Foundational principles for the NFPA trainer

As personal as personal training is, Don’t take personal training personal! Yes the program always needs to be personal, but referring to the social interaction of this business; keeping it on a business level is best. If you decide to become friends with your clients, recognize there are pros and cons to that choice. It can be a blessing to gain a life long friend and client, but just know the opposite can happen as well. It's important to know that if the friendship ends you are likely to lose that client and if circumstances were bitter in the end this could affect your reputation.

If you are married or in a committed relationship, it's important to keep your guard up. Have a plan; actually take the time to fully consider how you will keep all interactions with your clients from getting too personal. The simple solution is to not allow conversations to go in a negative direction if they are talking about their personal life. Keep the conversation light, on the surface and away from negativity especially if they are talking about their significant other. A simple redirection of the conversation or cueing the exercises a little more can change the conversation. Most clients will figure out what you are willing to discuss.

We all know talking politics or religion is off limits unless you know they share your view points. I can have a great client that believes the opposite of what I do; we know this about each other yet respect each other. Thus, if we can avoid political and religious conversations we can also avoid the personal conversations that could develop into a deeper relationship. The bottom line is if you know you could be attracted to a client that you are training and have a significant other, be smart, pass that client off to someone else. The risk is never worth the money that could ultimately lead to a lifetime of regret. The safe zone is to steer all conversations (verbal & text) away from intimate issues.

Avoid offense...

When your clients are not consistent or sabotaging their program with food & or drink don’t allow offense to take hold of you. If you want to hold fast to your clients sticking to their program or end the training, that’s your choice. Just recognize humans are flawed & no matter how perfect your program is, you can’t perfect them. There are clients you will need to make a choice about. Do you train them knowing they will at best maintain some level of fitness that they will lose without you or do you give them the ultimatum of achieve a goal or refuse to train them anymore. If this is your philosophy, it’s your choice just know there are positive & negative consequences for both. In the decades of my professional career I find it rare to have clients who will do everything necessary to maintain their optimal fitness level. As humans we have ups & downs but it’s important to not project your perfection onto your client. Many fitness professionals find themselves in burnout mode if expectations on the clients are too high. Again it’s your choice to keep or end training with clients who are not serious about achieving the goals they’ve stated they want. Just know it can be a hard road finding perfect clients in this world.

Recognize that for the senior clientele many of them need the conversation as much as the physical exercise. Therefore if you decide your business will be all about reaching & maintaining goals, the senior population may not be a good fit for you. I personally have clients with physical limitations that limit the intensity & type of exercises we can perform. In addition to those issues they are not interested in cutting out the food that would facilitate their weight loss. As pointless as it might seem to train this type of client, it is a worthwhile venture. They are in need of the positive interaction as well as the strength levels they maintain. This type of client would otherwise be sedentary thus developing greater physical issues. Although they might not make big weight loss goals, you as a trainer are providing positive growth muscularly & mentally. It all comes down to how inclusive or exclusive you decide to be as a trainer. Recognize that if you allow yourself to be offended by your clients negative choices, this will only leave you with a truck load of resentment, hurt and ultimately anger.

Play it safe when performing a body composition test with calipers, have someone else with you to protect yourself & the client from any misunderstanding or accusations. If there isn’t anyone who can accompany you another option would be to inform the client that you will be recording the test for their protection. It can even be a simple verbal recording if they are uncomfortable with video. Furthermore, a safe policy for you as a trainer is to avoid putting your hands on the client unless absolutely necessary. Obviously we need to redirect postural issues, but keep that as minimal as possible. Do not get into massages with clients unless you are a trained masseuse and have discussed adding that to your session with a clear definition of what this will entail.

Considerations while designing programs...

Avoid the tendency to train your client the way you train yourself unless you know the clients goals are equal to yours and you know they are capable of performing those routines safely. If you like to push yourself to extreems and your client wants you to do that, remember they are not you and likely will not be able to do exactly what you do. The crazy things we do to ourselves will not always be appropriate for our clients. Keep in mind, just because your client can do an exercise or move that weight does not always mean they should. Our primary goal is to improve the physical lives of our clients and if our program causes injury this is in opposition of that goal. I have unfortunately met people who've been injured by a trainer and those injuries have resulted in a lifetime of pain and or physical limitations. This just should not ever happen. We all know that accidents can happen, but if a client has any objections to an exercise, please always consider that an opportunity for you to find a better exercise for them. Consider the following before pushing to extreems; 1) progression is a key factor in how hard you should push your client. They will grow in their trust and confidence toward you if you can show them the importance of steady progress. A client that wants to work hard wants to feel the burn while exercising and maybe even likes to feel sore, but they need to know that growth happens much faster when it's performed in the safe zone. They should never feel immobilized from a workout. Do not determine the value of an exercise simply by how hard/advanced it is. Looking for the hardest exercise is not wrong, just remember a stable well balanced program gets results from safely progressing the client. 2) age for example, there are plenty of older individuals that can do "the most". For example, my mother who has rheumatoid arthritis was telling me about her leg routine (she lives 13 hrs. away from me) where she was leg pressing 200 lbs. No doubt that is impressive for a women who was in her mid 60's, but it's clearly not a good idea. She has always been the type to push herself and that is good but as a person ages and if they have joint issues (or any physical limitations) we as trainers need to help them stay in shape with longevity and safety in mind. If you are a young trainer, life has not taught you this, but as you age you will need to change the way you exercise as well as your expectations. 3) consistency of the client, if they are not consistent pushing them to extremes can lead to injury. If they want you to push them to failure, inform them that it can only be done effectively and safely when they are consistently attending their workout sessions. 4) Recovery is as important as the work performed. There are clients who naturally do not like to take time to recover. It's great to have a client who works hard, but overtraining can actually hinder their progress and lead to injuries. (list of overtraining symptoms)

Furthermore, never lose sight of your foundational biomechanics. There are many exercise options and a lot of contraindicated exercises floating around gyms. If you are educating your clients as you train them they will not look at the wild stuff other people are doing and want to get in on it. Every exercise should be evaluated with safe technique in mind as well as risk vs. benefit assessment. If your client wants to do powerlifting moves but is not an athlete or training for something that requires powerlifting, give them similar exercises that are less risky. A trainers ability to modify exercises demonstrates their full understanding of muscular function. Educate your clients on what should and should not be performed in the gym. They will appreciate your knowledge as well as the care and concern for their safety. If they are a younger client it will be necessary to inform them that they will be 50 and beyond some day and all they do now will accumulate in the positive or negative and affect their ability to move independently

Finally, always be ready to change the program. A client might have pain in an area they generally do not and this will require modifications to your exercise program. This may require you to skip a specific body part, or find different angles of an exercise that will eliminate pressure from the area in question. It is vital that your client feels comfortable enough to let you know when something feel wrong or hurts. Do not assume the client is trying to wimp out. This can be the case on occasion, but most clients do not want to pay for easy no matter how much they fuss.

• Name of all major muscle groups & their function... this will enable smart exercise choices for a client who has injuries that need to be considered.

• How to design a balanced exercise program ... muscular endurance & strength, cardio

• Do you give your clients a flexibility routine & foam roll routine

• Teach them both or add it to your program.

• Advising proper amount of exercise needed

• Simple nutrition advice

• Hydration

Communication is paramount and a key factor in your success as a trainer. If you educate the client of the "how to & why" associated with the exercise program you design, there is a greater degree of exercise adherence. It is important that the client feels comfortable asking questions expressing any problems they are having during or after a session. A trainer should always be able to explain the "method to the madness" of an exercise program they have designed.

Recovery is as important as the work we do. If recovery isn’t factored into an advanced level of intensity, it can lead to injuries.