To be Effective in the Personal Training Field…Is Not What You Think!

This article should be read by not only individuals who work in the personal training business whether as an offline or online fitness trainer. But, equally as important, clients should read this article and have some understanding on how to choose an effective trainer who can benefit them as much as possible.

In the last article I discussed a number of important attributes that make a good trainer stand out more than others because these personal trainers lack them. But this is not the end of the story, or should I say, you still have some improvements to work on; but this time it is more "technical". Hey, don’t start shouting names, but this is life, and every time you think you "got it", well, think again!

Okay, let’s go back to our subject, and that is to being an effective personal trainer. To be in that position you should think beyond how to make your clients build muscles and lose weight or body fat. You need to know: when clients are having discomfort performing certain exercises--why is that? Is it because of weakness? (this assumption is often wrong).

Why do they have pain when doing an overhead press or elbow tenderness during their triceps exercise routine, for example? What causes low back pain during squats or even just standing while performing biceps curls!?

In many cases when training clients you hear complaints about pain on the one hand, and not on the other; and sometimes this pain is the dominant subject, and sometimes it is not, and the list goes on and on.

These clients’ questions need to be answered; and many of us as fitness trainers don’t have the answers. And if we do, most of the time they are guesses and speculations because we are not trained for these types of problems.

Most of us have certifications to do personal coaching; like how to exercise, using the correct form, using selective exercises for their effectiveness, and general guidelines of nutrition, which is all good, but not good enough.

Learn Few Things about Human Anatomy Design

To become a unique and effective personal trainer for your clients, and to stand out from the rest, you should expand your knowledge by understanding human anatomy, its design, and how it works.

Why should you add human anatomy knowledge to your arsenal? The answer is simple, well maybe not; I don’t think it is an exaggeration if I say most people in our present time have some issues of postural misalignment and here are some examples:

-Excessive arch in lower back (lordosis)

-Excessive arch in lower back and excessive hunch/hump (lordotic-kyphotic)

-Turned in or turned out knees (internal or external rotation)

-Pigeon-toes feet (feet turning inside)

-Duck-toes feet (feet turning outside)

-Forward-head position

These are some of the postural misalignments that your clients may have and depending on the degree of severity they can have discomfort, pain--sharp, acute, or chronic pain--or sometimes no pain because they may limit their motion to the minimum.

Understanding that the above dysfunctional postures are violating the human anatomy design; therefore, individuals who posses these postures have no optimal or potential strength, or mobility. And that will lead to frustration to your clients and you, because for them to run longer time or faster so they can lose weight for example and see results, can be discomforting if not painful .

There are frictions happening between the joints that are doing wear and tear faster and more than the normal rate. No wonder you hear people have arthritis in different joints, and these people’s age can be in the thirties and forties, so the idea of this degenerative disease is old-age-related is not valid anymore, don’t you think?

I think we give the human body credits less than it deserves, our bodies are resilient but only if we respect its law of design and restore its normal health posture.

Someone might say, this is the job of physical therapists and not us the trainers. I think physical therapists are important to have in the health promotion profession; however, as an effective personal trainer it is always an advantage to have much anatomical knowledge and the roles muscles play beyond toning up and losing weight.

Another very significant fact is you are with the client during the training session, and you can analyze if there is any issue that the client is feeling such as; discomfort, complaining of performance ability, or any other challenges he or she may be confronted with during the training.

And with your human body familiarity the personal trainer can modify the exercise or recommend strengthening or stretching those muscles, and your response is immediate on the site where the training is taking place.

Giving recommendations to your clients to relieve the pain or make posture adjustments where they lift more weight or are able to jog with ease are something invaluable to the clients; and you gain more trust, and admiration, and you can charge more.I believe you deserve it, and I don’t think clients would mind that.

You can also provide this kind of coaching service as an online fitness trainer by taking some pictures and asking the right questions to assess your clients’ postures.

Final Thought

Because of our sedentary, repetitive and limited motion lifestyle, we have an epidemic of chronic muscles and joints pain. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be disappearing.

If you have a personal training profession and want to advance your career for monetary potential, recognition, and most importantly helping your clients to achieve optimal health, then learn about the human body in terms of ideal and optimal health posture, and how to perform corrective exercises. That is truly an effective personal trainer, I believe.