Staying Alive: A Personal Trainers Survival Guide
Ever seen Zombieland? Great movie. The hero survives a world devastated by a deadly zombie virus by following “The 32 Rules of Zombieland”
Strangely, when watching this movie, I found myself identifying with his rules when thinking about how to survive the (almost as) cut-throat world of personal training. Now obviously, some rules did not apply. For instance, “Rule 2: Beware of Bathrooms”. I’m not going to try and tell you that to build a successful personal training business you must abide by this rule. (Although if the bathrooms weren’t clean at the gym…).
So here goes: A Personal Training Survival Guide: Using 6 (of the 32) Rules of Zombieland.
Rule 1: Cardio
A good Personal Trainer can show you how to do a mean bicep curl, right? Feel the burn, get the pump? Deliver a kick ass weights session and show you all that technical stuff in the gym?
I guess. However, a great Personal Trainer does so much more than that. They manage a client’s exercise across an entire week. They deliver kick ass personal training sessions, write comprehensive resistance programs for their clients to follow in the gym in their individual sessions, and, wait for it, also write programs for their clients to follow when they do their cardio. EVEN IF the client is doing this on their own!
Understanding how to write an effective and safe cardio program to get your client to their fitness goals is a vital skill, and one that’s often overlooked. So do some research, try out some different types of training yourself and ask for help from someone in the know if you need it! This brings me to rule number 2…
Rule 2: Don't Be a Hero
When I started personal training, I lived in fear. Not quite as scared as if there were Zombies running around the gym, but almost. Because something almost as scary as a Zombie to a new PT is an inquisitive client, or worse still, an intelligent colleague who wants to chat over some concepts with you. There was no way I wanted to admit to my clients, my colleagues, even myself, that I didn’t know the answer to a question.
Knowledge is power after all.
It wasn’t until I’d burnt the candle at both ends; training clients by day, studying textbooks and conflicting research articles by night, that I had a revelation.
There’s no way those confident trainers spouting advice on all manner of training styles knew it all. There was too much to know. And some of them, I began to think, may have even been faking it. Like I had been trying to. Thank god.
So what was really important to know when personal training? I didn’t know. I needed help.
The very next day, I got myself a mentor. In fact, I got 3. I signed up to train with 3 very different and very experienced personal trainers at my gym. They all had come to the same realisation I had years ago. They couldn’t know everything. It was impossible, so they had spent their time wisely pursuing knowledge and skills in the particular area they were interested in – the one that benefited their target markets the most. And they were more than happy to help me out.
So don’t be a hero - get yourself a mentor and ask for help!
(Oh by the way – what was really important was whatever your client needed to help them get to their goals… who knew?!)
Rule 3: Double Tap
One of the most fundamental principles of fitness is that repetition causes adaptation. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and good technique takes time to master. We need at least a ‘double tap’ – one introductory technique session is not enough. Before we progress our loads and reps (which will show our client they are improving), we need to get our client moving correctly. And sadly, sometimes even a double tap is not enough. Before ‘changing it up’ every session because we don’t want our clients to get bored, we need to ask ourselves if the client is ready to progress. Are they moving correctly? Is it time for a program change? It is especially important to ask yourself – is it the client that’s bored, or is it me??
Rule 4: No Attachments
Of course you can. It may sound harsh, but they are your client first, and friend second. Would they still be happy to pay if you started showing up late? Arriving unprepared, in your tatty old training gear, and moaning about your week? A mate wouldn’t mind…but your client will.
Be very clear on your expectations of the client / trainer relationship from the word go – have solid Personal Training Policies in place, printed up and signed by your client from day one. There is no law against getting on like a house on fire with your client – in fact it is critical to survival. However the moment you drop your guard, you will also be dropping your average spend, professionalism and ultimately your bottom line.
Rule 5: Limber Up
Much like cardio, stretching is often overlooked as a vital part of any exercise program, and a way for PT’s to add value to their sessions. Take a look around the gym next time you are there. How many people are stretching? If they are doing it – are they holding the optimum position to get a great stretch? What is their flexibility like?
Often the only proper stretching instruction is the token grab your foot and hold it somewhere near your butt stuff we get’ taught’ in PE at school. As PT’s we need to reinforce the basic principles of stretching and cue these points during our PT sessions to add value to every part of our clients experience with us. Another great tool is facilitated stretching – not only to give your client a more effective stretch than they would complete on themselves, but it also helps them feel special, and is great for rapport building!
Rule 6: Enjoy the Little Things
I had a trainer complain despairingly to me that his overweight client was eating pizza every weekend. Turns out his client had previously been eating pizza every day, so to limit it to the weekends was a great achievement! Every success, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant, is worth celebrating with your clients. That one extra push up, that cm off the waistline (no matter how many more there are to go) is a sure sign that change is happening, you are making a difference, you and your client should be proud. It can take a long time to get to a goal – especially if there is a long way to go. So always enjoy the little things!
So what have we learnt? If your answer is: 1. I have terrible taste in movies and 2. too many Twinkies could harm your waistline, you would be 100% correct. Ideally though, you have mentally reviewed your cardio and stretching knowledge and instruction and decided to up skill if needed. You have also ranked all the more experienced PT’s at your gym and decided on a mentor or two. You’ve taken Doris down off that swiss ball and thought about how to re-establish boundaries with that client/mate who was too hungover to turn up to Saturday mornings session last week…
Most importantly, though, you are thinking about all those little success’s you’ve been having with your clients lately. Enjoy them. As Ernest Hemingway put it -
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
Besides, there are worse things than a client eating pizza every weekend. Being eaten by a Zombie, perhaps?!
Amanda Phillips
Personal Training Tutor, Personal Trainer, Product Developer
wow number 6 hit home for me I always look at the beg picture and no the little step in the jurney. strangly even we I or my clients reacg our goal I dont celibrate them enough. Im going to change that. so thanks