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Most online coaches aren't really coaching. After 10 years of full-time online coaching, around 500 podcast episodes and a pro card, Steve Hall of Revive Stronger shares what actually keeps clients and what most coaches get wrong. Joe sits down with Steve to talk about: - setting expectations from day one; - why he left email check-ins for two-way video; - the "optimal" trap, and how he strips over-optimised clients back to the basics; - the soft skills that make up most of coaching; - where his clients come from now (yes, ChatGPT); - the one piece of advice he'd give any coach who wants to still be here in 10 years. If you're an online coach who wants to get better at the job, not just bigger, this one's for you. 🎙 The Industry by 1FIT: coaching, out loud. Steve Hall / Revive Stronger Website: https://revivestronger.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revivestronger/ Podcast: Revive Stronger, on all podcast platforms and YouTube 1FIT Website: https://1fit.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1fituk/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@1fituk Coaching community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1fitcoachingapp/ Joe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightman_/ Chapters 00:00 From fan to guest 02:56 Influence, environment and the 10K-month trap 06:19 Coach, bodybuilder or podcaster? 08:02 How the Revive Stronger podcast started 12:03 Imposter syndrome and the pro card 19:50 The road to natural bodybuilding 26:46 Why natural, and naturals getting complacent 31:42 10 years of podcasting: what it taught him 36:13 The science vs the soft skills of coaching 38:58 Off topic: hair loss, acceptance and control 49:15 "Optimal is a fallacy": basics first 59:15 Coachable clients and video check-ins 1:09:54 Inside Revive Stronger, AI leads and advice for coaches #onlinecoaching #fitnesscoach #naturalbodybuilding

Luke calls himself the OG of online coaching, and for once the title holds up. He started coaching online in 2012, years before most of the industry knew what it was. He built Shredded by Science by bringing in names bigger than his own, turned it into a coaching team, and later into a PT education business, Shredded by Science Academy, which became the Personal Trainer Collective. By his own account SBS made the coaches money but not him. In July 2022 he took a year out, and has said coming back was harder than stopping. In 2024 he wrote that his goal was a business built around what he enjoys, recurring revenue that doesn't rely on chasing clients, and working with a few people who remind him of himself early on. Now he's the launches guy. His clients include Sean Fitzness, Steve Kraft Coaching, Sean Casey and the Glean app, all running big, lower-ticket, large-scale launches. His brand is helping coaches scale without burning out. Launches are having a resurgence, and Joe has just run one myself: 76 people into a group programme. This is the conversation we want to have with the person who's done it more than anyone.

Lewis Potts was 150kg and three online coaches failed him before one finally worked. He now coaches the coaches, and his view on the online coaching industry is blunt: a lot of coaches are very good at writing plans and have never been taught to actually coach. In this episode he takes apart what is going wrong in online fitness coaching and what to do about it. Why client adherence is usually a coaching problem rather than a client problem. Why he thinks the uncoachable client barely exists. What he pays attention to when a client goes quiet. And the client retention maths that most coaching businesses have never run on themselves. He is also honest about his own part in it. He worked for a transformation company that got great photoshoot results and damaged a lot of people on the way, and he says so on camera. He is equally blunt about the coaching mentor who nearly took his own fitness coaching business the wrong way. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN - The client retention maths every online coaching business should run - Why clients commit to decisions they reach themselves, and how to coach that way - Client adherence: how to work out whether it is on you or on them - Raising your coaching prices: when you have earned it, and the benchmark he uses - How to get coaching clients when you have none, and why he says work for free first - How to keep clients longer, which is the whole point of the fitness business he has built - Why most clients decide to leave in the first month - Onboarding versus on-ramp, and what to do in the first four weeks Lewis Potts: https://www.instagram.com/lewispottsofficial THE INDUSTRY PODCAST: https://www.instagram.com/theindustrypod_ 1Fit: https://1fit.com

Belle Mee runs her online fitness coaching business the way most coaches are too frightened to. No softening, no hedging, no coddling, and a flat refusal to let a client lie to her. It has built Body by Belle to a full roster of coaching clients at near enough a 90% close rate. It has also got her blocked by people she used to work alongside, and sent vile messages telling her she hates women. In this episode she goes through all of it. Why she thinks body positivity has gone too far, and why being overweight herself is the reason she gets to say it. The ten grand she handed a business mentor for methods that nearly broke the business. The coach she hired against the advice of everyone who knew them, and what it did to her and to her team afterwards. She also does the unglamorous part of running an online coaching business properly: what she pays her coaches and why £40 a client is an insult, the switch from paid in full to recurring revenue, turning the Meta ads off and riding out a shadow ban, and the two options she puts in front of every client before they ever get on a call. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN - How to get online coaching clients with organic content for coaches instead of ads - Why her close rate on sales calls sits at 85 to 90% - Client retention, roadmapping, and why her fat loss coaching phases cap at 10 to 12 weeks - What to pay a sub coach, and hiring online coaches you can actually trust - Moving an online coaching business from paid in full to recurring revenue - Choosing a fitness coach mentor, and the ten grand lesson behind it - Her content strategy as a fitness coach: no batching, no scripts, no videographer - What online fitness coaches are getting wrong in 2026 This one is for online fitness coaches, anyone building a personal trainer business online, and every female fitness coach running a womens fat loss offer who would rather have the numbers and the mistakes than the highlight reel. CHAPTERS 00:00 "No softening, no hedging, no coddling" 02:13 "We don't allow our clients to lie" 05:11 Why it lands with women, and the backlash that came with it 08:21 The wrong client base, and why it was her own fault 10:41 What Body by Belle is actually for 12:20 60 clients, a full time job, and handing her notice in 13:06 Ten years in HR, and why sacking people made her a better coach 16:08 Mentors, the good and the bad 17:30 Moving from paid in full to recurring 19:30 What you can build once you stop chasing the sale 23:17 What bodybuilding prep taught her, and what it cost 25:03 15 kilos in three months 28:02 The line between getting results and doing damage 30:14 Has body positivity gone too far 32:35 Blunt reality versus empathy 33:05 Roadmapping clients, and why diets get phased 35:25 Two options, and why 70% pick the slower one 38:21 Spotting the serial dieter on the call 40:27 What a real woman actually looks like 42:24 "I'll know just by looking" 43:26 Weight loss jabs, nail techs, and the clients she wants 44:50 How the challenge feeds the 1 to 1 48:59 Capacity, and what comes next 50:48 Hiring coaches, and what they should actually be paid 56:16 The hire that nearly ended the business 59:03 Why her coaches are part of the brand 1:02:56 Content strategy: no batching, no scripts, no videographer 1:07:53 Turning the ads off, and getting shadow banned 1:09:44 "I know your profits are shit" 1:11:43 Self doubt, and the run of PBs stopping 1:13:07 Attracting the right people, repelling the wrong ones 1:14:13 What coaches are getting wrong in 2026 BELLE MEE, BODY BY BELLE Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bodybybelle_x THE INDUSTRY PODCAST The podcast for online fitness coaches, from 1Fit. Every episode is a working online coach taking apart how their coaching business actually runs. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theindustrypod_ 1Fit: https://1fit.com New episodes every week. Subscribe for more online fitness coaching conversations. Edited by @benbarbermedia #OnlineFitnessCoaching #OnlineCoaching #FitnessCoach #PersonalTrainer #FitnessBusiness #OnlineCoachingBusiness #TheIndustryPodcast #1Fit #FitnessIndustry #CoachingBusiness

He was doing £100,000 months at a 90% profit margin. Then he dropped 40 grand a month overnight. Ben Hawksworth spent 12 years in the coaching industry before walking away from the model everyone else is still chasing. Now he builds AI operating systems for businesses doing nine figures, and he has some uncomfortable things to say about what coaches are doing with AI right now. We get into why being fully booked isn't a flex, why he blames the mentor layer for what happened to coaching, what £25,000 of cybersecurity taught him about coaches building their own apps, and the one thing every coach should do with AI this week. This one gets technical in places. Stick with it. CHAPTERS 0:00 Do it right 0:55 The fully booked era 3:20 Why he dropped 40 grand a month overnight 4:30 "Is this my life now?" 6:10 Do you have to hit the number to learn it's empty? 9:55 The work he had to do on himself 13:20 Stacey 15:40 What the coaches who make it have in common 18:10 Why he blames the mentors 19:50 There is no top 21:40 Coaches grow their business the way they tell clients not to       get in shape 23:30 Where AI changed everything 26:00 From a team of 17 to a team of 7 27:15 How to do it right with AI 29:50 Hiring a CEO to replace himself 30:30 ADHD, ASD and the AI edge 31:30 A bloke with a laptop and a £100m idea 32:40 Is SaaS dead? 34:50 Daniel Priestley told him to go all in 37:55 Why cybersecurity matters more than you think 41:20 What to build instead of an app 46:50 Where AI should start and end for a coach 48:30 It's never replacing you 49:30 Where to actually start 55:50 What an MCP is, in plain English 58:50 The highest value thing you can do with AI 59:45 AI is the biggest catfish known to man 1:07:50 The one thing to do today 1:13:15 What Titanium is FIND BEN Instagram @benhawksworth_ THE INDUSTRY A 1FIT production. Coaching, out loud. Instagram @theindustrypod_ 1Fit: www.1fit.com #onlinecoaching #aiforcoaches #coachingbusiness

Five weeks before he won the Olympia, Niall Darwen sat down with us and told us it wouldn't be close. He was right. This was recorded in the middle of his prep, five weeks out from the biggest show of his life. He talks about the messages telling him to quit, winning a pro show with a mouth infection so bad he couldn't swallow his own saliva, the 1.4 grams that took him to top five in the world, and why he's spent the last two years working out who he is when he isn't a bodybuilder. This is the conversation before the win. Congratulations Niall. FIND NIALL Instagram:  @Onepunchnaz_   THE INDUSTRY Coaching, out loud. A 1FIT production. Instagram: @theindustrypod_ 1FIT: https://1fit.com CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:38 Eleven shows, two Olympias 01:58 All my eggs in one basket 02:37 Winning his pro card 04:30 His first Olympia and 11th place 05:55 Five weeks out: the daily routine 07:36 "I don't want to say I fell out of love with it" 08:50 When he started believing 10:20 The guys he looked up to 12:39 Beating Mathias in Tampa 13:12 The messages telling him to quit 15:04 Speaking it into existence 16:23 What he thinks he'll achieve at the Olympia 17:44 Why he still gets overlooked 20:48 Is it just genetics? 21:59 When his confidence got knocked 22:59 The hate calls after New York 24:24 Classic physique is a look, not a pose 27:39 What Carl actually does for him 30:19 The mouth infection 36:24 Physique versus commerciality 37:57 "Paying your dues doesn't exist" 40:50 The sponsors he's turned down 41:38 How a pro bodybuilder makes a living 45:48 What he eats in prep 47:04 Where the line is 49:32 When to stop 53:55 PEDs being less taboo 56:23 His biggest drug load 59:52 What coaches should look for on blood work 1:03:49 Knowing who you are when you're not a bodybuilder 1:07:55 A thousand books 1:12:09 The legacy he wants to leave

Most coaches just aren't very good. And the business mentors selling them 10K months might be worse. Matt Strong spent years in corporate sales before coming back to coaching at 34. He now runs Physique Collective and Strong Coaching Academy, and he's just cleared his roster of every competitive client, three IFBB pros included. Joe and Matt get into why every fitness coach is suddenly a business mentor, why 10K month trophies are marketing rather than achievement, what the revenue screenshots never show you, and why most coaches are good at coaching or good at selling, but rarely both. If you're paying a mentor and still stuck, start here. FIND MATT Instagram: @matt_physiquecollective Strong Coaching Academy: [link] Strong Talk Podcast: [link] THE INDUSTRY Coaching, out loud. A 1FIT production. Instagram: @theindustrypod_ 1FIT: [link] CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 01:00 How do you even explain what you do? 02:30 Getting into coaching at 34 04:18 The number that told him it was working 05:28 Leaving corporate 06:59 Why it worked: timing and tenacity 12:31 Why 10K month trophies are disgusting 15:26 Mentorship is where fitness was ten years ago 18:32 Most coaches just aren't very good 20:50 Your fifth biomechanics course won't help 22:09 Telling isn't coaching 24:05 Scoring yourself as a coach 28:21 The coach is the bottleneck 29:23 Acquisition or retention? 30:17 UK bodybuilder syndrome 31:39 50 check-ins in one day 36:11 Why coaches need a mentor 40:04 Why he dropped three IFBB pros 43:12 Why is every coach suddenly a business mentor? 47:10 The screenshot that hid zero recurring income 49:38 The coach losing a grand a month 51:11 How to vet a mentor before you pay 57:26 Coaching a business like a physique 59:32 Google Sheets vs coaching apps 1:11:41 Pick your lane 1:12:46 Where to find Matt

In this video we sit down with Tom Youngs: the pound for pound goat of online consulting without sales calls.  Tom quit taking sales calls when he realised he hated them, and went on to generate his first $1m revenue year. But it hasn't always been that straightforward. After many failures, learn how he solidified his mindset to love money, love success, and love his work.

The first ever episode of The Industry tells the story of the people behind 1FIT - the online coaching software that has taken the space by storm over the last 3 years, and is now home to over 2000 coaches and hundreds of thousands of clients.  1FIT turned three the week this was recorded. Aaron and Ben took it from zero to seven figures in that time, with no outside investment and no personal brand between them. In episode one they talk about what nearly killed it, what it cost them, why revenue is irrelevant, and the one thing the coaching industry most needs to hear.