This is the proposal I just sent to the small business mentoring agency, SCORE. I have decided to stop waiting until I have a perfect body to start working on my next stage of life.
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I am just starting out to get my certification as a Personal Fitness Trainer. I have noticed that most trainers are young men and a few young women, but many people who go to gyms and want to get in shape are older people, over 40. in the past several years I have belonged to several gyms, which fell into 2 types. One was the "beginner gym" like Planet fitness, where the membership was inexpensive and there was a big marketing concept about the "judgement-free zone." For all its talk, this gym provided little support for new members and turnover was high. The high-end gyms, I have joined, (like Bally's and Premier Fitness) on the other hand, were expensive and full of beautiful young trainers, mostly male.
Not to be a snob, but I'll bet most handsome 20-something males have no clue about the most important needs of women (and men) over the age of 40. Not only do we have different physiological needs, but there are lifestyle issues, emotional baggage, and years of poor habits to unlearn. Many of my friends are too intimidated to even set foot in a traditional gym. Even my husband, who is normally a confident guy, does not want to go to the gym because he is afraid of looking stupid.
I myself have had a lifetime of dieting and exercise, some of it beneficial, much of it not. I in the last 10 years I have manged to lose 50 pounds and keep it off, and I am now battling the last 10. Along the way, I have also had to re-learn everything I thought I knew about food, exercise, and motivation.
My goal is to make a gym where people over 40 or so can go and find support for their particular training needs. I want to help moms who want their pre-baby bodies back, veterans (like myself) who want to return to fighting weight, high-school jocks who miss feeling fit, and empty-nesters and newly-single people who are ready for a new start in life. In other words, for anybody who feels like the years have not been kind, like they have let themselves go, or maybe they never felt great about their looks and are ready to find out what it feels like.
This gym would offer personal training, nutrition counseling, exercise classes that are geared for older clients (like low-impact aerobics) and a generally supportive atmosphere where people my age can go and not feel like the oldest, fattest, least-appealing person in the room!
In addition I would like this gym to be a community. I would offer group trips to active adventures (canoeing, hiking) and fun local activities (art walk, wine tasting). I would like to find some way to bring in other small business owners whose products compliment my mission, like Avon or Herbalife or BeautiControl .
This whole business would be about promoting an active lifestyle and making healthy choices, well as developing new supportive friendships. It would create a space where people can be comfortable to come in and work on themselves, where they can learn new skills they will need to support their healthy lifestyle, and where they will want to keep coming back, even after they have lost their weight, because they love the atmosphere and community.
Now I need a plan....
