The fitness industry is changing rapidly. If you’re reading
this blog post then I’m going to assume that you’re the type of person who has
a keen interest in your health; the type of person who goes out of your way to
learn new ways to maximise your fitness and become the healthiest version of
yourself.
With all of the enthusiasm in the world you trawl through
articles online, debate with friends at dinner parties and read every relevant
link on social media, but the goal posts keep moving. You’re told that fat is now
good for you, that you need to walk a specific number of steps per day and
exercise within a heart rate range of 5 beats per minute before chugging down a
high protein shake to feed your tired and depleted muscles. Everything that you
learn contradicts itself yet makes perfect sense all at once.
And the same problems face health professionals.
I guess the main difference between health professionals and
anyone else is the fact that we HAVE to keep on top of the research. We HAVE to
stay in the loop and HAVE to relentlessly add to our knowledge base.
Or perhaps I should replace the word ‘HAVE’ with ‘SHOULD’.
You see, the knowledge is out there but many personal
trainers and coaches choose to stick with their perceived strengths. They
decide that they’ve learned enough from perhaps a year or two of training the
public in commercial gyms or parks and what they know will enable them to
successfully meet the requirements of any prospective new client. In my opinion
this is not only naïve but also tremendously arrogant. As an industry we need
to keep learning, from the bottom to the top. We should be hungry for that one piece
of knowledge that will change our clients’ lives. That one client who’s
struggled for years with chronic back pain due to bad posture and as a result
can’t exercise with any real intensity. Or maybe the client who experiences
seemingly inexplicable bloating and digestive distress which causes enough inflammation
to trigger belly fat storage which makes them feel truly awful.
When you’re looking for a personal trainer to help you improve your fitness, look at your diet with you or fix a persistent biomechanical problem, ask yourself a few questions first. Do they seem like the kind of person who, when
they’re not seeing clients, spends their time researching ways to better their
practice? Do they go out of their way to book themselves onto seminars and pay
out of their own pocket for courses and workshops that enhance their knowledge?
If not, I’d keep on looking!
The guys and girls who do best in the fitness industry and
most value to their clients’ routines are those who don’t kid themselves that
they know everything. I’m looking forward to meeting many of these true
professionals at a string of events and workshops I’ll be attending over the
next couple of months.
Have a healthy day :)

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