Being a personal trainer can be a very rewarding job. You get to witness people transform their bodies to become healthier and stronger.
But to be successful as a personal trainer, it takes more than just knowing a set of workouts and watch as your clients perform them. You should be focused, proactive, positive and open-minded to achieve you and your client’s health and fitness goals.
You should also be truly passionate and committed. After all, you expect your clients to be motivated, so it’s only fair that you’d be too.
Finally, remember to show empathy to your clients. You may not be their life coach. But even as their fitness trainer, you should be able to put yourself in their shoes to help them better on their journey.
In the end, success is all about having the proper mindset!
Be Proactive
To be successful as a personal trainer, you need to be proactive. Take the next step and encourage your clients to do the same.
Change won’t occur without taking action! You need to try to anticipate the challenges your clients will face and do your best to help avoid them.
Start by talking to them, and truly listen. More often than not, people will tell you what’s holding them back even without realizing it.
Once you get to know them, create a proactive plan that helps them get through obstacles even before they actually encounter them.
Aim for Growth
Many people think that the mindset of a personal trainer should only be focused on the end results. Here’s the thing: you need to be focused on the entire journey. And it’s not even just your clients’ journey that matters, but your own as well.
Aim to constantly improve, enjoy the process and the progress. And while you’re at it, encourage others to do the same.
So aim for growth and be open to learning constantly! People who are always trying to learn new things and adapt to new situations have more success and are very inspirational to others!
Passion is contagious and your clients are more likely to come to you with a real thirst to learn new things if you are the type that’s also constantly learning.
Have Room for Flexibility
Each person is different and requires a distinctive approach. Not all of your clients would see results from the same program. You need to be flexible and be able to adjust plans and programs to each person’s needs.
This might also require learning from your own mistakes. Analyze what worked in the past, what didn’t, and see why it didn’t work.
Find ways to adapt your programs on the go. If you feel like something isn’t working for one of your clients, analyze what’s going on. Does it have to do with motivation? Or is it simply that the workout is too much for this person’s fitness level?
Talk to them and see what’s holding them back. Never try to impose something on one person only because it worked for 100 others. This person you have now in front of you could very well be the complete opposite of the previous 100. So always be flexible!
Think Long-Term
Many people start working with a personal trainer with a clear picture in mind of the results they want.
They want to go from 0 to 5k, to lose tens of pounds, to be able to lift a certain amount of weights. Many people who want to improve their physiques have the tendency to focused only on one goal.
If you encourage that mentality, there’s a risk they’ll fail. And in a sense, so will you. But if you encourage them to see their progress, they’ll be much more likely to succeed.
Give them something to celebrate each week and they will continue to grow with you! Because believe it or not, thinking long-term means being able to see both the end results and the small steps it takes to get there.
A journey shouldn’t end when the client gets to their first 5k or lifts 50 lbs. Thinking long-term means seeing this journey as constant improvement.
Be Positive
This advice is given so often it is almost felt as cliché. You’d think people would just know they have to do it without even thinking it!
Unfortunately, in your work as a personal trainer, you will realize that being positive is something difficult for a lot of people. In fact, even you as a trainer can fall into the negativity trap.
Have a “can-do” attitude and you will inspire your students to have it as well. Focus on their success, not their failure.
Stop the negative pattern of thinking before it even happens by celebrating their progress. They may not have arrived at the destination yet, but they are far from where they started!
In Conclusion…
If you want to be a successful personal trainer you need to always think ahead. Be proactive and take the necessary steps against big challenges even before they arise.
Talk to your clients and understand where their difficulties come from. Be willing to learn constantly. With your passion to help and improve your client’s health, you will become an inspiration for those around you.
Be flexible and willing to accept that sometimes things won’t work the way you initially planned. Adapt to each situation and each person you are working with. Finally, remember to make the journey a priority, think long-term but celebrate each milestone.
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Daniel Demoss
Latest posts by Daniel Demoss
- The Mindset of a Successful Personal Trainer - March 6, 2020
