One might ask, “Isn’t that the same?” The answer is —-NO! When I started in the fitness industry almost 30 years ago, there was no “Personal training” available: hence, the concept of personal fitness training as a profession was non-existent. A lot has changed ever since, but one thing has not changed, and that is, how to train a person as an individual, and how to approach the human body as an object of physical activity. And these two factors are the dividing edge between “Personal Training, or Training a Person.”
Nowadays the fitness industry is flooded with personal trainers. They come from all different walks of life. But more important than that, is their reasons and motivations to be a Fitness professional. Most of the personal trainers present are under the age of 35. And by no means do I want to discredit young fitness professionals, but there is something to it, and that is experience. Not just professional experience, but also life experience. See, when I started training/coaching people I was in my mid-twenties. I had a fair amount of knowledge about the physiology and anatomy of the human body. But what I was lacking were two things, empathy and understanding, for the individual as a person, and as a client. When a client comes to a fitness professional for help, for whatever reason it might be, it’s because that person has concluded that he/she cannot do it on his/her own. So, that individual is coming with a certain level of trust. Now, as his/her trainer you can make that trust grow or eventually diminish. And I can tell you this, if one is just a “personal trainer” then I can guarantee you that client will not stay long with you. So what is the difference between “personal training and training a person?” Let me start with the biggest difference, and that is, you actually truly care about your client. Ask yourself these two questions: Would I care about this person if she/he would not be my client, and also would I care about him/her if he/she decides to leave me after a few sessions. If you can honestly answer these questions with a definitive “yes” then you are “training a person.” But if you cannot then you are “personal training” that person. If the trainer is” training a person”, then and only then he will put everything into the goals and wellbeing of his/her client. But if the trainer is doing it for his own satisfaction and image, then the client is only an object for making the trainers portfolio look good. We fitness professionals must understand that for an utter stranger to come to us and asking us to help change his/her life so that that person not only becomes healthier, but also perhaps to be able to be a better husband or wife, not to be merely a sideline mom or dad, an active grandparent, a more ambitious employee, and the list could go on and on. That person has to make a huge step out of his/her comfort zone. Hence, if we want our client to trust us with his/her desire to change his/her life, we ought to “train a person,” and not simply do “personal training.” We fitness professionals must make it to our ultimate goal to help our clients achieve perfect “Wellness, which is, the state of complete physical, mental and spiritual well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
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