Personal Training Needs To Wake Up!
Finding myself with too much time today I started clearing out my desk. It's one of those jobs that gets put off and put off and then put off again. The result, as you might expect, was a vast accumulation of load of old papers, notes and articles long since forgotten.
The diamond amongst it all however was an old Filofax (if you don't know don't worry) which I used to keep notes of training sessions attended back in the late 90s and early 00s. It was enlightening to discover how much I had forgotten about some of the subjects therein contained. Amongst them were notes I had taken during a seminar I attended in 2003 on how the personal training industry needed a paradigm shift.
Put simply the crux of it was for trainers to move away from the discounted, free sessions and multiple session approaches towards a purchase (or perception of purchase) of their time. Clients were therefore sold slots. Specific times when they would train, these being theirs until they decided otherwise. This is something that many trainers just didn't do. It's probably something that many trainers still don't do. It however still retains a very powerful reinforcement to repeated purchasing behaviour on behalf of the client. It promotes exclusivity, scarcity and almost obliges the client to retain that time slot.
The other premise that screamed from the notes I had made was the need for personal training to be personal. Too many trainers (it was suggested) regurgitated the same fitness programme regardless of their clients needs, goals or individual requirements. Consequently it was suggested way back in 2003 that 95% of personal training clients did not achieve results. Now that's nearly 20 years ago I hear to say, that must ve different now! Why we have social media influencers, blog posts and other stuff now that we simply didn't have then so the situation must be different...
Well jump forward from my ancient notes to today. Usually my clients are indoors, studio based training. This morning however we ventured into the big wide world and did our session in the local park. Many trainers getting their clients super sweaty and breathing heavy. All good so far.
I ventured a look at the next closest trainer to where I had set up and spied he had 3 middle aged female clients engaged in a multi station circuit type of workout. Ok. Not my bag but they looked like they were having fun. My client arrived and I cracked on with his session, range changing on the pads and associated foot work drills. Much more my thing. Having completed our session, got my guy breathing hard and distinctly sweatier than when he arrived, I spied over again to check out what my neighbour was up to.
Guess what? He had 3 new female clients with him now. All aged 18-30 I guessed, all engaged in a multi station circuit workout, which was exactly the same as that he had been providing the previous group. The age difference alone would suggest a different approach, let alone any associated individual medical or goal related issues. How little this guys cares I thought...but then has it ever been much different?
The thing is here, is there are many personal trainers. There are as many reasons for working with a personal trainer as there are people wanting to work with a personal trainer. The challenge is finding one that fits you and cares about your needs. The need to be willing to accept and recognise that your needs are individual and unique to you. They need to recognise that the interventions they provide you are 100% distinct and individual for you. Not an off the peg one size fits all approach because they don't want to invest their time in you. You pay for that. Their time. You invest your time and your money in your results. They should reciprocate and invest time in getting you those results.
When we started Renegade Martial Arts we knew we had the opportunity to provide that different paradigm to personal training. Our experience and knowledge of working with clients to provide what their body needs to achieve lasting results is more developed and extensive than many other trainers. Our ability to match this with a variety of activities is equally more developed and further reaching than many other trainers. Whilst in that Filofax there were many things I realised I had forgotten over the past few years, I am personally very proud that being a trainer who meets the individual needs of their clients with specific, individual and tailored programming is something that I have remembered and will continue to provide.
We choose to value your results, your investment and you.
We believe that the whole personal training industry still needs to wake itself up to the misinformed, misguided and sometimes disinterested approach that still seems to exist...
For further information on our personal training programme please contact us today!
