We were lucky to catch up with Barpath Fitness recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Barpath thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the best advice you ever gave to a client? How did they benefit / what was the result? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

In the fitness industry, there is a tendancy for women in particular to focus on weight loss. We try to shift the mindset of our clients from weight loss to getting stronger and building muscle mass, strength, and bone density over time. This in turn builds the body composition they want, but also helps them live longer, pain-free lives.

We have a 75 year old personal training client who came to us as a referral. She didn’t have set goals other than wanting to lose weight and get a little stronger. She’d been working out for decades, but not focusing on the right things. She had done a lot of classes and small group training, but never personalized training focusing on her specific goals. Her technique and form needed more personal attention.

We started on a progressive, full body resistance training program once per week. We focused on strength and mobility and she noticed a benefit in daily life. Going up the stairs and walking her dogs got easier. She decided to increase to two times per week and eventually, three.

Our goal was to get her to stop weighing herself every day. She was getting stronger but the scale wasn’t moving much. We educated her on why this happens and explained she was gaining muscle, which is so important at this stage of her life. We also hammered home the importance of eating enough protein consistently.

At one point, she was on vacation and she tripped and though she caught herself, she hit her hip and upper thigh hard. She had a large bump and though it bothered her, she didn’t go to get it checked out for a bit. A couple months later, she went to the doctor and they confirmed she had fractured her hip, but was recovering well due to her activity levels. Having a 75 year old client fall, break her hip, and continue to live and heal normally is an outstanding result of structured resistance training.

Over the past two years working with this client, her mentality has shifted around weight loss. We recently told. her about a new 2022 study on women in their 70s and weight loss. Weight loss later in life is typically related to bone density loss and muscle mass loss and this study showed the importance of focusing on gaining strength and muscle for longevity. The women with higher levels of grip strength and lower body strength lived longer, while weight loss of 5% of more of bodyweight was actually correlated with increased mortality.

Barpath, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We started this business because we were two educated and experienced women in fitness who wanted to change the narrative and help people navigate the BS in the fitness industry. We’ve been working in this industry since 2007, helping people get stronger and realize their potential while reducing their pain and living happier, more fulfilling lives.

We believe that quality movement leads to quality results, strength & mobility work in concert, discipline brings freedom, and practice builds proficiency. We know that the human body is capable of so much and we promote resilience and confidence through strength training.

As two LGBTQ+ women in the fitness industry, we’ve worked very hard to claim our space. We give out a ton of quality information in our podcast, on our website, and in our newsletters and social media. We want to inspire everyone to take up space and own their lives by building confidence and mental and physical strength through training.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Getting certifications and degrees does not make you a good trainer. And, people don’t want to hear what qualifications you have; they want to know what you can do for them and how you can help.

After we both completed our Masters degrees, we felt that we had a wealth of knowledge to share. While this is true to an extent and a degree can definitely boost your resume and qualifications, it doesn’t help you get clients. When we first started we were determined to share the most recent research along with our qualifications to back up our decisions. We quickly realized that this is not what a human person needs to hear in order to make a decision about hiring you.

People have problems that they need solved. When looking for a coach or resource, they are going to look first for those people who have the answers. We had to really shift our mentality away from “having the qualifications” to “having the solutions.” Once we started marketing more efficiently and thinking more about our customers and potential clients, we saw a lot more traction and success.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Everyone had to do some sort of pivot during the pandemic. For us, we had already moved some previous clients online due to us originally training our clients in Chicago. When we moved, we moved people online and created systems to do this quickly. When the pandemic hit, we were forced to stop training in person and move the majority of our business online.

We ramped up our website, SEO, newsletter, and content strategy. We invested more in technology and software that would make online coaching possible. Then, we helped out friends who were also trainers do the same. So many of our friends and previous colleagues had lost their jobs and income when the pandemic hit. We created an online workshop and received accreditation through the American Council on Exercise. Through this workshop, we were able to teach other trainers and coaches how to pivot and market in the online space.

Through the pivot, we were able to grow our business and solidify our presence online which has led to a stronger business model today.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.barpathfitness.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/barpathfitness
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/barpathfitness
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/barpathfitness
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/BARPATHFITNESS

Image Credits
Kaytlyn Perez Photography