Being a successful personal trainer takes dedication and commitment. For a PT to truly thrive, you must think far and beyond the physical.
My years of experience, both as a PT and PT mentor, has enabled the qualification we’ve created for YOUR Academy to be broader, more thorough and more relevant to today’s saturated fitness market. This new ‘gold standard’ PT qualification, approved by Active IQ, will give PT’s the best possible start; it’s certainly not a course set up to attract ‘bums on seats’. The 18-week YOUR Academy qualification encourages students to engage, ask questions and has 1:2:1 mentorship and weekly meetings with the course tutors. This helps students to learn from our experience and to practice their communication skills.
We have created the course understanding that people learn in different ways, incorporating technical and practical skills using visual, audio and reading aids, as well as human interaction. This kinaesthetic approach means the students are actively engaged in their learning, ensuring the PT’s maximise their potential in their training and future career.
First and foremost we want PTs to be good with people. This is the number one skill that can make the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful personal trainer.
Strong communication is so important in building trust and ensuring clients keep coming back for more. They won’t want to look elsewhere for support, guidance and motivation if they feel you can ‘see them’ for who they truly are. You should become their ‘go to’ wellbeing expert. Listen to your client, remember their likes and dislikes and truly understand their motivation for working with you.
I’ve seen so many PT’s who think about themselves first, rather than taking the time and effort to understand their client’s individual needs. If you want to deliver long-term behaviour change for a client, your offer has to be about the individual and their goals, not about you, with an inflexible programme, who is just going through the motions as a box ticking exercise.
The practical and theoretical elements of YOUR Academy’s training and qualification coaches students to prioritise these human skills in their approach to running a fruitful PT business. We tell our students to treat each day they work as if it were an assessment day for their qualification. Smile, engage and put your client first. A PT is very visible in the gym setting, so your performance, your tone of voice and attitude is always on display. You are the face and the brand of your business and the gym floor is your showroom.
Kevin Baker
Academy Director, YOUR Academy