It’s really hard to find a great mechanic, doctor, physical therapist, etc. But when you do….they’re worth their weight in gold.
Excellence is not common. You could say if it were common then it wouldn’t be excellence- but I’m not sure I buy that.
Sure, only one person can be the very best in any given category. BUT I do believe we all have special gifts and talents, given to us by God, and when we steward and develop those talents, we can be excellent at our craft!
Excellent or not, that’s certainly what we strive to be at Steel.
A team of excellent Personal Trainers.
So after having been a Personal Trainer for over a decade, here are 7 things I can confidently say an excellent Personal Trainer will do:
1. Make You Feel Warm and Welcome So You Actually Look Forward to Coming to the Gym
2. Design a Plan Precisely For Your Goals, Current Fitness Level, Injury History, etc. So You’re Getting Everything That You Need and Nothing That You Don’t
3. Coach You Step By Step On That Plan So You Never Feel Lost
4. Make Sure You’re Getting the Most Out of Every Set By Making Sure You’re Using Good Form, a Full Range of Motion, and Training Close to Failure So You Get the Best Results Possible
5. Monitor Your Results So You Can See How Much Progress You’ve Made
6. Tell You the Truth, Even When It Hurts, So You Always Know What to Do Next
7. Celebrates With You When You Win
Make You Feel Warm and Welcome So You Actually Look Forward to Coming to the Gym
If you hate your trainer, you can throw out points 2-7.
It is so important you have a trainer that makes you feel warm and welcome. That you enjoy seeing and spending time with. You guys don’t need to be friends or best buds, but if your trainer seems uninterested, or cold and harsh, the odds of you sticking around with that Personal Trainer are slim.
Find someone you like, whose personality you enjoy, so you’ll actually look forward to coming to the gym.
Design a Plan Precisely For Your Goals, Current Fitness Level, Injury History, etc. So You’re Getting Everything That You Need and Nothing That You Don’t
One of the key benefits of hiring a Personal Trainer is so they’ll design a workout precisely for your goals, your current fitness level, your injury history, and even your preferences.
A workout plan designed for your goals ensures you’re heading in the right direction.
A workout plan designed with your current fitness level in mind ensures you’re doing the right thing TODAY.
A workout plan designed around your injury history keeps your joints healthy and happy and prevents more injuries.
And a workout plan designed around your preferences makes sure you actually enjoying showing up to train!
An excellent Personal Trainer will take all of this into account when designing your program! .
Coach You Step By Step On That Plan So You Never Feel Lost
Having a great workout plan is awesome. But it’s only the first step.
You can have the best plan in the world but if you don’t follow it because you’re unmotivated or you don’t know what to do, then you’re no better off even having a plan.
That’s why an excellent Personal Trainer will hold your hand, (figuratively, not literally lol), every step of the way so you never feel lost. And the best of the best Trainers will teach you everything they can so that one day you could do it on your own if you’d like.
Make Sure You’re Getting the Most Out of Every Set By Making Sure You’re Using Good Form, a Full Range of Motion, and Training Close to Failure So You Get the Best Results Possible
I can’t tell you how many Personal Trainers I’ve seen who just stand around during a client’s set. Not engaging much. Not making sure their form is good. Or maybe their form is ok but their range of motion isn’t ideal. And you know what, maybe their form AND range of motion are good but they’re not training close to failure.
At the end of the day, quality sets are FAR more impactful to results than HOW MANY sets you do. That’s not to say the volume, or amount of sets, you do isn’t important. It is. BUT one high quality set with good form, a full range of motion, and taken close to failure is worth more than lots of low quality sets.
One way to tell if you’re working with an excellent Personal Trainer is to simply ask WHY your workout is set up the way it is, or why you’re training your sets the way you’re training them.
If they can’t give you a good answer, they’re probably not excellent! Everything you do should have a purpose.
Monitor Your Results So You Can See How Much Progress You’ve Made
Look, as much as we want point number 1 to be true (remember, the whole liking your Personal Trainer thing) we also want to make progress. Having the fun Personal Trainer who helps you get zero results gets old after a while.
The workout plan and each workout and even every set you do should be set up to take you closer to your goals. To deliver the result you want!
But it’s important to track your progress to see what kind of progress you’re making, and what, if anything, needs to be adjusted to keep you making good progress.
There’s no single right way to track progress, but an excellent Personal Trainer will track your progress across:
1. Workout Performance- things like strength and endurance
2. Body Composition- things like photos and measurements to track your changes
3. Nutrition Habit Progress- things like food logs or even subjective reports on how your eating habits and lifestyle habits have improved
As they say, “what gets measured gets managed.” An excellent Personal Trainer will measure the things that are important to you!
Tells You the Truth, Even When It Hurts, So You Always Know What to Do Next
Inevitably, when working with a Personal Trainer, there comes a time that they need to tell you to truth. That’s why you’re working with them after all, right?
And while you do want a mostly positive and uplifting experience with your Personal Trainer, love without truth isn’t love.
Sometimes they have to say “Hey, I noticed your measurements haven’t improved in the last 1-2 months. What gives? Is everything ok? Are you doing what I’m asking you to do? Is something preventing you from following the plan? Are you following the plan to a T? If you are, then maybe we need to adjust some things.”
An excellent Personal Trainer won’t shy away from these tough conversations. They’ll lean into them because they know how critical these moments can be.
Think back to a tough conversation someone who cared about you had with you, and how it positively changed your life forever.
That’s what an excellent Personal Trainer will be for you. They’ll approach the conversation gently and lovingly, but sometimes the truth hurts! But the truth sets us free.
Now if you want to be coddled, I’m confident there are lots of Personal Trainers who will gladly take your money and coddle you.
But an excellent Personal Trainer won’t. They’ll tell the truth when you need to hear it.
***Note- An excellent Personal Trainer is also understanding and gracious. They don’t expect perfection or for you to make your entire life about fitness. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m just talking about someone who is willing to hold your feet to the fire a bit when you’re not doing the thing you said you would do.
Celebrates With You When You Win
The entire point of steps 1-6 are to get you results. To help you create that lifestyle change you’ve been chasing. To help you get results!
To help you get lean, strong, healthy, etc.
And an excellent Personal Trainer is so invested in your success, that they will be genuinely excited when they see you succeed!
When you hit that new personal best in the gym, when you notice your eating habits are improving, or when you drop another dress/pant size.
From the moment you meet and feel warm and welcome, to the very end when you win…an excellent Personal Trainer is committed to walking that journey with you every step of the way.
Bonus Point: They’ll Set You Up For Success Outside the Nest
It’s always a sad day. A very sad day. But most Personal Trainer/Client relationships don’t last forever. Even the best ones.
For one reason or another, eventually, the client will move on.
That’s why a truly excellent Personal Trainer will be there to help you fly on your own. An excellent Personal Trainer will work themselves out of a job.
Now of course, when a Personal Trainer does this, they’re often so good at what they do that clients don’t want to leave. So they stay for years and years. Which is awesome!!
But the main reason most people start Personal Training as a career in the first place is to help people.
And are we really helping people if they can’t do it solo one day?
That’s why we believe an excellent Personal Trainer will teach you everything they possibly can, so when that very sad day comes, you’ll continue to workout and eat well for decades to come. Even without the guidance of your excellent Personal Trainer.
Are you looking to work with an excellent Personal Trainer?
That’s who we are and it’s what we do!
We’re committed to helping every day men and women change their body, health, and lifestyle.
-Coach Nate
P.S.- I’m totally biased in saying what I think makes an excellent Personal Trainer. And I tend to think we’re pretty great at what we do. But I just did a quick Google Search to see what other people were saying and I’d say we’re all on the same page here. These were the top results:
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