3 Ways DEUCE Hiring Practices Challenge the Industry

When you think of a trainer, I’m not sure if we picture the same things. I see miscellaneous sweatshirts, sweatpants, and shaker bottles in the back seat of a car (that needs an oil change, by the way). Most trainers are working hours that straddle multiple weather environments before the sun rises, through the heat of midday, and sometimes you’ll need evening attire, as well. 

Meals are consumed hastily (often while standing). 

Trainers develop weird hacks to get certain macros in a pinch because they bartered for more sleep over more meal prep time. The typical trainer puts on a smile at several different establishments while beating the drum of the lower case “C”version of community, because that’s what the gym is (allegedly). 

It’s a hustle and it doesn’t work. 

DEUCE Gym is different. It’s not easier (at all). Most would say it’s harder to work here than most other places, but here’s how we’re different:

1. INTERNAL RITE OF PASSAGE. All DEUCE coaches earn their opportunity by completing an internal rite of passage called Coach’s Prep. It first requires them to be a student for three months followed by a developmental program which includes three phases of testing, an evaluating mentor, and a practical classroom. 

Most participants quit or never complete the course. Some finish the course in several months, while others take years. This means your coach has demonstrated a large degree of willingness to commit to this school of movement. 

2. SALARIES > MERCENARY COACHES. I’ve never seen a coach paid by the hour make a respectable living. And, in the few instances where this has happened, there’s an unsustainable notion that looms over these trainers that has them trading time for money. Therefore, the only way to grow their earning potential as their career matures is to be on the floor more when they should probably be on the floor less. 
3. SHARED LEADERSHIP. Coaches can create and own anything here at DEUCE. On one hand there’s incredible freedom, but on the other hand their is a much greater sense of responsibility. This means there’s no limit to what a role can look like at DEUCE. Most jobs have dead ends. At DEUCE, if you continue to grow your capacity to hold new perspectives, you can have limitless leadership potential. 

Our point of view is that the fitness industry is full of business models that are built in a way that actually hurt the industry as a whole and all the stakeholders involved. When businesses are built in a way that doesn’t support the top end expression of coaching as a profession it leads to burn out and/or coaches fracture off and start their own gyms (and often fail). 

These are a few of the ways we are trying to battle the bullshit of the fitness industry for everyone’s benefit. For more information about these structures and ideas, consider browsing DEUCE University.