Training a high profile athlete ??

I was introduced to a very high profile proffesional sports athlete and recommended to him for training.

The offer he made was I would have to drop all current clients and work with him exclusively by contract.

I do have reservations with all the scandals in sports and considering he is near retiring im sure he would need me for 1-2 years.

My conflict is that I train some top level competitors that I have been working with , some as long as 10 years, and would loose what we all started.

I would have to travel during the season and relocate to his off season location because he wants to work on extending his career by working in the off season on various aspects that would allow him to stay on the top of his game.

The pay would be great obviously but im attached and feel like I would be ditching my trainees........especially now that I had one guy win his state and has incredible potential.

What would you guys do?

That's the prob. with pro atheletes. They think they are more important than anyone else. Sometimes it's not about the money, but the feeling of helping someone reach thier full potential. I say fuck mr. all about me and continue with your reg. clients:moon:

I concur!

Yea your right about that. He does have a cocky " it's all about me " attitude. Thanks for the input.

I have about a week to make my decision so I hope to get more input.

If I was in a situation that I needed more income and the income from training Mr. Pro Athlete would be more than the rest of my clients put together, I would seriously consider doing it. Otherwise I'd probably ditch the guy and stay with my trainees.

Nah money isnt the issue although I would make more in the year than the last 5 combined. The temptation is that adding this guy to my resume would really propel my status but than again thinking about status can lead to being superficial and fake. Im a very loyal person so I have to speak with each client one on one to get there thoughts also.

I think one important factor is the relationship you have with the other clients. How long have you been training them. The wonderful thing about a high profile athlete is they can get anyone they want to train them so you could literally have a job today and then have no one to train tomorrow. If several of these people are what you consider "friends" I would also advise that they are going to take it personal. Just my opinion.

I been training for 10 years and a few have been with me all that time being that I helped in there success in turning pro and most of the guys I train have been with me 3-5 years. We are friends with real trust. Im going to be straight up with them and ask them to be real with me on there thoughts . I know im going to get some rough reaction , especially , from the guys who are just now getting to the point where they are competition ready ........Well I already told my guy who won state and he wants to stick with what we started.


It's a tough position but im leaning more and more towards loyalty to my trainees who are also friends.

It's true I would be able to get more high profile clients from training the "pro" but dealing with those types of egomaniacs isnt my idea of fun.

aight aight cyphon u can all let em kno it was me who acquired ur services i wont mind LOL.....I'll tell u this tho bro....moneywise u'll be extremely satisfied....but this guy only has a year maybe two left in the tank, he's a pro athlete and u already said he's cocky....ur training athletes who are hungry and come in the gym and give it their all every day and then go home and do the same in the kitchen and beileve in u n wat u do and the results show.....r u willin to give that as well as the bond u guys have for the money??? I'll leave with saying this....I'm originally from the Bahamas and have spent the last few years training alongside my buddy who is an amateur bodybuilder, knows his stuff and results are amazing, from diet to results in the gym, i had a chance to ditch n train with joel stubbs but i decided not to, now joel has a whirl of things going on (olympia just past, shows etc) so his clients are basically doing it on their own and when i go back home my gains are still comin, i have intense workouts, n best of all i've got a great friend in my trainer
....No Ifbb pro but a hell of a guy....I say that to say quality over quantity bro but its ur decision

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keep your old clients - I think its a simple decision, but i dont know how much money your talking about

Are you fucking me? Do you have idea how many potential "high profile" clients you'll run into? And if your good, word will get around and you may end up training some of his teamates. This could be huge!

If you want, make a website and maintain diet/training consultations with your favorite clients online. Sounds like a hell of an opportunity you got here. Let me know if you need an assistant/partner. I'll take the job!

Cyphon, it sounds like you know in your heart of hearts what you think the right decision is (not that there is right or wrong, but "right or wrong" for you!)

Your credibility is on the line. Yes, you may have the opportunity to work with a big name that could produce lots of other big opportunities. Then you could also lose clients who have been loyal to you for a number of years and placed their trust in you. You would be dropping them for your own personal gain to work with someone you don't even seem excited to work with. It sounds like you wouldn't be weighing this decision so heavily if those current clients of yours didn't mean something to you.

Lots of top level trainers have multiple clients, so I don't know what's so special about this particular athlete, but you need to be the one who can rest peacefully at night with the decision you make.

Good luck, and hope it all works out for you!