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Becoming a successful Personal Trainer is not as easy as completing an online trainer certification. I don’t know what it is with a large majority of new trainers feeling like they are entitled to overnight success simply because they just printed out their online Personal Trainer certificate on their printer. What ever happened to paying your dues? Just because you memorized part of your textbook on ATP does not mean you are an expert on training.
Don’t get me wrong, part of the problem is being misinformed and misled by the so called “gurus” out there who say you can make 6 figures in 60 days if they just follow their program. There are a lot of info products out there made by these gurus that make it sound easy, but what they fail to leave out is that you already have to be a great trainer and be willing to bust your ass. There is no new marketing tactic out there that will change you into a successful trainer.
There is only one thing that will make you a successful trainer and that’s Hard Work, period. You’ve got to put the time in and never stop learning. You can’t start out charging clients $100/session because you copied a few workouts from youtube videos. You can cause serious injury to someone if you don’t know how to teach them proper form and knowing what your clients limitations are. Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know instead of throwing out some bullshit answer you made up on the fly.
On the other side there is the experienced/successful trainers who feel like helping out a new trainer is beneath them and they’d rather make fun of them or talk about them behind their back instead of trying to help and lead them in the right direction. I’m not saying you have to let them follow you around for a month and train with you, but a little advice here and there can go a long way. If you see a newbie trainer training a client in an unsafe way, try and let them know the proper way to do the exercise without the client knowing. In the long run you might help someone from getting hurt and putting the fitness industry in a better light and that’s a little more important than taking a picture with your phone and making fun of him on your facebook page.
Let’s be honest here, there are a lot of things out there that put the fitness industry in a bad light and a lot of it can be changed with a little education and policing on our own part. I know some of you will come from the point of view of “hey if this new idiot trainer screws up and loses his clients that will be good for me because I’ll just take his clients”. The problem with that type of thinking is those few clients who finally got the motivation to change their life and get in shape might not try again and just give up.
If you see a trainer on his cell phone or checking out some hot chick while he’s supposed to be training a client you can call him out on it, but again try and do it without the client knowing. When a client sees their trainer or another trainer on his phone while he should be watching their form, a lot of them will automatically think that all trainers are like that. I’m not here to preach to you and tell you that what to do or how to act, just pointing out that it is better for all of us to work together.
The bottom line is that the fitness industry is a great industry to be a part of and we have the ability to change people’s lives for the better. Money shouldn’t be the main reason you became a trainer. It’s always more important to make a difference in someone’s life than a difference in your bank account.
This guest post was written by CPT Kris Crepeau who is the owner of X Core Fitness in Worcester, MA and the founder of fitprodeals.com helping fitness pros build their businesses.[/jbox]