Introduction
When I first started Personal Training (Over 16 years ago) I wanted to help my clients to exercise safely, make their training more effective with the new knowledge that I had gained for my personal training courses and help them to improve thier lives in the fastest possible time. I had no idea at that time, the knowledge I had gained wouldn't come close to preparing me for the job that I had ahead of me.
The lessons that I have learned over the last 16 years have completely changed the way that I think about training and life.
"The best way to learn is to teach." Frank Oppenheimer
When I qualified I passed all of my exams with the best possible grades, flying colours you might say. You could even say that at the time I was a little big headed about my latest achievement and even though on paper I was a qualified PT and had many years of training myself under my belt, in reality I was still an 18 year old young man who had no experience in working with the public or helping people achieve their personal goals.
Time to Grow
Over time I improved my people skills, my business skills and the ability to research newly released training data on the most effective methods to help my clients improve both safely and quickly. This personal growth turned into increased PT sales, improved relationships with current clients and an authenticity that can't be faked by just a good sales person. I have and always will practice what I preach meaning, if I ask you to do it, you can bet that I will have practiced the new exercise technique, intricate details of an exercise (a different way of doing the same exercise) or dietary method many times before I ever mention it.
The clients that I train and the great results that my clients get, allowed my confidence to grow. I was no longer big headed about how good I thought I was. I have improved with the understanding that I will never have learned it all but the self-assurance that I can help the vast majority of clients to be physically more advanced and have a better education in nutritional techniques to achieve many different goals.
"The more you learn, the more you'll realise how little you know." Joe Abercrombie
I am always humble about the results my clients get and I make a point of giving them any credit for the results that they achieve. I am only a guide on their journey and the client is the person who must walk the path to the top of the mountain. I feel an overwhelming sense of pride when my clients break through their training, nutrition and self-development goals.
Training isn't always the answer!
Sometimes the right thing to do when trying to keep your clients on track, is to not train them (hear me out before you get out the torches). I have had many clients over the years that have come to their training session in no fit state to train down to personal circumstances (sometimes out of their control and sometimes within their control).
It could be one of a many different reasons that prevent them from being able to train and in my sessions, if you aren't in the right frame of mind to train, you shouldn't train (risk vs reward must be in favour of reward). I have taken clients out for a walk or just found a quiet space for them to vent, cry or shout in these circumstances.
Short term, this may not contribute to a client achieving their goals on this given day but in the long term, if life situations gets ontop of them, this can hold back their training more than missing a day of training. Sometimes taking a small step backwards to allow for future steps forwards is a necessary action.
Different Perspective
I have a different perspective on this subject to many trainers. Too many trainers believe that their job is simply to train and advise their clients and when the hour is up the client isn't thier problem until the next session. Sadly, this is all too common. The trainers I have known over the years with this attitude don't stay in this industry for long. I am fortunate to have been in the presence on a regular basis of a diverse and intelligent group of PT's that share similar views to myself (Iron sharpens Iron!).
More than a Personal Trainer
The thing that they don't teach you when you are learning to become a PT however, is that as a PT, you are obliged to do whatever it takes to get your clients to stay on track. This is where I believe many fall short on service to their clients.
Whether you like it or not, you will build up a relationship with each and every individual client that you train and on top of a trainer, you will become a friend, counselor, roll model and a pillar of support for some if not all of your clients. There is so much more to being PT than gruelling workouts, diet advice and a few scripted encouraging words.
Please feel free to add in anything that you feel I have missed out in the comments below. I would love to hear your comments on your own PT experiences.
Until next time, be healthy, stay strong and enjoy life.
BC
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