Working with a Personal Trainer can be a great tool to help individuals reach their goal by offering accountability, structure and support in a health and wellness routine. Personal Trainers all over the world are helping people lose weight, improve athletic performance or rehabilitate injuries, but working with a trainer doesn’t guarantee results. While trainers can set up a program, prescribe a nutrition plan and help come up with goals to help people reach their goals, it’s up to those people to follow through with the program and do the work.
Now, there are programs that simply don’t work, trainers who aren’t great coaches or don’t have the proper education to handle certain situations. It’s not all on the client, that’s for sure. There are however some very important factors that can ruin a training program before it even begins. So, save yourself some money and read my 4 reasons that personal training might not be for you:
1. Change
This one seems pretty straightforward but needs to be discussed. We’ve heard it time and time again, where clients will be disappointed with the results they’ve seen, yet haven’t made any new changes. As trainers explain time and time again why certain lifestyle choices (ahem, Wine) are going to be counter productive towards their goals, and yet they continue to make the choice to do it. At a certain point, coaches can only take their clients so far, that client needs to take that step to make that change themselves, otherwise they will consistently be disappointed by their results. As clients see more success and lower their body fat percentage, they will need to continue to make changes if they want to continue to see results. Some clients will see initial changes by just being more physically active alone, others will need to watch their nutritional habits, while others will need to be very strict and regimented with their lifestyle choices. For working with weight loss clients I can tell you, there are a lot harder changes to get the last 10ilbs off, then the first 10ilbs. If someone thinks they can spend money to magically see results, they have another thing coming.
2. Know-It-All
I’m not going to sit here and say I know everything, or every trainer knows everything there is to do about fitness and health. Clients should do their research and learn about their body as much as possible. In saying that, there is a difference between being an educated individual and a know-it-all. As a client, people need to understand that they are coming to a trainer for help, and while they should NOT blindly follow what their trainer tells them, they should at least have an open mind to what they are saying. Again, when searching out for a trainer, that is a way for an individual to be searching for help. If clients are unwilling to open up to new ideas to help them achieve the results they are attempting to reach, then working with a trainer isn’t going to help them because they will not take the advice they are given.
3. Priority
This point ties in nicely with point 1. People come to personal trainers for a number of different reasons. They want to lose weight, gain muscle, build confidence or prevent illness. Sometimes, however, the change people are looking to make doesn’t quite line up with their current priorities. While most people would like to shed a couple extra pounds, they are too focused on their work career, family life, friend commitments, etc. to really commit to making a change. Seeing results needs to become a priority for someone to see big changes. Once their goal is a true priority to them, they will be more willing to sacrifice in different areas of their life. These don’t have to be major sacrifices (depending on what their lifestyle looks like) but even small ones will come with less resistance. Again, the trainer can put the best program in the world in front of any client, but it comes down to them making it a priority to follow through.
4. Why?
One of the biggest things that can defeat someone right off the bat, is not knowing why they are going to see a trainer, or better yet not having a clear goal in mind. If a client truly wants to see changes in themselves, they need an idea of what they expect to get out of their time with a trainer, and WHY they want to see that change. There have been many times I’ve worked with clients who just want to “Get Fit” – very vague goal – yet never see changes, because they are doing what they think they should be doing, instead of really wanting or knowing why they are doing it. In some situations, it becomes more of a status situation, where individuals just want to brag about “Seeing a trainer” yet don’t put in the effort in or outside of their sessions. Again, the key to seeing a trainer is having a goal you’d like to achieve and having a reason why it is now important to you (which will help with point 3 and in turn point 1)
Again, these are just a few things to consider before reaching out to a trainer for help. Everyone has different struggles, different successes and have different needs, but working with a trainer can be a great start for individuals who have an open mind, are willing to commit and have a goal they want/need to achieve. It’s not easy, but it’s a lot easier with guidance, coaching, and accountability
Rich Hill
CSEP – Certified Personal Trainer
RK Athletics – https://linktr.ee/RK_Athletics
Recent Comments