Our societal image of fitness and exercise is so strong that, whenever people learn that I’m a personal trainer, they make quick assumptions about things I believe.
And it’s true that I’m still regarded as being a bit different to many others in the industry. As my clients get to know me during their sessions at the gym I work at in Horsham, they are often initially surprised by some of the things I say. When our relationship develops, they discover that I practice what I preach, and I really do believe that bodily autonomy and compassion are important in the fitness space. Here are some core beliefs I hold about fitness…
Strength training is of benefit to the vast majority… but that doesn’t mean everyone should do it
There’s quite a lot to unpack here, but ultimately it comes down to two key points: simplifying things by going as far as saying that, “strength training is for everyone” is ableist; and I truly believe that nobody should do an activity that they hate.
Strength training has significant physical benefit for a huge number of people. Even if you fall within that number, I don’t think that you should participate if you don’t enjoy it at least a little bit – life is far too short to do something that you don’t like (it’s why I don’t run or swim!), and there are other forms of exercise that you can do instead.
What a PT can train their body to do is not a reflection of their skill as a coach
Possibly the punchiest statement on this list in terms of how my peers will feel! Far too many still believe the old lie that their body is their business card. That fitness has a concrete image, and that said image is 10% body fat, dehydration and a fake tan.
The physicality of pushing yourself through your own training is not the same thing as being able to encourage someone else through theirs. If someone has programmed their own training and succeeding in accomplishing a specific goal, all that anyone else learns from that fact is what that person knows about their own body. What works for one person doesn’t work for another, and you might have the world’s most perfect deadlift form ever, but if you can’t put that into words and explain it to someone who thinks a hip hinge is a type of music, it’s absolutely worthless to anyone but yourself.
What a personal trainer’s body looks like doesn’t matter. How they treat their clients does.
The names you use for exercises don’t matter – it’s what makes sense to the client
And on a similar theme: clients don’t know what an RDL or an Arnold press are until you explain it to them. And, even then, those words might not stick in their brains. They might prefer to call those exercises something else entirely and, do you know what? That’s absolutely fine.
We’re not here to police terminology and split hairs. We’re here to get the job done. And if they’d rather refer to split squats as “the thing that I have to balance on a bench for”, that’s absolutely fine. Because you’re not there to explain it to them every single day. They need to be able to cope without your help, and if renaming exercises in a way that makes sense for them gets the job done, that’s fine.
Range of movement is individual
My back knee doesn’t touch the floor when I do lunges. My thighs rarely hit parallel when I squat. My back isn’t arched when I bench or chest press. I give zero fucks about any of these facts, and I don’t expect my clients’ form to look a certain way either.
What I do expect is that they’re doing an exercise safely from the get go. Once they can do it safely, I work on perfecting it per the textbook. Which tends to involve increasing the range of movement. Gradually. In line with what is comfortable but also challenging for their body.
Fitness is not a race. I don’t need to have someone squatting arse to grass ever if they don’t want to. And I certainly don’t need them to be doing it next week, month, or even year.
Bodies vary. What one person’s joints are capable of differs from the next person’s. And we can accommodate that whilst also improving our reputation as coaches. Because if we allow ourselves and our clients some latitude and take the pressure off, we will be seen as better human beings.
The gym supports the rest of your life, rather than the rest of your life supporting your time at the gym
Out: no pain no gain; eating the same thing every day; ultra low calorie diets; never skipping a session
In: recognising that pain is our body communicating; a balanced and varied diet; enjoying food as pleasure; being flexible with our training in order to accommodate the fact that life happens
A client who spends between one and three hours per week in the gym is dedicating a small percentage of their time to their fitness. Everything else they do in their life is far more important to them. Understand that, work with it, and watch their training flourish.
Did any of these things surprise you? Let me know!