Personal Trainer Education

Similar to most professions, after a trainer receives their certifications to be a personal trainer, the education should have only just begun. The trainer will learn through gaining experience of being with the client on the floor, writing programs, client feedback, running classes and watching other trainers. These are great ways to learn on the job, although it shouldn’t be the only way you gain your knowledge.

I suggest trainers should learn from others as well as to conduct their own learning. This might consist of reading books, reviewing research and enrolling in courses. These are all great ways to further progress your knowledge as a trainer. All trainers when going for a job interview, claim that education is a high priority and the desire to continue their education throughout their life and it will always be a necessity every week to learn more and more. Sounds great, you’re hired! Once push comes to shove and they are asked to do some research, the excuses will begin to come out. They are all of a sudden too busy for this high-priority goal of education.

So how can we get all these trainers to gain knowledge over time if they don’t actually value the knowledge they would be gaining? Here at UHP Personal Training provides educated mentors to assist the trainers in both knowledge and experience, weekly education meetings that the trainers engage in each week and XGYM conducts monthly seminars for both trainers, clients and the public to sit in on and learn. These are just some examples of how a trainer can be nurtured into a smart coach.

Now let’s discuss the differences between a trainer who values knowledge and one who doesn’t value knowledge. The trainer that does not value knowledge will post and talk more about how busy they are with so many clients (these clients often won’t realise their coach is not improving over time) and will push for more clients even when they might lose one or two. The educated trainer will likely have fewer clients but each client gets a lot more value per session and the time this trainer is not training anyone, they are learning. The two different mindsets are, “how many clients can I train this week” versus “how many clients sessions can I make better this week”. The second option is the educated trainer wanting clients to get their money worth and be able to help each client beyond what they could last week.

Below are some of the values that often go along with a trainer that does not educate themselves regularly:

• I do not need to learn any more than I already know
• I don’t want to teach my clients everything I know because then they won’t need me anymore
• My schedule is full, therefore I am educated enough
• My schedule being full is enough reason to increase my prices without increasing my services.
• If a client leaves me it cannot be due to my poor service or lack of knowledge.

Below are some of the values that often go along with a trainer that does educate themselves regularly:

• I will never know enough to stop learning
• I want to teach my clients as much as they can handle new information ongoing
• My schedule is full, need to make sure I still have time to learn and provide these people with value
• My value determines my worth more than my time
• If a client leaves, it’s likely due to my poor services/education. Time to learn more and improve my services.

Learn the difference between the two and surround yourself with those who genuinely care about their own education.

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