyle classes. Weighing the pros and cons of both options can help you decide which approach (if not both) is best for you.

This article is for anyone who trains or teaches clients struggling with behavior change around weight loss. Here, three personal trainers who’ve faced their own challenges with weight loss and/or dieting share from-the-trenches advice for motivating and supporting clients affected by overweight and obesity toward more healthful behavior change.

Some health and exercise professionals assert that genuinely opening up on Facebook and Instagram about their private lives, including various vulnerabilities, has a profound and positive impact on how people perceive and respond to them as businesspeople. Is the blurred line between private and public on social media an asset to fitness promotion? And how much is too much when it comes to sharing personal narratives? 

Being self-employed as a fitness entrepreneur provides plenty of freedom to shape your career, but with that freedom comes the constant need to keep hustling for more clients or sales. This article lays out smart entrepreneurial strategies and professional self-care considerations to help fitness entrepreneurs escape the trap of trying to do it all at once.

As you are likely aware, not everyone doling out health/fitness advice and ideas on Instagram, YouTube and other platforms is qualified to do so. While we can’t do anything about how others represent themselves on social media, we can use our own social accounts for good. Here are some ideas to help you educate social media users about fitness credentials. 

As you look ahead to the coming year and start planning how to expand your business, you may want to consider creating destination fitness opportunities for your clients. Fitness-related getaways can increase income, build and strengthen community among your client/members, and freshen up a fitness routine with something new and exciting. Here, three fitness pros share how they’ve leveraged their teaching skills to offer clients active vacations at desirable destinations. 

Has anyone ever asked you when you plan to get a “real job” or assumed that what you do in the fitness industry is a hobby or passing phase? This article explores why some people don’t always see exercise instruction and personal training as a real job and describes tactics you can use to turn this misperception around.  

As you are likely aware, not everyone doling out health/fitness advice and ideas on Instagram, YouTube and other platforms is qualified to do so. While we can’t do anything about how others represent themselves on social media, we can use our own social accounts for good. Here are some ideas to help you educate social media users about fitness credentials. 

As a health and exercise professional, the way you speak about fitness can shape your clients’ and participants’ perceptions of exercise and even themselves. Learn how to navigate the minefield of word choices that could either elevate people or bring them down.

As a group fitness instructor, the more experience and skills you gain, the more you might hope to take your talents to the next level. Some choose to become a manager, presenter and/or studio owner, but what if those aren’t your aspirations? Here are some ideas on how to advance in group fitness without bumping up against a possible ceiling to your success.

Building community among class participants and clients strengthens their commitment and motivation to exercise. It’s a simple enough concept, but it can be difficult to put in motion without a definite plan. Here’s what it takes to cultivate a community that’s essentially packaged within the fitness services you offer. 

It can be a tough, even painful, choice to finally say goodbye to a loyal group fitness class you’ve been leading for years. Are there etiquette rules to make the process go smoothly? What do instructors need to know about leaving a class with certainty and grace? Learn how you can help curtail potential awkwardness and anxiety for everyone involved.

If your New Year’s resolutions include joining a gym or studio, check out these tips for getting the best deals on pricing and perks.

This article is for anyone who trains or teaches clients struggling with behavior change around weight loss. Here, three personal trainers who’ve faced their own challenges with weight loss and/or dieting share from-the-trenches advice for motivating and supporting clients affected by overweight and obesity toward more healthful behavior change.

Have you heard of anti-rotation core training? It’s become a bit of a buzzword in the industry lately, although the technique is not new. In fact, you might already be employing this method with clients, but haven’t called it that by name. New or not, anti-rotation exercises can be useful for incorporating variety and, most importantly, helping clients master core stability. Read on to learn about the benefits of anti-rotation training and give these sample exercises a try.

While warming up is as important as it’s ever been to prepare the body mentally and physically for exercise, how we do it in group fitness has shifted over the years. From multiplanar movements to mentally preparing participants for the class ahead, read on to learn more about noteworthy updates to this essential workout component.

As you look ahead to the coming year and start planning how to expand your business, you may want to consider creating destination fitness opportunities for your clients. Fitness-related getaways can increase income, build and strengthen community among your client/members, and freshen up a fitness routine with something new and exciting. Here, three fitness pros share how they’ve leveraged their teaching skills to offer clients active vacations at desirable destinations. 

Do you have more clients than you can handle? While that’s a good problem to have, you still need a solution. Subcontracting “overflow” clients to other trainers is one approach for personal trainers who attract more clients and prospects than they can reasonably manage. Here’s how to get started.  

Finding ways to overcome obstacles is instrumental in learning how to live a healthy lifestyle. Here’s how to get past six common barriers to exercise.

The practice of personal trainers leading group workouts continues to be a strong trend this year, but as any fitness instructor will tell you, group instruction requires precise skill sets. Trainers need a well-ordered plan to make the leap from working with one client at a time to leading groups, small or large. Here’s how to properly refine your personal-training knowledge and skills for a group setting.

Have you heard of anti-rotation core training? It’s become a bit of a buzzword in the industry lately, although the technique is not new. In fact, you might already be employing this method with clients, but haven’t called it that by name. New or not, anti-rotation exercises can be useful for incorporating variety and, most importantly, helping clients master core stability. Read on to learn about the benefits of anti-rotation training and give these sample exercises a try.

Are you ready to get out of your comfort zone and start incorporating some new equipment into your clients’ workouts? This article, part two of a two-part series, will help you branch out with cardio equipment. Learn important technique tips as well as specific warm-ups and workouts you can use with clients using three popular, but often-underused items: a rowing machine, an indoor cycling bike and a curved manual treadmill.

Playful, purpose-driven exercises can push clients to work especially hard, but with an air of mental levity because they’re so focused on completing the task at hand. In this article, you’ll learn why task-driven exercises work so well and important ground rules to keep in mind, and access a round-up of trainer-tested drills you can use in your own training sessions or fitness classes.

It’s time to get out of your comfort zone and start incorporating some new equipment into your clients’ workouts. This article, part one of a two-part series, will help you branch out with strength and conditioning equipment. Learn important technique tips and a short routine you can do on your own or with clients using three popular, but often-underused items: Hyperwear SandBells, battle ropes and Lebert EQualizers.   

Playful, purpose-driven exercises can push clients to work especially hard, but with an air of mental levity because they’re so focused on completing the task at hand. In this article, you’ll learn why task-driven exercises work so well and important ground rules to keep in mind, and access a round-up of trainer-tested drills you can use in your own training sessions or fitness classes.

“Recovery” is one of the fitness industry’s latest buzzwords, and there’s a growing trend toward taking actionable steps versus simply taking time off. In this article, learn how experts in the industry integrate exercise recovery strategies, including foam rolling, stretching, light activity, sleep and more, into their clients’ workout programs to achieve better results in overall performance and health.

Recognizing and running your work in the fitness industry as a business will lead to better career success. Here are a few reasons why it pays off to think and act like a fitness business owner (even if you don’t feel like one).

Plyometric exercise is a great way to add variety and intensity to a workout, but it’s not something every client should just, well, jump into. In fact, while many clients and some health and exercise pros might think of plyometrics as any exercise that involves jumping, it’s more than that. This article explains what plyometrics actually are and how to know when your client is ready to progress to more challenging exercises, and presents three exercises to try, each with multiple progressions

There is no question that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts are both popular and effective, which is why it is so important that you know how to deliver the best and safest programs to your clients. This 20-minute HIIT workout, excerpted from The HIIT Advantage by Irene Lewis-McCormick, can be used with your personal-training clients, incorporated into your group fitness classes or even included in your own workouts.

Your daily health choices might seem trivial in the moment, but all those small decisions add up to either positive behavior change or a string of potentially health-harming habits. Here’s how to make the most of everyday opportunities to eat well and stay (or get) in shape.

Do you have more clients than you can handle? While that’s a good problem to have, you still need a solution. Subcontracting “overflow” clients to other trainers is one approach for personal trainers who attract more clients and prospects than they can reasonably manage. Here’s how to get started.  

Here are four things that your personal trainer or fitness instructor wants you to know—but might not come right out and say—that will help you get better results and enjoyment out of your workouts.

Whether you love subbing or hate it, it is a necessary part of any group exercise program. Of course, the last thing anyone wants is for a sub to feel as if he or she is being “thrown to the wolves” in an unfamiliar, unreceptive environment. The smoother the subbing process, the better the outcome for everyone—sub, regular instructor and participants. Here’s how to make it work.

As a group fitness instructor, you only have a few crucial minutes at most to create a great first impression. But, if you can win participants over early, they’ll be more likely to trust you and keep returning to your class. Here are four simple ways (and one bonus tip) to make a stellar first impression at the start of every class you teach.

Are you making the most of your ACE Personal Trainer Certification? Here are five ideas for leveraging your personal trainer certification to increase both your reach and your revenue in new and exciting ways.

If you’d rather be training clients, but feel an unpleasant pressure to do everything there is to do on social media, you put yourself in jeopardy of getting little accomplished. A better approach: making highly strategized choices about how and where you use social media for business. Here’s how to make the best use of your time without becoming overwhelmed by the constantly emerging choices and new directions.

You’re probably in a hurry to get out of the gym after your workout, but there are some quick and easy things you can do to keep healthy and set the stage for a successful workout next time. Make it a habit to cross as many of these actions off your list every time you wrap up a workout.

High-intensity interval training is both popular and effective, but has the fitness industry lost sight of the joy and benefits of moderate-intensity (and even light-intensity) exercise? This article explores how and why our industry might have tipped the balance to favor a high volume of high-intensity exercise at the detriment of also doing light and moderate exercise. But here’s some good news: There’s a place for all of it.