How PT’s can expand into the healthcare industry – Fit Rec magazine

Take a read of our article below or in Fit Rec magazine https://joom.ag/UVuC to see how you can expand into providing PT for NDIS participants.

Interested in hiring one of our PT’s for yourself or a loved one through the NDIS? Visit our NDIS page.

Interest in working for us or your business joined forces with us? Visit our careers page.

How the fitness industry can be recognised as a part of the healthcare industry

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The least likely person to step foot in the Gym is often the person that needs help the most. Many people who may be larger, older, injured, or have a disability don’t think the Gym is a place for them. There is a huge misconception that the Gym is a place for fit people to get fitter. It sounds intimidating to walk in amongst the bodybuilders and bikini models and find your way in a big open space full of heavy weights. This stereotype may not be fair for many in our industry, but the reality is we do have this stereotype which is one of the reasons the fitness industry is rarely seen as a health care service. When it comes to the media or the government talking about health care, Personal Trainers and Gyms barely get a mention.

We have an amazing opportunity to change this misconception if we work together as an industry. We are a diverse industry that should not be lumped into the one stereotype. The health and wellness sector of the fitness industry is very different to the vanity focussed sector of the industry. When it comes to helping people with health goals vs vanity goals, differentiating yourself can be the key to success.

For us at Fitness Enhancement, this difference has been a key strategy for success. Our main client group is people “too scared to go to Gyms”.  Over the last 20 years, we have grown into Australia’s largest Mobile Personal Training company providing Personal Training in comfortable and private settings either in our “100% private” studios, or the comfort and privacy of the clients own home. In the last couple of years we have also become NDIS registered – this is the National Disability Insurance Scheme which gives funding to people living with a disability to help them improve their health and wellbeing by working with a Personal Trainer.

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Our NDIS registration has opened up a whole new market for us, and gives us more credibility as a health care service; we now find medical professionals and disability support companies referring clients to us for Personal Training. Our NDIS client’s goals are varied and include independence, confidence, increasing functional strength, recreational activities and simply being able to do the things most of us take for granted.

The fitness industry is not the first industry that springs to mind when people think of health care or disability support. In fact, many of the companies and families that we now work with didn’t realise a service like ours was available until they found us! They are often surprised and excited to hear about the role, a caring and down to earth Personal Trainer can play in health care and disability service.

What we have done as a company barely scratches the surface of what we as an industry could do if we banded together and all actively promoted our successes in health care and disability. If we want to be seen as a part of the healthcare industry, those of us that are doing great work need to be building on this credibility and continue to distance ourselves from the stereotypes that so often hold us back.

If we’re united as one, we can help so many more people experience the benefits of exercising with a professional Trainer.

How you can expand into disability fitness

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Most experienced Trainers have had a client with a disability in the past, regardless of the NDIS, if that’s you that’s a great first step.
There’s such a broad spectrum of what a “disability” is that it’s best to assess each client’s limitations on a case by case basis to see if you have the skills to train them, as opposed to assuming you can train anyone. For us, most of our client’s disabilities are minor which means most of our Trainers can train most of our clients.
There’s no set extra qualification the NDIS requires you to have, however it is a lengthy and costly experience for a business to become a registered NDIS provider.  And then there is ongoing compliance, service agreements, documentation, and billing requirements that we in the fitness industry are not used to having to abide by. So the options are, go through this process yourself (or have your boss, Gym you’re a part of, etc do this) or join forces with a company such as ourselves who will take of everything under our provider number.
If you choose to not become NDIS registered, you can still do disability work, however, understandably you won’t be able to make the most of opportunities out there. So if you’re happy to just have a few clients with disabilities, it probably isn’t worth become a registered NDIS provider (or a part of a company that is), but if you want to make it a big part of your business then it absolutely is!
As for getting clients, just like all of our other clients it’s about good marketing and great relationships and amazing results! To get NDIS clients, it’s about great relationships with plan managers and support coordinators as these are the people that recommended and refer you the most to the many people with a disability they help look after.