17th May 2012 Instructor Newsletter 2012

Hi and welcome to the C2Go newsletter. Hope you are well, fighting fit and classes are booming.

It’s been another great week and, as ever, developments in the fitness industry and at C2GO are moving along at a rapid pace.
Last week I launched the Fitness Pilates Wellness and Vitality Boutique and the response from Pilates instructors has been fabulous.
It transpires many Pilates Instructors are thinking along the same lines as me: which includes, as a way forward for Pilates and Pilates classes, to include a nutrition, mindset coaching, daily habits progressive exercise, meditation and relaxation as a complete holistic package.

 

 

The Boutique works well delivered as an online product, but many of the Boutique Instructors are planning on setting up a live Boutiques of their own. The daily workouts and mindset coaching videos have gone down really well and I plan to expand on this on future Boutiques.

If you missed it this time around, or it was full when you came to enroll then email or tweet me today as I’m looking at setting the next Boutique start date. You need to be Pilates qualified.

 

 

 

This week’s newsletter has some great articles by Jill Gardner, Sally Ghafoor, Claire Mockridge whos brand new workshop is happening this week (Good lure) and, of course, Andrew and Jayne.

Please keep your feedback coming in via Twitter/Email/Facebook @RachelHolmes and hit the “like”button over Choreographytogo Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Choreographytogo

Following the Media

Last week I wrote about ideas for you to Tweet and Facebook status update with. I suggested following all the daily newspapers and relevant magazines, plus subscribe to BBC health news and Fox health news. I have also discovered that Reuters Health contains lots of interesting snippets throughout the day.

Commenting on health, fitness and nutrition news of the day is a great way of positioning you as our fitness expert. It also encourages your followers to comment and get involved in these daily discussions. Especially if you are trying to get more ‘likes” on your Facebook business page.

I can’t recommend this technique enough and if you are serious about building your fitness business online, this will most definitely improve your positioning on social media.

The Illusive Fitness Passive Income by Rachel

Creating a passive income stream seems like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Traditionally if we wanted to earn more money we have to teach more classes, train more clients and generally work harder physically. There comes a point when you really have to add up the cost of traveling, insurance, continuing education, updating yourself, not to mention the wear and tear on your body as you continue with a punishing schedule.

But honestly, where really do you start when trying to create a passive income?

When I talk to C2GO members and ask how they want to develop, they all say “expand online and create digital income”

The following points may seem basic but I know a lot of instructors who aren’t getting the basics right and then becoming disappointed when their online endeavors to create a passive income stream don’t work out.

Here are my top tips in skills you need to survive online.

1. Know your way around your computer. If need be take basic computer course, attend a class or go to your local college.

2. Get camera savvy. Use your iPhone or blackberry and record videos of yourself talking about your services, classes and products. Upload weekly to social media. To transfer physicsgital you have to get in front of the camera

3. Just because your target market isn’t online now they will be coming online very soon. Many instructors say to me:
“well I target older adults and they aren’t on social media, they don’t have e-mail addresses”

Newsflash, the fastest growing sector coming online are known as the Silver surfers, be prepared or the other I get is

“My market aren’t on Twitter/Facebook/Youtube etc etc” Yes but, billions of other people are and they could potentially be your customers.

4.Build your business online, the same way as you would off-line, network, talk to people, spend time on social media, let people know the services you provide and offer and build your brand and personality on the Internet.

When I first got an Apple MAC about 3 years ago I had not got a clue. But I went every Thursday to the Mac Shop in Meadowhall, which is an hour drive away from me and attended the free training lessons that Mac hold in their stores. I learnt how to use imovie, publisher, itunes, iphoto in fact all of the programs. Yes, it was a pain in the neck going to Sheffield every week BUT I can now create all of my own videos, books, newsletter mp3’s and podcasts which is priceless.

Don’t let technical obstacles hold you back.Find someone to teach you the skills you need. I guarantee the fitness professional of the future will be harnessing the power of websites, webinars, apps and social media more and more. So, upskill yourself and get ready as the way we deliver our fitness and health information will become more than just instructing a physical class, whoever your client group is.

As the UK population ages new opportunities and fitness brands will start to emerge to serve these new markets and I will bet my bottom $ technology will play a huge role in delivery.

Music

The CD that I have been using all week has been the Noughty Nineties by Pure Energy – It really is a winner side A for Conditioning and Side B for HiLo

http://www.pureenergydigital.com/product-display/album/noughty-nineties-mg00394223.aspx

UNITE

Our new program UNITE that Jayne and I are running on 16 June in Derby looks to becoming a record breaking event. It’s the first time we have properly launched a new program on one day and we have secured press, journalists and magazines.

But, what exactly is Unite, who is it aimed at, and who will be able to teach it?

We both feel the time is right to launch a new hybrid holistic program which mixes the best of Freestyle Fitness Yoga and Fitness Pilates. The consumer we have in mind for Unite is the person who loves group exercise, has attended aerobics, body conditioning etc in the past but now due to creaky joints and is not able to do all of the high impact work. Although she enjoys Yoga and Pilates she is looking for a class that combines the best of both and includes conditioning and dynamic strength training.

The music that Unite will use is going to be a mix of 70s, 80s, 90s right through to now and is from Pure Energy. We both want Unite to represent a workout that is holistic, fun, and unites the best of mind and body training. There will be monthly updates, teaching ideas lesson plans and DVDs, and, of course, we are both on hand to help, support and promote you and your Unite classes.

The 45+ market is looking for something more sophisticated, trendy and cool and Unite will tick all of those boxes. You don’t need to have trained in Fitness Pilates or Freestyle Fitness Yoga we just want the best, most proactive, and progressive leaders to take Unite foreword.

We only have a few spaces available now and we are only launching this program in Derby on 16 June we aren’t touring or launching anywhere else in the UK. You can book on via Choreographytogo and Group X Training.

The Dirty Thirty Club – 30 workouts in 30 days for June

The KSFL2012 has been extremely successful, partially due to the daily 10 min workouts. I have created so many workouts that you can do at home, or use in class, or slip into your own training in the gym.

Therefore, I have now created a new workout project due to start June 1 aptly titled The Dirty Thirty Club – 30 Workouts in 30 Days

So, what is The Dirty Thirty Club?

It’s a challenge for all Fitpros (and anyone else) who want to get leaner, fitter, increase strength, muscle tone and flexibility and maybe have been neglecting their own training.

I’m creating 30 x10 min workouts that you can watch on your phone, iPad or PC

You can then work out with me every day for your own training and use my training ideas in your own classes, you will be able to keep all of the videos and save them for future use.

The Dirty 30 videos will be e-mailed to you every day beginning on June 1. So, why not get the family involved? Your partner involved? Your work colleagues? And all see a huge improvement in our own fitness levels and body composition.

There will be a mix of Bootcamp, Cardio, Flexibility, Fitness Pilates, HIIT Training and Conditioning videos and have tons of training ideas that you will be able to implement into your own classes and workouts.

If this concept sounds appealing then please E-mail me or tweet me @RachelHolmes so I can gauge numbers and interest.

Jayne Nicholls – I Smell Change

We are changing, the industry is changing, the question is – are you changing?
Rachel and I have worked tirelessly to create new and exciting branded products that will catapult your group success rate into business land. We watch the industry both here and abroad and we react, in fact no we create changes. Unite is a fantastic example of this and one that will serve the people attending well in the future.

Most of the emails that we are getting are from a mass of instructors who want the freedom to work independently and have the opportunity to demonstrate their creative skills. ”Soft skills” something that are rarely discussed including customer care, interaction, face to face contact, people skills – what other industries pay thousands to train their staff in are our biggest asset and we rarely champion them. Mix your soft skills, with the freedom you desire and a little help from myself and Rachel in key content and you have Unite a branded program that is good to go and perfect for any age group and demographic.

This week we have both received this email from about 200 people.

“Dear Rachel & Jayne WHY CAN I TEACH UNITE? I am not qualified to teach either Yoga or Pilates, how can I do this? I wonder why you are not licensing the product and charging me to use the name and I am interested to hear why you are making it so easy for me to teach something new. I would also be grateful if you can tell me why you are not coming to my street on yet another back breaking tour that will age you 10 more years”

Now DO NOT get me wrong, we LOVE YOU all and we have proved our loyalty to you and to our industry but moving forward and we are going to move forward, we all need to input, be pro active and take the opportunities that present themselves.

jayne@groupxtraining.com

Stress and its effects on you by Sally Ghafoor

Stress is a Western disease. It’s a new disease. If you look back to the beginning of the 20th century, the biggest killer was infectious diseases. The flu killed millions. In 1912 during the First World War there were 8 million war deaths – in the same year 20 million people died from the flu.

In the 1920’s physicians were brought to see a very rare case of someone who had been diagnosed with lung cancer. These were not big killers back then. The majority of people would die from some kind of infectious disease. Today however we live longer and we have stress in our life. Today’s world die of diseases that slowly build up over time and some of those diseases can be caused or worsened by stress.

Let’s look at a stress response. Most of you will probably have read the book “why zebra’s don’t get ulcers” lets look at the zebra analogy. Stress to a zebra is a short term physical emergency. A lion is about to pounce, the zebra has a stress response to help it out of this emergency.

What is a stressor? The body has an ideal – we call it homeostasis, an ideal temperature, and ideal everything – the body is in balance, a stressor is anything that comes along and knocks you out of that homeostasis balance.

So back to the zebra, it becomes stressed, the bodily response kicks in, it escapes and the body goes back to normal. The stress system within the body is designed to be switched on for 30 seconds/ 3o mins/3 hours whilst you’re dealing with the stressful situation. In today’s society we are switching it on for 30 years. There is even the fact that we worry about things that may not happen, you tell your body it’s about to be knocked out of balance – even when the outcome is that it may not. You become anxious, neurotic – it’s what humans do. Does an elephant give a shit about mortgages? No the only stress response other animals deal with are stresses in response to physical emergencies, which when resolved they go back to normal. They don’t worry all day long that they might get eaten that night. Stress is a good thing if it’s for 30 minutes or 3 hours – it saves your neck, do it for 30 years and it will kill you.

Stress response

Let’s look at how our body reacts to stress.

Firstly you need energy and you need it now. You’re in a mess, it’s an emergency, so your body mobilises energy. Next you need to deliver that energy as rapidly as possible; you need to get it to the muscles that will save you. Your cardiovascular system increases, your heart rate speeds up, so does your breathing rate – anything that will help get that energy into your muscles.

You turn off long term building projects – so you turn off your digestive system. Sensible really, if you are being told the river is going to burst its banks in 5 hours and flood your house, you wouldn’t start cooking the dinner, no you would be getting the hell out of there. Have you ever had to stand up and give a presentation in front of people, ever noticed how your mouth goes dry? That is your body’s response to stress – its turning off the digestive system, the first part of the digestive system, is saliva production. It turns off growth hormones and reproduction, does the body need ovulate during an emergency – no it just can’t afford to. Stress will shut down growth hormones

The Immune system gets switched off; it makes antibodies to help you in a week, but will do nothing in 30 seconds to help your stress.

Your mind gets sharper with the onset of stress – your thinking – clearly/memory/hearing/clarification. Just think you always remember stressful situations because your sensory information is so hightened. Bet you can all remember where you were when Princess Diana died, it was a stressful situation – but you can’t remember where you put your keys or maybe your phone 5 minutes earlier…. You become sensitive to sensory information when stressed.

What happens if you turn on same response for much too long a time? What if it is purely psychological reasons causing you stress. If every day is an emergency, your body will stay in an emergency, you will get sick and pay a price in long run.

Look at what the body’s response is, the need for energy – you are constantly burning energy, you never store that energy. Your muscles start to atrophy from the stress, you get exhausted, your wasting energy with being stressed, the need for the body to quickly find energy and then get it to the muscles as quickly as possible will leave you exhausted.

If your chronically stressed you are more at risk of developing adult onset diabetes. This doesn’t exist in developing world – it is a disease of the western world.

Your Cardiovascular system – stress elevates your BP levels. if your blood pressure is high all time you become constantly hypertensive, chronic elevation of blood pressure, after a while will damage the surface of blood vessels, plaques form, fat glucose cholesterol stick to the damages areas and form plaques.

Stomach ulcers – bacteria can give you ulcers – bacteria can cause holes to form in stomach walls, under stress, the immune system shuts down, bacteria divide like crazy = ulcer.

Colitis and irritable bowel syndrome – The small intestine is there to absorb nutrients, all day long, that is the job it does. Once the food goes into the large bowel it cannot get any nutrients out. During stress you turn off digestive system. You stop secreting saliva, your small intestine stops churning everything shuts down. The Large intestines, well the waste matter is just sitting there, it is not needed, so the body evacuates it. Have you ever spent ages on and off the toilet when stressed, well here is why. The small intestine stops absorbing the nutrients and stops working, the large intestine starts churning and rids the body of the waste matter as quickly as it can.

So something stressful occurs, this turns off the small intestine and turns on the large intestine, you go back to normal, you get more stress and it is repeated and repeated, things get uncoordinated, the bowels start doing things at the wrong time. For example both turn off at the same time and you become constipated. All signs of IBS and Colitis.

Growth – As a child you grow, you have an abundance of growth hormones, but what happens when stressed? There is a very rare paediatric endocrine disorder that causes kids to stop growing for purely psychological reasons called stress dwarfism. The body is very sensitive, even with how we grow. The good news is if you take the children with this disorder out of the stressful situation they begin to grow as normal (more info on this in the book why zebras don’t get ulcers).

So when you are chronically stressed you fail to put calcium into your bones, up until 5 years ago the consensus was that if you were chronically stressed you would get near to having osteoporosis then someone discovered if you want a scientific answer study women instead of men – here is what happens when a male gets stressed – high levels of stress hormones, growth hormones goes down – hints of osteoporosis. Here is what happens with women – high levels of stress hormone, low levels of growth hormone and oestrogen levels go down. Oestrogen holds off osteoporosis, stress causes oestrogen to go down, hence osteoporosis entails.

Along with that chronically stressed spells failure for reproductive systems. Female reproductive system, cycles become irregular, longer or disappear completely – amenorrhea . Males – testosterone goes down. 60% of men who go to the doctors with reproductive issues is psychogenic, completely stress related.

Immune system – infectious diseases, they will be worse. Psychoimmunology – what goes on in your head has an effect on how you react to infectious disease. The common cold becomes more common, you become ill for longer

The same hormones that are secreted during stress that you leak into your brain to make you think more clearly, if done chronically can damage your brain. These hormones can kill neurons and brain cells in the part of the brain that is needed for learning and memory. How does stress damage neurons in the brain? The total amount of stress you are exposed to in a lifetime determines how much memory loss / function you have.

it’s about successful aging; lots of people can at age 90 can run marathons whilst others can’t. The way you live your life over the decades will have an effect on the way you pay the price at the end.

If you are a zebra you need to turn on stress response to survive, in humans if you turn it on for too long you will pay a price.
www.facebook.com/sallyghafoor

The countdown is on…

By Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Hi there,

How’s everyone doing on this fine Thursday? I’m very well. The countdown is now most definitely on for me and the Ante/Postnatal Instructors booked on my Pre/Postnatal Exercise and Marketing Workshop this weekend.

I’m so excited to be delivering this content live to so many passionate instructors like myself at this one-off live Event for 2012. It’s going to be huge, and I’m aiming to make some pretty dramatic changes to mindset amongst the group. Too few Pre/Postnatal Instructors aren’t being rewarded their worth, in my opinion, and it’s time we changed this. I’ve mentioned to you before, Pregnancy Pilates is THE most profitable class on my timetable and it regularly runs with a waiting list. To give you an example, 6 ladies have already booked and paid for my next course which starts on 26 June, so I must be doing something right.

The countdown is on. I’ve finished my Powerpoint slides, I’ve practised my aerobics routines, I’m aiming to over-deliver. If you want in, then you’d better be quick!

As you know, it’s taken me a fair amount of dedication and tenacity to get to where I am now. If you’re reading this thinking “I wish I could do something similar”, or “I’d love to do something like this” then what’s stopping you? The countdown is on.

I suddenly realised late last year that I’ve been working with pre/postnatal clients for 6 years, and to date, have signed up 800+ pre/postnatal women to my classes. Because of this, I really feel it’s time I gave some of my knowledge back to the industry to help instil some confidence in newly qualified instructors, and also pass on all of the business acumen skills I’ve obtained too along the way, associated with marketing to a niche client group such as pregnant and postnatal women (which is gold, by the way).

No other pre/postnatal training course in the UK provides you with business and/or marketing skills. Sure, on other courses you’ll learn the theory, you’ll learn the practical, but what you won’t learn is how to make your business a success. “Bridging the Gap” will help you.

Working with pre/postnatal women is both rewarding and challenging. To be honest, I think they’re probably one of the hardest groups to market to, reward and retain. But, if you’re booked on my Workshop, you’ll learn all of my tricks to the trade when it comes to getting “bumps on seats” so to speak.

I’m really excited to be delivering this one-off live Event, specific to my niche. Again, it’s about the passion, isn’t it? Here’s a list of what you’ll walk away with from my 2-day Workshop:

*4 hours’ worth of cutting-edge exercise content for your pre/postnatal classes
*marketing and advertising skills to add a successful pre/postnatal arm to your business
*what works, what doesn’t and what’s imperative when working with pre/postnatal clients
*how to create a successful pre/postnatal passive income stream to your business
*a guide to using Social Media, specific to pre/postnatal Instructors
*how to raise your media profile locally, nationally and internationally as an Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert
*a feeling of belonging to a community of ante/postnatal instructors who’ll support you along the way

If you’ve done your Level 3 Ante/Postnatal qualification, or are studying it now, this Workshop is a must. You know yourself that the Level 3 Ante/Postnatal qualification itself is fairly basic. It’s heavy on theory and light on practical. I have over 4 hours’ worth of exercise content planned for pre and postnatal for my Exercise and Marketing Workshop, so you’ll walk away with endless ideas on keeping the content of your pre/postnatal sessions fresh, and more importantly, I’ll be giving you the confidence to try out new exercises with your clients from someone who’s been there and done it.

Are you struggling with advertising and marketing to pregnant women or new mums? I have answers to all of these questions too. I know how frustrating it is to put your heart and soul into a new venture, only to watch it fail. Follow my marketing steps, and you’ll enjoy full pregnancy and postnatal classes, with waiting lists in operation, just like me.

So, if you’ve done your Level 3 Ante/Postnatal, or currently studying it, here are the details:

Pre/Postnatal Exercise and Marketing “Bridging the Gap” Workshop ~ 19-20 May 2012 at David Lloyd in Derby. It’s not just pre/postnatal exercise content you’ll learn here, it’s also the marketing and business acumen skills required to find, retain and build rapport with pre/postnatal clients. For more details of this Event, see: www.clairemockridge.com/instructors

To listen to the Podcast I did with Rachel Holmes about Bridging the Gap, listen in here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZwLvipC9zE&feature=youtu.be

If working with pre/postnatal clients appeals to you, why not join my Private Facebook Group for FitPros who either: a) want to get qualified to teach pre/postnatal or, b) are already qualified, but want hints and tips on making their business more successful: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/clairemockridge/

Or, connect with me here:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/clairemockridge1
Twitter: www.twitter.com/clairemockridge #BridgingTheGap
Blog: http://clairemockridge.wordpress.com/

Bye for now.

Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Cooking up a Fit Pro storm – YOUR recipe for success by Jill Gardner

Ever worry that you are not getting it right? Ever worry that someone is doing it better than you? Every worry you will never get it right? Maybe you have felt like giving up?

Please don’t worry if you don’t feel very confident with this recipe. It takes a lot of patience and practice to get right and it’s very rare that anyone gets it right first time. With a lot determination and daily practice you will have this nailed before long!

I like to prepare this recipe surrounded by great, motivating people. There is nothing better than being cheered on when the going gets tough. Don’t be afraid to ask someone who has cracked this recipe before for help and guidance. They had to learn it once too! Having someone mentor you can help encourage you, prevent a lot of mistakes and save a lot of time. No two recipes will ever be the same and mistakes are inevitable so getting it wrong to start with can actually help make the recipe even better in the long run!

Ingredients: make sure they are all fresh!

1 HUGE bowl of passion
A burning fire in your belly
A measure of inspiration
A couple of large handfuls of clear focus
A few glugs of clarity
Equal dollops of patience and persistence
1 large measure of determination

Instructions:Following set instructions can save time but experiment until you find the formula that works for you

Mix all the ingredients together well. Don’t leave anything out!
You need to cook outside of the box for this one – be different!
Don’t be distracted by what others are cooking! You have the best recipe!
Others may try to tell you that you’re doing it wrong – only listen to those you trust!
Don’t try to cook it too quick or be tempted to use cheaper or borrowed ingredients – be unique!
Finish this recipe before starting another one!
Don’t leave it to sit on the shelf as it will go stale – eat quickly!
It’s best hot and straight out of the oven!
Trust your gut. If it tastes good you got it right. If not, then just keep tweaking until you get it just right for you!

I am still working on my formula. Each day it gets better and better. There is nothing more rewarding than the aroma of your own hard earned sweet success!

Here’s to your successful recipe! I would love to hear how it goes. You can follow my unique recipes and general positivity here at: www.hateitchangeit.co.uk or on facebook hateitchangeit.

Big love, small tummies and lots and lots of success!

Jill – The Fat Controller!

How many ‘faces’ do you have by Cori Withell

As fitness instructors we have so many ‘faces’ that we put on for our clients.

Energetic
Happy
Positive
Supportive
Sympathetic
Empathetic
Encouraging
Motivating
Enthusiastic
Awake
Smiling
A bit nuts!
Boundless energy
Strength even when ill!

The list goes on and on and on. So where, in all of these faces does the ‘real you’ get placed?

Do you sometimes feel that you have lost the ‘real you?’ In amongst all of those ‘faces’, looking after everyone else before yourself and then by the time it gets round to you, well, you are so exhausted you just collapse into bed. You probably tell yourself that it will be different tomorrow but it rarely is because ‘stuff’ gets in the way every single day.

Do you ever think about the amount of added stress you are putting on yourself day to day by trying to ‘be so many different people? This takes its toll over time, you will get tired more often, the ‘faces’ will get harder and harder to put on. Your patience will begin to wane; you will become more irritable at more people with less reason. You will get frustrated with yourself because you won’t understand why all this is happening. Well, I am telling you why and I am also saying that it is crucial that you take all of those ‘faces’ off and have time to just be you. You may even find that doing that is exhausting. If you have been working like a Trojan and going from one ‘face’ to another without a breath then you might have slightly lost yourself but you will get you back, sooner than you think too. Once you just allow yourself some true ‘me’ time then the relief will be immense. You won’t have realised just how much energy is consumed in living that way, until you s witch off and that is a great feeling. Once you have done it once, you need to keep doing it 🙂

More help in more areas such as loneliness, depression, stress, competitors, work life balance and more can be found in my new e-book The FitPro Mind available to buy at www.cwfitness.co.uk/shop/

Here is some of the feedback received so far,

Thought I’d read a few pages and couldn’t stop reading. your book is brilliant!! Reading just a small part of your book has actually helped lift my mood, so I’m hoping for a good nights sleep. It’s comforting hearing someone else experience, especially someone in the fitness industry. I’m not very clued up on supplements so I’m interested to know which can help me. Glad I purchased the book. Louise Watson

Bloody brilliant book!!! I strongly recommend it. Suzi Sullivan

You can also follow me on Facebook www.facebook.com/cori.withell and Twitter www.twitter.com/CWFitness and my daily blog at www.cwfitness.co.uk/blog

Health and happiness x
Best wishes
Cori x

To Claim……. Or Not To Claim…?
By Andrew Crawford

“…I bought this or that ‘Wholly & Exclusively’ for the purpose of my trade..”

By the end of this article, I want the above sentence to be engrained on the forefronts of your mind. Use it or lose it…….like your muscles…!!

To aid you….I will be subliminally working this sentence in and out of this article so you won’t forget…..

Before that….I would like to thank the cute little Helen Ttofa over there in Bolton for asking the question which led to this weeks article. Thank you.

I will copy it below so you can see the queries and information being disseminated amongst our brothers and sisters of the fitness industry fraternity.

“…… Can I pick your brains, my friend has just been on a workshop about self employment and they are saying that we cannot claim for trainers, fitness clothes etc unless they are branded with our company stuff, is this right?…”

This type of question I get asked frequently…..

In addition… I would like to say that I am still losing pounds.!!…..not GBP but in weight pounds on the KSFL maintenance…… I want to be firm, fighting fit, fun & feisty… not firsty or frisky but pinky & perky…so I continue on my quest to reach my fighting weight with the programme that works …mofo…!!

If you can’t remember what I looked like at my fighting weight take a look here…this is ‘wholly & exclusively’ for your eyes only…!!!
www.fitnessindustrytaxadviser.com

Excuse the red cap….it was for effect….ha ha ha!!!

Oh…….and if you say that it is photoshoped….that is utter b….. rubbish ….it’s ALL genuine….lol….. and…..in addition……that was on a staple diet of KFC, fillet-o-fish from Mackie D’s…tenants, special brew, brandy, champagne, Wray & Nephew (Jamaican overproofed white rum)..deep fried chips and a BIG piece of highly battered fish…water and salads??…your having a Steffi Graff….I stayed clear of those rabbit foods..lol….go figure..!!!
Back then there wasn’t all this …14 days to this…Bootcamp that….The Pretty Boy Pamper Weekend……..It was just pure grinding…..opps I mean …. working out, jogging with press ups, sit ups, pull ups, hand grips, swimming….The Bull Worker…(Those of you around my age will remember that equipment…!!)..and the ‘Ab cruncher’..!!!
Seriously…..I had to start something now…..because I was sick of the sight of myself when I stepped out the bubble bath and looked….glanced even…in the mirror..uggh..!!

So Andrew….What has your red cap (and outfit), the bull worker and being feisty, frisky, pinky and perky and the obligatory grinding got to do with Accountancy and finance?

Provided your expenses were primarily wholly & exclusively for the purpose of your business, it doesn’t matter if you derived some personal benefit from it.

So I’m sure that ALL your major expenses and trips were made “wholly & exclusively” for your business….therefore claimable…..or not?
If you made a research and development trip abroad, make sure you can demonstrate how it helped your business and that it wasn’t just a jolly ole ‘knees up’ with the boyz….& galz..!!
Eg. Say you went to Lanzarote to visit a client in the summer, for a bona fide business purpose. You might as well enjoy yourself in your spare time! As this was just a fortuitous and pleasant side effect from the main business purpose and reason that you went there for….wasn’t it??

Instead of quoting statute, company law, sections and subsection s and all that stuff us Accountants had to quote on our exam papers to impress the examiner . … I’ll leave that to the other ‘grey suits’ to try and impress you with their knowledge…!!!
Nothing is new…. after my particular style of explaining the following scenarios; I will leave it up to you, as the tax payer ‘to claim…or not to claim’
Fitness Clothes
This is where I and some other Accountants disagree…..

As a former Fitness Instructor, Personal Trainer & Presenter ALL my clothing were put through and claimed….Why?

They were bought…’WHOLLY & EXCLUSIVELY for the purpose of my trade’….. Fitness..!!!

There is a famous case which Accountants use…Re: Drummond Case where it was held that the clothing for the Solicitor was for ‘warmth & decency’…and therefore was not a claimable expense.

However, in our case….me & you…..would we be doing classes in a skirt, blouse, fish nets ( yum yum) and high heeled shoes….or a 3- piece suit and stuffy tie?????

Exactly!!…So we buy clothes appropriate for the job….specifically designed for the purpose of training… Lycra and baggy stuff, they don’t need to be branded.

Usually you can stick a logo on it and call it a UNIFORM….Why?……Uniforms are a specifically claimable expense. You would do this more with a tracksuit….’Personal Trainer’ or ‘Instructor’ emblazoned across the back!!

Think of it another way…………………..

You went out SPECIFICALLY to buy FITNESS CLOTHING for YOUR business…..(clothes which you wear ONLY for the classes that you get paid for…..you therefore LOST money to GAIN money….part of your business….right?

Therefore….. Claim your clothing..!!

Trainers
Let’s jump straight in…..
During my days as a Fitness Instructor …..before Beto came up with THAT word starting with ‘Z’….. I was wearing things they called ‘plimsolls’…!!
OK…that was back in middle school…. they cost 99p from Woolworths.
Now, I did a paper round, so I was able to afford the more expensive £2.99 Dunlop green flash.
Then they came out with the addidas mamba, samba, bamba…. Lord have mercy….!!!
Nowadays trainers are £100 plus or the cheaper ones are £60 – £80.
As a trainer and Presenter I was getting through a lot of these. I’m sure I had the first reebok pump me ups…I had to go to the states to buy those.
My point is this…
Buy 2 sets of trainers.
One for personal use costing £9.99 or thereabouts…the other one you buy ‘wholly & exclusively’ for the purpose of your business…costing £100 plus. (Keep the receipt for this one…it’s claimable).
Wear the cheaper one to and from your classes, they are for personal use.
Change into the expensive business ones and wear them exclusively for your classes and clients. (Don’t forget to change back to your ‘personal’ ones when you finish your session).
After say 2 – 3 months…those £100 exclusively for business trainers are ‘old’ and a bit smelly…from sweat extra..so……
You will need another business trainer.!! The cost?….£100 (keep the receipt).
The old trainer (originally costing £100) is no longer good for its purpose that you originally bought it for….therefore it has to be relegated to ‘personal’ use.!!
And on it goes…..until the 5th April or your year end for a company.
Therefore …Claim your trainers.!!
In closing, make sure that your expenditure falls within the wholly and exclusively rule….remember, its up to you to argue your particular case… for companies, the rule is a bit stricter, expenditure has to be ‘wholly, exclusively and necessarily’ incurred for your business.
So when you are faced with a decision remember ‘To Claim…or Not To Claim’

Speak soon x

Andrew Crawford
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Hope you have a wonderful week
Love and Hugs
Rachel xxx
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