7 Benefits Of Working With A Personal Trainer
“She would consistently check in not only with my physical health, but my mental and emotional health as well, which was crucial to my success.”
—Anna G., Client Testimonial
Over the years, the term personal trainer has come to be a generic, all-encompassing term for fitness professionals. The benefit is that it makes it a bit easier to quickly convey your profession, but the downside is that it significantly leaves out the nuances that exist within the industry. Trainers have their own ethoses, that in turn influence their approach to training.
I use the term personal trainer to quickly describe what it is I do, however, I identify much more with calling myself a movement and mindset coach. It captures more accurately the way I view my client relationships. My approach is based on mutual respect, empathy, and open communication.
My personal coaching style and philosophy offers the following seven benefits:
Informed goal setting: Do you just want to be able to take a walk without feeling out of breath? Do you want to be able to finish a workout and feel empowered by your body? Do you want to feel strong, flexible, agile? Setting goals based on how you want to feel (instead of how you want to look) can go a long way in helping to create a positive, sustainable, and fulfilling movement experience. It is the trainer’s job to ask the right questions to help you develop awareness about what types of movement and styles of physical activity you find enjoyable, which then informs how to approach your goals.
Learning proper technique: Practicing correct movement form (to the best of your ability) is important to the longevity and sustainability of any training experience. A trainer should teach these points of performance throughout your sessions in a way that is informative, digestible, and motivating.
Injury prevention: There are two key components to injury prevention: Thoughtful workout/program design, and strategic choices. Thoughtful workout/program design creates a well-rounded, and balanced plan that takes into account movement selection, volume, frequency, and how the specific individual moves. Strategic choices refers to a trainer’s experiential intuition about how and when to appropriately modify or progress movements to meet the specific individual’s goals, while also honoring where they are at any given time.
Informed movement modification: Every movement can be modified, but it can take many years of experience to build an extensive repertoire of possible movement modifications. It is the trainer’s job to creatively, knowledgeably, and effectively modify movements specific to an individual’s needs. Modifying movements can involve making changes to intensity, impact, challenge level, range of motion, equipment being used, etc. This type of guidance is critical to client success.
Structure: As adults, it is easy to suffer from decision-fatigue: A decreased ability or desire to make decisions when faced with having to make too many decisions. Clients often report that it feels like a giant relief to have someone else, the trainer, take the reins for a change, so they can focus on getting the most out of the experience, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Additionally, going into each session with a plan, ensures the most efficient and effective use of the session time.
Flexibility: Do you have an unpredictable schedule? Working with a personal trainer is a great option if you need to be able to meet at different times and on different days, from week-to-week. The ability to keep the schedule fluid and adjust it to your needs improves your ability to honor what you need day-to-day and significantly improves consistency and longevity.
Fun, engaging, and motivating: Working with a trainer you trust, and who supports you, can help to foster a more joyful movement experience, one that includes great music, and good conversation. The rapport between trainer and client is critical to helping the client feel empowered and successful.
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If you would like to experience these benefits for yourself, a great first step is to connect over email or via a discovery call, so that I can learn more about you and we can brainstorm what working together could look like!
