Age is NOT a barrier to what you can accomplish

Age is NOT a barrier to what you can accomplish

Thinking about raising my rates, demand skyrocketing

I am thinking of raising the amount I charge for my personal training services.

The reason is more of matter of time availability. Right now I am SUPER busy working my proverbial butt off for multiple clients, and while I am enjoying what I do work wise, I am discovering I have very little free time to relax, exercise on my own (without clients), and even find quality time for friends, family, etc.

eg. I want to go camping and canoeing sometime this summer but I am not sure how I am supposed to schedule a vacation when I have difficulty saying "No" to clients. (I am very customer oriented, always wanting to make sure my clients are happy.)

It really is an issue of "too many clients" so I am wondering if maybe I should raise my prices for personal training.

I don't want to raise my prices for archery, swimming, boxing lessons because I enjoy those ones too much. But I am very tempted to raise my personal training rates and see what happens.

Right now I am charging $35 per hour (but there are discounts if people buy packages of hours like 25, 50 or 100).

The other option is for me to simply stop accepting new clients. Unless its for a specific time slot I need to fill.

There are admittedly lots of other personal trainers in Toronto, and I suppose I could also turn clients away and send them to other personal trainers... But I've never seen those people work, I have no affiliation with them, and while I probably would earn a commission for every client I send someone else I just don't feel comfortable doing all that when I cannot guarantee the quality of the trainers I might be sending people to.

Another thing I suppose I could do is hire a secretary. That would lower the amount of work I need to do on the website, managing incoming requests, etc. And it would free up extra time for me to both manage my personal life and have more "me time" for exercising.

For now I think I will continue on "as is" and look into the secretary angle. I might raise my rates in August or September, but maybe by then demand may have quieted down.

Personal training is a bit of a seasonal occupation, I must admit. January is a good time to get new people who make New Years Resolutions, but it is the Springtime when people really start wanting to lose weight because they want to get ready for Summer.

For now I shall wait and see.

Weightlifting Split Squats and Side Squats

Split Squat

1. The weight can be placed in front or behind.

2. Place one foot forward and one back with the heel lifted. There should be about 2-3 feet in between your legs, and you should feel a gentle stretch.

3. Keep a tight core and bend both knees to descend. Keep that front foot flat on the floor at all times. The back foot's heel is lifted.

4. When you push back up focus on using both legs (quadriceps in the front, hamstrings in the back leg) to assist the lift, oppose to just the quads in the front.

Note! There is a difference between a split squat and a lunge. They do look very similar and some people actually do split squats thinking that they are doing a lunge. A split squat is an up and down movement only. A lunge moves with direction, taking steps forward and backward lunges. In a one leg squat you are simply dropping the back knee and bending the front leg. In the lunge you use hip flexors as you lunge and move forward with a longer back leg.

Side Squat

This exercise is also similar to a lunge except your feet will stay planted the whole time.

1. Take a wider than squat-normal stance with toes turned out slightly. The weight held behind. If using dumbbells, place them on your shoulders or at your sides.

2. With a very slight bend forward and a straight back, push hips back as you squat to the right. Keep both feet flat. Exhale on the way back to centre and repeat on the left side. That's 1 rep.

Repeat with the other leg.

Sunrise, Sunset, and Daily Weather Forecasts for Fair Weather Exercising

Are you one of those people who only enjoy exercising outdoors in the Summer when the weather is nice?

Well if you live in Toronto here are two handy links for determining when is the best times to schedule an outdoor workout.

14 Day Weather Forecast for Toronto

Hourly Weather Forecast for Toronto

This way you can plan ahead. And scheduling your workouts and exercise routine is a very handy way to make sure you keep exercising and stay motivated.

And some of you may only like to go jogging / etc while it is still light out, or right around dusk. In which case knowing what time the sun rises and sets in Toronto can also be helpful.

Toronto's Sunrise and Sunset for the Coming Week

I use both of the above links when scheduling outdoor workouts with clients and also boxing lessons and archery lessons.

Also handy for scheduling tennis games with friends, picnics in the park, the optimal time to walk the dog, the best time to go hiking in Don Valley or a walk along the beach or cycling near the University of Toronto.

Just remember that scheduling your workout increases the likelihood of actually doing your workout.

May Exercise Motivation Quotes

"Do or do not. There is no try." 
- Yoda


"Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body." 
-Arnold Schwarzenegger
 
"It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained."
 -Elizabeth II 

"In general, any form of exercise, if pursued continuously, will help train us in perseverance. Long-distance running is particularly good training in perseverance."
 -Mao Tse-Tung 

"On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow."
 -Friedrich Nietzsche"

You are your greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into training, grooming, and encouraging your greatest asset."
-Tom Hopkins

"The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit." 
-Morihei Ueshiba 

 "If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up."

-J.M. Power

"One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it."

-Sidney Howard

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."

-Henry Ford

"The important thing is to strive towards a goal which is not immediately visible. That goal is not the concern of the mind, but of the spirit."

-Antoine de Saint

"It is easier to go down a hill than up, but the view is best from the top."

-Arnold Bennett 

"You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it."
-Charles Buxton
 
"Act as though and it shall be.
The seed you sow today will not produce crop till tomorrow. For this reason, your identity does not lie in your current results. This is not who you are. Your current results are who you were."
-James A. Ray
 
"Physical fitness can neither be achieved by wishful thinking nor outright purchase."
-Joseph Pilates
 
"A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world."
-Paul Dudley White