A list of bad habits I have seen over the years from other personal trainers.
Don’t train themselves
I can’t stand personal trainers who don’t train themselves. You can’t stand there giving a session as a trainer if you don’t understand how the client feels during the workout because you haven’t done it yourself. Belief it or or not there is no fitness test to pass when you study to be a personal trainer! Clients are looking to get fitter and healthier, so quite often they will model themselves on you, adopting you attitudes towards Heath and fitness, they should not be adopting bad habits. Personal trainers who don’t train are easy to spot, not only are they out of shape but they usually have a very small repertoire of basic exercises to use because they haven’t done any training themselves and learnt any more.
Phones
Texting, phoning, Internet, social media should all be made illegal during a personal training session. Your client is paying for your time and 100% of your attention! So put the damm phone away! I have lost count of the amount of clients that have come to me saying ‘My previous trainer was rubbish, he/she just spent the whole session on their phone’. The only exception I will make to this is if a number you don’t recognise is calling you and you think it’s a new client wanting to start, but this is not an excuse for a 20min chat, all you say is ‘Thanks for the call, I’m in the middle of doing a personal training session at the moment, I’ll call you back as soon as I’m done’. Don’t worry you won’t lose the new client by not talking to them straight away, it will look good that you are busy.
Cancelling
Trainers cancelling last minute keep me in business. Loads of clients have come to me saying ‘He/she would always cancel last minute on me because he/she was to tired/hungover/had some pathetic illness’. Personal training clients are relying on you to help them with their fitness routine and their programme, therefore it is imperative that you show up when you are suppose to help them stick to it. If you know you are going out partying Saturday night and won’t feel to good Sunday morning, don’t book a session for Sunday morning! There is only so much messing around a client will take before they look elsewhere for a personal trainer.
Humiliating
I don’t see this too often but I have seen personal trainers do it. Your job is to build up the clients confidence in all matters of health and fitness. Giving them abuse, putting them down and playing silly mind games with them is not on. If you respect them, they will respect you back and become long serving clients.
Chatting
I see this in the gym a lot, personal trainer is busy working away with a client then a friend or member they haven’t seen for a while walks in to the gym, trainer turns their back on the client and has a 5min chat with the guy/girl. While your back is turned you are not checking your client’s technique during the workout, which is what they are paying you for! Plus other potential clients will see you do this, you don’t want to get the reputation as the personal trainer who spends their whole time chatting.
Eating
Don’t eat in front of clients, I don’t care if you are hungry or bulking up, it’s just bad manners, especially if you have given them a strict diet and you are on a cheat day.
Making the session their own
I’ve seen this a few times, personal trainer fancies a workout and thinks ‘I’m due to see that client but they can just join in with me’. Your client is paying you for a session tailored to their needs not yours! Do your workout another time, not on client time.
Session not appropriated or client
If you write out one session at the start of the day and give it to every client you are doing a bad job as a personal trainer. Each session should be tailored to the individual client and their specific goals and level of progression.
No support
The session is not over per say when the client goes home. As their personal trainer you should still be reachable via email/text/phone to offer more support and guidance should your client need it.
No progression
Doing the same old session with a client is just dam lazy. The session intensity needs to progress to help the client get fitter and fitter, otherwise they are going to plateau. If a plateau occurs for too long they will be ditching you for another personal trainer.
Smoking
Personal trainers who smoke drive me nuts! How can you be a good example of fitness to your clients if you smoke?
Looking for a trainer with none of these bad habits? Then get in touch with me today contact.
