The concept of personal training has changed a lot over the years. In the days of the big-box gym, a personal trainer was someone who walked the floor looking for people who’d be willing to spend extra money to basically have their workouts supervised.
What a ripoff! Maybe you’ve been there, minding your own business and doing your own workout when a trainer approached and tried to sell you a package of these glorified babysitting sessions.
It’s the worst way for a trainer to do business, making people feel preyed upon and making them feel like a transaction, as opposed to finding out what problems they need to solve and how the trainer’s skills and expertise could actually help them solve those problems.
It’s amazing that this approach survived as long as it did. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s going the way of the “no pain, no gain” approach to training. It'll soon be extinct.
And that’s a good thing because personal training has gotten a whole lot better.
To me, personal training doesn’t have to be 1:1 to be personal. It can be, but doesn’t have to be. In my experience, a creative trainer with a plan and the ability to service clients of multiple ability levels at once can be a game-changer - and we end up with Small Group Training.
Let me give you some insight into how personal training should work and how we approach it at Excite.
Instead of paying top dollar for X number of appointments to have your workouts supervised by a 1:1 trainer, you get to work out with other people (always fun) and get a lot of 1:1 coaching, without paying 1:1 prices.
Let’s see how this would work with a 4-person session …
Client 1 is experienced with resistance training and proficient with her movement patterns, so her technique for lifts is very good, and requires only monitoring and perhaps tinkering to ensure all is going well.
Client 2 is similar to Client 1, but he has lower back issues, so the client would perhaps do some modified movements, but would still work on the same muscle groups. A good example is using a trap bar for the deadlift or using a "torsonator" for a front squat to assist in the movement.
Clients 3 and 4 are newer clients, so whilst they are following a similar program, the focus is on technique rather than lifting heavy. This will help build a strong foundation of quality movement patterns and build soft-tissue resilience.
All four of these people can enjoy training together, and they can execute all the foundational movement patterns that should be included in an intelligently designed workout but with exercises that are appropriate and safe for them.
Yes, personal training has changed, and I’d argue, for the better.
Yours in health and fitness,
Chris
