9 Qualities That All Personal Trainers Should Have!

If you can embody these 9 personal qualities you will improve your clients experience, retention and get more out of your career as a Personal Trainer!

1. BE ENTHUSIASTIC AND MAINTAIN A SENSE OF HUMOUR

Enthusiasm reflects passion and its contagious! People love to be in the company of enthusiastic people and this can lift your clients spirits and give them positive energy during workouts.

2. BE PATIENT, COMPASSIONATE & SENSITIVE

These traits reflect empathy and help you gain an understanding of the clients needs, wants and expectations. For example, if a client is new to exercise, they might need extra time to learn concepts: How to operate equipment or perform an exercise. Patience and compassion can go a long way towards helping the client develop their skills and knowledge; it can also inspire you to evaluate your approaches and search for creative ways of enhancing the client’s experience.

3. BE APproachable

People need to feel comfortable if they ask for help. Keep open body language and try to be warm, welcoming and upbeat. Master this and getting new clients is a walk in the park!

4. be confident

Self-confidence grows from experience and is a quality that attracts people. It should not be confused with overconfidence, which is often a turn off and can push people away rather than attract them. Learn how to talk to anyone and offer free advice to people – even if you think they won’t sign up with you, they may surprise you and sign up! But on the same token don’t worry if a PT pitch fails, rejection happens a lot in personal training. Don’t let it get to you, and don’t let it deter your from your next pitch…It’s all a numbers game, keep talking to people and offering friendly professional advice and clients will come!

5. be motivational

Providing positive encouragement and constructive feedback is essential for supporting clients. Not only should you be verbally motivational, but also physically through your body language; For example, If your client is standing, you should never be sitting!

6. be organised

Have a system everything, successful businesses run off of plans and programs, not chaos and aimlessness. Also make a plan for your clients and show them – they like to know they’re not just doing random workouts! …Also, always be on time!

7. be a role model

You preach fitness, practice what you preach! But your clients may have a skewed view about fitness, they think they need to be perfect 100% of the time, if you have a cheat meal every so often, let your client know about it, let them know how you recover, how you get back on track, so that they can do the same thing and not feel discouraged when they slip up. Always aim to demonstrate positive attitudes, behaviors and actions.

8. be adaptable

Sometimes plans go wrong or don’t work out. Be flexible and ready to adapt. There is no ‘one size fits all’ training plan that will work for everyone, so although you may have a niche training style to set yourself apart – be familiar with a broad span of training methods to keep things interesting and overcome plateaus with clients.

9. be empowering

Educate and give clients the chance to make informed decisions for themselves. Give frequent praise for things your clients are doing well and use effective communication skills to listen to clients and help them draw the solutions to overcome the barriers that face them – facilitate rather than dictate!

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