1. Write Programs For the Client’s Goals (Not Yours)
You may think it’s badass to be able to deadlift 3x your bodyweight or look like He-Man (and I’d agree2), but that doesn’t mean all your clients will feel the same way.
Some people will want to look good for an upcoming life event (like a wedding).
Some people may want to reduce their chronic lower back pain.
Some may want to not pull their hamstring crush the competition in their recreational softball league.
And others may have a goal to grow a lumberjack beard.
The examples are endless.
(I’m just gonna toss it out there that, not coincidentally, a healthy dose of deadlifting will likely be on the docket for every one of those goals).
Your job as the fitness professional is to write (safe & efficient) programming that caters to the person standing in front of you. Weird, right? Who would have ever thought that one of the best ways to improve client retention is to do that?
Note sarcasm.
2. Actually Do Your Job (Coach!)
Fitness business legend, Thomas Plummer, is famous for referring many personal trainers as “clipboard cowboys and girls.”
Meaning, many portray themselves as nothing more than glorified (and disinterested) rep-counters.
At a rate of $70-$100 per hour no less!
In my experience, what separates the great trainers from the sub-par ones is the fact the former actually does his or her’s job…
…they coach!
They routinely provide feedback, make adjustments, and progress/regress exercises according to one’s health & injury history, goal(s), as well as ability level.
In short: They give a shit.
3. Being a Hardo is Lame
I’ve never really understood those coaches/trainers who feel the need to showcase this incessant “hardo” I-am-going-to-beat-you-into-the-ground-now-KNEEL-BEFORE-ZOD! attitude.
However, it’s also been in my experience that most people, most of the time, don’t respond well to that sort of silliness. It may work for a week or two, but before long the schtick is going to get old.
As renowned strength coach, Mike Boyle, has routinely said throughout the years…
“Don’t be an asshole.”
Or, maybe Mike didn’t say that? But it sure sounds like something he’d say. Did Gandhi say it? Either way, it resonates with me.
Instead, I feel the more cogent approach is to unabashedly champion SUCCESS with your clients.
Demonstrate and focus on things they CAN do rather than what they can’t.
I’m going to tell you right now, most people are not going to be able to walk in on day #1 and perform a pristine barbell back squat. If you’re the type of trainer who insists on forcing it onto everyone, you’re going to fail, and more to the point you’re most likely going to turn people off from training.
This is not to say that that individual may one day have back squats placed in their program. I love back squats and think they’re a splendid exercise for most people to master. That being said, it’s imperative to ensure you find everyone’s appropriate “entry point” to certain exercises and movement patterns.
A Goblet Squat is generally a better entry/starting point for most trainees over a back squat. The former will feel more natural and doable.
The latter will often be seen as intimidating and feel like fire ants eating away at their hips and lower back. Then again, this is where BEING A COACH comes to fruition. Ensuring the appropriate joints are doing the work and are loaded correctly during a squat (and that the client feels the correct musculature firing) is the job of the trainer.
You don’t have to be hardo to accomplish those things, though.
You can absolutely do it in a manner that’s accessible to the client and prioritizes success.
Call me crazy but I like to actually test drive an exercise before I put it into a program for a client.
Likewise, it’s rare for me to put a “concept” into program – density sets, drop sets, 5/3/1, undulated periodization, rest/pause training, nunchucks – and not have experienced or toyed around with it myself.
How can I expect my clients to “buy in” to something if I myself haven’t done so?
Integrity is important to me and it’s something I don’t take lightly.
Do you recall a few years ago when (then) NYC Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, initiated a proposed ban on the sale of large-sized sugar-sweetened beverages such as sodas, sweetened teas and coffees, as well as energy and “fruit” drinks?
The Big Gulp Experiment
The idea was that by prohibiting restaurants, delis, sports arenas, movie theaters, and food carts from selling sugary beverages larger than 16 oz – with a hefty fine of $200 for failing to downsize – people would be less inclined to drink copious amounts of said beverages.
What’s more, they’d be healthier, happier, smile, and say “good morning” as they passed one another on the street4
It worked, right?
People stopped drinking those ginormous ‘Big Gulps’ and instead starting crushing almond milk kale smoothies laced with organic acai berries harvested from a unicorn’s rectum (<– I’ve been told they’re super delish).
Um, no…it didn’t work.
First: We’re talking about NYC here folks. A lovely city by most counts, full of diversity, sports, art, music, fashion, food, and an obsession with hip-hop loving dead Presidents.
Second: People in general, whether we’re referring to NYC or not, hate being told what they can and cannot do.
When this happens, we revolt.
Just look at teenagers. We tell them not to drink alcohol and not to have sex and we usually end up with more costly and less than ideal consequences.
In much the same way, the soda experiment didn’t work.
Consumption of sugary beverages DOUBLED!
Why?
It’s a topic I first heard a handful of years ago from Dr. Gnel Gabrielyan of Cornell University’s PHENOMENAL Food & Brand Lab.
In short, he brought up a litany of valid points with regards to our food biases and how (ir)rational we tend to be when it comes to the decisions we make.
Let’s just say the food industry is sneaky and shady as f*** when it comes to marketing their products. Portion distortion and how that interplays with recommended serving sizes comes to mind here.
Likewise, ever notice how many sugary cereals have their characters looking down?
Do you know why?
It’s to target the kids looking UP at the shelves. They feel the character on the box is looking at them.
“Tell your mom to buy me little Johnny. No, beg her. Fall to the ground and scream and flail your legs until she submits. Do it. DOOOOOOOOO It.”
I mean, talk about brilliant marketing.
However, one point I remember Dr. Gabrielyan highlighting – which I felt helped explained the phenomena of what happened during the soda experiment above (and why it failed so miserably) – is the concept of REACTANCE.
“Reactance is a motivational reaction to offers, persons, rules, or regulations that threaten or eliminate specific behavioral freedoms. Reactance occurs when a person feels that someone or something is taking away his or her choices or limiting the range of alternatives.”
Basically, you tell someone that they can’t do “x” or that they have to do “y,” and they’re going to get a little irritated.
Possibly punch you in the face. Who knows.
Framing
Another point Dr. Gabrielyan touched on was the idea of framing.
“The framing effect is an example of cognitive bias, in which people react to a particular choice in different ways depending on how it is presented; e.g. as a loss or as a gain.”
A quintessential example of framing would be the North Dakota Wine Experiment.
117 Diners; Pre-fix meal of $21.
All diners given the SAME wine, but with two labels. One marked “Wine from California” and one marked “Wine from North Dakota.”
Post Meal Measures: People rate “California Wine” as tasting better than “North Dakota” wine and believe that the food served with the California wine tastes better too.
How we “frame” a product or service can absolutely effect its perception by the consumer.
Priming
Another Jedi mind-trick to consider when attempting to change people’s perceptions or behaviors is the concept of priming.
“Priming is an implicit memory effect in which exposure to one stimulus (i.e., perceptual pattern) influences the response to another stimulus.”
While a bit sensationalistic, here’s a good example from the Will Smith movie, Focus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwS68ixemAQ
Another great example of priming people is a well-known grocery store study whereupon the premise was this: Can exposure to healthy samples lead to healthier shopping?
118 participants at a large grocery store.
Conditions: Apple sample, cookie sample, no sample.
Amount spent on fruits and vegetables then recorded.
No surprise: people receiving an apple sample spent more money on fruits and vegetables.
Note to self: Figure out ways to “prime” my wife into buying me an Xbox for Xmas this year.
Even cooler (and bringing this whole conversation full circle), another well-known and relevant study to bring to light is one where participants were given a carrot prior to sitting down to eat at a restaurant to see if it would increase the likelihood of them making “healthier” good choices.
It didn’t go quite as planned, because, as we learned above, people don’t like being told what to do, and more to the point, people like CHOICES.
Not many people accepted the carrot(s).
The next layer to the study was to then offer participants a choice of either a carrot or celery.
Ding, ding, ding…..success.
More participants grabbed a vegetable prior to sitting down to dinner and subsequently were “primed” to ingest more vegetables at dinner.
How Can We Frame & Prime Our Clients?
As personal trainers and coaches, anything we can do to set our clients up for a higher rate of success and enjoyment in their training, the better.
Some Suggestions
1) Allow your clients to choose their main lift of the day. Squats or deadlifts?
2) Allow them to choose the variation of the lift: Back Squat vs. Front Squat? Sumo Deadlift vs. Trap Bar Deadlift?
3) Allow them to choose their mode of exercise: Barbells only? Kettlebells? Maybe they dig Landmine exercises?
4) I often like to give my clients a window at the end of their training session to do whatever they heck they want. If they want to thrash their biceps, go for it. Add in some additional glute work? Go! Push the Prowler around (you psycho), have at it. Turkish get-ups dressed as He-Man? Whatever floats your boat, dude.
4) Here’s a cool trick I did with one of my female clients this week to “prime” her into lifting more weight. After a “top set” of deadlifts I was like “that looked awesome. Easy! Wanna maybe add 5-10 lbs and up the ante on your next set?”
I gave her the choice to stay put or go heavier. Either way it was a win, but she chose correctly…and added weight.
[Cue evil strength coach laugh here]
Giving your clients a sense of autonomy and control over their own training is a powerful tool in their long-term success.
Don’t get me wrong, you should still be the boss. They’ve entrusted you to coach them and write programming that best fits their needs and goals.
However, it’s never a bad thing to give them a little of what THEY want.
I’m on vacation this week, and as a result I told myself I wasn’t going to do much of anything other than take many napsand eat a metric boat load (which is a shade more than a metic fuck ton) of honey wheat pretzels.
(Mission accomplished on both fronts).
I didn’t want to leave my readers hanging for a whole week, though, so I took it upon myself to schedule a few posts of repurposed content this week.
If you’re new to the site, it’ll be a new article.
If you’re a veteran of the site (and you missed it the first time around)…IT’S LIKE YOU DON’T EVEN PAY ATTENTION TO ME ANYMORE! WE USED TO BE ABLE TO FINISH EACH OTHER’S SENTENCES. NOW WE DON’T SAY MORE THAN THREE WORDS TO ONE ANOTHER. I HATE YOU. YOU’RE RUINING MY LIFE!5
What’s our obsession with making things hard or complex?
I remember when I was a kid all I needed to entertain myself was my bike. I’d ride around pretending I was Knight Rider talking to my bike as if it were KITT.6
“Turbo boost KITT.”
And then I’d pedal faster.
“Oh snap, we’re under heavy fire and need to perform counter measures.”
And then I’d swerve back and forth between trees avoiding every heat seeking missile sent in my direction.
“KITT, eject, eject.”
This is when I’d point my bike in the direction of some sweet jump I’d have constructed, and, well, this would happen:
Nowadays you ask a kid to go outside and play and they’re looking at you as if you have three heads and wondering how that’s even possible without an iPhone in hand. It’s almost as if there has to be some form of technology or gadgetry involved.
A frisbee? No way.
A wiffle ball and bat? Pfffft, whatever.
A tree? Hahahahahaha.
The simple days of simple games are long gone. I mean, I know they exist, and I know there are kids out there still playing hide-n-seek, kickball, and pick-up basketball.
But it’s few and far between. Pokemon Go, seemingly, has replaced the playground.
I can’t help but notice the same parallel in the fitness industry. People (on both sides of the fence: fitness pros and non-fitness pros alike) seem to be under the impression that fancy or complex is somehow better than simple. And maybe even more tragic: many believe that better results are always a result of adopting complex methodologies over the simple ones.
Sometimes this is true. Oftentimes it’s BS.
Since I’ve opened CORE I’ve had several coaches come in to shadow and observe for a few hours at a time.
It’s always an honor and I am more than willing to accommodate. Sure they could spend their time reading Mike Boyle or watching Kelly Starrett videos, but no, some choose to come in on a Saturday to watch people deadlift and listen to Annie Mac on BPM radio.
One theme I am becoming more cognizant of is how surprised some coaches are about how “simple” my programming is.
There’s very little glitz and glam or shiny bright objects to pivot from the fact that all I really want is for my clients/athletes to become unapologetically brilliant at the basics.
People squat, people hip hinge, and people perform these things called rows, push-ups, and Farmer carries.
You may have heard of them.
Antiques to some, I know.
Furthermore, is my assessment process.
The idea of simple starts there. Unless someone is coming in with a lengthy injury history or is training for something super specific like, say, I don’t know, the Mime Bombsniffing Olympics, what advantage is there in making the assessment more complicated than it has to be?
Taking a more global approach is a fantastic starting point for most people. There’s no need to put them under a microscope. If anything, for most people most of the time, their “assessment” is nothing more than an opportunity to weed out “red flags” by taking a quick peek at hip IR/ER, hip flexion/extension, and other things like overhead shoulder mobility.
In a sense I’m trying to see what their passive ROM is, are there any limitations, and if so, 1) does it match their active ROM and 2) are there any test/re-test strategies I can implement to see an improvement?
To a larger degree (and stealing a quote from my friend, Roland Fisher):
“Can you do the thing that you want to do? Yes. Good. No. Let’s fix that.”
Here’s the Thing: 80% of my assessments are done on the gym floor. There’s only so much poking and prodding I can do on table before A) shit starts getting weird and B) the client starts feeling like a patient.
In reality the assessment should be a watered down training session.
I want to see them squat.
I want to see them hip hinge.
I want to see them Dougie.
I can glean way more information watching people move. And too, they get a taste of what a typical training session will be like with me.
It’s a very simple procedure that, when some coaches observe, comes across as super-duper minimal, and it throws them off, as if to say, “Really? That’s it?”
Yep, that’s it.
People want to train.
They could give two flying shits about their big toe dorsiflexion. Trust me.
Funny Side Story: I was once given a “bad” review at a conference I spoke at because in my topic, “Shoulder Assessment,” I didn’t demonstrate anything “new and innovative.” To which I was like, “Well, since when does shoulder assessment need to be new and innovative?” Why not take the mindset of doing the “boring” screens well?
Note to Self: Bring a flame thrower to next speaking engagement. That will add some innovation.
Going Back to Programming.
This is another component where I feel simplicity has its benefits.
The never-ending game of oneupmanship on social media many fitness pros play is exhausting. This is a conversation for another day, but the LOOK-AT-ME, performative vibe many take is absurd. I watch some of the videos people put up and all I want to do is say “Riiiiiigggghhhhttt.”
I also want to throw an ax into my face, but that’s besides the point.
Comparatively speaking my Instagram feed is probably batshit boring to some people.
A video posted by Tony Gentilcore (@tonygentilcore) on
I can hear the cacophony of “BFD” comments now. “Wow, cool Tony. You have your clients squat. What’s next: A set of chin-ups?
No, wait, Pallof Presses!?!?!”
Actually, yeah. Probably.
Call me crazy, but I’d rather educate and provide a rationale for putting up certain videos/pictures (cute cat pictures aside) than worry about whether or not I’m earning some fleeting social media credibility.
What’s more, you wanna talk about boring and vanilla? Grab two back-to-back programs of any client of mine and it’s a safe bet you’ll see more of a linear periodization approach, which is about as vanilla as things gets. Take my client Sara for example (the woman in the video above).
On the days she trains with me at CORE we tend to focus more on the coaching-intensive exercises like squats and deadlifts. We’ll first hit one of the two hard (generally, lower reps/mid to higher intensity loads) and follow suit with “everything else.”
Here’s how we approached her squats and deadlifts the past two months.
October
Sumo Deadlift (Weeks 1,3), Back Squat (Weeks 2,4)
Week
Sets
Reps
Load
1
5
2
85%
2
Hit 135×1
then
3×5
115 lbs
3
3×1 @90%
then
3×5
75%
4
Hit 140×1
then
3×5
120 lbs
November
Sumo Deadlift (Weeks 1,3), Back Squat (Weeks 2,4)
Week
Sets
Reps
Load
1
4
5
75%
2
135 x (2×1)
then
3×3 @
125 lbs
3
5
5
75%
4
145×1
then
3×2 @
130 lbs
If you pay particular attention to her squat progression, it’s more or less me ensuring she was doing more work each week.
Nothing magical or advanced at all.
And it worked.
She smoked a PR of 145 lbs this past Monday. While listening to Lil Kim. Because that’s how we roll.
Program design doesn’t have to be complex.
All it really comes down to is ensuring you’re coaching your clients well (<– a lost art in of itself) utilizing stances and grips and bar placements that suit their goals and anatomy…
…and that they’re placing a premium on doing more work over the course of several weeks/months.
Simple and Boring. It Works
I’m willing to bet your clients will prefer a simpler approach (if not thrive on it) once you give it a fair shot.
People tend to not need as much novelty as they think. Muscle confusion is a stupid concept. People need consistency in order to master movement.
You don’t always need to increase load. People need to earn the right to increase weight on the bar. Staying within a certain range for several weeks and accumulating volume is often a undervalued way to progress.
Try not to make assessment to much of a thing. Granted, if someone has a lengthly injury history you may need to go down some sort of rabbit hole to figure out what exacerbates their symptoms. And then attempt to address it. But more often than not people will appreciate you not putting them under a microscope. If you treat the assessment as more of a training session and not some sick game to point out every miniscule dysfunction and how much of a walking fail someone is, they’ll be less likely to think you’re a douche.
Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Virginia based personal trainer, Detric Smith. In case the title doesn’t give it away, there’a a bevy of sage advice below geared toward fitness professionals on common things that can (not always) derail career advancement.
HINT: Not listed: Male pattern baldness and big biceps…;o)
This is a great read and I hope it helps any personal trainers out there reading.
Welcome to an industry where trainers with an overnight certification or with a few shirtless posts on Instagram can take clients and money away from you. Even if it’s unfair, there’s not much you can do about it except rise above the trainers who only care about one thing.
Those who lack the dedication, knowledge and true passion for personal training will likely fall by the wayside while you’ll be still putting in the work to make a good living. But some of you have the potential to be great and need a little direction in becoming a career trainer.
A career trainer must do their job with a purpose of changing lives because this allows you to stay in the game. You must be able to put aside all the distractions, long hours, and temporary setbacks.
No one would blame you for falling for one of these 8 traps because easy money is almost always enticing. However, if you want a lifelong career as a personal trainer, read on to learn how to avoid these 8 potential career pitfalls.
Trap #1: Getting Promoted Too Soon
Is it too good to be true to become a gym manager or personal training supervisor within your first year of employment? Financially, it might be the best option for you.
But are you really prepared?
Getting promoted before you’ve had a chance to learn from your mistakes and mentors may derail your career. Because if you aspire to make fitness a profitable career you need to spend years on the floor, interacting with clients and perfecting the art of coaching.
This doesn’t mean turning down a promotion if you’re doing great things. But if you do get promoted, continue to train people, and do the smallest of jobs. The best business owners understand their customers by investing their time into what matters, which are listening, coaching and problem solving.
Trap #2: Confusing IG and FB Likes With Success
No one’s arguing Instagram and Facebook are outstanding marketing tools. But they’re just tools and not a means to make a sustainable income. You don’t own or control the platforms and have no control if you’re kicked off or not.
If that happens, then what?
Even if you have enough likes to make money off IG and FB, it could be taken away from you in a heartbeat.
For career trainers, judging your success by social media likes is a huge trap. Instead, focus on turning those likes into real-life clients by getting their emails, interacting with them via DMs or your stories and trying to help solve their problem.
Trap #3: Neglecting Continuing Education
Graduation and getting a certification doesn’t mean you know everything because you’re a newbie.
This industry is constantly changing, and your market is constantly changing also. The people I trained ten years ago are different than the ones I train now. Physiology is important, but no one cares about the Krebs cycle. They only care about losing their love handles.
You know, in case you’re ever short on dinner conversation
Don’t know what’s left to learn?
Study business management, psychology, finance, the art of coaching… anything.
Hell, dive into the history of welding if you want to. Learning new things keeps you excited, challenges your brain, and helps you become a more creative and compassionate coach.
Trap #4: Unrealistic Income Expectations
Remember, you want to be a career trainer, not a part-time trainer. No one gets an undergrad or certification and instantly becomes a “trainer to the stars”, pulling in millions a year. It took Ben Bruno many years of training under Mike Boyle before he trained the likes of Justin Timberlake and Chelsea Handler.
You’re going to invest lots of time, effort, and probably your own money into your business for a long time before you’re turning any real profit. You’ll likely be working 12+ hour days, with a lot of hours early in the morning and late in the evening.
And you may need a second job to make ends meet.
If you’re not prepared for this, you have been warned. However, if you love what you do and embrace the grind, you will be rewarded. You’ll be able to work for yourself and create your own hours. Plus, you will be making real money but only if you prove your worth first.
Trap # 5: Targeting The “Wrong” Market
Some newbie trainers want to train athletes and people who look like them. 20-somethings who are already in relatively good shape and have tons of options, and quite frankly don’t really need you. The reality is you need to be training everyone who walks in the door until you figure out who you like to train.
These are typically general population clients between the ages of 30-70 who have the time and disposable income money to pay for your services. Make yourself different by being better than the other trainers who ignore them.
Then educate these clients about how you can make a huge difference in their lives.
Trap #6: Sacrificing the Truth For Quick Cash
Sure, you might get someone in for one or two sessions through a flashy ad making promises you cannot keep. But is this long-term strategy for success or a great way to shoot yourself in the foot?
Making a sale is about finding a problem you can solve and then solving it.
Understand and listen to the story they’re telling themselves because it’s possible they aren’t fully aware of their own problems.
Dig deep, create a connection, and try to find their why.
Once you‘ve connected with them, answer their objections, and show them you’re invested in them. When you get this right, the money won’t be a factor, and they’ll stay with you long-term.
Take the time to intern, get a good mentor and gather as much experience as you can.
Know when you don’t know, and don’t be a fraud. Honestly, telling someone “I don’t know, but I’ll find out for you or connect you to someone who does” puts you in a position of trust.
People make buying decisions, especially with their health, based on trust. Even if you lose a client today, you’ll gain five down the road by earning trust while expanding your expertise in the meantime.
After gaining invaluable experience, study business, and build your product. This is your career, after all, not some side gig. Learn from the best about how to grow your personal training business.
Trap #8: Following The Crowd
Everyone is doing it, so I should too.
Didn’t your mom tackle this issue with the “if your friends jumped off a bridge…” question?
I know you think that’s where the money is but it’s a trap. The money might be there short-term, but the long-term is a different matter. Unless you originated something, studied it for decades, and you’re a top name on a topic, you won’t stand out from the crowd.
Instead, go in the opposite direction. Do what no one else is doing because I’ll guarantee you there’s a market somewhere that’s being ignored. Maybe it’s the over-50 crowd who want a safe, effective, team-oriented group training session where they get personal attention. And when you find them, go all in.
Wrapping Up
I’ve been a trainer for 20 years and I’ve seen excitement and trends come and go. You do not want to be a one trick pony in this industry if you’re interested in a long-term career. Invest time in yourself, your career, and in the right clientele, and you might just crush it.
About the Author
Detric Smith, CSCS, ACSM EP-C, PN-1 is the owner of Results Performance Training in Williamsburg, Virginia. He has over two decades of experience as a personal trainer and sports performance coach.
He develops personal trainers through his site DetricSmith.com, and serves as a mentor through various fitness organizations.
I’ve worked with myriad of clients ranging from professional athletes to young athletes to people just looking to increase their general levels of badassery.
I’ve enjoyed the bulk of people I have worked and interacted with over the years. The vast majority I’d label as splendid and lovely individuals whom I’d name my second born after.8
Except for these five…
5 Things I Learned From My Most Difficult Personal Training Clients
1. Mrs. Vague
2. Mr. Late
3. Mrs. Bulk-a-Phobic
4. Mr. Complainer
5. Dr. Clueless
Who are they? What are they? How did I deal with them? Did I “fire” them? Send them to time out? What gives?
Find out in my latest article for the Personal Trainer Development Center – HERE.
It’s not lost on me that not many people are having dinner parties of late.
World pandemic and all…😒
For the past year the closest my wife and I have gotten to a bonafide dinner party is ordering take-out every Saturday night with our 4-year old, and then sitting at the table with his army of super hero action figures.
Excuse me Hulk, can you pass the garlic sauce?
That said, here in the States we’re inching ever so closer to some semblance of normalcy and my wife and I are beginning to make plans with friends for get togethers in several weeks.
And it got me thinking…
…planning for dinner parties is very much analogous to writing competent training programs.
All of the above are important things to ponder.10
(Don’t you dare forget about the cheese board).
Above all else, of course, would be ensuring your place is spic and span for your guests.
Think about it this way: If you’re planning on having guests over for dinner, and you need to tiddy up the place, where are you going to concentrate your efforts?
Vacuuming the floors?
Dusting?
Cleaning (and putting away) all the dirty dishes in the sink?
Making sure there isn’t any dirty laundry laying around?
Fluffing the pillows on the couch?
Lighting a few scented candles for some added ambiance, perhaps?
Those all sound like winners to me.
You’re likely not going to focus on iron pressing your ties, scrubbing down the shower, or, I don’t know, organizing your spice rack alphabetically.
The point is: You’re going to focus on the “big rocks” and save the superfluous, extraneous minutiae for another time.
By comparison, when working with a personal training client and you only have, if you’re lucky, two, maybe three hours per week with them, what should be the priority with regards to their training program?
More globally, what THEMES should be emphasized to help him or her make long-term progress that sticks?
NOTE: The answer to both questions can (and should) be dictated by one’s goal(s), injury history, and ability level (to name a few)…
…but let’s briefly take fat-loss as an example.
Speaking for myself, if a client of mine expresses interest in focusing on fat-loss, from a programming standpoint I’m going to concentrate my efforts toward the BIG ROCKS:
1️⃣ Discuss Strategies to Promote a Caloric Deficit
I’d rather jump into a shark’s mouth than go down the rabbit hole of discussing calories here.
There’s a myriad of things to consider and take into account:
Needless to say…if fat loss is the goal, a caloric deficit needs to happen in some fashion.
2️⃣ Strength Training
Sure, we can have a discussion on the efficacy of utilizing approaches such as supersets, compound sets, intervals, finishers, circuits, AMRAP sets, and so on and so forth to help promote more metabolic type training.
However, for me, I’m still going to have my client lift appreciable weight to “remind” the body to keep as much muscle as possible during a caloric deficit, which means I’ll still emphasize compound movements such as deadlifts, squats, rows, and various presses in order to hit as many muscle groups as possible in a minimal amount of time.
Seems pretty logical, right?
Again, if I only have a limited number of hours per week with a client, I’m going to use that time as efficiently as possible.
Why, then, would having your client perform 15 lb. standing tricep extensions followed by 1-legged lateral raises while standing on a wobble board even enter the equation?
Sadly, I see this type of programming a lot.
Going back to the dinner party analogy, that’s akin to me vacuuming the insides of my shoes in the in the bedroom closet. It makes absolutely no sense!
Stop Majoring in the Minors
Far too often I see trainers focus on the minor, sweating the details to the detriment of actually giving their clients lasting results.
When you think about it, it’s the Pareto Principle to a T.
“80% of your results are going to come from 20% of the work.”
My good friend, Bryan Krahn, said it about as succinctly as possible recently:
90% of the population needs to walk every day, lift weights, drink more water, prepare their own food, and get good quality sleep.
They don’t need massage guns, keto diets, hormone hacks, pre-workouts, or poisonous debates about “shit exercises” or all the coaches you hate.
As far as GLOBAL themes are concerned (the stuff that most people would bode well following), you’d be hard pressed to do any better.
(Maybe add some bicep curls?…haha)
I am by no means suggesting I know the best way to train every client – particularly yours.
All I’m saying is that when it comes to program design – and by default, exercise selection – trainers need to take it upon themselves to think critically and ask: “is this really going to get my client the best results in the quickest, most time efficient way possible?”
If not, then start over.
Now, excuse me while I go organize my He-Man underoos.
I could sit here and wax poetic that what separates a “true” fitness professional from someone who’s pretending to be one is that the former actually practices what they preach.
Meaning: They 1) actually workout and/or 2) actually DO the workouts and exercises that they espouse on their respective websites and social media feeds.
Or they don’t.
I mean, I could make the case that a “true” fitness professional is less likely to post asinine videos of circus-act like exercises (that they’d never do themselves) in the name of accolades and attention.
You can spot the fake trainers from a mile away. They write the most ridiculous looking routines.
A1. Trap Bar Deadlift Contrast Tempo Set vs. Chains (From a Deficit): 5×10 A2. 1-Arm Landmine Press w/ Contralateral Ossillatory Facilitation: 5×10/side
B1. Barefoot Walking Lunges Over Broken Glass: 2×400 m B2. Or Until Your Pancreas Fails (whichever comes first) C1. Pull-Ups: 10×10 C2. Ice Bath: 10x30s
I’m obviously going out of my way to be facetious here, but therein lies my point.
As my friend and colleague, Nick Tumminello, has so succinctly stated in the past:
“A master trainer (I.e., someone who’s a “pro”) can also be referred to as an Exercise Prescription Specialist.”
He or she has a high level of expertise doing the following:
Exercise Individualization
Exercise Application
Exercise Prioritization
1. Exercise Individualization
This can simply be boiled down to figuring out the correct stance for someone on their squats. For example, despite what most textbooks would insinuate, not everyone is going to have the luxury of having the “correct” anatomy to squat with a narrow stance and their toes pointing straight a head.
NEWSFLASH: People don’t live in textbooks.
Hip anatomy tends to have the most variance given a broad swath of the population. Things that come into play are:
Hip socket depth
Hip socket orientation – retroverted (outward facing) or anteverted (forward facing).
Femoral neck orientation (retroverted vs. anteverted)
Femore neck angle
Femur length
Amongst other things
There are a bevy of variables to consider and to expect every person to fall into one set pattern or way of executing a lift is a bit of a stretch.
In fact, there’s a number of permutations that manifest when you allow for individualization of squat stance.
Exercise individualization can also come down to figuring out the correct grip for someone to use during their bench press. Someone with sub-acromial pain syndrome (SAPS) will often have pain in the front of their shoulder. Conventional wisdom would suggest that such an individual should adopt a narrow(er) grip during the bench press to “protect” the shoulder.
However, a narrow grip will require more glenohumeral extension, which for these individuals can be problematic. Instead, a wider grip may be more germane to reduce the amount of GH extension required and to place more stress on the pec muscles.
A “pro” leans into and pays more attention to these sort of things.
2. Exercise Application
Should everyone squat to the same depth?
Short Answer: No. Tha fuck outta here.
A Less Short Answer: As I noted above, hip anatomy varies person to person and it shouldn’t be your expectation that everyone, all the time, with no exceptions, should squat to the exact same depth.
I have some clients who squat ass to grass.
I have others who squat to parallel.
And, indeed, I have others who squat above parallel.
Come at me, bro.
They all still count as a squat.
Depth is more or less arbitrary and is contingent on one’s goal(s), unique injury history, ability level, and, in case you haven’t picked up on the theme, individual anatomy.
No one should get demerit points because they don’t fit some fictional standard.
Moreover, what about when the conversation switches to sets and reps?
What’s the determining factor between prescribing 3×10 for any particular exercise or 5×5?
What about 8×3? 6×4?
4×6?
Are you using a dartboard to ascertain a client’s set/rep scheme or intelligent program design catered to the needs/goals of the athlete/client?
A “pro” knows the difference.
3. Exercise Prioritization
Which exercises should be done first in a workout?11
The eloquent answer is past the scope of this blog post. However, a fitness professional can easily provide a “why” for each example.
In Short
What really separates a true fitness professional from the IG PhD is that the former knows how to DESELECT things. What makes a great chef isn’t the fact they have every ingredient in the bowl. They’re great because they know what ingredients to (de)select, they understand what order they need to be applied, and they know how much of each to use.
I’ve been writing training programs since 2002, and in that time I’d say I’ve written roughly 10,717 of them.12 Not coincidentally that’s also the total number of times I’ve wanted to toss my face into an ax whenever someone waxes poetic on their 1) killer CrossFit workout and/or 2) keto diet.
We get it, you’re better than us.
Suffice it to say…
…I’ve written a lot of programs, I’ve helped many people from all walks of life get results, yet I still need to often remind myself to stop overcomplicating things.
Seriously, It’s Not Long Division
I think it comes with the territory that we often want to “wow” our clients and athletes with complicated looking programs that require an Enigma machine to decipher.
A1. 1-Legged Snatch Grip Deadlifts – from deficit (w/ Intraset Tempo: Reps 1-3 = 3s pause at mid-shin, Reps 4-6 = 3s lowering, Reps 7-9 = blindfolded) A2. Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A and Start
If you’re a fitness professional it’s inevitable you’ll end up mirroring Dug (the dog) from the movie Up. Whenever he sees a squirrel he can’t help himself and becomes distracted.
Similarly, we’re seduced by bright, shiny, and new objects.
Or, in this case…exercises.
I’m no different.
I, too, am an amalgamation of shortcomings that can’t help himself when it comes to cool, zany looking thingamajigs I come across on Instagram.
Recently I was updating a program for a long-standing client of mine. This is someone whom I’ve been writing programs for coming up on four years. Our relationship is at the point where whenever it’s time to write a new program for him I am sometimes flummoxed as to what to do…and I try to get cute.
I feel I have to toss in something new or idiosyncratic.
I feel this is pretty normal behavior and comes with the territory when working with a client/athlete for so long. They’re paying good money to work with us and there’s sometimes I feeling of guilt when we don’t go out of our way to spice things up on the programming front.
We don’t want to come across as too repetitive.
In lieu of this I opted to go with my gut instincts and ended up writing a seemingly “vanilla” program (at least in my eyes) for my client this month.
No tomfoolery or shenanigans.
Wouldn’t you know it…
…at the end of one of our more recent sessions he raved at how awesome the workout was. This was followed by an email the following day raining over me with accolades.
“That session yesterday was really something.”
“Your arms looked jacked BTW.”
Okay, that last one was made up.
Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised if not somewhat vindicated. “Huh,” I thought to myself. “I guess I need to get out of my own way more often and just stop overcomplicating things.”
This is not an indictment on utilizing more advanced or “sexy looking” exercises.
Novelty is fine (every now and again).
However, this recent experience was a stark reminder that most people, most of the time prefer (and even thrive) on simplicity.
I’m going to just come right out and say it: I’m not a fan of trainers offering discounts for their services. Now, I say this with a grain of salt because I completely understand (and respect) that it’s a delicate matter and that there’s a number of factors to consider.
For example, I think it makes a lot of sense for larger, commercial gyms to offer discounts.
In Boston, like any major city, there are several notable, big chain commercial gyms vying for people’s attention (and wallets):
Equinox
Boston Sports Club
HealthWorks
LifeTime Fitness
24 Hour Fitness
Golds
Planet Fitness
Beacon Hill Athletic Club
In addition there’s dozens of mid-level commercial gyms (not chains, but pretty big) peppered throughout the city, not to mention a CrossFit box in every major neighborhood. That’s a lot of competition and it makes sense that many of them would offer a free consultation or discounted introductory rates on training to entice more people to join.
Moreover, and as Cressey Sports Performance business director, Pete Dupuis, has noted in the past: Roughly 30% of people who are offered free consultations actually end up taking advantage of them.
“This may be a solid conversion rate from the perspective of the commercial gym owner, but not for the independent contractor who doesn’t see a single penny of the monthly membership dues these potential leads are paying. A 30% conversion rate tells me that 7 out of 10 people decided that something for nothing was actually worth nothing.”
As a small business – and more to the point, as a gym that only offers personal and semi-private training (no open gym or classes) – I don’t have the luxury of hundreds (if not thousands) of people paying a membership fee just to walk through the doors.
Why would I offer my services and time at a free or discounted rate when I have bills to pay?17
I can hear the cacophony of pitchforks now.
“But Tony, if you offer free/discounted stuff it’s less intimidating and allows people to see whether or not you’re a good fit.
Stop being such an uppity a-hole!”
To that Point
1. Try walking into a hair salon, attorney’s office, or, I don’t know, Gringotts Bank and ask someone for 30-60 minutes of their time in order to sample the goods and to see if “you’re a good fit.”
HAHAHAHAHAHA – no, seriously, do it.
UPDATE:I should add that it’s not lost on me there’s a bit more robustness to the client-coach relationship compared to the client-attorney relationship. Helping someone to change their behavior takes a lot more nuance. That said, it’s one thing to offer complimentary sessions/discounted rates in conjunction with a clear-cut on-boarding protocol geared towards improving the client experience.
My good friend Todd Bumgardner, owner of Beyond Strength Performance in Sterling, VA, remarks that their conversion rates are very high utilizing a heavily discounted first month of training for new members.
But that’s also because they’re laser focused when it comes to their systems; new members go through a thorough “itinerary” in order to proceed.
And it’s another thing altogether to just haphazardly toss out discounts for the sake of generating some quick revenue.
2. This is my livelihood, not a garage sale.
Sorry not sorry.
To that end, I don’t want to sit here, come across as some crotchedy old bastard (GET OFF MY LAWN!), and rag on the notion that you should never discount your rates as a trainer.
I mean, only Sith’s deal in absolutes, right?
Some Pros or When to Offer Discounts
1. You’re New
If you’re a new trainer or coach in the industry, need experience and more eyes on you – particularly in a crowded commercial gym scenario where there’s a few dozen trainers vying for the same thing – then it makes sense to offer some discounted training to build your client roster.
It’s not beneath you to do so.
I did it.
When I was a commercial gym trainer I’d often offer free 15-30 minute “Deep Dives” for on my own time for members:
Deep Dive: REAL Core Training
Deep Dive: Learn How to Deadlift
Deep Dive: Shoulder Friendly Strength Training
Deep Dive: How Hot is Jennifer Garner in Alias?
As a result I got more eyes on me and would often have members reach out to begin training.
For the more mathematical minded in the crowd, you can also think of it this way courtesy of Finnish coach, Joni Jaakola of Optimal Performance:
“Offer 45 minute free training sessions + 15 minute consultation => client can experience what they are about to sign into => convert 50% of them => fully booked weekly calendar in two months or so.”
2. One-Time Special Offers
My friends over at Mark Fisher Fitness in NYC are huge proponents of offering special one-time only offers of 20-25% off packages when people attend a special class or charity event.
I like this idea.
If you’re already making the time to be at a certain place at a certain time, go for it.
People attend a class, you get their names, you offer the offer, and then you follow-up with a PHONE CALL (or text) – people just delete email – for a few weeks to remind them of when the offer expires.
3. It’s August
In the fitness industry, August (in the Northern hemisphere anyway) is…the…worst.
It’s a dead-zone.
Gym floors often resemble the barren, desolate wastelands of Mordor.
Except in this case it’s because people are on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard (and not so much because of the whole Sauron thing).
So, I get it.
Sometimes you have to discount your rates to attract people’s attention and to get bodies on the gym floor.
Totally legit reason.
However, my buddy and I were headed to get some pizza after a killer squat session last week when we walked past this sign located at the main entrance of a gym chain here in Boston:
Now, admittedly, I have zero insights into this business’s numbers or the inner workings of their operation, maybe they’re crushing it, but to me this is what’s wrong with offering discounts…
…especially ones this, shall we say, aggressive.
My Take (the Cons)
Again, offering discounts is not wrong or altogether a waste of time.
There IS a time and place and a way to implement them that can and will behoove your business as well as the (potential) client.
That said, it’s important to remain aware of the concept of anchoring.
If you’re a fan of behavioral economics – such as myself – and read a lot of books on the topic as it relates to decision making and marketing this should be a familiar term.
Via Wikipedia:
“The anchoring effect is a cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered. … During decision making, anchoring occurs when individuals use an initial piece of information to make subsequent judgments.”
In the case of the above offer ($15 for 70 minutes of training), the more the discount gets away from your full price, the more problems and reticence you’re going to have – from the consumer – when you reveal said full price.
“Anchor” your price too far removed from your actual rates and you run the risk of creating a bevy of price sensitive clients who are going to jump ship to the next trainer or gym who offers an even better discount.
“I think huge discounts can attract clients who are only willing/able to pay bottom-end rates, and you’re unlikely to wow those people into full-price paying clients if their budget just doesn’t allow it. I think you wind up giving too much of yourself away in the process.”
2. Creates Discounted Effort
Pigging back on the above, in my experience I have found that discounted prices sometimes (not always) creates a culture of discounted effort.
Humans are very loss adverse.
This refers to people’s tendency to prefer avoiding losses to acquiring equivalent gains: it is better to not lose $5 than it is to find $5.
If a client pays my normal rate they have invested in themselves. There’s a degree of “buy in” from the individual to the tune of if they don’t show up – and I enforce my cancelation policy – there’s an inherent loss there.
And people hate loss.
Even more than the Patriots…;o)
Investment = people (usually) go out of their way to put forth some effort and consistency.
They show up.
$15 sessions = “meh, charge me, I gotta catch up on Ballers.“
3. Creates Awkwardness
The less mental gymnastics I have to do as a business owner, the better.
Who’s coming in today?
Who needs a new program?
How many sessions does so and so have left in their package?
Why am I not wearing pants?
I prefer to keep things simple:
– I use Google Calendar to book my sessions.
– I use Excel to write my programs.
– I have an assistant who tracks all client sessions (and to let me know who needs what when).
– I almost always wear pants.
Too, when it comes to training packages, I also prefer simplicity and go out of my way to not offer a robust array of options because, frankly, I don’t want to have to deal with that dumpster fire.
If I charge Client A “x” (a discount) and then Client B who is charged “y” (no discount) finds out about it, and is like “dafuq, Tony?”, it makes for some awkwardness I’d rather avoid.
Me touching my wife’s butt in public = awkwardness I can handle.
Me not shaving my head for two weeks = awkwardness I can still kinda-sorta handle.
Me explaining why two clients are charged two different rates = no thank you.
4. You Get What You Pay For
This is 90% meant to be more than tongue-n- cheek than anything.
Best selling author and Exercise.com founder & CEO, Joel Ohman, is in the house today with a stellar guest post on “radical candidness,” and how it can make you a better, more successful personal trainer and human.
Anyway, all that is to say we work with all different types of fitness professionals, and it gives us a unique insight into the psyche of personal trainers and, specifically, how they communicate with us, their co-workers, and their clients.
Different trainers have different communication styles.
Like all business owners, and people in general, there are certain communication traps we can all fall into that can sabotage our client relationships and undermine the success we are all working so hard for in our fitness businesses.
Radical Candor is a book by former Google and Apple executive Kim Scott that outlines a framework to be a better boss, colleague, and human being.
The book outlines a quadrant representing four different very common styles of communication.
On the Y-axis is your level of demonstrated personal care for the person you are communicating with. On the X-axis is your level of willingness to challenge directly in your communication with others.
The ideal stated goal in communication with clients, colleagues, and partners is to land in that top right square titled “Radical Candor,” where you are simultaneously demonstrating that you personally care about the person you are talking to while also not being afraid to challenge them directly and give them the hard truths that they may need to hear.
Radical candor is what happens when you both Care Personally and you Challenge Directly at the same time.
What Radical Candor is Not
But first, it’s important to outline what Radical Candor is NOT.
It’s not a license to act like a jerk.
It’s not an invitation to get creepily personal.
It’s not just for managers, personal trainers, bosses, or those in a position of authority—we all want to succeed.
It’s also helpful to look at each of the four different possible communication approaches/attitudes in the grid and see if you can recognize some common trainer/coach personality types, and then, of course, do the introspective work of seeing which one you tend to land in.
It won’t be hard, you should recognize which one fits you right away (or, just ask one of your clients, your colleagues/partners, or even better: your spouse).
Radical Candor
Radical Candor happens at the intersection of Care Personally and Challenge Directly.
Care Personally means that you care about the other person, not about whether you are winning a popularity contest.
Challenge Directly means that you share your perspective and invite the other person to do the same.
This is the gold standard of where we all want to be.
This is the personal trainer who obviously cares about their clients and wants them to succeed, but is also willing to say the hard truth when it comes to encouraging healthy lifestyle choices, following medical advice when it comes to weight management, and other sensitive topics.
Obnoxious Aggression
Obnoxious Aggression is mean but may be helpful.
Obnoxious Aggression is also called “brutal honesty” or “front stabbing.” This is the classic Marine boot camp instructor or the raging high school football coach that breaks his clipboard
This is the personal trainer who screams at clients but is more invested in checking out their own biceps in the gym mirror than they are in seeing their clients succeed.
We recently created a comprehensive guide on how to become a successful online trainer packed with case studies, and surprise, surprise, yelling and screaming at clients, whether in-person or via video, was not a recipe for success.
In a weird way, we have experienced coaches, trainers, or bosses like this and they have actually made us better people though.
This is why this is the second best square in the quadrant.
Even though that screaming football coach might make you want to hang your head and quietly cry in the shower after a game, can you rely on that coach to ALWAYS tell you exactly where you stand with him?
Can you count on him to communicate directly with you, tell it to you like it is, and give you immediate and specific feedback on what you need to do to improve?
Ruinous Empathy is “nice” but ultimately unhelpful or even damaging.
It’s seeing somebody with their fly down, but, not wanting to embarrass them, saying nothing, with the result that 15 more people see them with their fly down—more embarrassing for them.
It’s a personal trainer not wanting to tell their client the hard truth, that yes, their doctor is right, they do need to lose those 60 pounds. It’s a fitness business owner not wanting to confront their head personal trainer when they are not meeting expectations.
Manipulative Insincerity
Manipulative Insincerity is a stab in the back.
This is active sabotage, and the worst of what we all think of when we think of interpersonal relationships and communication, whether that’s office politics or gym politics.
What About You?
In our weekly team meetings we like to start off with a 10-15 minute segment we call “Weekly Wisdom” that has one member of the team sharing something they recently learned, whether business, personal, a book they read, etc. and then we discuss as a team.
We recently discussed, you guessed it, Radical Candor, and here are some of the questions we discussed:
Can you provide an example of someone who communicated something to you using Radical Candor? How did that make you feel?
Can you provide an example of someone who communicated something to you using Obnoxious Aggression, Ruinous Empathy, or Manipulative Insincerity? How did that make you feel?
When faced with difficult conversations, which of the four communication approaches do you find yourself gravitating towards? How might you intentionally become Radically Candid instead?
How might we encourage Radical Candor as a team?
How might you utilize Radical Candor in your personal life?
So, what about you? How might becoming Radically Candid transform your fitness business, your client relationships, and maybe even your personal life?
About the Author
Joel Ohman is a serial entrepreneur, author, and angel investor.
He is the founder and CEO of Exercise.com and a number of tech startups. He lives in Tampa, FL with his wife Angela and their three kids.
His writing companion is Caesar, a slightly overweight Bull Mastiff who loves to eat the tops off of strawberries. He lifts weights six days a week and does Krav Maga twice a week to try to ignore the fact he’s still just a washed up ex-college basketball player.
You can connect with Joel and send your own Radically Candid personal communication to him at JoelOhman.com.
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Joel Ohman is a serial entrepreneur, author, and angel investor.
