And while co-founder Scott Hopson didn't coin the phrase, "Make the Complex Simple", he sure made this tagline a vital part of everything we did and strive to do at PTA Global. How so, you ask? Great question. If you have a couple of minutes, how about we explore 3 examples of how PTA Global took the complex and made it simple... and effective for trainers, clubs and the industry as a whole.
Example #1: Motivation & Programming... Behavior-based Training
Most trainers will not take the time to review, learn and apply 30+ years of Neuropsychology. In fact most educational organizations who provide a service to trainers do not review, teach and show trainers how to apply 30+ years of Neuropsychology. Yet, when PTA Global informally polled hundreds of owners, operators and managers in the fitness industry, asking them what their #1 pain was with their training department, we discovered the same response... "Our trainers don't know how to communicate to our members." No matter how educated they were, they lacked the skills to effectively communicate. In turn, every owner, operator and manage knows that the training department will have an influence on member attrition and member attrition is not a good thing for your bottom line.
Enough said. PTA Global's mission was to provide performance driven solutions to address the needs of the owners, operators and managers AND enhance the skill set of trainers while at the same time decreasing anxiety for the trainers (because we found out that this was one of the biggest reasons trainers were leaving clubs in the first 90 days). Trainer anxiety equals trainer attrition. Again, not a good thing for the bottom line.
Enter the PTA Global Program Design Questionnaire (PDQ). As part of the PTA Global's Personal Training Certification and Bridging Course, it was developed from the brilliance of co-founder Bobby Cappuccio, it is a compilation of the best in Neuropsychology revealing the power of motivational interviewing techniques. In a seamlessly organized manner, it enables any trainer to immediately connect with a member, build rapport and find out the member's goal, their true motivation for being in the club, their level of ability and their preferred style of training - how they would like to be trained (vitally important for compliance). And as an added bonus, we just so happened to have constructed over 840 workouts that specifically link to and match each client's goal, level and preferred style of training - in case you don't have time or don't want to write one yourself.
Example #2: Movement... 3-dimensional Motion
It is no secret that most trainers are always looking for 'new' exercises. Well, we can either give them new exercises (which we do) and/or we can teach a trainer how to take any exercise (movement pattern) and create an infinite number of variations to specifically match any environment (club setting) and any member's level of ability and preferred style of training.
Also part of the PTA Global's Personal Training Certification and Bridging Course, this ingenious tool was adapted from the 30+ years of the Gray Institute's (Gary Gray) brilliance around Applied Functional ScienceTM and their Functional Nomenclature. This tool, which is intimately influenced by the PDQ, allows trainers to immediately progress & regress any movement pattern in 3 dimensional space without memorizing 100's of exercises. Your 3D Checkpoints (3DC).
So if you are not sure how exactly biomechanics and functional anatomy, exercise physiology and neuropsychology all influence movement and tissue health... and/or if you are not positive about how you would systematically manipulate any movement pattern to be more 'functional' or more 'traditional' depending on your client's preferred style of training... and/or how you would take a seemingly very difficult exercise and make it manageable for a 65 year old female with osteoporosis... Then this tool is for you!
Example #3: Client Screening... Daily Readiness Observation
Scenario: It's 5 pm on a Monday evening. Your client hasn't slept well in 2 nights. They haven't eaten well and they are slightly dehydrated. They have some 'back pain' and they just had an argument with their boss. What does your program look like for them today? What do you do with them and how do you know if it's working?
Perhaps PTA Global's most prolific contribution to a trainer's tool box is the Daily Readiness Observation (DR.O). As part of the PTA Global Advanced Personal Training Course, this tool is a highly specialized and simplistic method for determining the level of stress your client is under today and in what areas. Once you know that, it will walk you through how to design / manipulate their session to specifically meet the client where they need to be met.
You can either go study how circadian rhythms, nutritional biochemistry, bio-social behavior and pain all influence the immune system, inflammation and tissue health of your body or use the DR.O... This is what we call "Personalized Training" and is what we believe separates the good from the great.
At PTA Global, we do not take being a "Leader in Professional Fitness Development" lightly - nor should you. We feel it is our responsibility to ensure that education is practical, providing proven performance driven solutions that meet your challenges. We make the complex simple and effective so you can do what you do best.
