Over the last few months, I’ve been considering how quickly the fitness industry is changing from the development of the professional body REPs (Register of Exercise Professionals), to the companies that are responsible for developing and training Personal Trainers and ultimately how individual trainers work with their clients, the range of PT’s you can choose from is huge.
You only need to randomly select 20 trainers to follow on Twitter or Instagram to start seeing the differences in how each professional approaches things.
With so much variety to choose from, the big question is; what should you expect from your trainer? There are so many different training systems and significant variation in the types of course and how each trainer will have been trained themselves, I went back to Ben Newbould at Velocity PT where I did my own training and asked him what every trainer should have as standard if they want to help their clients progress. Here are his thoughts…
‘As a tutor who teaches the new age of personal trainers, I know it’s not easy to choose the right trainer for you, but every trainer should have a really good level of knowledge in three particular areas to help you get the most out of your training:
Knowledge of Anatomy and Physiology:
Every good personal trainer should have good foundational knowledge of how the body works. This ranges from knowing about the mechanics of breathing to understanding the neurological adaptations to endurance training. A wide spectrum is covered during teaching the anatomy and physiology sections of a personal training course and I would go as far as saying that it is the most in depth unit that your personal trainer would have studied. So if you do have any questions relating to the human body, your personal trainer would be the go to person to help you.
A good understanding of Nutrition:
As well as having good exercise knowledge your personal trainer should also have good knowledge of basic nutrition. This ranges from knowing what certain vitamins and minerals do in the body, to understanding different eating habits and possible eating disorders. Your personal trainer would have sat a level 3 standard nutrition exam and would have had to hit a high pass mark in order to achieve this unit.
Exercise knowledge:
As you would already know, a big part of a personal trainers role is instructing exercises safely and correctly for their clients. This is a large part of the qualification that they complete too. The personal trainer would have had to be observed under exam conditions taking their client through a personal training session correctly and safely meeting all of the required criteria to do so. This is a pass or fail situation so your qualified personal trainer should have good memories of the pressure of their practical exam if you ask them about it.
This this is just an insight into the qualifications themselves, the course is a lot more comprehensive than shown above with more units involved too. If you would like more of an insight into a personal trainer course be sure to have a look at Velocity PT Academies for more information.
In addition to these three areas Ben’s highlighted, I think the other key skills your PT should bring to the table are really strong communication skills and the ability to build relationships. You should be able to trust that your PT is progressing you at the right rate and in the right way and that your program is tailored just for you.
Working with a PT is a big investment, both in time and money, so make sure that you’re working with the right person.
