CPTN Career Stories
Real trainers. Real Careers. Lessons worth sharing.

CARLTON BROWN. CPTN-CPT

ONE MENTOR. ONE PHONE CALL. ONE CAREER

In 1999, Carlton Brown was studying at York University when he met his first real mentor. The trainer worked in the university fitness centre and was CPTN certified. 

Carlton already held a personal training certification, but something about this trainer was different. It wasn’t simply what he knew. It was how deeply he understood it. He didn’t just know which exercises to prescribe. He understood why they worked. His answers were grounded in anatomy, biomechanics and purpose. 

And that trainer had a mentor of his own. His name was Paul Aspinall. 

Carlton eventually met Paul at a fitness event. After talking with him, Paul encouraged Carlton to earn his CPTN certification. Carlton trusted him. 

There was only one small logistical problem. Carlton didn’t own a credit card. So he got a money order, climbed onto a bus and travelled across Toronto to the CPTN office to register. He had no way of knowing where that bus ride would eventually take him. 

Question After Question After Question 

When Carlton arrived at the CPTN certification weekend, Paul recognized him from the fitness event. Then the questions started. 

For two straight days, Paul asked Carlton question after question after question. 

“At the time, I honestly thought he didn’t like me.” 

Years later, Carlton came to see those two days very differently. Paul wasn’t trying to make him uncomfortable. He was testing him. Challenging him. Seeing how Carlton thought when he didn’t immediately know the answer. 

“He was pressure testing me because he saw something in me that I couldn’t yet see in myself.” 

Carlton earned his CPTN certification and soon accepted a position with what was then the largest fitness chain in Canada. 

He lasted seven days. 

Then the Phone Rang 

The problem wasn’t personal training. Carlton already knew this was what he wanted to do. The problem was the environment. 

“I wanted to coach people, not compete with other trainers.” 

On the eighth day, his phone rang. It was Paul. 

Paul often followed up with people who had attended his courses, and when Carlton explained what had happened, Paul didn’t offer a long speech or career advice. He said three words:“Come see me.” 

Paul offered Carlton an opportunity. The pay was better than the position he’d just left, but that wasn’t what impressed Carlton most. 

It was Paul’s philosophy. 

Paul wanted trainers who saw personal training as a career—not simply a temporary job. 

There was just one catch. Carlton still had to pass the interview. 

The Interview Without a Résumé 

There was no résumé. There was no conventional interview. Instead, Paul gave Carlton one hour. His assignment? 

Train Paul. 

Every exercise Carlton prescribed had to be justified. He had to explain the joint actions occurring during the effort phase of every movement. And then he had to explain why understanding those joint actions mattered. For Carlton, it became much more than a job interview. 

“That wasn’t an interview. It was a lesson I’ll carry for the rest of my life.” 

Twenty-five years later, he still does.

A Standard, Not Just a Job 

Paul didn’t simply give Carlton an opportunity. He gave him a standard. 

Personal trainers don’t just sell workouts. They build trust. They educate. They solve problems. And they earn confidence through knowledge. 

Twenty-five years later, Carlton still hears Paul’s voice when he coaches. He still explains the joint actions occurring during the effort phase of movements. He still teaches clients why they’re performing an exercise rather than simply counting their repetitions. 

The lesson became his philosophy: 

“I don’t coach exercises. I coach understanding.” 

Because when clients understand why they’re doing something, Carlton believes they become more confident, more engaged and ultimately more successful. 

One hour. One mentor. A lesson that lasted an entire career. 

Certifications Open Doors. Mentors Change Lives. 

Looking back, Carlton can trace many of the important opportunities in his career to people who believed in him before he fully believed in himself. And that has shaped what he would tell a trainer entering the profession today. 

Find mentors. Ask questions. Stay curious. Let experienced professionals challenge you. 

Knowledge matters. Humility matters. Curiosity matters. And the best trainers never stop being students. After 25 years, Carlton still considers himself one. 

“This profession deserves that level of commitment.” 

Yes, This Can Be a Lifelong Career 

There is another message Carlton wants new trainers to hear. 

Yes, you can build a lifelong career as a personal trainer. 

For 25 years, Carlton has had the privilege of doing work he loves. 

Along the way, he has watched clients get married and raise children. He has watched people recover from illness, overcome injuries and regain confidence they thought was gone. 

“Few careers allow you to become part of someone’s life in that way.” 

But Carlton’s advice comes with a qualification. 

Don’t try to do it alone. Find the people willing to ask you difficult questions. Find the people willing to challenge what you think you know. Find the people who see something in you that perhaps you can’t see yet. 

“The people who ask the toughest questions often become the people who believe in you the most.” 

Twenty-five years ago, one of those people was Paul Aspinall. 

The Money Order 

Carlton still remembers taking that bus across Toronto with a money order to register for his CPTN certification. At the time, he was paying for another certification. Looking back, he sees the investment differently. 

CPTN introduced him to a community of professionals who believed that excellence was earned through knowledge, integrity and mentorship. And the most important investment wasn’t really the money order he carried across Toronto. It was saying yes to learning from people who had already walked the path before him. 

Twenty-five years later, Carlton is still walking that path. Still learning. Still asking questions. Still explaining why. 

And somewhere inside the way he coaches today is an hour spent training a mentor who refused to simply ask him for a résumé.

One mentor. One phone call. One career.

GRANT AND DIANE HERNDEN, CPTN-CPT.M

32 Years. No Website. More Than 90% Client Retention.

When Diane and Grant started their personal training business 32 years ago, they trained athletes: elite athletes. sports teams, athletes who dreamed of competing professionally. 

For 16 years, that was their world. And some of those dreams came true. 

Several of their athletes went on to compete professionally. One had been told he would never make the Ontario Hockey League. He not only made it—he eventually played in the NHL and, in one season, became a leading scorer with more than 50 goals. 

After 16 years, their business evolved. The athletes gave way to adults. 

Today, the husband-and-wife team trains people ranging in age from 40 to 86. They also teach three exercise classes each week for the City of Stratford, where participation has been capped at 22 people. 

But perhaps the most remarkable number in their story isn’t 32 years. 

It’s 90%. 

For the past 16 years, Diane and Grant have maintained a client retention rate of more than 90%. And several clients have been with them for the entire 16 years. 

They have done it without a website. In fact, for 32 years, their business has grown almost entirely through referrals. 

So what keeps people coming back?According to Diane and Grant, it starts with something that has very little to do with sets and repetitions. 

People Want to Know That They Matter 

“We focus on building strong, lasting relationships.” 

Diane and Grant ask about their clients’ families, pets and friends. And when clients ask about their lives, they share those stories too. 

It sounds simple. 

But over months—and sometimes decades—something happens. The relationship becomes more than a weekly appointment with a personal trainer. Clients begin to feel that they belong to what Diane and Grant describe as their “training family.” 

That sense of belonging matters. So does being heard. 

One client has been with them throughout their entire 16 years of training adults.During that time, the client made a dramatic lifestyle change and faced a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer. The training relationship endured. So did the friendship. Diane and Grant remain close friends with the client today. 

Perhaps that tells us something about why their clients stay. 

Listen Before You Lead 

Grant and Diane believe that one of the keys to retaining clients is resisting the temptation to decide what their goals should be. 

Instead, they ask. 

• What does the client want to achieve? 

• What matters to them right now? 

• Where do they want to go next? 

“We don’t try to impose what we think their goals should be.” 

That changes the relationship. 

The trainer still brings professional knowledge and experience to the process, but the client has ownership of the destination. 

Programming is then built around those goals. 

Each client also establishes a monthly goal or intention. At the end of the month, they review what happened and establish the next one.The client isn’t simply following a program.They are participating in its direction.

Make Progress Visible 

Diane and Grant put considerable emphasis on positive feedback and measurable progress. 

Clients report their workouts each week, including the weights used, repetitions completed and sets performed. Diane and Grant review the information and provide feedback. 

They also encourage clients to achieve at least one personal best during each workout. 

Those results are recorded. That means progress doesn’t have to depend on memory or feeling. Clients can see it. A weight that once felt heavy becomes manageable. A previous repetition record gets broken. An exercise improves. Week by week, there is evidence that the work is doing something. And with that progress comes accountability. 

Keep the Experience Moving Forward 

Programs don’t remain static either. 

Exercises are changed approximately every eight to twelve workouts, and technology has made it easier for clients to continue training wherever life takes them. 

Through an online platform, clients receive printed instructions and animated demonstrations of their exercises, along with their assigned weights, sets and repetitions. 

They can access their programs from a computer or mobile device, train while travelling, and report their results back. 

The technology is useful. 

But after 32 years in business, Diane and Grant’s story suggests that technology isn’t the reason people stay. It supports the things that are. 

Relationships. Listening. Shared goals. Visible progress. Accountability. 

And perhaps most importantly, the feeling that the person standing in front of the trainer is more than another appointment on the schedule. 

From Elite Performance to Healthy Aging 

There is an interesting symmetry to Diane and Grant’s 32-year career. 

For the first 16 years, success might have meant helping an athlete reach a level others thought was impossible. 

For the past 16, success has looked different. It might mean changing a person’s relationship with exercise. Helping someone remain active. Helping someone see growing older differently. 

When asked what makes them most proud after 32 years, Diane and Grant don’t point to the number of clients they’ve trained or the longevity of their business. They point to the people. 

They are proud of helping clients make positive lifestyle changes and watching them lead healthy, active lives. And they are especially proud of changing how some of those clients think about aging. Their clients, they say, have become “local ambassadors for healthy aging.” 

That may be one of the most meaningful measures of their influence. The people they’ve helped are now influencing other people. 

The Lesson for New Trainers 

Client retention is often treated as a business problem. And, of course, it matters to business. But Diane and Grant’s experience suggests another way of looking at it. 

Maybe retention is the result rather than the objective. 

• Build relationships with people. 

• Listen to what they actually want. 

• Give them a voice in the process. 

• Show them that they’re progressing. 

• Give them reasons to look forward to what comes next. 

• Make them feel that they matter. 

Do those things consistently enough, and people may stay. They may tell other people. 

Some may stay for 16 years. And some may eventually become ambassadors for the very lifestyle you helped them discover. 

After 32 years, perhaps that’s the bigger success story. Not simply that Diane and Grant built a personal training business that lasted. 

They helped build lives that changed with it.