The Personal Trainer Mentor Academy Podcast

Nik And Ant - PTMA Podcast

Welcome to the Nik and Ant - PTMA Podcast. All things fitness, business, personal training, etc.

  1. How Many Clients Can You Actually Coach Well?

    3d ago

    How Many Clients Can You Actually Coach Well?

    Nik, Ant and Sky open with the usual chaos — a thumbnail roast (Claude designed it, Stacey's out of a job), Nik's baby due 22 July, and a "22% down on views" dig before they get to work. Then a full Q&A sweep: how often to chase a lead before they're dead, how to tell someone they're "not ready" without it being a cop-out, the real ceiling on how many 1-1 clients you can coach well (15–25, not 50), how to spot whether your real problem is marketing or coaching (track the six-month retention number), what to actually do with a quiet summer, and when to bring up further training inside a time-bound offer. Ice cream flavours also get a serious amount of airtime. Timestamps 00:01 Intro — "almost 300," nobody's checked the real number01:23 Six years of weekly podcasts, congrats banter01:37 Thumbnail roast — Claude designed it, PT Business Accelerator sale 13th July03:09 Nik's baby announcement — due 22nd July03:33 "22% down on normal" viewer numbers05:01 Q1 — Best/funniest client cancellation excuses (sofa/broken nail, arrested client)06:16 Q2 — How often should you follow up a lead until they say no?12:14 Q3 — How do you tell someone they're "not ready" and warm them up for later?15:22 Sky reframes: "It's not that they're not ready — it's that I don't know them well enough yet"16:00 Q4 (fun) — Go-to ice cream flavour18:15 Q5 — Dealing with external stress so it doesn't bleed into the business21:13 Q6 — Marketing problem or coaching problem — how do you tell?23:36 Ant — track retention; under ~6 months signals a service problem26:09 Q7 — Maximum clients you can coach 1-1 and still deliver quality?28:32 Ant — 20–25 max; past that you start forgetting things about people31:08 Q8 — What should PTs do with quiet summer months?33:02 Q9 — Best way to market yourself on LinkedIn?35:38 Q10 — When do you bring up further training inside a 4-week offer?37:14 Outro — tease for next week's announcement

    30 min
  2. "I think I'm a shit coach"... and other things PTs say at 2am

    Jun 22

    "I think I'm a shit coach"... and other things PTs say at 2am

    Ant and Sky sit down for the weekly debrief and end up covering the real texture of running a coaching business this month: why feeling busy isn't the same as feeling clear, a client testimonial that captures what PTMA actually changes, why coaches need to keep learning in the direction their clients are asking for, the wins rolling in across the membership (a coach cutting 30 paid gym hours in 9 weeks, a 40-person cohort picking up 3–12 new clients each), and the harder stuff — drawing a line around business hours, managing client expectations before they become problems, and forgiving yourself for the week you were too ill to show up. It closes on a story about a client whose dog had just been put down, and what it means to cry with someone in a session instead of performing professionalism. Timestamps 00:00 — Intro / catch-up banter03:30 — Feeling unproductive vs. having clarity — the framework09:00 — PTMA testimonial breakdown13:00 — Why coaches need ongoing education driven by client need18:00 — Recent PTMA wins (30 fewer gym hours, Accelerator cohort results)24:00 — Switching off — protecting business hours29:00 — Managing client expectations through monthly reviews33:00 — Guilt after being ill — action over rumination38:00 — Closing story — crying with a client, sign-off

    26 min
  3. Why your PT enquiries aren't converting (and it's not your price)

    Jun 15

    Why your PT enquiries aren't converting (and it's not your price)

    We kick off with a bit of football chat — England's World Cup chances (don't ask), some serious Aston Villa nostalgia, and a story about a Sierra plastered in claret and blue that Ant's dad jumped on at the Rumbelow's Cup Final in 1991. Classic. Then we get into it. Enquiries are coming in but the journey to sale is too slow — how do you speed it up without being pushy? This one's actually three separate problems disguised as one. Conversation to enquiry, enquiry to consult, consult to sale — each one needs diagnosing separately. Before you change anything, track where the drop-off is actually happening. Then ask yourself how consistently you're making offers and how often you're personally following up with warm leads. Nine times out of ten, that's where the gap is. Content creation is eating your time — what do you do? First, identify what's actually taking the time. Is it coming up with ideas? The technical editing? The design work? Once you know that, the answer becomes obvious. Ideas should come from you. The rest doesn't have to. Templates, outsourcing, a clear place to refer back to for content decisions — these all exist to solve exactly this problem. What are the biggest landing page mistakes coaches make? No personality. No VSL. The outcome promise buried three scrolls deep instead of leading with it. Too much AI-generated copy that feels like it could be anyone's. No proof. No client journey. People need to land on your page and know within seconds it's for them. If they're having to hunt for that, you've already lost them. How do you know when it's time to leave your gym? The challenge has gone. The environment feels flat. You're frustrated by things that never used to bother you — shifts, classes, cleaning, kit. You're hitting a ceiling on what you can actually build there. These are real signals. But be honest with yourself about why — because moving gyms for a fresh feeling doesn't fix a business problem. Make sure you're actually doing everything you should be doing in your current gym first. How long does it take to feel in control of your business and coaching? Genuinely? About four to five years before it clicked for Ant. But here's the thing — with the right goal, a plan that comes from it, and a schedule that reflects both, a brand new PT can feel that same control within three months. Most coaches who feel chaotic haven't sat down and done that work yet. That's not a criticism. It's just the truth. Before you go — The Nurture Fix Free live webinar on how to move people from knowing you exist to paying you, consistently. If the funnel question hit close to home, this is the session for you. 📅 Wednesday 8th July & Thursday 9th July | ⏰ 11am–12:30pm | 🔗 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro — England, World Cup, who's bottom of the pile 00:13 Aston Villa chat — Dalian Atkinson, Dean Saunders, the 1993 title race 02:30 The Rumbelow's Cup Final, the claret-and-blue Sierra, Ant's earliest football memory 04:13 Q1 — My sales funnel is too slow. How do I speed it up without being pushy? 08:44 Wrapping Q1 — audit the whole process, then double down on what's leaking 09:17 Q2 — Content ideas are great but editing is killing my time. What do I do? 11:21 Q3 — Biggest landing page mistakes? 13:26 Q4 — When is it time to leave your gym and start fresh?16:37 Make sure you're doing the job before you blame the environment 17:42 Q5 — How long did it take you to feel in control of your business? 19:45 Goals + plan + schedule = control within 3 months 19:54 Outro — The Nurture Fix webinar, free, 8th & 9th July

    18 min
  4. The Right Way to Call a Client Out (Without Making It Weird)

    Jun 8

    The Right Way to Call a Client Out (Without Making It Weird)

    This week Ant and I get straight into it, no small talk, just your questions. We open on something a lot of long term coaches quietly struggle with: how to keep things fresh for clients who could train themselves but stick around for the accountability. Our take: you've got a duty of care to keep reviewing, resetting and future pacing with them, otherwise the relationship just becomes a transaction. From there we go everywhere. Pricing came up again: should you add a flat increase across the board or move to tiered pricing? We talk through why we'd price based on what each client actually needs rather than a blanket number. We get into what actually separates a core offer that connects from one that falls flat (hint: it's not the features, it's how clearly you speak to your niche), and Ant breaks down how he manages different personalities when coaching small groups: screening, pairing people up, and setting the tone from session one. We also tackle one of the harder questions in the industry: what to do when you hit weeks or months with no conversions. Our honest answer: have a brutally honest conversation with yourself first, because the fundamentals are boring, but they're what separates people who build something lasting from people who fall into success by accident and can't repeat it. Elsewhere we cover how to call out a client without making it awkward, navigating holidays as a self employed PT without losing your shirt financially (Nik shares exactly how he restructured his pricing to build time off in from the start), why every PT should have a landing page, getting clients to organically support you on social media, the first step to helping a client through emotional eating, and how far in advance to start marketing a lead magnet depending on what type it is. Plus, for the record, we both said we'd rather be doing something completely different if we weren't in fitness (Captain Jack Sparrow and a fireman, apparently). Timestamps 00:02 Intro / why we're re recording (Wi Fi issues) 00:43 Q1: Keeping long term in person clients engaged and accountable 03:19 Q2: What would you be doing if you weren't in the fitness industry? 06:04 Q3: Pricing, flat increase across the board vs tiered pricing options 08:07 Q4: What separates a successful core offer from one that struggles to connect 10:32 Q5: Managing different personalities in a small group environment 16:51 Aside: favourite holiday destinations 17:21 Q6: How to deal with weeks/months with no conversions 23:03 Q7: Favourite ways to call out a client without calling them out 23:38 Q8: Navigating holidays as a PT, managing missed opportunity concerns 28:46 Q9: Main benefits of a landing page, should all PTs have one? 30:51 Q10: Getting clients to support you on social media without asking 32:54 Q11: First step to help a client who struggles with emotional eating 34:50 Q12: How much lead time to give before launching a lead magnet 37:33 Outro / wrap up

    33 min
  5. The Habit That's Actually Holding Your Coaching Business Back

    May 27

    The Habit That's Actually Holding Your Coaching Business Back

    00:00 - Intro and welcoming Skye back from her Spanish adventures  06:00 - Q1: How do you balance learning new tech and AI without losing sight of actually coaching?  11:25 - Q2: The number one personal habit limiting coaches in their business  20:25 - Q3: MailChimp vs ActiveCampaign, what should coaches actually be using?  25:20 - Q4: The most challenging and rewarding parts of family life as a self-employed PT  31:40 - Q5: Is "Lift Bitch" too offensive as a male coach marketing to women? Skye's back. After a few weeks off and what felt like a full tour of northern Spain, we're back together and straight into the questions. First up: how do you keep up with all the new tech and AI without losing sight of actually coaching? The answer isn't about finding some perfect balance. It's about making deliberate decisions. You're not going to absorb everything at once, and waiting for a moment of clarity that never comes is exactly how you stay stuck. Block the time. Pick the thing. Build the process. The tech exists to give you time back to coach better, not to replace the work you need to put in. Then we get into the habits that are genuinely holding coaches back, and we don't pull punches. Work ethic comes up, but not in the generic sense. The real issue is consistently avoiding the hard, uncomfortable tasks in favour of the ones that feel productive without moving the needle. Self-accountability is a big one too, specifically the habit of externalising it, expecting someone else to keep you on track when that's never really how it works. Then there's the emotional side: letting a good week become an excuse to ease off, or a tough week become a reason to go quiet. The business doesn't care which kind of week you're having. From there it gets practical. MailChimp versus ActiveCampaign, which one should a newer coach actually start with? There's a straight breakdown of where each one fits, what ActiveCampaign does significantly better, where Canva and Wix sit in the landing page conversation, and why the right answer depends more on where you're heading than where you are right now. Ant then gets asked about the personal side of building a career in this industry while raising a family. It's an honest one. The distinction between being physically present and actually being present is something that lands. We close out with a question that sparks a proper debate. A coach wants to know whether naming his women's programme "Lift Bitch" is too offensive when he's a man coaching women. There's a creative alternative involving Britney Spears, a conversation about audience trust and context, and a story about Bang Tidy Bootcamps in Manchester that you need to hear for yourself.

    21 min
  6. Coach Q&A: Programming Blocks, Business Overwhelm, and Why Calling Out New PTs Is Spineless

    May 11

    Coach Q&A: Programming Blocks, Business Overwhelm, and Why Calling Out New PTs Is Spineless

    This week me and Ant are back in the seat answering questions sent in from coaches, and there's a good mix in this one covering programming, overwhelm, business challenges, and a conversation at the end that had Ant pretty fired up. We kick things off with client programming structure. How far ahead should you actually be planning? Ant breaks down his approach of working with a 12-week view but building out the first six weeks as a proper block from day one, with weekly check-ins to tweak based on client feedback. The point underneath all of that is about having a system and a method you can actually articulate. A lot of coaches react week to week intuitively, but when you ask them to explain why they programme the way they do, they can't. That gap matters for results, for confidence, and for how you present yourself when you're signing someone on. We talk about what we find most challenging about running PTMA. For me it's the operational side right now, particularly the overhaul of our back-end systems and communication processes, thinking ten steps ahead, stress testing everything so it lasts. For Ant it's monthly review week, which he breaks down with complete honesty. Thirty clients, full attention to detail on every single one, and that runs across a full week. It's the most draining part of the job but also the part he's most proud of. On overwhelm, both of us go into the exact process we use. Get it out of your head, separate what you can and can't control, then prioritise ruthlessly against what actually moves the needle. The honest bit in there is the battle between what you want to do and what you need to do. They're rarely the same thing, and the stuff you're avoiding is usually the stuff that moves you forward fastest. We cover what your biggest advice would be going into a brand new gym, what to look for when choosing a gym for face-to-face PT, and the biggest personal obstacles we both faced as coaches early on. For me that was the contradiction of carrying insecurity while projecting authority, and learning that communication is probably the single most important skill a coach can develop. Knowing when to be direct versus reflective, and getting comfortable saying "I don't know" without it feeling like a threat. There's a question on what actually keeps clients working with you long-term and Ant gives a clean answer across three areas: how you make them feel, the results and progress they can see, and constantly future-pacing them so they always have a forward view on what they're working towards. We end with the call-out culture stuff. New and inexperienced coaches are being publicly targeted for their content, and in more than a few cases it's coaches with a platform using them for reach and clout. Ant has a very direct opinion on this. The point isn't that the coaching is always right technically. The point is that calling someone out publicly when a private message would do the same job is cowardice dressed up as quality control. We also touch on PureGym's role in this and whether there's a filter problem there too. Time Stamps; 00:00 Welcome back and intro 01:35 Q1: How far ahead should you programme clients? Six-week blocks, 12-week view, and weekly adaptation 07:13 Q2: What do you find most challenging about running PTMA? 11:32 Q3: What do you do in a period of overwhelm? 14:37 Q4: How did you find the business restructure and managing time and boundaries? 16:33 Q5: Biggest advice going into a brand new gym 19:51 Q6: Biggest personal obstacles and struggles in your coaching career 23:56 Q7: Top three things that persuade a client to keep working with a PT 26:44 Q8: What do you look for when choosing a gym for face-to-face PT? 32:08 The call-out culture problem targeting inexperienced coaches online

    33 min
  7. Self-Doubt, Imposter Syndrome and the Gym Floor Sales Conversation Nobody Wants to Have

    Apr 29

    Self-Doubt, Imposter Syndrome and the Gym Floor Sales Conversation Nobody Wants to Have

    This week me and Ant are in the hot seat answering your questions, and there are some proper good ones. We start with how to turn a gym floor conversation into a paying client without it feeling like a pitch. The short version: stop calling it a sales conversation. We break down the three things you should always be finding out. Then we get into two that are going to hit home for a lot of you. Feeling like you're failing and not good enough, and imposter syndrome. They're two sides of the same coin really. Ant makes a strong point about looking at the facts rather than just sitting in the feeling, and I talk about how comparison is doing more quiet damage than most people give it credit for. We also get into the anxiety around not being able to switch off when you run your own business. You probably never fully do, but there are things you can do to make it less of a constant drain. With summer coming, someone asked about the best lead magnets and front-end offers for when gyms go quiet. We push back on the idea that summer is some kind of dead zone and why your strategy probably shouldn't change as much as you think. Ant also gives a full update on where Connected Coach is at right now for anyone who's been following along. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro, bank holiday chat and Nik's CrossFit comp 01:12 Turning gym floor conversations into paying clients 05:10 Off topic: who would you see in concert, dead or alive? 06:50 Overcoming self-doubt and feeling like you're failing 12:46 Dealing with anxiety around not being able to switch off 17:00 Best lead magnets and front-end offers for summer 21:45 Connected Coach update 26:11 Football chat: will Everton do Arsenal a favour? 26:45 If you were starting the podcast again, what would episode one look like? 28:41 Three pieces of advice for dealing with imposter syndrome

    28 min
  8. The Real Reasons Clients Don't Buy (And What To Do About It)

    Apr 20

    The Real Reasons Clients Don't Buy (And What To Do About It)

    This week pod episode we cover some awesome questions from the legends int he Academy. The most common win in the academy right now? Coaches finally getting their heads around what marketing actually requires. Front-end offer campaigns are producing results, but the bigger shift is coaches accepting that turning up and posting a few times is not a strategy. The awareness of what needs to go in is the real win. On terms and conditions, the recommendation is to split them into two clear sections. The first covers how you operate your business, including payment schedules, cancellation handling, communication boundaries, and what happens during holidays or injuries. The second outlines what the client is committing to from a programme delivery standpoint. Two halves, clean and clear. GLP-1s came up and produced one of the best conversations in this episode. The message is straightforward: stop fighting it and start educating. Clients need to understand the choice in front of them, coaches who ignore this will lose clients because of it, and the ones who lean in and build their knowledge around it will be better positioned than anyone who buries their head. Skye is flagged as a resource for coaches who want to get up to speed in this area. For generating leads without paid ads, Nik runs through a solid list including local community groups, cross-promotion networks with complementary businesses, in-person and online events, and what coaches like Sam Kenyon are doing by interviewing local businesses to build genuine reputation and reach. When leads are not converting, the root cause is almost always one of three things. Not enough volume at the top of the funnel. A message that is not pulling in the right people. Or an offer that is not clear enough for someone to understand what they are buying and why it is worth the investment. Troubleshoot from there. For Instagram Stories, Ant breaks it into three buckets. You as a person and what your day actually looks like. Your clients and the work you are doing with them. And using Stories to expand on the context behind your posts. The goal is conversation, and that does not always have to be fitness related. The biggest change in coaching over the last five years? A genuine shift toward behaviour change and client-centred coaching. Small group training has become a real alternative to heavy one-to-one hours. And hybrid coaching, which Ant is very clear on, is not new. Coaches have just started packaging and pricing it properly. The episode closes with the PTMA Accelerator kicking off in one week. Two payments of £99 or £197 upfront. The last group averaged four new paying clients in their core offer, with some coaches hitting eight, nine, even eleven by the end of it. Timestamps; 00:00 Welcome and intro 00:43 Most common wins in the academy right now 04:13 What to include in your terms and conditions 06:33 Coaching clients through GLP-1 frustration and mindset 14:34 How to get leads outside the gym without paid ads 19:50 Why leads are not converting and how to fix it 26:07 What to post on Instagram Stories 28:40 The biggest changes in coaching over the last five years 33:19 How to balance your schedule when demand picks up 36:00 PTMA Accelerator: what it is and how to join

    34 min
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Welcome to the Nik and Ant - PTMA Podcast. All things fitness, business, personal training, etc.

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