There’s a lot of good and bad things I’ve seen when it comes to seeing how trainers work with other clients. Today, I’d like to go over the biggest do’s and don’ts of personal training.
The Don’ts
Training people too hard
Especially when we are new trainers starting out, we are all too eager to impress. Whether it’s our boss or the client, we feel this need as young aspiring trainers to want to make sure our clients get the most out of their session so we throw everything at them. Box jumps, squats, olympic lifts, agility training you name it. We need to learn to stop encouraging or doing this! If you want to impress a client, give them what they NEED, not what you WANT to show off. Your reputation as a trainer will ultimately come down to the amount of clients you’ve helped transform so cater all goals to that.
Not Meeting Them Where They are at
Bad and inexperienced trainers also tend to not listen to their clients. You can’t already have a plan going into your session without having first spoken to your client. A personal trainer should be asking questions about their previous lifting history, injuries, etc. If a client is coming in with a bad shoulder then we shouldn’t be shoving overhead presses down their throat because it is a staple compound exercise you know is good. Great trainers can modify and adjust their programs based on the feedback their client gives them. Check in with them during the session too. Do they have the mobility or mind muscle connection to feel that exercise working the appropriate muscles? If not, something needs to change.
Not Chasing The Money
A lot of young trainers come into the business thinking it is all flexible hours and easy money. That’s actually far from the truth. Sure, you can choose your hours, and charge whatever you want. If you are young, however, you are going to want to put in as many hours as it takes to get the practice working with clients, and a reputation for helping them get to where they need to be. All the best trainers I’ve ever seen succeed started out putting in 60-80 hours a week just living in the gym, walking the floor, taking all clients and figuring out how to program for them. You need to be willing to learn the marketing side, and how to promote YOURSELF as a brand. This is a lot different than being in a big box gym where all the marketing is done for you. Most trainers don’t last long term, because they don’t know how to keep their business flowing and lose clients along the way.
Overemphasizing Supplements
A supplement is just that. A tool to help round out any deficiencies you may have. I used to work at a gym where the expectation by the corporate was that you went out of your way to sell a certain amount of supplements to your clients. It’s just wrong. We don’t NEED supplements. At best, you should be suggesting them if you find your client is struggling to meet the requirements of their diet whether it is micronutrients or a certain intake. Supplements are great, but only suggest them on an as needed basis. Your clients are trusting you to guide them so don’t abuse that trust for the sake of making some sales or pushing a bogus product.
The DO’s
Individualize Their Workouts
Every trainer across the board should know how to individualize a program for each particular client. No two programs should look the same because no two clients are the same. There may be similarities, but every exercise should not look like a copy and paste from someone else you train. Make sure there are primer exercises to address weaknesses or imbalances. Add in exercises that will bring up areas they want to focus on. What are their goals? If they want athletic performance, are you adding different planes of motion than a bodybuilding workout? If they are rehabbing a knee, are you incorporating mobility drills to help strengthen that area? These are all things you should be considering when programming a client’s regimen.
Continue to Learn
If you want to have a longstanding career in fitness as a trainer, you should have SOME level of desire to keep learning. Whether that’s through the form of certifications in different areas of fitness, or trying different types of training out. You should always be looking for lessons to learn, and new skills and exercises you can see that may be useful for your clients. The more clients you meet, the wider variety of questions they will have for ailments you may not have the answer to. Be willing to spend time outside of the session to find the answer or learn from someone who may have it.
Be Adaptive
A great trainer is always adaptive. If a client is going on vacation, you should be able to put together a simple workout they can follow while they’re away. If they come in with an unexpected injury, you should know how to regress or alter the workout to still get an effective workout in without further exacerbating their injury. Ideally, you’d even know how to provide a program that’ll help strengthen that area to prevent it from happening again.
