About becoming a personal trainer

There is a personal trainer in my gym he has some special plastic think to clip to the squat rack.

He squats 60kg and not even to 90deg.

Will i ever listen to him? NO


There is someone in my gym who squats 200kg for reps. Do i listen to him?
Only sometimes mainly because what he says contradicts Markos methods and i know that the ugy who squats 200kg is thinking about his body not mine. He might need a week to recover from squats i dont.

Markos understand both sides of the fence so i go with him. Ever when someone who lifts more then him gives me advice.

PTC said:

I guess I'm just lucky then Kyle, I've never had a client that wont do what I ask or tells me what they want to do.

I'm obviously oblivious to this type of client as I didnt think they existed.

I suppose they go elsewhere

Click to expand...

You offer them free training and theynever turn up.

Kyle I think its a cop out that you think you need to pander to clients wishes, just because you work for someone else or cant choose clients.

I train people at a small studio, I'm not the boss and I dont choose the clients. I do however insist on a certain training style. Compound movements and kettlebell work make up the majority of it. I've had clients complain, and not want to be trained by me, they complain its too hard, they are usually the clients who stop coming altogether.

I could choose to give them soft choices, take their money and be on my merry way. I even tried it on a few clients, I hated it. I would rather not train a person than to walk them through soft crap thats a waste of both out time. My boss knows this and if clients really moan he sends the client to one of the 3 other trainers.

You cant choose your clients but you can choose how you will train people.

NPR said:

I've had clients complain, and not want to be trained by me, they complain its too hard, they are usually the clients who stop coming altogether.

Click to expand...

Nick, I hope I will also have a tolerant boss who does not get upset with me if my training style drives clients away. Yes, the client's laziness or stubbornness is actually the cause of their quitting, but many gym managers won't view it that way. Most will just sack you. And then you can't give anyone workouts, perfect or not.

I think between pandering and dictating there is a middle ground. A lot of discussions like this are really poisoned by this rush to extremes. For example,

"I'm against capital punishment."
"What? So we should just let them all go?!"
"I'm in favour of capital punishment."
"What? So we should execute people for jaywalking?!"

It's not either doing whatever the client happens to feel like today or telling them "my way or the highway." There's a middle ground. Let's think about that for a bit.

I gave some examples earlier, such as a woman in her 30s who wanted to "lose weight, tone tummy hips and thighs", yes barbell squats and deadlifts would be best for her, but she might simply walk out if I insisted she do them. I offer them, demonstrate them, ask her to try them for a bit, and maybe she does them, great! - but quite often, she won't. So after her refusal and many failed attempts to persuade, I give her dumbell lunges and dumbell squats and full range of motion leg presses, and she likes these and is happy to do them; it's not a perfect workout, but it's a workout she'll stick to. She won't get the best possible results, but she'll get more results than if she walked out and didn't come back.

The best workout is the one the person sticks to. That gets them more results than the perfect workout they walk away from.

There are three basic approaches to being a trainer, and three possible results:

• Nick/Markos - achieve a lot with a few clients
• Mainstream gyms - achieve almost nothing with a zillion clients
• Kyle's current philosophy (subject to change as experience grows) - achieve a bit with a lot of clients

As reported recently, even small improvements in people's fitness greatly improves longevity. And we know that even small improvements in strength, fitness, flexibility and body composition can greatly improve a person's quality of life.

Spend some time talking to people at a mainstream gym. Once you've stopped laughing at their pathetic lifts or stumping along on treadmills, listen to what they say about their training and its results. Lots are wasting time, but many people can tell you of great improvements in their lives.

There's one woman at my gym who does cardio and classes every day, never any weights to speak of - but she's slimmed down from 120kg to 90kg or so. Over the last year or two, she's had a vast improvement in her health, her future health prospects, her energy levels, her self-esteem and overall quality of life. A vast improvement. Yet - no weights?! - she's training wrong, how is it possible?!

Yes, a better workout would give her even better results. But the imperfect one has given her results that have improved her quality of life, because she stuck to it. Would she have stuck to the perfect workout? I don't know. You and Markos are both telling me that lots of people don't, they walk away.

The other thing is that working out isn't something we do for six months and then we're all set and never need do anything physical again. It's a lifestyle choice, a thing of years and years. The woman we start with dumbell lunges today may go on to do double bodyweight squats five years from now. If we'd insisted on the squats today and she'd walked out then maybe in five years she's doing nothing more physical than flicking the tv remote.

You would rather have people doing nothing than doing the imperfect thing. I would rather have people doing something than doing nothing.

Neither approach is wrong. You can make a big difference to a few people's lives, or a small difference to many. Both are good things to do. Which you prefer depends on your personality.

As a trainer, I expect to be more active than most (sitting in their office playing Solitaire on the computer, or phoning up their mates) in making sure that something people are doing is the best something they are willing and able to do at that time. And I'll keep an eye on them to see if we can ramp it up a bit later on when they're ready.

I dont know i would rather people be at home playing ps3 nejoying their lives then sitting o nthat glider machine that moves sideways..

n00bs said:

I dont know i would rather people be at home playing ps3 nejoying their lives then sitting o nthat glider machine that moves sideways..

Click to expand...

Come on mate, I said I would try to compromise, not that I would give my soul to Satan

It's a pity, I see quite a few with good bone structure and basic muscle mass, they could have really amazing physiques and impressive strength if they adjusted their workouts a bit.

Click to expand...

I think this post by you proves my point.

Kyle, can you please tell me how many PT's have 100 clients like I do.

I'm not counting the ones on the internet, just the ones that train at PTC.

I thought 100 would be enough to keep any PT happy. I guess not.

Wouldn't it just be more beneficial and fruitful if apples were compared with apples and not oranges-though they are both fruits?


Fadi.

I agree, Fadi. Different places have different aims, and individuals can make a difference in the atmosphere of the place they're in, or create a new place.

I don't think I could do what Markos has done, I admire it greatly. If I have any success in the industry, I think it will be a different kind of success, because of my different personality and abilities.

Kyle Aaron said:

If I have any success in the industry, I think it will be a different kind of success, because of my different personality and abilities.

Click to expand...

No Ifs...
u will be successful in the industry

To me.. markos brings ppl straight to the "perfect" workout... More efficient
But what kyle is doing is trying to make those Unmotivated people to enjoy lifting weights... slowly from curling to squatting to lifting heavy
although the process is slower... but its more "acceptable" for normal people...

Both are good in their own ways

Because Nick and I work in the industry, and I have been for longer than some of you have been alive, and Kyle will be new when and if he ever starts as a trainer, we can offer him advice.

Dont waste your time with those that are wasting theirs. Because you havent trained long, nor have you trained clients for any length of time, you really have little understanding of how it really works.

Your reputation is all you will have in the gym. Do you want yours to be that of

"The guy who's really nice and lets us do whatever we want, are you finished with that doghnut"

Or " I cant believe how hard Kyle makes us work, at least we know were getting somewhere"

See Kyle, you have no experience in the industry, your just preaching what your absent teachers are telling you.

Listen to those that do this as a job. There are millions of guys like you struggling to make a buck from PT work. Book taught lifters.

Its not role playing in a gym Kyle, its real shit.

Put your efforts into those that are willing to put the same kind of effort you are putting in.

I know you love your role playing games with mates, but this is very different. You have this romantic notion in your head of helping everybody.

You cant help those that wont help themselves. Thats why I no longer load or unload bars for clients.

I'd hate to see you waste your time in an industry you obviously have heaps of passion for.

No one wants to put up with bullshit..

If i want to get fit i want to do it the quickest smartest and most efficient way.

Markos has clients coming from all over australaia. It isnt because he is nice to the fatso's it is because he gets results.

You want people to be begging to trian with you not the other way around...


Let your reults do the talking.

PTC said:

Dont waste your time with those that are wasting theirs. Because you havent trained long, nor have you trained clients for any length of time, you really have little understanding of how it really works.

Click to expand...

I disagree. I have experience in passing on knowledge in the kitchen and in the Army. I've met plenty of slackarses, and usually been effective in motivating them.

You haven't seen this, because online I can offer only words, and in person - you're the one with more knowledge, so I defer to you. There's a time and place for me to be a hard bastard, and you've never seen me in that time and place.

I can and will push people fuking hard.

PTC said:

"The guy who's really nice and lets us do whatever we want, are you finished with that doghnut"

Click to expand...

And again, I specifically said I wouldn't do that. I've said that between the soft rubbish they want to do and the One True Perfect Workout we might have, I'll find something in the middle.

Criticise what I've actually said, not some half-arsed nonsense you've made up. I realise it's easier to think of things to say if you make up both sides of the argument, but it's not really productive.

There are millions of guys like you struggling to make a buck from PT work. Book taught lifters.

Click to expand...

It's not entirely book-taught. You may have heard, there's a fair bit of physical exercise in the Army. Not gym lifts, no. But the basic principles of progressive resistance training, different exercises to develop different parts of the body and different aspects of strength, muscular endurance and fitness, these remain the same.

There also happens to be a little bit about developing willpower, and helping people find reserves of strength and endurance they didn't know they had.

And as I've said before, I know where I'm ignorant and need to learn more.

PTC said:

See Kyle, you have no experience in the industry, your just preaching what your absent teachers are telling you.

Click to expand...

Not really. They're not telling us anything. They have zero advice on improving the motivation of or retaining clients.

For example, I already mentioned saying, "I think lack of proper instruction is a major cause of people bailing in the first months," and getting the response, "I never thought of that."

They just accept that people will come and go.

You have this romantic notion in your head of helping everybody.

Click to expand...

Yes and no. I expect to be able to help some, but not all. I said right at the beginning that I fully expect most clients to just wander off and give up. But hey, if 20% stay that's twice as good as most mainstream gyms.

You cant help those that wont help themselves. Thats why I no longer load or unload bars for clients.

Click to expand...

Except that I've seen you load and unload bars for a client quite recently. That was a client lifting heavy and hard. So you put in extra effort for clients who are putting in extra effort.

I will, too.

These conversations go much better if we're straight up, without acting harder or softer than we are. Strip away the bullshit, and our approaches are not so different, Markos.

I'd hate to see you waste your time in an industry you obviously have heaps of passion for.

Click to expand...

I won't be wasting my time.

Your approach is proven. Mine isn't - by others, yes, but not by me. All I can do is try it and see. Let's wait and see.

You can say whatever you like Kyle............









BUT DONT EVER STATE WERE SIMILAR WHEN IT COMES TO GYM, WEIGHTS, PERSONALITY, APPROACH. WE ARE CHALK AND CHEESE. THIRTY YEARS OF PROVEN RESULTS TO 30 MINUTES OF THEORY.

Do you understand the shit I'm going to cop over your comment from clients who are members.

Come on. Thats a long bow. Same approach.

I think I'll just read this thread from now rather than post.

First one that says anything does Tabata Thrusters every day for a week, Nick, David, Sean, Ronnie, you have been warned

PTC said:

BUT DONT EVER STATE WERE SIMILAR WHEN IT COMES TO GYM, WEIGHTS, PERSONALITY, APPROACH. WE ARE CHALK AND CHEESE. THIRTY YEARS OF PROVEN RESULTS TO 30 MINUTES OF THEORY.

Click to expand...

Again, you're making up stuff I didn't say. I didn't mention gym or weights or personality.

All I can definitely say about your approach is that you're a much harder bastard online than you are in person. But hey, most of us are.

Otherwise, fair enough. I respect and admire you, and would not want to offend you. I stress to all that I make no claims of having anywhere near as much knowledge as Markos. But I'm working on it.

PTC said:

Do you understand the shit I'm going to cop over your comment from clients who are members.

Click to expand...

You're tough, you can take it. You dish it out, you can take it.

enjoying the thread.
im also doing my cert 3 at the moment, im doing it with fia, good instructors.

i can understand where your coming from with the middle approach. most clients wont want to do deadlifts or full squats but if you can reward them with some arm work and exercises they like then you sorta get your way.

Why does this have to be my way or the highway. And this:

First one that says anything does Tabata Thrusters every day for a week, Nick, David, Sean, Ronnie, you have been warned

Click to expand...

I'm hoping this is a joke yeh?! Markos, you've admitted that you don't take things too seriously or joke around or something to that effect, (I don't want to miss quote you here but I read something from you on the forum to that effect).

So seriously now, is the comment I highlighted above for real?


Fadi.

I think most people on the planet that havent met me dont get me.

My crew piss themselves laughing at you guys.