TIPS FOR FITNESS TRAINERS
As a fitness trainer, I like to learn from others. I am always keen to expand my knowledge and am also super happy to share mine. The difference between a good trainer and an excellent one stays in the details thus there are some things that you might not consider which could improve your overall performance and the quality of your training.
Here are my best tips for my fellow fitness trainers.
✅Be mindful of your client’s needs.
Don’t put the client in the middle of the gym, better find a quiet corner, especially if you're training a beginner. Trainers should be aware of the fact that many clients are not feeling comfortable in the gym, so they need to make things as comfortable as possible for their clients.
✅Educate the client.
One of your goals should be to help them become more knowledgeable. Explain to the client each exercise in great detail. Tell them the muscle groups worked out. Don't just assume they know. Go the extra mile and introduce them to some benefits when they do certain exercises (something as simple as "you'll be able to carry on your baby longer"). Show them how to properly adjust the height of the chair. Don't just rush through the workout, moving them from one machine to another, counting their reps from 1-10.
✅Get to know your client better.
When it comes to questions, the more, the better. Ask the client more than ‘what are your goals'. Ask them what exercise they hate and what exercise they love. Show them creative exercises, don't just put them to do hip thrust if they want to grow their glutes, show them the dumbbell frog pump instead.
✅Create a connection with your client.
Ask them if they admire a certain sports figure or where do they get their fitness inspiration from. Then tell them about those you personally admire. It’s a great opportunity to find people that you might both admire and this will build a connection between you and your client.
✅Make the training fun and creative.
Include exercises that are not that common. You need to keep your client excited and engaged, so make sure you come up regularly with something new and interesting for them to do.
✅Perform a cautious evaluation of their progress.
While progress is the key to results, make sure you assess correctly when your client is ready to perform an exercise with more weight than last time. Don't forget that it's not about the weight, it's about quality reps and consistent effort. When the client says "it's too much" then stop pushing them. Ultimately it's them who is able to evaluate this better than yourself.
✅Be open to new knowledge!
If your client comes at the workout super excited telling you that he found out that 10 sets of bench press performed daily will grow his chest 3 times faster, don’t reject their theory! They might know something you haven't heard of, but it could be entirely true. Tell them that while you haven’t heard of it, you'll be looking into it. And look into it!