Are Personal Trainers killing Personal Training?

Personal trainers, WHAT IN HELL has happened to this industry? When did becoming a coach or PT mean taking endless photos of your abs and posting them on Facebook? What has a gym selfie with a wife beater top on got to do with this job? How does that equate to meaning you know what you are doing?

With so many new trainers qualifying and desperate for business, a lot have forgotten what the job is actually about. Our focus should be on improving peoples lives and helping them to reach their fitness goals. It is time some people involved in this industry realised that it’s not about making your clients vomit and posting it on to Social media, that does not make you great trainer. Neither does starving your clients to the point of collapse or illness, just so they can get an after photo and you can show potential clients how much potential weight you can get off them in 3 weeks. The best quote I’ve read that sums up what this industry has become, is from Andrew Read: “Most trainers are incompetent at best and dangerous at worst. Their idea of training is to make you sore and sweaty. If you like that idea then go stand in a sauna and I will happily hit you with a bat.”

Showing people how to lift weights is only one part of the job. The human body is designed to move in all planes, we should be capable of running, jumping, climbing, crawling, rotating and lifting. If we are to improve clients we need to understand how to coach all of these elements to some degree. People are going to pay you their hard earned money because they BELIEVE you are an expert. Let me be frank here. Six weeks does not make you an expert. You have years upon years, of serious and continuous study before that can happen. If a surgeon was to tell you, just before he operated on you, that he had qualified in six weeks, would you still be happy to let him proceed? If all you know is a couple of basic hypertrophy routines how can you expect to give clients not only what they want but more importantly, what they need? Every client will be unique and each will require different methods to improve them but when all you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail.

Ask yourself these questions:

Do you read books that will enhance your education?

Have you got a mentor?

Are you studying different coaching methods?

Are you investing money back into your education?

If not, why not?

Watch the top coaches in the industry. What are they doing that you aren’t? There is no need to reinvent the wheel. I can bet they aren’t publishing photo after photo of themselves with their “swole on”. Success always leave clues so just follow their example. Attend talks, summits, workshops and certifications. Network with other trainers, introduce yourself and don’t be afraid to ask them questions. Write articles, film vlogs and tutorials and have the confidence to post them, no matter what your opinion, you will never have everyone agreeing with you and when you put yourself out there like that, you will always attract haters but you are also going to reach an audience that agrees with you and likes what you have to say. Remember, every top coach that you admire or aspire to be, was once were you now. The only difference between you and them, is time and effort and experience. They have made mistakes more times than you have ever tried. Keep that in mind, in this game, making mistakes is a big part of learning and as long as you make sue you learn from each one you will do ok.

Pól