Personal Training - Focusing on the ‘Personal’ and then the ‘Training

What it means

To some clients personal training is 1:1 or group training with a coach who takes you through a planned programme or book of work to help you lose fat, get fitter, do a marathon, fit a wedding dress or a multitude of other personal needs. To coaches personal training is often a day job, a tasking, to help a mixed array of clients to achieve their fitness goals, it’s hugely rewarding, challenging and interpersonal. There’s a broad spectrum of both clients and coaches with general needs, general solutions and also those with specialist needs and specialists solutions. It’s an amazing industry to be in, it’s growing fast and there’s opportunities for niche businesses to emerge and grow.

What’s most important

Having been in gyms, clubs, teams and many personal as well as group training sessions it’s apparent that the most successful clients and trainers, in terms of the results achieved are less about the ‘Training’ and more about the ‘Personal’. Having solid knowledge, skills, and aptitudes and indeed a love of training is absolutely essential for personal trainers and coaches, you can’t fake that or at least you can’t fake it for very long.

Focusing on the ‘Personal’ aspect

What I mean by personal is best illustrated anecdotally, I have a female client, with 5 kids, a husband in the trades who worked for a firm and doing odd jobs who could be gone 12 hours a day including weekends. Money was tight, time was tighter and efficiency was everything. I learned early on, that despite their challenges, they were a really strong couple, and everything they did was for their kids. They were spending little on themselves, saving a lot, and working toward a better future.

The client was in good health post the 5 pregnancies, all natural births, all without complications and recovery for her after each birth was identical each time. Amazingly, this client was fit already. She’d retained a lot of her younger years athletic ability through a very well managed diet, being active with the kids, and good genetics.

I say active in the sense of she was not only running around after them but she helped her daughters with physical practice like dancing and hockey, and her son was avid footballer; she would setup in goal at the bottom of their garden and he’d hammer in penalties and free kicks until the sun went down.

What she wanted

The client did not care about exercise science, did not care about a particular methodology, and did not care about the latest shift in thinking when it came to exercising for good health. She had 2 hours every Sunday, that was her time and she used it to go to the gym with her husband. She wanted a workout she could enjoy, that would help her retain and build muscle, and give her targets for herself. She had 2 hours a week to herself and that was it.

What we saw

When she came to us via referral she told us that her resident gym personal trainer, had taken her requirements, did some assessments and given her a plan. She felt he completely disregarded her feedback, and gave her a programme that wasn’t challenging. He was unwilling to support her using heavier weights and doing higher rep ranges based on her having had 5 pregnancies. She dreaded going in and under his supervision doing exercises with no benefit. She asked to be shown to use the barbells and he promised this in her next programme.

What we did

We didn’t do any magic, no one-simple trick, or no new programme methodologies based on the ‘Latest Science!’; we listened. That was it. We did our assessments, got some base numbers and estimates for one rep maximums, we found a training style she liked, dumbbells in this case and we created a programme that challenged her and included a metabolic conditioning finisher.

The client didn’t want periodization, or a specific improvement in lower/upper body strength. She wanted a release, a break from the home routine, a chance to train with her husband and to work up a good sweat. Sometimes the training is secondary and the mental break via training is primary.

Have you ever felt overlooked in your fitness journey?

The Hard Way Fitness is a privately owned Irish physical training and services organization. We are obsessively committed to helping Corporate Leadership of all backgrounds achieve their health and fitness goals. We do not discriminate, all are welcome. Learn more about our programmes here: https://www.hardwayfitness.com/programmeindex

Remember, chin up, chest out and handle it.

Yours,

Stephen