For the record: “Top class” wasn’t my choice of words to describe my studio.
“World Renowned, Michelin Rated, A++, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, Sick Hip-Hop Beats Factory” would have been more like it.
Either that or, “Meh.”
I don’t know, the essence is somewhere in the middle…haha.
Opening & Running a Top Class Studio Gym
I was invited onto the James Rafferty Radio Show recently to discuss my experience operating a small training studio here in Boston, MA.
And by “small” I mean “inside a space the size of most people’s living room.”
It was a lovely chat and I appreciated James’s interviewing style (which I think most of you will enjoy as well). I mean, if anything, aren’t you the least bit curious how I managed to swing a Silence of the Lambs reference into the conversation??
I wish it wasn’t, but that’s how things work. Well, save for the stark beginner/newbie you can LOOK at a barbell and seemingly grow or get stronger.
Ah, the good ol’ days…😢
I had an interaction recently with a client of mine where this topic came up. We were meandering our way through a pretty brutal bench day and my client ended up getting pretty bummed he wasn’t able to hit his (goal) numbers for the day.
His program said “x,” but his body was like “nope, nice try.”
The fact I took weight off the bar and pivoted from what was planned irked him.
I reminded him of a few things to help put things into perspective:
1️⃣ The day prior, he had deadlifted the most he had ever deadlifted…ever.
300 lb for 3×5.
(strong!)
That undoubtedly played into things.
2️⃣ I then drew this fancy graph:
I reminded him that progress in the gym (or anything really) – whether it be rehab, learning an instrument, dating, or honing your nunchuck skills – isn’t linear.
You’re going to have great workouts and subpar ones.
It’s inevitable.
(NOTE: I’d make the case that it’s the average workouts, the ones where you just show up, do the work, and nothing remotely interesting happens, and then you just go home and watch a marathon of House Hunters is the sweet spot anyway.)
There’s going to be peaks and valleys, struggles and wins. However, so long as the OVERALL TREND is inching upward, that’s the larger theme to keep in mind.
Missing lifts routinely is something else entirely and speaks to a larger issue:
Lack of recovery between sessions.
Too much training volume overall.
Not enough Wu-Tang.
However, so long as the occasion is ephemeral in nature and not something that happens every Tuesday, not hitting your goal numbers during a session is nothing to be too concerned about. You still showed up and did some work.
The answer is easy: Tell them to add more weight to the barbell.
LOLOLOLOL.
I’m kidding (sort of).
Facetiousness aside2, I wanted to spend some time discussing a few strategies you can (hopefully) implement today that will make the training programs you write for your athletes and clients more successful.
6 Ways to Instill Success In Your Clients’ Training Programs
“Successful” in this context means 1) your clients continue to show up (bills need to be paid, yo!), 2) your clients don’t hate you (most of the time) and 3) as a corollary to your Jedi-like coaching skills, you turn all your clients into deadlifting Terminators.
I.e., they get results.
We often bog ourselves down harping over details like optimal exercise selection, exercise order, set/rep schemes, rest intervals, or even which type of muscle fibers are firing during which exercise.
Of course, this is not to insinuate all of the above aren’t important, they are. Except maybe the last one. If you’re going into that much detail with your coaching on something that won’t matter of 99.2% of the population, it’s safe to say you might be over-thinking things.
However, as fellow fitness pro Jonathan Pietrunti noted on my Facebook wall recently:
“If we don’t focus on bolstering the client’s intrinsic motivation and fostering self-efficacy, they aren’t going to show up for long, regardless of how awesome are programming is on the movement/physiological side of the house.”
You can design something worthy of a Program Design Pulitzer, but if your client would rather wash his or her’s face with broken glass than perform another front squat or set of bench pressing with tempo contrast, you’re failing.
You’re failing, hard.
1. Understand People Are Different (and That They’re Not You)
Powerlifters like to train people like powerlifters.
Bodybuilders like to train people like bodybuilders.
Kettlebell aficionados like to train people with kettlebells.
CrossFitters like to do #whateverthefuck.
Any well-thought out training program should fit the needs and goals of the client.
That goes without saying.
A mistake I find many fitness professionals make is that they write programs catered to what they like or how they prefer to train.
I don’t feel this is wrong per se; it’s only natural to default to your strengths and/or personal beliefs and methodologies. Where it becomes a problem is when we gravitate towards a specific modality at the expense of, well, everything.
I remember having a conversation with one of my young athletes recently who’s a rather big dude for his age. He mentioned in passing (and I am paraphrasing here) that his football coach wanted everyone to squat the same way:
Same foot width.
Same stance.
Same bar position.
Like a bunch of robots
He then demonstrated the exact stance his coach told him to use and maybe hit 70 degrees of hip flexion.
Let’s just say that if what he showed me was seen at an FMS workshop, people would become visibly sick to their stomachs.
I simply asked him him to widen his stance significantly and to externally rotate his feet a bit so his toes pointed outward.
He was able to hit a beautiful depth. Thus saving himself from the wrath of internet warriors everywhere.
(NOTE: I am not a depth Nazi. To me squat depth is arbitrary and all I am really concerned with is someone finding whatever depth they’re able to “own” & control. If it’s past 90 degrees, cool. If not, that’s cool too.3Either way we’re going to train the hell out of it.
The point being: If he had followed his coach’s poor squatting advice, assuming everyone is supposed to squat the same way, he may have never realized his full potential.
Everyone is different, and it’s important to respect unique leverages and anthropometry as it relates to not only squatting, but any lift.
Programming based around your client’s goals is paramount. But it’s also important to tweak any lift to fit the needs (and abilities) 0f the trainee, not vice versa.
2. Ensure Success in Every Session
This seems a bit redundant, I know.
“You write a post on how to instill success in a training program and you’re telling me in order to do so I need to….ensure success? Wow, Tony, that’s revolutionary. What’s next: telling me that in order to improve my vertical jump I should jump higher?”
The best analogy I can offer is the whole concept behind “girl push-ups.”
No, I’m not referring to a woman performing push-ups, which would make sense. Instead, I’m referring to the lame premise of women performing push-ups from their knees. I.e., “girl push-ups.”
I hate the connotation and message this sends.
Oh, you can’t do an actual push-up? That’s okay, lets pander to societal norms on engenderment, plant the idea in your head at an early age that women must train differently from men (flexed arm hang test vs. chin-up test), and do “girl push-ups” rather than take the time to coach and progress you accordingly.
If I’m working with a female client and she can’t perform a push-up (from the floor) – usually due to a core weakness or lack of lumbo-pelvic-hip control – I find it more productive to OMIT the “you’re a girl so lets do this instead” mantra, and instead demonstrate to her that she can do the exercise.
Either by having her perform elevated push-ups in a ROM where’s she successful, or possibly having her perform a band-assisted push-up, like so:
In both scenarios I’m addressing the actual weak-link (a weak core, or the basic novelty of the exercise) and not just tossing my hands in the air and relinquishing programming control to the fact she has a vagina.
I’m coaching.
And not only that I’m going out of my way to ensure a sense of accomplishment/success in each session.
This, my friends, is the key.
That and…..
3. Building Autonomy
Autonomy is the love-child of good coaching (and giving a shit).
Despite what some fitness pros may think, people aren’t paying you to count reps, they’re paying you to COACH.
On numerous occasions I’ve had new clients be taken aback when they realize I’m not counting their repetitions.
I’m too busy watching and coaching to count their reps.
Furthermore, I’ll tell all new clients that my goal is for them to “fire” me at some point. Not because I did something creepy like forget to wear pants, or, I don’t know, play Coldplay during heavy deadlifts.
No, I want them to (eventually) no longer need my services.
I want to make them their own best asset and advocate.
I want them to go on vacation or walk into a random gym and be able to “MacGyver” a workout in any scenario…whether we’re talking a fully-equipped training mecca or a rinky dink hotel gym that has nothing but a treadmill, dumbbells up to 35 lbs, and a roll of duct tape.
Dan John often speaks to program design being stripped down to nothing more than the squat, hip hinge, push, pull, single-leg variation, and carry.
Teach your clients that.
Force them to marinate in learning each category and what exercises belong where. In doing so they’ll eventually be able to jimmy-rig a workout without batting an eye.
They’ll become autonomous.
And a funny thing will happen: they’ll end up staying with you anyway because they understand the value you bring being a coach that actually coaches.
4. Provide Choice
I wrote about the power of choice in THIS article.
As it relates to providing fitness and program design services this can be a double-edged sword because:
If people knew what they were doing they wouldn’t hire us to make choices for them.
It’s often in their best interests to be told what they need to do and not what they want to do.
Taking away choice behooves them.
On the flip side, it can behoove us, the fitness professional, to offer somechoice.
This can mean giving them the choice to pick their main lift of the day – Squat? Deadlift? Maximal frisbee toss?
Or maybe giving them the choice to pick the mode of the exercise. Say, a KB deadlift or a trap bar deadlift?
In the same vein, I’ve compromised with clients and “rewarded” them with a 5-10 minute window of doing whatever the they want – judgement free.
For many of my guys it’s all about the gun show – bis and tris baby!
For my ladies they’ll often congregate at the Hip Thruster
Whatever the case may be, offering your clients some choice is a splendid way to keep them motivated and engaged in their training.
5. Celebrate the Small Victories (Regardless of How Small They Seem)
I like to call this the Todd Bumgardner rule; although he has a much better way of stating it:
“Demonstrate unconditional positive regard.”
When I travel and workout at various commercial gyms I can’t help but observe other trainers in action.
Some are amazing. They’re engaged, actively coaching, and paying attention to their client, offering feedback and encouragement whenever it’s needed.
Others are, well, pretty shitty.
There’s zero effort in providing feedback. And if there is, it’s generally nothing more than a casual “nice job” or “way to go.”
You don’t need to do back flips or Parkour of the power racks when a client keeps their chest up during a squat.
But would a little enthusiasm hurt?
6. Simplicity For the Win
Consider this final point the Mise en place of the entire article.
I had a client admit that she was “frustrated” by the simplicity of the program I wrote for her. I took no offense, because it happens often.
Fast forward a few weeks, “Tony, I feel stronger and my lifts are going up!”
Strength coach nods approvingly.
I’m not the first to state this, but people tend to fall into the trap of adding stuff into their programs for the novelty, almost always at the expense of failing to take something OUT.
You can’t just keep adding more and more to a program and expect to make progress. Get rid of the superfluous BS that serves no purpose.
Choose ten exercises. Any ten. I don’t care.*
A mix of multi-joint and isolation.
Attack them. Master them. Focus on getting stronger in those ten. Other exercises will come & go, but don’t deviate from those ten.
Moreover, fancy or elaborate looking exercises don’t equate to better. They great at receiving likes and vast applause on social media, but rarely do such exercises elicit actual results.[/efn_note]And I guaran-fuckin-tee that the person who posted the video doesn’t perform or utilize the exercise themselves in their own training.[/efn_note]
The fitness/health community isn’t much different than every other community out there.
It’s just as “tribal” as the next.
There are factions who feel that heavy back squats cure everything (except herpes4) and that not including them in a program is sacrilegious and that it’s impossible to add muscle or get stronger without them.
And at the opposite end of the spectrum there are those who think if you even look at a barbell you’ll turn into He-Man.
The same dichotomy plays out in the nutrition realm as well. One week dietary fat is the enemy, and the next you’re the spawn of Satan if you offer someone a Diet Coke.
In both cases many are failing to recognize that the key to long-term progress, and progress that sticks, is the concept of focusing on PRINCIPLES.
In order to lose weight you need to elicit a caloric deficit. There are myriad ways to to do so.
In order to gain muscle you need to elicit progressive overload. Squats. There are myriad ways to do so.
In today’s guest post via Michigan based trainer, Alex McBrairty (whom you may recall from THIS spectacular read), he elaborates more on this concept.
The Future of Fitness: Principle Based Coaching vs. Plan Based Coaching
The fitness industry is failing.
After a decade of working as a fitness professional, I see firsthand how many of the most popular products and programs leave people worse off—with the only benefits going to the people selling the products and services.
But I believe this is changing.
Slowly, a new approach to fitness is emerging. It’s one based in sound reason, eliminating the need for marketing gimmicks and fads. It’s called principle-based coaching.
Principle-based fitness coaching uses practices and strategies informed by first principles—ideas, concepts, and information that we know to be objectively true. The most base layer knowledge; Ideas and insights from psychology, human physiology, nutrition, and exercise science.
It’s the type of information that most traditional fitness plans cherry-pick to sell their particular spin on fitness.
Paleo tries to limit processed foods.
Keto tries to limit carbohydrate intake.
In reality, both of these diets work because they limit calorie intake.
The first principle being applied in both cases is calorie management. To lose weight you need to eat fewer calories than you’re expending. Both of those diets approach this problem in a different, hyper-focused way.
This more traditional style of coaching is called plan-based fitness coaching. Plan-based coaching, as the name suggests, uses specific plans to help users see the intended results. The main pitfall of plan-based coaching is the extra leap these plans take to reach their conclusions.
Plan-based coaching takes the objective facts of first principles and then makes additional assumptions about them to reach different conclusions.
If calorie management is the first principle, a Paleo plan jumps to the conclusion that processed foods are the reason you overeat.
A Keto plan jumps to the conclusion that carbohydrates are the reason you overeat.
Plan-based coaches make unverified claims to leap from first principles to their principles.
This results in fitness plans that are rigid, inflexible, and disconnected.
For someone following a Paleo or Keto (or other) plan, there is a rigid structure for selecting which foods are “good” or “bad.” This leads to a lot of black and white thinking.
“Good” Paleo foods are unprocessed, whole foods that our caveman ancestors consumed before agriculture. “Bad” Paleo foods are foods we didn’t begin to consume until we began to grow our own crops, including anything processed and produced in the modern era.
“Good” Keto foods are foods that are low in carbohydrates. High-fat foods like butter, bacon, cheese, or red meat are green-lit. “Bad” Keto foods are anything with carbohydrates. Don’t even think about consuming bread or pasta. Even fruit is considered bad in the Keto plan.
In each of these plans there is no room for nuance. There is good and there is bad. Pick a side.
It’s because of this rigidity that these plans are inflexible and less effective for most people.
The plan pays no attention to the accessibility of the good foods. Say you want to follow a Paleo plan but live in a food desert, where access to fresh, natural foods is scarce or nonexistent. In this reality, how can you stick to the tenets of such a rigid diet?
Just try harder.
At least, that’s the prevailing advice. And it isn’t much help.
Imagine that you attend a dinner party where you’re excited to see your friends. The food offered is a spread of vegetables, a bit of meat, some potatoes, and a fruit pie for dessert. If you’re following a Keto plan, instead of enjoying the company of your friends and eating sensibly, you spend your evening upset that the only thing you can eat is the meat.
The specific rules of the diet force you into inflexible eating patterns, causing even more stress and deterioration in your relationship with food.
Because these plans are rigid and inflexible, they remain disconnected from the real lives of the people they attempt to serve.
They may be helpful for some individuals, but that list is very short. Plan-based coaching might help give people more direction and a clearer focus on how to achieve their goals, but it is a far cry from addressing the complexity of human lives.
Even worse, what happens if the assumptions of the plan are wrong?
What if cutting out carbohydrates leads to additional stress and strain in navigating our carb-rich world? You find yourself giving up your favorite foods, avoiding social events, and worrying about your diet all day, every day. What if, after all of that, you come to find that carbohydrates were not the real problem the whole time?
Would it have all been for nothing?
This isn’t just a risk of eliminating carbohydrates. It’s the inherent risk of following a plan that is rigid, inflexible, and disconnected. It’s the risk of any plan based on unverified claims, a plan not based in first principles.
Principle-based coaching results in a program that is adaptive, flexible, and integrative.
Unlike plan-based coaching, which builds on additional, unverified assumptions about what is true, principle-based coaching begins with all the base-layer information that is objectively true:
Ideas like calorie balance, progressive overload, and self-efficacy.
The principles allow coaches to evaluate what must be true in order to see results, and then gauge how the program can be adapted to the needs of the unique individual in front of them.
If two individuals need to improve their calorie management, the principle-based program does not limit one from enjoying carbohydrates while the other decides they’d prefer to eat fewer carbohydrates. Both can coexist and see great results.
Principle-based coaching does not put every individual in the same bucket, nor make the same assumptions about each.
This ability to mold the program specifics to the individual makes these programs adaptive.
Because the means of achieving the first principles is non-specific, they are also inherently flexible to changing circumstances.
If you live in a food desert, where access to fresh, natural foods is scarce or nonexistent, you are empowered to make alternative choices based on what’s available. Not only are you empowered to make these changes, but you can do so and see the same (if not better) level of success as following a rigid plan.
If individuals find themselves at a dinner party, a social event, or traveling across the country, they will be able to adjust the specifics of their plan—the particular foods they choose or the types of movement they do—in order to satisfy the first principles.
The ability to adjust strategy, without negatively impacting results, makes these programs flexible to changing life circumstances.
Since principle-based coaching adapts the program to the unique individual and inherently allows for flexibility in how to achieve optimal outcomes, these programs integrate very well into the lives of those who follow them.
No matter the goal or phase of life, because these programs are rooted in objective truths, they can be molded to meet the needs of the individual as those needs change over time.
Another advantage of the adaptability and flexibility of these programs is that they allow for greater adherence and consistency—two important variables for successful outcomes. Greater levels of adherence and consistency lead to better results, both in the short- and long-term.
Principle-based coaching allows individuals to integrate good behaviors into the fabric of their lives, ensuring permanent success.
Fitness programming began as a way to educate people on how to live healthier lives. As time went on, we began to realize it wasn’t working. As the fitness industry grew, so too did the obesity rates.
The solution was to begin making assumptions about what people were doing wrong.
That led to the plan-based model previously described. That model is the most pervasive model for fitness programming that we currently have. The result?
Obesity rates continue to climb.
As of 2018, over two-thirds of the U.S. Adult population was overweight or obese.
Clearly something isn’t working.
And that’s because education is not the problem.
Sure, most people could benefit from a little more information about healthy lifestyle practices, but not in the traditional way of what’s good versus bad. If we’re going to educate people, educate them in first principles.
Because what we need is more action.
We need people to learn how to practice healthier habits consistently, not sporadically. We need to eliminate the prejudice around good and “good enough.” We need to empower people to make change, even if their life circumstances are less than ideal.
We need fitness programs that are adaptive, flexible, and integrative.
We need principle-based fitness coaching.
About the Author
Alex McBrairty is an online fitness coach who owns A-Team Fitness in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Obese as a child and teenager, he blends fitness and psychology to help his clients discover their own hidden potential.
He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan and is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine.
His articles have appeared in Breaking Muscle and The Personal Trainer Development Center, and he’s contributed to Muscle & Fitness, USA Today, Men’s Fitness, and Prevention.
NOTE: In case you don’t have any plans this weekend and you happen to be in Boston (and get really excited about the particulars of femoral acetabular impingement) there are spots still available last minute.
This Spring Luke Worthington and I will be putting on our popular Strategic Strength Workshop in both Boston, MA and London, UK.
A hometown switcharoo extravaganza if you will.
The purpose of this workshop is to give attendees a more thorough look into our assessment process and how we connect the dots between that and setting our clients/athletes up for as much success as possible.
I.e., turning them into deadlifting Terminators.
There’s plenty of talk surrounding the traditional x’s and o’s of program design, but we also take some time to dive deep into the soft(er) skills of coaching:
How to improve motivation
How to build better rapport
Learning to meet your clients where THEY are.
You can click the respective links below for more information and to register:
On top of my cameo in London this Spring I am also putting on a BONUS 1-day workshop further north, in Leeds. I’m pumped for this one. I’ve never visited northern England and am very much looking forward to this.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll attend my first soccer football match.
SOCIAL MEDIA SHENANIGANS
Twitter
I wanna live in a world where, instead of random dudes on the street asking how much you bench?, they ask how much you deadlift?
Examine.com is the only resource I refer people to when it comes to supplement information and the like. It’s truly the only unbiased resource out there.
Their 11-year anniversary sale is currently happening where you can get 30% off all of their most popular products. If you’re a fitness professional you can’t go wrong.
Today’s post marks the return of Paul Levitin who some may recall wrote an excellent piece here a few weeks ago on self-sabotage.
Being a successful fitness professional, much like every profession, takes practice, patience, a bit of luck, and an unyielding desire to not be average. If you’re a new trainer I urge you to read Paul’s “lesson(s)” below. And even if you’re a veteran coach I think it’ll be useful to be reminded that you’re not that special and the basics still work.
When I started my career as a personal trainer, it was at a “big box” chain gym. I was hired, even though I had never actually trained someone before. I just enjoyed working out, and passed a test that said I could now train other people. I was in way over my head.
My manager at the time was a guy named Chris. He walked me around the gym floor, started showing me where things go. I still remember the conversation from that day.
“So, when you’re here, your job is to talk to people. Help them with the weights, spot them, drum up conversation. Then, if they seem interested, offer them personal training. A lot won’t be interested, but some will. The more people you talk to, the better chances you have. It’s a numbers game.”
Just like John Cutter said, “always bet on black.”
We continued our walk.
“In the beginning, it’s going to be slow. It takes time to get going, because you don’t have any experience right now. Once you get a few clients under your belt, and get more comfortable, things will start to get rolling. It might take a few months, so you’ve got to hang tight in the beginning.”
I nodded. Not like I had anything else better to do.
“A lot of people look at training and think ‘oh, that’s a cool job! I like working out, so I can get paid to do that!’. But that isn’t really how it is. It’s a hard job, and you get out what you put in. It is time-consuming, and draining at times. It is not nearly as glamorous as you might think.”
Kind of weird to be telling me on my first day, but I just continued to listen.
“Any questions so far?”
So I meekly chimed in, “Yeah well, you know, I don’t really, like, know how to train people? What do I do if I actually get a client?”
“Ha. Don’t worry about that. I’ll tell you a little secret: no one knows when they first start. You learn by doing. Sure, you read the textbook, but the REAL education starts now. Don’t stress about it. It comes with time, and practice. I started just where you are, everyone does.”
That helped a bit, but I persisted.
“Yeah but, won’t people know I’m just faking it? Who is going to pay me to train them when I’ve never done it before?”
Chris looked me dead in the eyes:
“Listen, you might think you don’t know anything, but that simply isn’t true. We hired you right? You went through the interview, you were tested. You wouldn’t be here if you knew NOTHING. Is there room to grow? Sure. But you know far more than you give yourself credit for, and you DEFINITELY know more than anyone coming in here off the street looking for training. You just need to know enough to answer their questions, and enough to ask for help when you don’t have the answers.”
A week later, I had my first “orientation.” (my gym’s name for the free training session given to new members, with the real goal being a sales pitch for more expensive personal training at the end).
I got through the training session, I made the guy sweat. Burpees, planks, all the usual suspects (please, it was 2014, it was a different time). Then, I got to the sales portion, and I completely froze. I ended up bumbling my way through the pitch, and the guy gave me a weird look, said “no thanks,” and walked out.
Chris was there watching from afar, and he asked “So, how’d that go?”
“Not good,” I said “I sucked.”
“That’s ok. No one knocks it out of the park on their first swing. You can’t. It’s just like working out, you’ve gotta put in the reps. The more practice, the smoother it will become. You will work out the kinks, but it comes with time, patience, and persistence.”
That helped me feel less crappy, but I still wasn’t pleased.
“I don’t get it,” I bemoaned to Chris “I did everything right! I killed him. Burpies, battle ropes, he was panting by the 15 minute mark! I know his legs are going to be so sore tomorrow, he even said this was the best workout he’d ever done.”
“Here’s the thing,” Chris said to me, “First of all, what makes you think he wanted to be crushed? Did he tell you that, or did you assume it?”
“Well, I just thought…”
“That’s right. You assumed that because that’s how you want to work out, that that’s how he would want to work out. But he isn’t you. Next time, take the time to ask, rather than just jump right in with assumptions. you’ll see as you do this, that less is more. People are out of shape, overstressed, overtired, and overwhelmed. It doesn’t take a lot to push them over the edge. What they need from you, is help and guidance, not to be crushed by the world’s hardest workout. Any bozo can do that, it takes tact and skill to actually give people what they need, not simply what you, or they, think they want.”
“And in general,” he continued, “It’s better to start slow and build. It’s easy for you to add more to their routine over time. However, you can only do that, if they stick around. If you overwhelm them so much that they don’t keep coming back, you end up helping them less, rather than more. Trying to do too much, too soon, ends up backfiring.”
This all made a lot of sense to me, and I continually worked to implement Chris’s advice and techniques.
Eventually, I found my groove.
I sold a few training packages, which gave me confidence to sell more. I started training clients, and learned that I could help people with the knowledge I had, which helped me feel less like a “fraud” (Imposter syndrome anyone?). I went on to become the top trainer (and salesperson) in my gym, and soon the entire company.
I remember those lessons from Chris in my early days, and think about them often. Not because I need help being a better personal trainer anymore, but because I am always trying to be better at something.
Somewhere in my life, I am always trying to improve, as I hope you are too (and I suspect that is the case, since you are reading this right now).
Which brings me to my main point: everything is the same.
There were many lessons that Chris taught me. Lessons that took me from newbie personal trainer, in over my head and feeling flustered and overwhelmed, to the top of my company. Eventually, I was promoted and given Chris’s job, and put in charge of training new personal trainers on how to have more confidence, train their clients, make more sales, and overall be successful.
Each of these lessons, although given to me in the frame of personal training, could have just as easily been about working for a Fortune 500 company, building a business from scratch as an entrepreneur, or a romantic relationship. In reality, all of this advice was really just about life.
Take out “personal trainer,” and replace it with “salesman,” “entrepreneur,” “athlete,” “dieter,” “spouse,” or other. It doesn’t matter.
These lessons are about life, they transcend career paths and specific goals.
What did my manager really teach me?
It’s a numbers game. You get better with practice.
Things aren’t always as glamorous as they seem from the outside. It takes hard work, and you get out what you put in.
Give it time. It is hard in the beginning, but if you can stick with it, you’ll see success
You have more to learn, but that shouldn’t stop you from taking action right now
Ask for help when you need it, and don’t be ashamed if you don’t know an answer
Don’t assume that everyone is like you. Humans are unique, and what works for one person, even you, doesn’t work for everyone
It’s better to start slow and build up, than to try to do all-out right out of the gate
Name a place in life, a challenge you face, a goal you might want to work towards, where these are NOT true. Go ahead, try to find one, I’ll wait. This is advice I could give to anyone, about anything, and it would always hold up. Why?
Everything is the same.
What we need for success is not unique to one realm. Success is success. It is built from the same materials, no matter the location. If you can internalize these simple lessons, you will be able to build success wherever you choose.
About the Author
Paul Levitin spent a decade as a personal trainer & strength and conditioning coach, becoming the number one trainer in his entire company, while collecting over 30 certificates (CES, CSCS, PRI, PN1, FRC, & many more).
Wanting to better serve his training clients, he began to study behavior change, and eventually became a Board Licensed Health & Wellness Coach (NBHWC). This led him to create his education and mindset coaching company “The Healthy Happy Human Academy,” where he now helps clients deal with things like self-sabotage and perfectionism, to allow them to build a healthy, happy life.
He seeks to bridge the gap between the worlds of fitness and nutrition, and the frustrated, overwhelmed masses who just want to move more, feel better, and live a little longer.
Anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time knows that I don’t take myself too seriously, and that much of what makes my blog so popular is that I’m able to combine great fitness and health information with a pinch (or two) of an entertainment value.
I mean, where else can you learn about program design, exercise technique, corrective exercise, femoral acetabular impingement, and gluconeogenesis5, all while being peppered with Lord of the Rings references, self deprecating humor, and cute cat pics?
Anyhoo, today’s post is going to be a shining example of finding that balance between educating people (hopefully) and me being a facetious asshat.
It’s going to be short and sweet, though.
Okay, ready?
If you’re like me, whenever you train at a commercial gym you try not to vomit all over yourself from all the asinine things you see. Now, don’t get me wrong: there’s PLENTY of trainers and facilities out there who do a fantastic job and are great at what they do.
And, more to the point, I don’t want to come across as combining everyone into one massive bowl of fail.
I.e., NOT a bowl of fail. Rather a bowl of deliciousness
But I think we can all agree that those examples are few and far between, and that for the most part, a small piece of our soul dies every time we walk through the doors of a commercial gym and Celine Dion is blaring over the stereo system and/or some asshole is performing their WOD taking up half the gym equipment.
Then again, who the hell am I to judge, right? Sure I can roll my eyes at the two dudes who have a combined weight of one hamster performing their 47th set of bicep curls. And yes, it’s hard not get a bit eye rolley at the woman over there performing her 317th glute exercise of the day.
But you know what: THEY’RE ALL EXERCISING
And that’s pretty freakin awesome.
At the end of the day, it’s far better than the alternative which is sitting on their butts watching America’s Got Talent.
Even still, I’ll give most everyone a free pass because most people don’t know any better. Most people could care less that their elbows are flaring out on their push-up, or that leg extensions place a lot more shearing force on the knees (and that doing them shirtless is borderline weird).
Whatever the case may be, they’ll read something online or watch something on tv that’s interesting to them, and then they’ll try it out at the gym. That’s usually how it goes – and everyone has to start somewhere. They’re exercising and that’s all that matters anyways.
One of my biggest pet peeves, though, is when I watch a trainer do something dumb. That’s when my blood starts to boil.
Presumably these are people who are supposed to know what they’re doing, and it dumbfounds me at some of the stuff I see going down at some commercial gyms.
Take for example something I witnessed not too long ago as I watched a trainer spot his client through something as simple as a set of dumbbell bench presses.
Everything was fine and dandy until the client started to struggle and the trainer grabbed her elbows to help her out.
I thought maybe this was a one-time, fluke thing. But then I saw him do it again, and at this point I was just waiting for something bad to happen.
Luckily it didn’t.
I got home later that day and posted a casual status along the lines of “watched an inept trainer spot his client during DB presses by grabbing the elbows instead of the wrists.”
To me it’s common sense, and I didn’t think much of it and thought it would get some funny responses.
And it did.
But to my surprise I actually received two private message from personal trainers asking me why spotting through the elbows was wrong.
So, to review:
The Right Way to Spot Someone
If someone starts to struggle, you just guide their wrists to offer help. And try to refrain from being that guy who yells “all you, all you, all you.”
And the “Holy- S***-My-Client-Is-About-To-Crush-Their-Skull-And-Get-Face-Planted-By-That-Dumbbell” Way
Obviously this is said in a slightly tongue in cheek kind of way, but at the same time I feel this is something that should be obvious and that most trainers, coaches, and general fitness enthusiasts should understand.
(NOTE: Only one more week before the Boston event!)
This Spring Luke Worthington and I will be putting on our popular Strategic Strength Workshop in both Boston, MA and London, UK.
A hometown switcharoo extravaganza if you will.
The purpose of this workshop is to give attendees a more thorough look into our assessment process and how we connect the dots between that and setting our clients/athletes up for as much success as possible.
I.e., turning them into deadlifting Terminators.
There’s plenty of talk surrounding the traditional x’s and o’s of program design, but we also take some time to dive deep into the soft(er) skills of coaching:
How to improve motivation
How to build better rapport
Learning to meet your clients where THEY are.
You can click the respective links below for more information and to register:
On top of my cameo in London this Spring I am also putting on a BONUS 1-day workshop further north, in Leeds. I’m pumped for this one. I’ve never visited northern England and am very much looking forward to this.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll attend my first soccer football match.
SOCIAL MEDIA SHENANIGANS
Twitter
Note to local baseball coach:
Instead of “punishing” your athletes with endless (and pointless) burpees for fumbling a bunt attempt during practice, how bout, you know…
…more bunt practice?? You know, to actually improve the skill you’re trying to work on?
I’ll be the first to admit I am not a rah-rah coach (and, quite honestly, I find those that are somewhat annoying). There’s this connotation in the coaching world that in order to be an effective coach you have to be full throttle at all times, as if you’ve injected caffeine directly into your left ventricle.
Then and only then will your clients/athletes truly understand.
This is a nice compilation (of which I am part of) that breaks down how absurd this is.
Not because it was revolutionary, but because it was so simple and actionable. If you need a bit of a “jolt” in your training, this may be something you should consider.
There’s only a few more days to purchase this excellent resource on sale. Curated FOR fitness professionals and with over 13+ hours of clinical & research base information available, this course is undoubtedly one of a kind.
What “bogs” down most coaches are suffocating clients; those that seemingly lack motivation and are unable to respect boundaries. This course delves into that and much, much more.
(Plus, it’s actually developed by a doctor who lifts)
In addition, this course contains lectures, case studies, and recorded interviews with some of the industry’s best coaches (Mark Fisher, Dean Somerset, Tony Gentilcore, Georgie Fear, Molly Galbraith, Meghan Callaway, and Kelly Coffey).
There’s only a few more days to get it at the sale price.
My wife walked out of her office the other day and stopped in her tracks. It looked like the opening shot of an episode of Forensic Files.
There I was lying sprawled out on the living room floor motionless.
“Are you okay? Are you sick or something?”
“No, I’m not sick” I said. “My workout was brutal today. I can’t move. I just need a few more minutes to allow my soul to reenter my body.”
“Oh, okay then. That’s nice babe. Don’t forget to put your gym bag back where it belongs.”
What can I say: What we have is true love.
All kidding aside, while it may not seem so obvious to begin with, this example of marital magic serves as a nice primer on motivation and how that interplays with one’s desire (and rationale) to exercise consistently.
How to Motivate Your Clients
What I described above is not an exaggeration.
I had just gone through a pretty brutal workout where I hit close to max numbers on all three of the “big 3” (squat, bench press, deadlift) despite having just deadlifted fairly heavy the day prior.
It’s a split I wasn’t accustomed to, and by the time I got home my body felt like it had been put through the ringer. I was basically reliving Rambo: First Blood, except without a cave full of rats, and an asshole local sheriff busting my balls.
Oh, and there was no torrential rainfall.
But here’s the thing.
I knew heading into that workout that I was going to feel like garbage afterward. But I did it anyway. Not because I wanted (or even strive) to feel like that, but rather because the alternative – not doing it – goes against my inner fabric.
Working out consistently is part of my identity, it’s part of what makes me me; much like listening to 90’s hip-hop, wearing groutfits, and ordering chicken at a seafood restaurant is also part of what makes me me.
This is a form of motivation that’s referred to as Integrated Regulation.
It describes many coaches/fitness professionals, as well as those people who would rather commit seppuku than miss a workout.
It’s admirable, but IT IS NOT THE END-ALL-BE-ALL GOAL OR FORM OF MOTIVATION.
Motivation comes in different varieties and iterations and it’s imperative (especially as a coach) to NOT hold our clients to the above standard.
Instead, it behooves us to lean into whatever (extrinsic) reason motivates our clients to exercise. For some it’s because they want to look hot, for others it’s because their doctor suggested they need to or risk more dire consequences, and of course, there’s tacos.
ALL are forms of motivation and should be encouraged and embraced.
Another thing to consider (and something my colleague, Derek Stanley, wrote about recently), is this idea that discipline is the underlying “x-factor” when it comes to motivation.
“I wasn’t motivated to train, but I did it anyway.”
This is actually a high-degree of motivation! As alluded to above this person does it anyway because it’s a part of their identity. They’re just trying to brag a bit and earn a few social media likes…;o)
As Derek notes:
“Ironically, we say this to try to motivate people. It’s well-meaning. But it’s still unhelpful. The underlying assertion is that it’s all about discipline, not motivation. If you skip your workouts, you’re lazy or undisciplined.
Just do it.”
The bigger picture to appreciate here is that even if you’re thinking about working out, you have all the motivation you need.
You have the juice.
As Derek further elaborates, “if you weren’t motivated, then it wouldn’t even be on your radar.”
You’d just keep living your Tuesday.
Fitness professionals need to stop being such hardos when it comes to this stuff. Motivation and facilitating change is a spectrum and these are skills that don’t come naturally to most. It rarely comes squarely down to will-power (or lack thereof) or “not wanting it enough.”
Your clients have motivation, you’re likely just looking for it through the wrong lense.
This course was developed by my wife (yep, the one referenced above) to help coaches/trainers/PTs better understand motivation and how to become a more well-rounded professional.
If you’re looking for something different than continuing Ed focused on sets and reps, stability and mobility, or other “nuts and bolts” aspects of training, this is the course for you!!
In this course, you will learn AND gain skills for:
1. Leveraging your clients motivation,
2. Progressing your clients to encourage positive behavior change,
3. Working through barriers to change, “loss” of motivation, and other psychological challenges that ALWAYS HAPPEN in coaching!!
One of the more challenging concepts for new(er) clients to grasp is the idea of training effort. Sure, there are a select few who are psychopaths and think a training session only counts if you come close to shitting your spleen.
The vast majority, however, tend to UNDER-estimate what it takes to put forth appreciable effort during a training session.
Effort that will lead to consistent results.
I don’t know about you, but I find the missing link for most trainees (and why they never seem to make progress) is they lack a thorough understanding of what effort is and the types of effort that can be utilized.
Today’s guest post via Boston based strength & conditioning coach, Dr. Michelle Boland, helps to shed light on this topic.
Building Your Sessions Around Effort
Are you constantly having to hold your clients back from giving TOO MUCH effort?
…yeah didn’t think so!
Effort is one of the most important variables for client and athlete success, while also being one of the hardest things to extract from the people that you coach.
So, how often are you accounting for it, teaching it, and programming for it?
As coaches, we want to make sure our clients are matching their effort with our goals for them.
If we want Karen to improve strength, there needs to be a difference between the weights she grabs for a 5 rep set and a 15 rep set. Those two repetition schemes require two different efforts.
We need to teach Karen how to choose the appropriate amount of weight, what different types of effort feel like, AND why they matter. Progress in the weight room can be dictated by four specific types of EFFORT.
Substantial Effort
Sustainable Effort
Sprint Effort
Reset Effort
When working with general population clients, prescribing a set amount of repetitions ISN’T always the best STRATEGY to get results. INSTEAD, cue different efforts and select exercise variations that will allow them to adequately express that effort.
For example, if you want Karen to row for 10 minutes at a steady rate, Karen can’t start sprinting and crying 30 seconds into the row.
She needs to learn how to maintain her pace for the duration of the time and not be too gassed at the end. Hard work and effort have variations and aren’t always just maximum exertion.
The more Karen understands this, the better she can perform the exercises you select with the appropriate amount of weights and with the appropriate amount of exertion. Thus, she will be able to express the appropriate outputs and get the BEST RESULTS.
Now, let’s dive into the four different types of effort and how you can cue exercises and choose variations based on them…
1. Substantial Effort
Think about the effort you would put into lifting a car off your child.
Seems morbid, but I bet you wouldn’t hold back or look at your WHOOP band for advice.
A substantial effort should be challenging and be deliberate. You may have to tell your client to prepare and be ready to put in work.
A strategy for teaching a substantial effort is to program separate repetitions. This DOESN’T mean max weight. It means allowing your clients to prepare for a considerable exertion without the momentum of bouncing the weight on the ground using a rebound effect.
For a deadlift exercise example, cue your client to keep their hands on the barbell while letting the barbell rest on the ground after each repetition. Separate repetitions will teach the first pull from a dead stop, which requires the most substantial effort.
For an exercise that is performed on one side of the body then repeated on the other, make sure you take a break between sides. For example, perform a heavy split squat for 5 repetitions with the right leg forward, then set the weights down to regroup mentally, then complete the split squat with the left leg forward.
Keep the repetitions low (2-5ish), the speed will most likely be slow, and the weight should be RELATIVELY high. This again, doesn’t mean maximum. Submax loading is advised by TONY and works. Substantial efforts will be associated with the adaptive fitness quality of Max Strength.
2. Sustainable Effort
Think about speed walking.
It’s harder than regular walking but you can probably do it for a long duration of time.
Sustainable efforts should feel like they can be maintained over a long duration and continuous in their repetition. A coaching strategy for sustained efforts can be cueing the client to tap-and-go without resting the barbell on the ground.
For an exercise that is performed on one side of the body then repeated on the other, DON”T take a break between sides. For example, perform the split squat for 8 repetitions with the right leg forward, switch legs, then perform 8 repetitions with the left leg forward, making the effort continuous between sides.
Keep the repetitions moderate to high in the 6-30ish range.
This range may seem large, but most general population clients need a wide range to build an aerobic foundation, volume tolerance, and to learn associated weight ranges. Sustainable efforts will be associated with the adaptive fitness qualities of Strength Endurance and Hypertrophy.
The speed of the repetitions will be moderate: too slow and you may fall asleep, too fast and you won’t last…dang that rhymed! …Hence the word SUSTAINABLE.
Sprint efforts should feel powerful and quick. To program sprint efforts, find ways to help your clients be quick, such as…
Create some race challenges such as the Cone Stack Drill
If you have fancy velocity tracking equipment, use it
Find ways to unload them using bands
A coaching strategy to teach sprint efforts can be cueing the client to push the ground away and get tall to the ceiling during a deadlift. During the deadlift, the full rep doesn’t need to fast, focus on the pull from the floor (typically applied to the concentric portion of lifts) and they can lower the barbell down at a self-selected pace.
For an exercise that is performed on one side of the body then repeated on the other, make sure you take a break between sides.
Keep the repetitions low to moderate (2-8ish) and low weight (better to have lower weight than to be slow). Cue your clients to move fast, “push the ground away”, and to get off the ground quicker by YELLING “the ground is LAVA, KAREN”. Sprint efforts will be associated with the adaptive fitness qualities of Speed and Power.
Get YOUR CLIENTS to MOVE FAST.
4. Reset Effort
Think about being a light switch, have ‘on’ and ‘off’ modes.
A reset effort is being able to duplicate substantial efforts.
Why is this separate from substantial efforts?
Substantial efforts are focused on a single attempt. Reset efforts are focused on your client’s ability to repeat high level effort.
Can they use the rest period to regroup and recover?
A coaching strategy to teach reset efforts is to program cluster sets. A cluster set can look like this: perform 3 substantial effort repetitions, then let go of the barbell, rest for 20-30 seconds, then perform 3 substantial effort repetitions, then let go of the barbell, rest for 20-30 seconds, then perform 3 substantial effort repetitions.
Rest should NOT include another exercise, it is a full rest period.
For an exercise that is performed on one side of the body then repeated on the other, make sure you perform ALL repetitions within the cluster set on one side of the body before moving to the other side of the body. AND definitely take a break between sides.
For a Split Squat example, perform 3 substantial effort repetitions with the right leg forward, then let go of the dumbbells, rest for 20-30 seconds, then perform 3 substantial effort repetitions with the right leg forward, then let go of the dumbbells, rest for 20-30 seconds, then perform 3 substantial effort repetitions with the right leg forward.
Put the dumbbells down, take a longer rest, then repeat that with your left foot forward.
Summary
Teaching and cueing effort will allow you to get the best from your clients. You will be better able to match your exercise selection with their output and goals. Make different types of effort known to your clients and when you want them to express them.
If you have any comments or questions please feel free to email me at [email protected].
If you enjoyed the exercise videos in this article, check out the MBT Exercise Database for 1,200 more videos to use, embed within your programming, and up your exercise selection game.
Paul Levitin spent a decade as a personal trainer & strength and conditioning coach, becoming the number one trainer in his entire company, while collecting over 30 certificates (CES, CSCS, PRI, PN1, FRC, & many more).
