Are you a health and fitness enthusiast? Do you love helping others achieve their health and fitness goals? If so, then a career as a personal trainer can be highly rewarding for you.
But, to be a successful personal trainer you will need to possess various qualities and characteristics. In this article, we will take a closer look at the most important traits and qualities that you need to become a successful personal trainer.
And with this information, you can then decide whether a career as a personal trainer is the right one for you. Also, this information will help you to improve yourself, become a better personal trainer, and enjoy a fulfilling career, if you are already one. With that said, here are the top 10 qualities of a good personal trainer.
1. Knowledgeable
To be a successful personal trainer, you will need to have the knowledge, wisdom, skills and expertise needed to help your personal training clients achieve their health and fitness goals.
For instance, if you a client who is looking to lose weight approaches you, you will need to come up with a customized workout program. You also need to guide them on how to execute the different exercises that you’ve recommended. Furthermore, you also need to guide them on nutrition, since nutrition and working out go hand in hand.
Fortunately, personal trainer certifications combined with continuous professional development courses will equip you with the skills and knowledge that you need, to become a better personal trainer.
2. Excellent Listener
A good personal trainer should also have excellent listening skills. You need to take the time to keenly listen to what the client is looking for, ask questions and respond appropriately.
The best personal trainers will also listen to the challenges their clients are facing currently or the issues they may have encountered in the past, which may have prevented them from achieving their fitness goals.
Also, a good personal trainer should take an interest in what is going on in their client’s life. By listening keenly to the client, you will understand the client more. Consequently, you will be in a better position to help them overcome the issues hindering them from achieving their health and fitness goals.
3. Approachable
Another key characteristic of a good trainer is being approachable. So, what does it mean to be approachable? Well, being approachable means you are easy to talk to and friendly. Being an approachable personal trainer will benefit both your business and your client.
For instance, someone may have attended one of your outdoor personal training sessions or they may have visited your gym, to assess your personal training services. During that brief interaction, you may have come across as an approachable person.
As a result, the potential client will feel comfortable approaching you and enquiring about the services you offer, whether in-person or by sending you a message on social media platforms or even by calling.
Also, being approachable means your client will be able to share with you about their fitness journey. They will ask questions without feeling scared. Also, they will feel comfortable asking for your help and be honest with you.
For example, if someone has not been following the diet regime you recommended, they will be honest with you about it, since you are approachable. That way, you will be in a better position to make the necessary changes and help them to stick to their fitness goals.
4. Professional
Creating close relationships with clients is part of being a good personal trainer. And as earlier mentioned, being approachable is one of the most important qualities of a good personal trainer.
However, as much as you want to maintain close relationships with your personal training clients, you should always remain professional, at all times. So, how do you maintain professionalism as a personal trainer?
First, ensure you have dressed appropriately at all times. Also, avoid trying to start conversations that may make the client feel uncomfortable, regardless of how close you are with them.
Also, avoid spending too much time on your phone when you are in the middle of a training session. You should also avoid talking too much, as this may end up distracting the client during their workout sessions.
By maintaining close relationships with your clients without allowing your professional standards to slip, you are highly likely to keep attracting and retaining clients.
5. Patient
During your personal training career, you will come across all sorts of clients. For instance, you will come across clients who struggle with remaining committed to their training while others may get impatient, especially if they fail to see the results as fast as they may have wanted.
Also, you will be training people with different capabilities, exercise goals, personalities and ages. And as you may probably know, what works for one individual may not work for the next.
Besides, you may also come across some clients who simply don’t listen to your instructions. And due to all these reasons, finding a training strategy that works for each client can take time. Hence, patience is one of the most important qualities, for anyone who wants to become a great personal trainer.
6. Decent Communicator
Excellent communication skills are another characteristic of a good personal trainer. Great communication skills are vital when it comes to interacting with your personal training clients.
Good communication skills will help you to instruct your clients on how to undertake various exercises, to achieve their individual health and fitness goals. You also need to convey these instructions in a way that is easy to understand for every client.
Also, decent communication skills will come in handy when you are communicating with clients or prospects outside the gym, through channels like email, phone call or text. So, if you are looking to become a personal trainer but your communication skills are poor, you need to start working on them right away.
7. Adaptable and Flexible
Being adaptable and flexible is yet another key trait of a good personal trainer. As earlier mentioned, you will come across clients with different personalities, goals, fitness levels and varying levels of motivation.
Being flexible in your approach means, you will be able to come up with tailored workout programs for each client, depending on their needs. And in case something changes along the way, you need to have the adaptability to change such a program accordingly.
8. Punctual
While it’s more of a generic trait, punctuality is also a vital trait for succeeding in this role. If you are late for class, there’s a high chance you will end up interfering with your client’s schedule. Also, in case you have back-to-back sessions, those other sessions will be affected.
If this keeps happening, there’s a high chance you will end up losing clients. And losing clients due to poor timekeeping habits will reflect extremely poorly on you, and you may struggle to attract clients in the future.
To this end, should be arriving at the gym at least ten minutes before the first session begins. This way, you will have adequate time to set up everything, from music selection to the equipment the clients will use.
9. Good Motivator
While you may be the greatest personal trainer out there, it doesn’t mean every client you encounter will respond to your methods. For instance, you may come across some clients who are considerably shot in self-confidence. Others may take a longer time to master how to execute some exercises. Or, some may simply lack the motivation to pursue their fitness goals, due to various reasons. And this is why motivation is one of the key qualities of a good personal trainer.
Personal training clients want personal trainer who will keep motivating them and encouraging them to pursue their health and fitness goals. Some of the methods that you can use to motivate your personal training clients include, buying them surprise presents whenever they complete a fitness milestone.
10. Honest
Finally, yet importantly, a good personal trainer should be honest with their clients at all times. But, while it may appear fairly straightforward, the real test will come when it’s time to make some decisions, especially ones that may be unpopular with some of your clients.
For example, you may come across a highly enthusiastic and motivated client, who wants to attend five back-to-back personal training sessions within a single week. The reason behind this is that they want to push as hard as possible, to get fast results.
But, in your professional capacity, you know that individual may not have the fitness to handle such intensity, and they may end up with injuries, as opposed to making any progress.
Instead of simply accepting the client’s request, you need to be honest with them and explain to them while such an approach will be detrimental to their progress. You can then offer them an alternative. While that client may disagree with your decision at the moment, they will, later on, come to understand you took that action out of honesty and for their best interests.
11. Wrapping It Up
As you can see, being a good personal trainer is more than just having the right certifications. You will need to have a combination of both hard and soft skills, among various key qualities, as we have discussed in this article.