Youth Fitness Business: Training Adults is More Difficult – Part 4

Posted on: November 17th, 2010 by IYCA 3 Comments

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9.) Financial Justification – Most athlete programs are funded by parents or the school system or a possible sponsor. Parents can rationalize spending the dollars on a Youth Fitness Business and on their children more than themselves when it comes to physical fitness. Why? Parents view their children as “still having a chance” to achieve a dream or great feat. This brings us back to the adult client. Why doesn’t an adult view this the same way? Adults cannot justify spending the money on personal training or fitness because they face other expenses where they need to funnel their hard-earned money to. When it comes to personal health, adults try to rationalize with themselves by procrastinating, or trying to get healthier on their own. When they fail, they finally seek out a personal trainer. Certain adults are skeptical of this expense simply because they lack the confidence, commitment, and motivation needed to succeed.

Yup, parents will pay for their kids while sacrificing for themselves. True. But the fitness industry generates more than $100 billion every year in the United States alone – people ARE paying for service and product.

The youth fitness business /sport training market generates $4 billion annually in the United States (according to the Wall Street Journal). The adult ‘fat loss’ demographic generates 4x that amount. (more…)

An Example of What’s Wrong in Youth Sports?

Posted on: December 14th, 2009 by IYCA 25 Comments

Youth Sports

Excerpt from Article: "Creatine, which the American College of Sports Medicine says shouldn’t be used by those younger than 18, has been shown to be ineffective for some people. It can cause stomach upset and muscle cramps and overwork the kidneys. There are no data evaluating the long-term consequences of use or its effect on the heart and brain."

"Coach H" Response: I have been reading this tired boogey monster story about creatine since the mid 80’s and coaching high school juniors and older using creatine the entire time. I have rarely witnessed anything negative happening. The one or two muscle cramp experiences were always related to very poor hydration habits. A few athletes did not get any benefit from creatine supplementation. But absolutely no one has had a significant negative effect.

My Response to "Coach H": Although I don’t disagree with the general statements made here, my question is this —> How do you know? Cause and effect relationship in medical situations is hardly an easy journey when one tries to locate pathology. In that you have signed your credentials to the bottom of this post and are fully experienced and qualified, then you are most certainly aware that soft tissue trauma and other forms of dysfunction that occur and go unchecked can impact compensatory action and cause injury, often years later. Again, I also think the ‘boogey man’ statements regarding creatine are inflated, but do not have hubris enough to assume that I know everything related to potential concerns – even years later.

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