In this episode Kam and Jess discuss how to hire a fitness professional.
Here are the notes we worked from for this episode:
Certifications, Education & Experience
What are they certified as? Personal Trainer, Kinesiologist, etc.
What kinds of focus have they maintained their certifications with? How much extended education do they have?
How long have they been doing this? Reasons to see a newbie, reasons to see a battle axe.
What is your focus? Why do you want to work with a professional?
Goal specific
Look for keywords specific to your goals
Set your goals effectively (listen to our last pod or read last month’s post.)
Their looks don’t translate to your success.
Look at professional coaches, they tend not to look like the athletes they work with
A person’s aesthetics are not guaranteed to translate to you, even if you do the same things they did.
They have more time to work out in a gym, or may have way more history working out, or be naturally aspirated to that body type.
Ask questions, but be prepared with your own answers!
If you have a good idea of what you are looking for, (even if that’s not specific) then you’re able to feel more secure in asking and filtering answers.
See past the ads.
Marketing in this day and age is very Regan-esque in North America. Not a lot of controls around making claims to help any and every person with their specific goals in ways that are unproven or unreliable.
Lose X weight in Y days / gain X muscle in Y days. We see it all the time.
Ads are meant to make you feel bad. Lack. You are not good enough.
Ads are also flashy and meant to evoke a buy now or lose out feeling.
You’re in control.
The trainer / client relationship can often feel like you’re betrothed to the trainer and their fitness knowledge - but you’re paying for a service, and just like any service you have to be satisfied with what you’re getting.
You have full bodily autonomy no matter what. There is never a circumstance where you have to do things that you don’t like, don’t trust or don’t want to do. No is a complete sentence. Any exercise should be able to be demonstrated or described without having to manipulate your body. And if someone is going to touch you for any reason, they should be asking permission every time and receiving an answer from you every time. Any time that answer is “no”, then they should move on to another method of explanation or another exercise.
Your trainer is knowledgeable and we believe will be doing their best to help you achieve the goals that you discuss with them as important. Should this not be the case, then there are other trainers out there that will respect your request and assist you.
