No matter how long you’ve been certified, it’s often easy to succumb to common personal training mistakes that could hinder the success of your business.
Here are some common personal training mistakes made by those working in health and fitness training.
Failing to understand your clients’ needs
While a fitness coach might be eager to get stuck into training clients, it’s important to take a step back first and assess the needs of each individual before you get going.
Every person you work with will be different, in terms of their medical history, abilities, and goals, so it’s essential that you carry out a rigorous assessment prior to personal training sessions and maintain regular checks and records.
This not only ensures a client is working to their current health and fitness needs, but it will endeavour to keep them motivated.
UK Coaching states that Great Coaching is about coaching the person in front of you, and the answer to Great Coaching is PEOPLE:
P – Person centred
E – Empowering
O – Organised
P – Positive
L – Learning
E – Engaging
Not marketing your business enough
You’ve got the necessary skills and drive to get people fit, but you just lack the clients. If this sounds familiar, chances are you aren’t devoting enough time to marketing your business.
Even if you have a website promoting your services, check that it’s up to date and add content regularly, to get your site noticed more online. A ‘stagnant’ website won’t drive new traffic unless you’re driving people to it.
Branch out into social media, and consider adding some fitness content such as videos to your pages to create a stir and attract new business.
Indeed, if you already work as an online fitness coach, adding new content on a frequent basis is important to keep your client list growing.
Not providing enough feedback
A successful personal trainer needs to communicate effectively with every client, and providing honest and timely feedback following each training session is key to achieve this aim.
Always get into the habit of giving feedback at the end of each session, instead of delving into small talk about the weather.
Even if only a little progress is being made, encourage each client to keep them motivated, or maybe readjust goals or targets instead of trying to push them beyond their capabilities.
This will enable them to be focused on their goals, understand that you have their back and are there to support them, ultimately getting the most out of the next session as they will understand what is required.
Not keeping up with trends
Even if you’ve been working as a personal trainer for eons, you still need to keep up with the latest industry trends if you want to stay relevant and appeal to wider audiences.
As well as keeping your skills up to date, stay abreast of the latest techniques and training styles that are creating a current buzz.
Explore new technologies, what the others are doing, and stay relevant. We’ve even pulled together a nifty blog on how technology can help your business to grow.
We hope you found these pointers useful on what not to do. Effectively, keep your clients happy and motivated, communicate with them, market your business and keep on top of the market and you’ll be a star before you know it.
