The Future of Coaching: Why Mindset and Magnetism Will Define Great Fitness Coaches

Information is no longer your competitive advantage.

Your clients can:

• Ask AI for a personalised training program
• Generate a nutrition plan in seconds
• Access endless free fitness advice online

So where does that leave you as a coach?

In this powerful conversation with high performance and mindset coach Kylie Ryan, we unpack what will separate good fitness coaches from great ones in 2026 and beyond.

And the answer is simple.

Transformation.

For years, fitness coaching has largely been prescription based.

Here’s your program.

Here’s your macros.

Here’s your accountability.

But now?

Strategic advice is trending towards zero in value because it’s everywhere.

The opportunity for fitness coaches is no longer just to prescribe.

It’s to help clients close the gap between:

• What they know they should do
• And what they actually do

That gap is not an information problem.

It’s a mindset problem.

We also explored something that hits hard for high performers in the fitness industry.

Kylie calls it being “successfully stuck”.

From the outside:

• The business looks strong
• Revenue is growing
• The community is thriving

But internally?

There is emptiness, numbness and a lack of joy.

Why?

Because many high performers build success through force.

They push through, ignore feelings and suppress weakness.

That works…. Until it doesn’t

When you repeatedly suppress emotion, you also suppress your capacity to feel joy, gratitude and fulfilment.

You cannot selectively numb.

If you numb frustration, you also numb happiness.

This is where many driven fitness owners land. They achieve the goal but cannot feel it.

And that is not sustainable leadership.

So, what is the solution?

It starts with awareness.

If there is anything in your life or business that you would not consciously choose, there is likely an unconscious pattern creating it.

The first step is observation.

Not fixing
Not judging
Not suppressing

Simply noticing

When you allow yourself or your clients to actually feel what is there, emotions move like waves. They rise, peak and pass.

When suppressed, they consume energy.

Think of trying to hold a basketball at the bottom of a swimming pool. It takes effort. The more emotions you suppress, the more internal energy is used holding them down.

That energy could be used to lead, coach and create.

This is where the conversation becomes incredibly practical for fitness owners and coaches.

If information is abundant, what becomes valuable?

The ability to:

• Ask better questions
• Hold space
• Facilitate self-discovery
• Create psychological safety
• Help clients access their own answers

The shift is this:

Stop trying to have the best answers and start asking the best questions.

When a client answers their own question, something powerful happens.

They believe it, own it and act on it.

As coaches, our role is shifting from expert to facilitator.

From prescription to transformation.

In a world where:

• Programs can be generated instantly
• Nutrition plans are automated
• AI can replicate surface level coaching

Your competitive edge becomes:

• Depth, connection, leadership and trust.
• The coaches in your team who can:
• Identify emotional patterns
• Navigate resistance
• Ask powerful questions
• Build real rapport

Will drive better retention, stronger communities and longer client lifetimes.

And in a retention driven business model, that is everything.

One of my favourite lines from Kylie was this:

It’s not about the lead magnet. It’s about the magnetism of the leader.

Fitness owners can obsess over:

• Headlines
• Funnels
• Ad copy
• Creative angles

All important.

But magnetism determines whether people trust you.

Magnetism is built through:

• Integrity
• Emotional regulation
• Self-awareness
• Conviction
• Humility

It is paradoxical.

Confident but humble, decisive but reflective and ambitious but grounded.

The more integrated you are, the more magnetic you become.

And magnetic leaders build loyal communities.

Here’s the real opportunity.

If you are a fitness business owner, you have two paths:

1. Compete on information
2. Lead through transformation

The first is becoming commoditised.

The second is becoming more valuable than ever.

The fitness businesses that thrive in 2026 will:

• Train their coaches in mindset skills
• Develop emotional intelligence
• Prioritise communication and leadership
• Build cultures of psychological safety

Because clients do not just stay for programs.

They stay because they feel seen, heard, understood and supported.

That cannot be automated.

Kylie closed with a principle that applies directly to leadership in fitness.

Be the change you want to see.

If you want emotionally intelligent clients, model it.
If you want accountable members, embody it.
If you want high performance without burnout, live it.

Leadership starts with embodiment.

Your business will only grow to the level of your self-awareness.

And as information becomes easier to access, depth becomes the differentiator.

If this episode resonated, I encourage you to reflect on two things:

Where are you relying too heavily on prescription?
And how can you deepen your ability to facilitate transformation?

Because the future of coaching is not louder.

It is deeper.

And the fitness owners who understand that will win.