2014 Fitness Predictions from Workout Guru, Craig Ballantyne

Everyone loves predictions. From football games to New Year’s psychics telling us what’s going to happen, we can’t get enough. You should put predictions into your business as well. If you release a “2014 Trends in ____” report to your clients, it will give you greater credibility and authority. It might even get passed around and help you build your list. You might even make the local newspaper. It’s also a great idea to look back and recognize others (and we’ll do that in next month’s 2013-2014 TT Trainer awards).

2013 was the best year ever for the Turbulence Training world and 2014 is going to be even better. I am honored to know you and have you as a reader and member of the TT family. Hold on tight for a record-breaking year where I predict the following will happen…

Prediction #1 – Shorter Workouts Will Dominate

Our research review this month proves it. Short workouts, much shorter than 95% of the population (and experts) believes, will work for fat loss and fitness. And no you don’t need a single piece of equipment to get fit and burn fat (although it really helps to have a bar or TRX for upper back training and variety).

Keep on pushing this message to the masses. We might see a best-selling exercise book on this topic, or at least a few of the infomercial products start to ratchet back on the long, excessive, knee-crushing workouts like Insanity. Check out this HWR customer feedback:

We’ll also see gyms offering shorter “aerobics classes” based on our TT workouts.

Prediction #2 – CrossFit Reaches Its Breaking Point

The injuries are piling up. So is the frustration. We have hit “Peak Cross-Fit”. Like the decline of the Roman Empire, the move away from Cross-Fit will be slow, but steady.

They have only themselves to blame. You live by the sword, you die by it.

“It is our observation that men will die for points. Using whiteboards as scoreboards, keeping accurate scores and records, running a clock and precisely defining the rules and standards for performance, we not only motivate unprecedented output, but derive both relative and absolute metrics at every workouts; this data has important value well beyond motivation” (CrossFit, 2010).

When used intelligently, the above rituals can reinforce excellent habits, but they can also drive people to stupidity, and thus injury. At Turbulence Training we emphasize conservative training over risking injury. We train hard but safe but hard. No exceptions, no excuses.

As CrossFit declines, Turbulence Training will benefit. We train less frequently (another reason we have fewer injuries), but intensely, while staying with safe limits. Listen, we get results with PURPOSEFUL training. Nothing is done that does not give results, because that is all that matters, unless of course, you are a chiropractor that is experiencing a gold rush because of CrossFit injuries.

Prediction #3 – Bootcamps Offer Customized Options

According to a recent German study, overweight subjects preferred a program tailored to their personal needs and behaviors. Subjects were willing to make sacrifices in the program delivery if they could get more personal programming.

We will start to see bootcamps that are specialized. Imagine Curves crossed with bootcamps, where a bootcamp might cater to ONLY women over 50 that are overweight in order to reduce the intimidation factor of training with younger, fitter women, as well as allowing the trainer to give customized training and diet advice during the entire session. Let me know if you put together something like this!

(Reference: Muhlbacher, A., and Bethge, S. Preferences of overweight and obese patients for weight loss programmes. Int. J. Integr. Care 13:e034, 2013.)

Prediction #4 – Obamacare Becomes a Windfall for Personal Trainers

As a small business owner in America (our EarlyToRise.com business is based in Denver), I have to deal with many headaches created by Obamacare. Plus, my employees are losing their insurance that was perfect for them. It has been frustrating. However, as personal trainers, you will see your business benefit at the bottom line level because more people will be incentivized to sign up for your services.

We continue to be very, very lucky. Well, we certainly deserve a little credit because we chose to enter a hot industry, but we’re only going to get busier and busier. Let’s keep the momentum going all the way to 10 Million Transformations!

Prediction #5 – A CTT Will Leverage Mass Media Into Celebrity

This is going to be a breakout year for at least one Certified Turbulence Trainer. It could be Mikey “The Media Loves Pancakes” Whitfield and his finishers, or New York City’s hottest metabolic trainer, Kate Vidulich, or Catherine Gordon, 2013 TT Trainer of the Year (see this month’s hot sheet for her current TV gig), or deep-south home-cooking expert, Dani Woodrum. Or it could be high-energy Brian Kalakay, or Kettlebell guru Chris Lopez, or YOU! Being part of TT means direct access to hundreds of thousands of my readers, to the top fitness magazines in the world (I helped Mikey get published in the Men’s Health Big Book of Abs last year), and it also means you are connected to television star Bedros Keuilian (watch for him to be on a major reality TV show starting in the spring of 2014!).

All of these factors add up to massive potential for you or another TT Trainer to get mass media, making you a superstar, likely wealthy, and bringing thousands – if not millions – of new Transformations to our 10 Million Mission. I hope this happens for EVERY TT Trainer. Keep me up to date on ALL of the media that you get – from newspaper articles to press releases to radio shows to TV appearances. Multiply yourself with Media!

Prediction #6 – Paleo & Vegan & Fasting Will Be Diet Category Leaders

My biggest business regret was not coming out with a nutrition product much earlier in my career. This is where the greatest financial opportunity lies in the fitness industry. Look at this data from the MSN showing Bing’s most searched health & wellness phrases…Paleo, Vegan, Weight Watchers, and the 5:2 fasting program dominate. We’ll see that continue in 2014. Use this data to set yourself up for success!

ttfatloss3

The rise of nutrition is here…all hail Dani Woodrum’s – HomeCookingForFatLoss.com!

Prediction #7 – Love Your Customers Like Family For Maximum Results

You must love your customers like family and invite them to special events and give them more exclusive access into your life than ever. You must build a world that is painful for them to disconnect from if they leave. These days there is so much clutter that you must do everything you can to build deeper relationships and to stand out. But you must treat every single customer like family because these days it is very easy for one unhappy customer to stain your reputation as they all have a greater voice thanks to Facebook and Youtube. Treat them with love, as I know you do, and you won’t have any issues. By the way, here’s:

The SECRET to Getting Your Clients Hooked on YOU For Life

I learned a valuable lesson about getting my clients to take action. They love it when YOU do a Transformation with them!

In my latest TT contest, I was sharing my diet every day, AND I was also doing a Financial Transformation and posting great content on this aspect of my life. It led to the most engaged contest I’ve had since the very first one we did. People want to see that you are human, that you are trying to improve, and they always love learning great information that will make their life better. The next time you run a Transformation in your business, JOIN your members! It doesn’t matter what you improve, they just want to see you working.

Prediction #8 – Follow-Along Video Workouts & Infomercials Will Proliferate

Follow-along videos are now expected in the fitness industry. If you don’t have them, then good luck selling a product for more than $19. Congrats to Dan Long, Shawna Kaminski, and Mikey Whitfield for stepping up and over-delivering with video this year.

But here’s the good news…the Little Guy can win the video battle, just as Malcolm Gladwell explains in his prescient new book, “David vs. Goliath”. Us ‘little guys’ are nimble. We can adapt faster to what the customer wants (shorter, no-equipment workouts) than the big infomercial companies. We can incorporate Facebook groups and membership sites easier than the Goliaths. So go forth and keep pushing the envelope. Get permission to film your bootcamps as social proof of your expertise and results. We’re going to see a few more workout video superstars in the TT world this year! Will it be YOU?

Prediction #9 – Generous, Leapfrogging Action Takers Will Rule the World

Look at what young Dani Woodrum accomplished this year. He leapfrogged his way to the top by taking action, networking, and bringing his big idea and passion to a partnership with the big dawg Go-Givers (Mikey Whitfield & Shawna Kaminski). All of my Publishing Partners did the same. And leapfrogging will become the ONLY way to get to the top. You must take Massive Action. You must be persistent. Success never changes. It requires you to have grit and to add value, to be generous, to have an abundance mindset, to give first without worrying about receiving in return. I know you know this, but it will be true in 2014 more than ever. Leapfrog your way to the top through big ideas and massive networking.

The most generous guys I know are also the wealthiest. That includes Joel Marion, Mike Geary, and Bedros Keuilian in the fitness industry, and my good friend Matt Smith in the financial world. That is why I put so much time and energy into traveling the world to spend time with them. You do become the average of the people you spend the most time with, but seeing people 4x’s per year at Mastermind meetings and Fitness Business Summit is not enough. You must truly immerse yourself amongst the people you want to be most like. Get out of your comfort zone today!

2013 was another big year for partnerships because our Turbulence Training world is made up of amazing people like you. You rock, and the entire TT world is going to get massively bigger in 2014. Can’t wait to see the mega-breakthroughs that happen because of YOU.

Time to change the world. Let’s go!

Stay tuned! 2014 is going to be a BIG one!

To your health and fitness and fat loss,

Craig Ballantyne, CTT
Certified Turbulence Trainer