3 Vital Lessons From 10 Years As A Personal Trainer.

Personal training clients has been one of the most gratifying and powerful ways that I have been able to impact people's lives. In the process, I have been able to empower myself and make a living doing something I am passionate about. However, getting clients to realize their own potential can sometimes cause a great deal of inner turmoil and anguish. Although the road can be hard, having the ability to push a person to their limits and to direct them to a better self image is a worthy endeavor. I have chosen 3 lessons that have had a dramatic influence on my career as a personal trainer and I think that you will find them very helpful in your journey.

One of the main lessons that I have learned as a personal trainer, is that having emotional intelligence and building a good rapport is essential to a client's adherence and training effectiveness. You have to relate to your client on some level. Whether that be in terms of the goals that they would like to achieve or the common interests that you share. This is vital because if you are putting them through intense training modalities there will be occasions when they will not like you! Some of the exercises may not be comfortable or you may need to push them to their potential, which can lead to delicate situations where a good foundation of respect will be necessary. It's also imperative that you "practice what you preach". I have tried everything that I put my clients through. I always perform the exercises or programming first so I know the response that I am looking for within the modality. There aren't any exercises that I haven't put myself through first and I believe that this relays the highest level of competency to my clientele.

Given my philosophy on being able to perform a wide variety of exercises, as well as programming, comes the second important lesson. Your own training evolution will greatly impact that of your clients. There are countless movements and movement variations that the human body is able to express. Knowing how to expose your clients to various movements through your expertise, and being able to modify intensity levels will always be a necessity for you and especially your fitness clientele. I believe that coming from a foundation of bodyweight movements as well as postural awareness will magnify results almost instantaneously and lead to absolutely incredible outcomes.

The last lesson is the "end all be all" in terms of being a valued personal trainer. It is that; your clients represent you. For starters, they promote you and your craft. I would like for my clientele to proudly say that they use my training services and for whomever they are speaking with to know that I am a valuable commodity. That being said, my clients results and how they feel about themselves should translate to every aspect of their live's. This isn't a selfish approach because the journey that you take with your clients isn't only about them. The relationship that you have with your clientele can have a profound impact on how you relate to yourself within your own life. The longer the journey with your clients, the more you will glean insights from them that will create shock and awe within your own paradigm. Whether that be in terms of mental toughness or different belief systems, there is something to be learned from each and every encounter in this human experience that we call life.

In my 10 years of personal training, I have been blessed to meet some truly amazing people. These insights into training have not only helped me with my private clientele, but have also helped me with my clients in terms of adherence and in regards to various training modalities. I encourage any fitness professional to think about these factors and how they relate to you as well as your clients.