My Training Problem
I can remember the year my Personal Training Education took a massive leap forward. This was the year I transitioned from a Personal trainer to a Personal Performance coach.
My clients were getting stronger and more fit, but they still weren’t meeting many of their other health and wellness goals. Losing weight, happiness, fulfillment, work/life balance, and stress management were among the goals we were failing to achieve.
My previous Personal Training Education hadn’t prepared me to deal with these factors. The importance of these goals in a client’s overall results was an eye-opener for me.
Personal Training Education Tip: Trainers work for the circus. Coaches build better humansMy fitness training skills were pretty darn good (if I do say so myself). I was beginning to make a name for myself in the local community as an innovative, science-based functional training specialist. People knew that I made exercise fun and helped my client get fit while avoiding injury.
Despite this success and recognition, I considered myself a failure.
Don’t get me wrong, I was doing a great job on the fitness side, but felt that too many people were falling through the cracks.
The question I kept asking myself was…”Why wasn’t I able to help these people reach their other goals?”
This question forced me into some deeper reflection about what it would really take to help clients realize their potential inside and outside the gym.
After much contemplation and discussion with clients, I had a lot more clarity about the barriers they faced every day outside the gym.
Your Personal Training Education Solution: Become a Personal Performance Coach
When I distilled the many barriers my clients had down to the base level, the challenges fell into 4 major categories. Roughly, these categories evolved over time into my 4 Pillars of Personal Performance. In order of importance, the pillars are:
- Mindset
- Habits
- Movement
- Fuel
What YOU Can Do…
This coaching approach is much more common today, but 25 years ago, it was completely new.
It’s true that more people practice their craft from a coaching mindset these days, but it isn’t as common as it needs to be.
Far too many trainers are still approaching clients with an overwhelming fitness bias (particularly the intensity side of fitness). This happens every day in gyms and studios across the globe.
To be truly “client centric” and provide the knowledge, skills, and coaching they need to live a healthy, fit, and vibrant life, we must address each of the 4 Pillars of Personal Performance in order (Mindset, Habits, Movement, Fuel).
I encourage you to take your Personal Training Education to the next level by incorporating this approach. Following this 4 Pillars framework will make accelerate your client results, satisfaction, loyalty, referrals, and be a boost to your bottom line.
Happy Coaching!
Tim Borys
Author, Speaker, Coach, CEO
FRESH! Wellness Group
www.timborys.com
www.thefitnesscurveball.com
www.teachmovement.com
I didn’t ignore the nutrition and lifestyle aspects.Please keep in mind that until this point, I simply had a “trainer’s mindset. It’s sad that very few fitness or Personal Training Education courses delve into these pillars.
Most trainer mindsets are almost solely focussed on providing (great) workouts. Everything comes through this “exercise” or “workout” filter.
I was definitely discussing nutrition and other lifestyle habits with my clients, but these were typically as an afterthought. Like most trainers, the workout was the first priority for me.
