It’s only natural to be curious about other people’s confessions, and I’ve made some of my own on this very page several times before. Today’s confession, however, rattles, if ever so slightly, the very nature of personal training itself, as so many of us know it.
I’ve been in the game for quite some time now, long enough to see a range of trends come and go. Little bits of kit and big ideas become all the rage, only to fade away again as each mini generation of personal trainers is replaced by another.
I say mini because generations tend to rise and fall pretty fast in this industry. A fad or new direction could last several years, each ushering in its own experts and specialists. Witnessing such change, on the plus side, allows one to identify the crucial common denominators that get left behind and remain no matter what, standing the test of time.
It would be hard to put a number on the amount of consultations I’ve sat through, but even harder to quantify the informal conversations I’ve had with so many people about getting in shape or losing weight.
Such conversations sometimes turn out to be longitudinal in nature, occurring before people do anything about their desires to get in shape, through the ensuing efforts themselves, and again when it’s all over whether the goals have ultimately been met or not.
My confession today has a lot to do with the result of these conversations, and also links in the lessons learned with some of my own training experiences. Today’s title portrays the hungry fitness professional in more ways than one because the personal trainer hungry to get ahead in the industry would do well to remember the one thing that quite literally makes us all hungry in the first place: food.
If I had to predict any major changes to grip the personal training industry in the near future, it would be the shift from predominantly exercise coaching as we typically consider the role today, to that of lifestyle coaching, embracing a more holistic view of general health, placing equal importance on the other factors influencing general health, one of the key factors of course being food.
Since so many of our clients want to lose weight, when we rush in all guns blazing, brandishing the most perfectly crafted exercise programmes known to man, we cannot help but feel the results obtained are somewhat disproportionate to the level of service and expertise we might deliver.
This holds true only unless of course we have taken into account the all-important factors of healthy eating and making effective lifestyle choices. I often find myself stating the fact that there are 168 hours in the week.
How much of this time can we possibly expect to spend exercising? And how can we so grossly underestimate the effects of the choices we make in the remaining time? If you spend three hours in the gym per week, that still leaves another 165 hours of time that will obviously play a significant part in shaping the outcome of any regimen.
Personal trainers tend to get better results when they master the additional roles of educator and lifestyle coach
Personal trainers tend to get better results when they master the additional roles of educator and lifestyle coach. Motivating clients to make the right choices and teaching the practical art of picking out healthier options from the supermarket shelves, dealing with those moments of weakness or temptation, as well as being an overall role model, inspiring others to replicate their good behaviour and the obvious good results it leads to.
I have to admit that such approaches top an expertly crafted exercise programme in isolation, any day of the week. As I try to apply this holistic outlook to my own experience through the years, I feel compelled to make today’s confession.
Despite all the fancy programmes I’ve come across over the years that are tailor-made for the purpose of losing fat, the reality is that for most of my training years, I was competitive in some sport or other, particularly in weightlifting or powerlifting, which are both strength sports whose programmes tend to be devoid of any traditionally ‘fat-burning’ activities whatsoever.
During this time, my weight has fluctuated according to competitive demands – anywhere from 74 kilos to just over a100. Each time I shed weight and shed it fast, I would change very little about my training.
My training would remain faithful to the demands of my sport, and the critical factors that led to the drastic changes in weight and overall appearance were normally achieved by altering my eating habits and exercising self-control when it came to the not-so-little matter of resisting temptation.
The most potentially devastating temptations when attempting to lose weight, at least from my own experiences, tend to come in the form of anything containing simple sugars or alcohol. An effective eating plan in conjunction with the ability to say no with 100 per cent consistency is key, and this takes us beyond the scope of a mere exercise programme.
The occasions I have succeeded in facilitating the adoption of such habits in clients have been the most successful cases I have ever had the fortune to be involved with.
Likewise, the most successful personal trainers I’ve seen have been those who can inspire and educate their clients on a holistic level. So, on whichever side of the client-trainer relationship you fall, think holistic and give your goals a fighting chance.
matthew.muscat.inglott@mcast.edu.mt