Personal training is very widespread these days. Many people
want to hire a personal trainer and many people want to be personal trainers.
In the past personal trainers were athletes who did not have enough time to train and work a full-time job. Today, personal training is a full-time job designed by fitness managers in need of more revenue and minimal output. Personal training in a business setting is pure profit. There are good personal trainers, bad personal trainers, and great personal trainers. The great personal trainers must have these qualities and many more to be exalted.
In the past personal trainers were athletes who did not have enough time to train and work a full-time job. Today, personal training is a full-time job designed by fitness managers in need of more revenue and minimal output. Personal training in a business setting is pure profit. There are good personal trainers, bad personal trainers, and great personal trainers. The great personal trainers must have these qualities and many more to be exalted.
1. Good athletes
A great personal trainer must have been very
competitive in a sport. Sports are easily confused these days. Training is
based on athletics. Athletics are based on training for war. Do you know that
the Olympic Games are an exhibition of which country has the best soldier
without going to war? Training is competition and if your personal trainer has
never competed, formally, they do not have the most important quality any
personal trainer should have. Experience is knowledge and one cannot advise
another without knowledge. Analysis is a matter of competing in the present.
2.
Love
their sport
All great personal trainers love their sport,
their job, and their lives. These people have setbacks as we all do. They get
past the difficult times and make progress because they love that in which they
are involved. This is why they are great trainers. They see a problem and find
a solution. They fix problems. If one solution is not working they have metrics
in place to make changes on a timely basis. They love the path they are on
rather than just being pleased and saying “it’s all good”. Would we need such a
saying if it were all good? I say no! Great personal trainers are problem
solvers. Problem solvers are often incapable of turning this ability off. Great
personal trainers can turn their “fix it” attitude off. Listening is another
part of a great trainer.
3.
Communicators
4.
Time in
the “game”
All great personal trainers have
experience and not coincidentally knowledge. If we hire a lawyer, or a medical
doctor, to solve a problem do we want a partner working on our case or just
associates? We want the most experience person working on our case. They know
how to think and are not just trying to prove themselves. They are working on
our case. They know competition is a real time endeavor. Partners are in it
with us. Associates are just there. Great associates make partner someday. It
takes more than 5-7 years. All the while these people practice their craft.
Partners practice law and medicine and have done it longer than associates.
Great personal trainers have more than ten years of experience/knowledge. Make
them describe their resume. Experience is pure unadulterated knowledge.
5.
Students
of science and art
Athletes, trainers, coaches, and
administrators must study sports sciences. Application of the sciences gives us
a basis for improvement. It is simply measurement. Depth, width, height (not
heighth, no such word), area, weight, volume, and magnitude are a few materials
used to build a great athlete or teams. The application of these materials at
the correct time is an art. Creation is not easy. This makes some think that
all things are equal. That is alright with me as someone needs to come in
second place and not all things are equal. There is good, better, and best in terms
of effectiveness. It is only wrong if it causes harm. Great personal trainers
study and apply what they know in all situations. There is a similar
description which fits…what is the word I am looking for?… oh yeah,
intelligence! Intelligence is the application of knowledge as a root.
6.
Great
personal trainers must care about you and your advancement
Great personal trainers care. They care if
you make progress. They care if you are safe. They care about you as a person.
Dale Carnegie said “people don’t care what you know until they
know that you
care”. This seems like common sense to me. But logic is not common at all. Some
believe logic is something used to create and win arguments. Some hypothesize something
is true if they believe it. Make certain your personal trainer identifies with
you, what you want, and what you need. They are obligated to at least care.
Great personal trainers are few and far between. They do
exist. Personal training is like any young field. There are good, bad, great,
and other degrees of personal trainers. This list is a top six at best. There
are many things a great trainer should be and that is the art. Greatness for a
powerlifting trainer will be polar opposite to what a post rehab trainer needs
to be. The qualities listed above are good for clients also. Stay focused and
you will continue to develop as an athlete, a person, a coach, a client, or a
personal trainer.
Get stronger!