What is Personal Training?

Oliver Tennant
Jan 6, 2020
5 min read

"What is Personal Training?"

It’s a question I ask all the personal trainers that I work with.

Why?

Because truly understanding what your role is as a personal trainer is going to be one of the most vital components to having a thriving personal training business.

Before you read on, I challenge you to take 60 seconds to write down, in bullet point form, exactly what you think personal training is.

(You got your pen and paper? Or more realistically the notes app on your phone?)

Ready? Go….. …. … .. .

Now, do you have a big list? Did you write down some of the obvious? 1. Creating solutions to people’s problems 2. A service set up to help people

3. Teaching others skills to benefit their health and lifestyle

4. Accountability

5. Educating clients on creating new lifestyle habits

6. Helping people overcome a recurring pain 7. Observing and intervening

8. A support system based around health and fitness

9. Motivation

10. Progressive workouts

11. Support and guidance to achieve a fitness goal

12. A personalised service focussed on helping someone achieve their goals

13. Results

14. To help build confidence

15. Knowledge and expertise

(I’m sure you could add another 200 points here)

I’m pretty confident that every personal trainer on this planet would give a brilliant answer to highlight exactly what personal training is.

But when you actually boil it down and truly realise the amount of influence and guidance you have with someone’s life…

you begin to remember and appreciate…

Personal Training is changing someone’s life for the better.

CHANGING SOMEONE’S LIFE FOR THE BETTER.

^^^ let that sink in.

All the results, no matter how big or small, you have with a client will directly impact their lives in a positive way.

But not just their lives, the lives of those around them too.

Whether it’s helping someone lose 5kgs or 40kgs, build muscle, create better habits with nutrition, increase their confidence in the gym, increase their confidence outside of the gym, empower them to make better choices… the list goes on.

No matter how big or small… you’re in a position with the skills and knowledge that you have to CHANGE SOMEONE’S LIFE.

When you take a moment to digest that and consider all of the lives you’ve had a positive impact on already, as well as all the lives of the people you’re going to have a positive impact on in the future, you realise how unbelievably important you are in this world.

Out of the two words, Personal and Training, which is the most important? Of course you answered ‘personal’, right? Well, how do you make it personal? (Don’t worry, I’m not going to make you write another list)

Communication, suit their needs and lifestyle, build a relationship, get to know the client, relate to the client. Pretty obvious, right? Well….

For all of you that know me, I have a very beautiful girlfriend.

My girlfriend loves it when I bought the house, when I take her on holiday, and when I bought her a puppy.

She loves the big stuff.

^^^ but what does she love more than that?

……… She loves the small stuff.

She loves it more when I listen to what she’s saying. She loves it more when I text her wishing her luck for her important meeting at work. She loves it when I bring her a glass of water to bed.

She loves it when I pay attention to what’s important to her. (Before I turn this into a detailed story about me and my girlfriend, lets get back on topic…) Why’s all of the small stuff so important?

Because it shows that I care.

Now think about all the big stuff you do for your clients >>> the results, the motivation, the inspiration, the accountability, the progression, the strength, the gains, the losses, all the other big stuff that you mentioned earlier….

What about the small details with your clients?

What about building the relationship?

Texting them outside of sessions to see how they’re going, sending them a congratulations message for being on track, wishing them luck in a job interview, getting to know what they enjoy away from health and fitness, showing an interest in them and their lives, and so on. We don’t stop there. Birthdays, partner’s names, their gym anniversary, their children’s names, asking about their family, events in their lives, holidays and so forth. It’s your client’s birthday on Thursday - what are you going to do?

I’m not telling you to spend a fortune but focusing on the small details, as well as delivering the big stuff, will set you up for enormous success with your clients and as a business as a whole.

You’ve heard it before but I’ll tell you again: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” How much do you care right now? How much more can you care after reading this? If you fail to show that you care, all your other coaching strategies may fall short. Instead of just saying it in a session or over a text message, I once bought my client a card and wrote a paragraph. I explained how proud I was of him for all his efforts with his training and the changes he’d made to his lifestyle. The message I got back in response to that and the accountability to his training moving forwards was breathtaking.

All because I simply showed that I cared.

Whilst you should always be their coach first, if you don’t have a close but professional relationship with your clients, expect to lose them. How does focusing on the small details make your clients feel? It would probably make them feel like more than just another customer. Don’t forget your clients are your business and without clients you don’t have a business. Does that make you look at personal training in a different way? These people aren’t just numbers.

You are completely changing their lives (and building relationships with them in the process). You’re not just a personal trainer, you’re a life changer. ^^^ motivational, cheesy, whatever… It kills me to see personal trainers not show a real interest in their clients.

These people need our help and we have the skills and knowledge to ultimately improve their life for the better.

What’s holding you back from improving even more lives right now?

Think of a client that you’ve had a result with.

Someone losing 5kgs may just be another day at the office for you.

But losing that 5kgs for your client may have been the platform they needed to get their life back on track and to give them the confidence to do things they wouldn’t normally do.

To you that just might be what you do but to them.. it’s invaluable.

^^^ That is what personal training is. That is what you’re capable of.

That’s the level.

Remember that list you wrote at the start answering “What is Personal Training?” Go back to it now (and every so often throughout your career) and add in new things.

Add in the small details.

If nobody is signing up with you it’s probably because you haven’t got a service worth signing up for. Think about that.