Chapter 1

Introducing the World of Personal Training

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding what personal trainers do

Assessing your strengths and limitations

Learning what’s involved with getting certified

Helping your clients reach their goals

Planning to start and build your business

When it comes to choosing or changing your career, you probably want to do something you enjoy, right? Well, here’s news that should interest you: Most personal trainers love their jobs. According to a 2021 survey of 837 personal trainers by the Personal Trainer Development Center (an online fitness business education company), respondents were asked to rate their job satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 5. The average response was 3.7 — good news considering that in 2021, two-thirds of personal trainers were laid off, furloughed, or otherwise lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Numbers don’t lie — personal training is indeed a fulfilling and rewarding profession. Helping your clients improve their health and fitness as a result of your guidance is an incredible experience.

To an outsider, personal training may look pretty easy — you just stick your client on a piece of equipment, throw some weight on the stack, and count reps for an hour, right? Not exactly. This chapter gives you the scoop on what it takes to become a personal trainer and how you can get started in this challenging and rewarding field.

Determining Whether You and Personal Training Are a Good Fit

If I asked you what a successful personal trainer looks like, what would you envision? Someone in great shape, with California good looks, a bright white perma-smile, and an everlasting bronze tan? Now what if I asked you what an unsuccessful personal trainer looks like? Maybe you’d think of your local gym rat, perched on top of the piece of gym equipment you want to use, glorifying the benefits of the latest fad supplement.

Truth be told, you can’t tell a “good” trainer from a “bad” trainer based on looks alone. No matter how much a person looks the part on the outside, what makes trainers good is what they have on the inside — solid skills, knowledge, experience, intuitiveness, dedication, professionalism, and understanding. Take all those attributes, roll them up with the ability to teach, and — voilà! — you have the stuff great trainers are made of.

The question is, do you have that stuff?

Defining the role of a personal trainer

By definition, a personal trainer is a fitness professional who uses the body’s response to exercise to improve clients’ overall physical health. Trainers do all the following:

• Perform in-depth evaluations of their clients’ base fitness levels.
• Prescribe exercises appropriate for their clients’ level of conditioning and specific fitness goals.
• Show clients how to properly implement the prescribed exercises.
• Monitor and record clients’ progress, making adjustments as necessary to ensure clients reach their goals in a safe and healthy manner.

Think that’s the whole shebang? Not quite. Personal trainers wear many hats! When working with clients, personal trainers act as friend, teacher, motivator, accountability partner, troubleshooter, therapist, equipment rep, and wellness advisor, all wrapped up in one. When working alone, personal trainers take on the roles of secretary, salesperson, student, accountant, business owner, and customer-service rep.

Knowing what skills you need

Being a personal trainer requires more than knowing exactly where your gluteus maximus is, or what the best exercise is to keep it from drooping. As a trainer, you need many skills to match the many roles you play for your clients. Here are some of the skills you need to hone before putting up your shingle.

You need to be accountable

You alone — not your clients, not your mother, not your annoying neighbor with the yappy dog — are responsible for yourself and your actions. If you’re continually coming up with reasons (read “excuses”) as to why you were late, why you didn’t write out the new travel program, or why you had to cancel, clients and employers will lose trust in you. Being able to own up to the truth of your actions and working to prevent those snafus from happening in the future gains you trust and credibility in the eyes of your peers.

When you’re a trainer, your credibility and reputation will make or break you.

You need to be agile

No, I don’t mean physically agile! (I know you can touch your toes!) In this case, I mean mentally agile — as in, able to come up with a completely different course of action on the fly if the original plan isn’t working out. Working with people’s bodies requires insight and the ability to identify problems and come up with solutions. Each client is unique, and what works for one client may not work for another.

These days, many of my clients are cancer survivors and still have lingering side effects from treatment. Even when they are physically able to exercise, some days they’re just too tired. It’s hard to know ahead of time if a client isn’t going to feel up to exercising, so I always have a backup plan for low-energy days. We work hard when energy is high, and when it’s not, maybe we spend time walking and stretching instead. This might seem like a waste of time, but meeting clients where they’re at and adjusting to their needs helps me earn their trust and encourages them to keep showing up, even when the going gets tough.

You need to be a good teacher

Good teachers understand that not all students learn the same way. Some are visual learners, some do better with verbal instructions, and others need a hands-on approach. They watch their students carefully to discover how they learn and match their teaching methods to their students’ learning needs.

As a personal trainer, you need to understand each client’s learning style if you expect them retain what you teach. Getting to know people is a process and it takes some time to figure out how to make information stick. That’s okay.

You need to be a good leader

Good leaders inspire people to do their best by walking the talk, and a good personal trainer should be a positive role model for their clients. The old “do as I say, not as I do” adage doesn’t cut it in this biz. You won’t be getting any repeat business if you expect your clients to show up when they’re busy and stressed out if you’re constantly bailing on your workouts when life gets in the way. People naturally want to follow someone who is confident and relatable. In this profession, that means supporting your clients, even when they have setbacks, and they inevitably will. Life happens. We’re all human (yes, even you) and your clients will appreciate that you know that.

You need to be a good listener

Sometimes, being a personal trainer feels like being a therapist — the closer you get to your clients, the more they open up about themselves. By listening more than talking, you’ll find out a lot about who your clients really are. That can help you understand where they’re coming from, why they’re really working with you, and what some of their challenges might be.

You need to be a good observer

In addition to being a good listener, you need to be a good observer. Sometimes, your clients will tell you something different from what they’re really thinking or feeling. Figuring out how to read your clients’ body language, tone of voice, and physical cueing will help to improve your communication with your clients and the exercise programs you create for them.

You need to be knowledgeable

These days, trainers are expected to know the answers to just about everything related to health and wellness. Should I try the (fill-in-the blank diet)? What’s cryotherapy? Why do I need to stretch? Of course you have to master the technical aspects of training, but you should know what science is saying about the latest trends. Being able to separate fact from fiction — and explain the difference — helps you help your clients. And by the way, it’s okay to say “I don’t know, but I will find out and get back to you.”

You need to be likeable

Have you ever met someone who rubbed you the wrong way from the start? You can’t quite put your finger on what it is about them that bugs you, but for some reason you two simply don’t hit it off. For one reason or another, not every client is going to like you — and you aren’t going to love every client. It’s okay not to like a client; just remember that you are a professional and this person deserves the same high level of service all your clients expect from you.

Being likeable doesn’t mean everyone will like you. Developing rapport with clients is easier if they like you, and sometimes helping them feel more comfortable with you is all it takes to create a smooth start to the relationship. Gauging their personality type and communication style helps. If your client is the strong-but-silent type,...