Is there a market for this? Personal training for extreme sports enthusiasts.

[RobbieFoston]

I'm looking for feedback on my idea and appreciate anybody who can spare a minute to share their thoughts.

I'm a qualified personal trainer and extreme sports enthusiast - I do it all; skiing, snowboarding, surfing, windsurfing, mountain biking, skydiving etc. This pretty much sums up the only two things I'm interested in; extreme sports & fitness.

I've done some research and can't currently see anybody who is really offering extreme sports personal trianing. My current idea would be workouts designed around these sports, as the mechanics and fitness required overlaps for most extreme sports. This idea could also eventually move into the Fastlane, as I would be selling assets (programmes) instead of training individuals. It also has potential for youtube revenue, sponsorships, website traffic etc etc etc.

My main concern is the market. Is there something I'm missing about why nobody is really offering this service? As somebody who is passionate about extreme sports, I also train to get better at these sports, but do others?

Any feedback would be awesome - cheers folks.
Robbie (UK)

 

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[DonnyDinero]

Hmmm perhaps Stunt artist trainer for movies? I have a Facebook friend who post daily of her practicing. She seem to be out of her country now. Probably got hired for a stunt role based on my observation

 

[Kevin88660]

I'm looking for feedback on my idea and appreciate anybody who can spare a minute to share their thoughts.

I'm a qualified personal trainer and extreme sports enthusiast - I do it all; skiing, snowboarding, surfing, windsurfing, mountain biking, skydiving etc. This pretty much sums up the only two things I'm interested in; extreme sports & fitness.

I've done some research and can't currently see anybody who is really offering extreme sports personal trianing. My current idea would be workouts designed around these sports, as the mechanics and fitness required overlaps for most extreme sports. This idea could also eventually move into the Fastlane, as I would be selling assets (programmes) instead of training individuals. It also has potential for youtube revenue, sponsorships, website traffic etc etc etc.

My main concern is the market. Is there something I'm missing about why nobody is really offering this service? As somebody who is passionate about extreme sports, I also train to get better at these sports, but do others?

Any feedback would be awesome - cheers folks.
Robbie (UK)

No body is offering the service could be that the demand is too small and niche.

But doesn’t mean it is a bad market to cater to. I guess the equipment are pricy with huge margin, and you do not need too many customers to survive.

 

[biophase]

Personal trainers for a certain sport is a thing. There are trainers that specialize in golf, baseball, football, or basketball.

However I think the reason there aren’t any that specialize in extreme sport is because there is no money in it. As a casual mountain biker I don’t if I would pay to specifically get better at mountain biking. I guess if I were a professional or an amateur that did races, maybe I would.

 

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[Ing]

I m in the dirtbike scene since 40 years.
You slowly come into extreme sports over the years. There is allways at least one mentor beside you.
So when I m training for a race, I completely change my life temporarily.
Because I know, what to do.
Running an hour in the morning, any time of the day I have an hour gym. And 1 to 3 turns on the race track a week.
What I want to say: noone decides to get in extremesports from one to the other day and than looks for a trainer.

Maybe now in a trainings phase I ask some other INSIDERS, what how...

And: only if Red Bull stands behind you, you can make a good money. So I really think, there is only money for very few trainers, and personal means not scalable.

If you have 100 pros, who need a personal Trainer and have money, they will allways take one, who is in the scene very long. And you can’t send an employee.
Imo thats not scalable. Even if you find some good clients.

 

[Devilery]

This really reminds me of the movie Point Break: Ozaki 8. Cool concept, probably a very different process when compared to becoming a traditional, let's say bodybuilding coach.

If I was you, I would focus less on coaching others, but more on creating content of me doing these sports. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, post as much as I can, as often as I can, focus only on building a community (and make money some other way meanwhile even if it takes years). It would be much easier to make money with sponsorship deals, selling whitelabeled supplements, and only then adding coaching and training plans.

Fergus Crawley (see him on Instagram) comes to mind. He's a "hybrid athlete", does powerlifting and triathlons, and also offers hybrid coaching.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

@MTF may have some insights?

 

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[MTF]

Out of extreme or semi-extreme sports, I have experience with rock climbing, surfing, and freediving (and waaay in the past aggressive inline skating but that sport is pretty much dead these days).

From my perspective as a guy into these sports I wouldn't hire a general coach but instead hire a discipline-specific coach. And that's what I did for each of these three sports mentioned above.

Why I wouldn't hire an extreme sports generalist? Because each sport is very different.

I like learning new sports but I always seek someone who's obsessed by their discipline. Very few people are equally good at 2-3 sports, let alone 6. I wouldn't trust a guy who claims to be a coach for all the disciplines you mentioned. There are some exceptions like true watermen like Kai Lenny but I doubt this guy would ever offer coaching services as he's too busy improving his performance.

Some thoughts:

• I once worked with a surf coach who was a big wave surfer but also an amateur freediver/spearfisher. I wouldn't want to learn freediving from him because he wasn't a professional certified instructor. I instead worked with people who were exclusively/primarily freedivers.
• One of my best surf coaches was really good at teaching beginners but overall he wasn't a great athlete. He was one of those older guys surfing their entire lives who are still crushing even with a beer gut. I'd hire such people when starting out but later I'd prefer to work with someone who actively surfs and is more athletic.
• In rock-climbing, I took a multi-pitch climbing course with an instructor. Once he taught me how to do that, I taught my climbing buddy and we did some multi-pitch climbs together. I had no use for a coach anymore (at least not for the technical aspects of doing it).

Also, note that extreme sports usually attract loners/eccentric people/outright crazy people and they're so driven they don't need a coach for accountability and for general exercises they often trust their judgment more.

The way I see it, here are your options (the first few that came to my mind now, the list is not exhaustive):

• Get really good at practicing and teaching 1-2 specific sports. Specialize in that. Having said that, I agree with @biophase that sport-specific coaches may make sense but most amateurs aren't so driven (or don't have enough money) to hire a coach and work with the coach regularly.
• Figure out a limiting factor that connects many of these sports and is a bit more discipline-agnostic. For example, stretching/yoga for watermen (basically a lot of shoulder care).
• Become an extreme sports mental coach. Teach people how to overcome their fears/mental limitations that hinder their performance. One risk here for the most dangerous sports is that you might feel responsible if they kill themselves. For rock climbing (a relatively safe sport), one example of such a guy is Arno Ilgner.
• Go the @Devilery way and become an extreme sports celebrity. But there's a lot of competition here and few people make it big.
• Offer other products/services for extreme athletes. Launch a PR agency for them. Offer marketing services. Help them find sponsors. Help them create content.
• Start a clinic specializing in the rehab of extreme athletes. USP: "Our doctors will never tell you that you can't practice your sport anymore." LOL.
• Become a filmmaker and start your own production company. SENDER FILMS is one such well-respected and well-known brand.

 

[Johnny boy]

you'll get paid in proportion to the problems you solve. And it needs to be something the market decides they need.

How will you convince a ton of people "you need to be physically trained on my fitness program for these extreme sports"? That's difficult but doable.

It would be easier to do something along the lines of "want to do extreme sports?...start here" and your company solves that problem and it's something more people will need and value.

You could have little schools all around the country with trainers, classes, millions of pages in liability waivers lol.

A purely digital solution might be a bit difficult to get traction for

 

[biophase]

Out of extreme or semi-extreme sports, I have experience with rock climbing, surfing, and freediving (and waaay in the past aggressive inline skating but that sport is pretty much dead these days).

From my perspective as a guy into these sports I wouldn't hire a general coach but instead hire a discipline-specific coach. And that's what I did for each of these three sports mentioned above.

Why I wouldn't hire an extreme sports generalist? Because each sport is very different.

I like learning new sports but I always seek someone who's obsessed by their discipline. Very few people are equally good at 2-3 sports, let alone 6. I wouldn't trust a guy who claims to be a coach for all the disciplines you mentioned. There are some exceptions like true watermen like Kai Lenny but I doubt this guy would ever offer coaching services as he's too busy improving his performance.

Some thoughts:

• I once worked with a surf coach who was a big wave surfer but also an amateur freediver/spearfisher. I wouldn't want to learn freediving from him because he wasn't a professional certified instructor. I instead worked with people who were exclusively/primarily freedivers.
• One of my best surf coaches was really good at teaching beginners but overall he wasn't a great athlete. He was one of those older guys surfing their entire lives who are still crushing even with a beer gut. I'd hire such people when starting out but later I'd prefer to work with someone who actively surfs and is more athletic.
• In rock-climbing, I took a multi-pitch climbing course with an instructor. Once he taught me how to do that, I taught my climbing buddy and we did some multi-pitch climbs together. I had no use for a coach anymore (at least not for the technical aspects of doing it).

Also, note that extreme sports usually attract loners/eccentric people/outright crazy people and they're so driven they don't need a coach for accountability and for general exercises they often trust their judgment more.

The way I see it, here are your options (the first few that came to my mind now, the list is not exhaustive):

• Get really good at practicing and teaching 1-2 specific sports. Specialize in that. Having said that, I agree with @biophase that sport-specific coaches may make sense but most amateurs aren't so driven (or don't have enough money) to hire a coach and work with the coach regularly.
• Figure out a limiting factor that connects many of these sports and is a bit more discipline-agnostic. For example, stretching/yoga for watermen (basically a lot of shoulder care).
• Become an extreme sports mental coach. Teach people how to overcome their fears/mental limitations that hinder their performance. One risk here for the most dangerous sports is that you might feel responsible if they kill themselves. For rock climbing (a relatively safe sport), one example of such a guy is Arno Ilgner.
• Go the @Devilery way and become an extreme sports celebrity. But there's a lot of competition here and few people make it big.
• Offer other products/services for extreme athletes. Launch a PR agency for them. Offer marketing services. Help them find sponsors. Help them create content.
• Start a clinic specializing in the rehab of extreme athletes. USP: "Our doctors will never tell you that you can't practice your sport anymore." LOL.
• Become a filmmaker and start your own production company. SENDER FILMS is one such well-respected and well-known brand.

Also keep in mind that he is doing personal training for an extreme sport. He’s not coaching an extreme sport. That is a huge difference.

For example I did take a mountain biking lesson last year from a former mountain bike racer. That is very different than going to the gym and having your trainer who also mountain bikes tell you that you should focus on your core more.

 

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[Johnny boy]

Also keep in mind that he is doing personal training for an extreme sport. He’s not coaching an extreme sport. That is a huge difference.

For example I did take a mountain biking lesson last year from a former mountain bike racer. That is very different than going to the gym and having your trainer who also mountain bikes tell you that you should focus on your core more.

exactly, I think there is less demand for the latter than the former. Would be better to combine them and offer a full solution.

 

[maximusharrison]

I'm looking for feedback on my idea and appreciate anybody who can spare a minute to share their thoughts.

I'm a qualified personal trainer and extreme sports enthusiast - I do it all; skiing, snowboarding, surfing, windsurfing, mountain biking, skydiving etc. This pretty much sums up the only two things I'm interested in; extreme sports & fitness.

I've done some research and can't currently see anybody who is really offering extreme sports personal trianing. My current idea would be workouts designed around these sports, as the mechanics and fitness required overlaps for most extreme sports. This idea could also eventually move into the Fastlane, as I would be selling assets (programmes) instead of training individuals. It also has potential for youtube revenue, sponsorships, website traffic etc etc etc.

My main concern is the market. Is there something I'm missing about why nobody is really offering this service? As somebody who is passionate about extreme sports, I also train to get better at these sports, but do others?

Any feedback would be awesome - cheers folks.
Robbie (UK)

This is quite a narrow niche tho. But maybe there is! Have you tried just posting on social media and try to see some traction? Cause with the internet anything is possible.

 

[RobbieFoston]

Great feedback - much appreciated!

The initial model for this came from Cris Mills (AKA Surf Strength Coach). From what I can tell, he's running a very profitable business as a specific surf strength coach. I'm big into extreme sports and I have found it difficult to find programmes specific to each sports.

Surf Strength Coach - Cris Mills - Are You Ready To Surf Stronger?

Increasing Surfing Performance: Nutrition, Movement, Recovery. Integrative Surfing Fitness, Performance Surf Training Programs, Comprehensive Surf Workouts

surfstrengthcoach.com

 

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[Red]

It's interesting that this pops up today... just this morning, one of the local inline skaters I follow on Insta posted an ad for a zoom instructional class for plyometrics, stretching, movements, lifts, balance, etc exercises to improve skating speeds & form.

I commented that if it was an in-person class, I was 100% down. He messaged me to say great idea & he's going to put it together. Here, take my money.

For clarity, I'm not a professional or anything, I am probably an above-average amateur who does marathon skating for cardiovascular health & lower body resistance (plus, I like the balance aspect going into my mid 40's now). I can't imagine I'm alone in wanting to improve in my favorite niche of activity.

 

[watchopt]

Personally, the atmosphere is a biggie for me. May be partner with individuals who have the feel (land, course, ?) for the niche you think is the going thing. For example, let us say mountain biking is a big thing (based on some data/poll). Well, I love this and if I saw coaching for this in a packaged deal where I train so much, then I get to go to someone's property to experience this, and see my progress materialize. Test out my improvements. Currently I live in a place where my challenges are not so much a challenge. Where to go next? Search you tube and go where 'they' are, if it appeals to me. This whole idea, is based on the big hitters/extreme and not so much the masses.