What I’ve Learned In My First 6 Months as a Personal Trainer
Before we dive in, I’d like to apologize to my followers. Almost half of which have done me the incredible honor of following my writings in the last 3 months or so since my last article. I haven’t uphelpd my end of the deal: regular content for your consumption. The reason for which is multi-faceted, but to sum it up: I’ve been low. The lowest of my lows. I suffered a death in my family that was painfully hard to deal with and the rest of my life came crashing to a halt.
I’ve decided though that now is the time to get back to one of my favorite hobbies: writing. I hope you enjoy the article below and the articles to come. I’m aiming for one a week. Two if I have the inspiration. We’ll see how it goes.
The point is, I’M BAAAACK! Now let’s rock.
What I’ve Learned In My First 6 Months as a Personal Trainer
1. Sell Them What They Want, Then Give Them What They Need
When you work in sales, and personal trainer IS a sales job, you’re going to speak to people that know less about the product/service than you do. That’s why you’re there; you’re (supposed to be) the expert that assists with matching the customer with their desired product/service.
As such, customers will come to you with their vision of what they want from your product/service, but that vision is always formed with either misinformation or a lack of understanding about the thing they want.
In my case, examples include:
- I need to “tighten” my arms.
- I want to “tone”, but not get too bulky!
- I want to lose 50lbs (when in reality their weight isn’t the issue, it’s body composition).
To those I’d like to counter:
- I am not a plastic surgeon. I can’t “tighten”anything. What’s more is you can’t just change one part of your body. It’s a total package. If you gain 2lbs of muscle, you’re gaining it all over. If you lose fat in your arms, you’re losing fat throughout the rest of your body. That’s how your body works.
- Trust me, you won’t fall your way into a more muscular, leaner body. No one ever got “big” by accident. Focus on adopting a regular routine before you even think about being too muscular.
- If you lose 50lbs, I’d be shoving Twinkies down throat to get your weight back to a safe place. Most people don’t need to lose 50lbs, they need to lose fat and gain muscle — also known as body recomposition. But that’s another article.
That’s how I used to counter. Now, I promise them all of their wildest dreams.
- Yes! We’ll take care of those arms ASAP!
- Of course, I’ll make sure we don’t overdo it in the weight room. We’ll get you tight and toned!
- I don’t think it’ll take exactly 50lbs, but I know what you mean and I promise I’ll get you there.
I’ve learned that my job isn’t to argue semantics or show how much I know and they don’t. I’m not a college professor. I don’t need to correct them on the finer points of health & fitness.
I just need them on board with me because once we set sail on a program together I’ll hide the medicine in the candy — they’ll get a workout they enjoy and I know actually works. I can debunk spot reducing and explain how body recomposition works later, but there won’t be a later if I’m too busy correcting their every word in the initial consult.
2. What You Want For Your Clients May Be Different From What They Want From You
A client of mine came to me with the goal of body recomposition — lose fat, gain muscle, be leaner/tighter/toner/sexier/all the above.
That’s easy.
Lift heavy weights to build muscle, eat at a caloric deficit, and maintain a high protein intake. Cardio: optional.
So that’s the program I designed for her. One that aimed to improve her strength and muscle mass through heavy resistance training using compound movements like the squat, bench press, and deadlift. I threw in some fun cardio stuff at the end to add a little variety.
She had a solid base of strength and understanding of proper form before starting the program and she’s a quick learn to boot. As a result, she progressed through the program nicely. Her strength was improving, her numbers went up, and she picked up on new exercises easily. Everything was going smoothly.
Until it wasn’t.
She wanted to cut back on our training. She became bored with the weights. She felt she had a strong grasp on those exercises (she did) and thought it would be a better use of her time (and money) to do those on her own and continue doing the cardio stuff with me (it would be).
I’d quickly realize the underlying issue: I designed a program that I found valuable and fun. Not one that she found valuable and fun.
It didn’t matter if the programming was solid or if the science behind it was accurate. It didn’t matter if the program was good enough to achieve her goals. All that mattered was that she didn’t enjoy it and if she didn't enjoy it, it wasn’t going to stick and if it wasn’t going to stick it would never work.
I revamped everything and gave her a program that was more her style. Circuit training that combined total-body cardio and strength exercises with short rest periods and long work intervals. She gets the sweat drenched workout feeling she was after, she burns up a ton of calories, but we don’t sacrifice strength/muscle building and I keep my client.
Everybody wins.
3. Put The Clipboard Down and Have FUN!
When I began getting my first clients, I zeroed in on my programming. I had to make sure every rep counted, every muscle was being worked, they were getting the right amount of sets and reps and we were progressing at just the right pace. Everything had to be perfect.
Except it didn’t.
Most clients you work with as a trainer come in with no or very little exercise history. As a result, they’re going to benefit from those glorious “newbie gainz” — any consistent increase in their physical activity level will produce some kind of positive impact. That impact increases with just a little structure and the right amount of guidance.
These clients don’t need a special peaking program or periodization schedule or accumulation phase. What they truly need is an ally — someone who will support their lifestyle change and help them transition to a healthier, more active lifestyle. Someone that can help them adopt a new way of living that fits their needs, wants, and unique barriers.
Personal trainers aren’t just exercise specialists, but problem solvers as well. No client presents the same hurdles to overcome. They each possess their own unique individual set of physical capabilities and limitations, mental blocks, emotional triggers, and past experiences that all contribute to who they are and the challenges they face today.
My real task isn’t to create the most technically sound program ever made (though that helps). It’s to helping realize and embrace a new way of living. Once that happens, the possibilities are limitless.
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About The Author: I’m Zach Newman. Conversation is insanely important to me. Its why I love creating things because creation sparks discussion and discussion is the best way to learn from each other and create community. So please, hop in the comments and respond to the article, ask a question, or simply tell me what you had for lunch today — seriously, I’m curious. What DID you have for lunch today?
| Did you know I like other things besides health? It’s true! I’m a giant sneaker lover. I make dope sneaker content over on Instagram. Take a peak — Instagram |
