What’s wrong with the industry?
I had a new client today 1st session after her consultation 2 days ago. What she told me after was amazing.
I was so happy that she realised so early on where my real passion is and why I believe my service differs from other trainers. I want to help people get from A to B in a quick, safe and effective manner without any of the bullshit fads.
Anyway I was having a chat with the two of them after their session and she said to me:
“I have had 3 or 4 personal trainers and you are the first one that has ever treated us like this. You have helped us set out realistic goals, you have told us why you’re doing the exercise, how to improve it and If we can’t do it properly you change the exercise. Even the nutrition consultation in 2 week’s time is different. I have never ever received things like this from other trainers.”
Ok I get it, I am awesome… haha!
All joking aside though this statement reminded me of how poor the fitness industry has become. A few clients over the last number of months have left their previous trainers and came to me. Every single one of them complemented how different I was. I think it was mainly the fact that I allowed them to ask me why are we doing this exercise and I answered.
I didn’t set out to take anyone’s clients, they approached me and I gave them a service they had never had before and most importantly I showed them I cared.
Honestly some trainers expect clients to pay big money for the same service that they could get from paying 4-6 at a one of my bootcamp classes. I believe I am worth the money I charge as I have a level of care with clients, I train them in the right manner, I follow up with them, I individualise their needs and wants and I get results.
Generally people think personal training/coaching is an easy job that you can work a few hours per day and make a decent living. Yes it is true that if you do it correctly you can make a good wage to support your family but I can honestly say it is not easy. There is a lot of work involved in tracking client workouts, researching exercise and nutrition programs and working with other people like physios.
To me this is all part of training clients. I enjoy it, so much so that one month ago I walked away from my full time job with a guaranteed income to pursue my dream job of helping as many people as I can.
It was a huge risk for me but I had thought about it for many years and I finally took the plunge. So far it has been awesome and I have been able to work with quite a few more clients to help me become an even better coach.
It bugs me a little though when I hear or see other PTs take advantage of the system and getting people on fad diet programs and workouts to achieve short term results just to make a few extra pound.
During all my initial consultations and even with my 14 day, 21 day Rapid Fat Loss and 6 week fat loss programs I am 100% honest with people. I let them know that this is a way to get them into my facility to see what kind of service I deliver and hopefully keep them in my membership so that I can help them achieve their long term health and fitness goals while receiving a decent level of knowledge and understanding of how to implement exercise and healthy eating into their current lifestyle.
Sooooooooooooooooooo!
Please find below some helpful tips to picking an awesome trainer that will help you achieve awesomeness.
What separates a good coach from the rest of the herd:
They will find out your ‘WHY’ and have a chat with you or gather information from you before they even think of getting you to perform an exercise routine.- They will ask questions to see how many times you have tried to reach your goals, why you failed, barriers, injuries etc etc
- They will take the time to properly assess you before they train you. Can you perform certain exercises in a safe and effective manner that will help get you results while minimising the likelihood of injury.
- They will continue to assess your program and make you appreciate changes to match your ability levels as you improve your strength, fitness and conditioning.
- They will educate clients on health, lifestyle and the importance of nutrition while helping to sync it all together.
- At some stage they have probably had a mentor or worked with another coach to build experience
They will continually invest in themselves with the aim to make them a better trainer which will mean improved long term results for their clients. - They must have a personality, communicate well with their client and be approachable….. Personally I think this is one of the most overlooked areas of being a personal trainer. People skills are a must!
- A good reputation built on honesty, hard work and results.
Things to watch out for when picking a trainer:
- People with little experience yet trying to charge you a lot of money. Now I am not saying that just because you are a new trainer that you don’t no your shit but chances are the people on the high end who are charging big amounts of money have the knowledge, experience and results to back it up.
- The bargain hunter trainer who will match or beat any bodies price to just get you as client.
- The trainer who constantly takes selfies of themselves while training clients or who continually walks around with their phone out texting while they should be supporting someones technique.
The trainer that does not assess you or write you a program and just tries to kill you each session. I have said before making people sick during training or out of breath is not rocket science any balloon could do it and you don’t need a certificate to do it.- The trainer that things they knows everything about training and nutrition, he/she has no interest in continual development.
- Finally the personal trainer who trash talks every other trainer to elevate their ego.
I hope you find these little pointers helpful and it makes you think about what level of service you should actually be getting when you are with a great trainer who cares about your results as much as you.
If you have any questions or queries please don’t hesitate to contact me at daniel@nolimits.fitness or 07731312118