What Mental Fatigue Really Looks Like for Personal Trainers
Do you feel like you’ve been off your game lately? Perhaps you’ve been lacking motivation for a couple of days or maybe meal prepping has seemed overly tedious. You might have skipped a few workouts here and there and the programs you’re creating just feel like they’re lacking somehow. What is it that has you in a rut?
In a career that emphasizes being able to read people, many trainers are blind to their own needs and feelings. I say it bluntly because I’ve been there, and I wish someone had told me early in my career how easy it is for trainers to experience burnout and fatigue.
I think we tend to glamorize the life and career of personal trainers, and really all fitness professionals. We’re living the dream, right? People pay us to help them exercise. We get to live in comfy gym clothes every day, and people praise us for living a healthy lifestyle. It’s great until it isn’t.
The Mental and Emotional Load of Personal Training
What people don’t see, and what we often don’t see ourselves, is the emotional load we carry from clients dumping their problems on us and expecting radical solutions. We tend to unintentionally carry our clients’ insecurities, frustrations, and self-criticism. It’s hard not to. Trainers are invested in the wellbeing of their clients, and often wind up taking on a lot of emotional burden if they don’t set clear boundaries.
You might be feeling mental and emotional fatigue if you’re:
- Lacking motivation to exercise for your own goals
- Struggling to create programs you’re proud of
- Finding it difficult to be creative or stay engaged in your sessions.
These are only a few of the symptoms telling you that you’re headed toward burnout. Mental and emotional fatigue can affect us in many ways. Some people disconnect while others experience heightened emotions. This isn’t just “stress.” It’s a constant barrage of mental and emotional weight that isn’t always easy to let go of.
Pro Tip: If you think you might be experiencing mental or emotional fatigue or burnout, talk to someone about it. Find a trusted friend, coworker, or supervisor and get some honest feedback from someone besides the voice in your head. They won’t solve your problems, but can give you insight into your blind spots.
The Physical Load of Personal Training
We spend our days picking up weights for our clients, but often forget to set them down at the end of our shifts. We don’t see the physical exhaustion from being on the go all the time, with little time to eat, trying to fit our own training in between client sessions. As a trainer once told me, “If you get tired, just pound another energy drink.” Please, my friends, do not. Rocking around the gym as a caffeine-powered energizer bunny is great for business, but not for your health.
You might be physically overloaded if you’re regularly experiencing:
- Extreme fatigue
- The frequent need for coffee, energy drinks, or other stimulants
- Unusual injuries or lack of personal physical progress.
Personal training is often characterized by scattered schedules, early mornings, and late nights, not to mention the hectic nature of client communications throughout the day, every day. These do not contribute to a healthy schedule. Rest and recovery are often sidelined. The hustle culture is alive and well in the fitness community, and has been the downfall of more than one trainer.
Flip the Switch on Fatigue
Let this be the year that you make a change. Your clients all set goals, so why shouldn’t you? But rather than creating a one-and-done goal, try creating systems that quash unrealistic expectations, prioritize your mental and physical health, and promote your overall wellbeing.
The 5-Minute Reset: Small, Daily Interventions That Actually Work
You’re probably thinking, “You’re right, I’m probably burned out and this job might be the end of me. I should go to therapy or something, but I don’t have time for that. I have time to stuff exactly half a protein bar in my mouth before my next client comes through the door.”
I get it. So let’s talk about small things you can do during that 2 minutes when your client heads for a mid-session drink break or you have a few prized minutes of time to hide in the bathroom and get your “I-really-do-like-people” face back on.
These are rapid-fire ways to help you reset and get a mini-recovery in throughout your day:
- The Breakroom Reset: If you can get to a breakroom, locker room, or supply closet, take a 90-second deep breathing cycle. Inhale for 4 counts, hold for 2 counts, then exhale for 6 counts. Repeat 8 times. The emphasis on longer holds and exhalations help relax the nervous system.
- The Timer Rule: If you have back-to-back clients, schedule a 2-minute post-session practice to release tension, hydrate, and mentally “reset to neutral.” End your session with those 2 minutes to spare. It won’t ruin your client’s workout, but it will make your life and next session easier.
- Floor Trigger Cue: Think mantras here. Find an anchoring phrase that resonates with you, something like “New session, clean slate” or “Exhale emotion, inhale energy,” and repeat it a couple of times to yourself whenever you need to regain a positive mindset. If nothing else, it is a simple way to acknowledge your own state and practice mindfulness for a moment.
- Mini Muscle Scan: If you’re feeling tense, do a 20-second scan for muscle tension and actively release what you can. Try it before picking up your clipboard or iPad or while a client is doing a timed exercise that doesn’t require complete concentration on your part.
Outside-the-Gym Reset: How Trainers Can Recover When They’re Off the Clock
The quick resets above will help you get through the day, but they will not likely change your life. The real recovery work is going to start outside the gym, because the reality is you may not be able to change every aspect of your workplace to fit your needs. Ironically, while they encourage their patrons to live healthy lifestyles, gyms aren’t always known for catering to their employees’ wellbeing.
If you can make changes, even small ones in your workplace, it can make a big difference for you and for your fellow trainers.
Whether or not you can revolutionize your place of employment, you can make substantial changes in your life off-the-clock. Start with simple rest and recovery activities like:
- The 20-Minute Transition Home: For 20 minutes on your way home or when you get there, put your phone on Do Not Disturb. That means no calls or client messages, just silence or some good music.
- “Easy Win” Evenings: Make a habit of completing one low-effort ritual at the end of your work day that signals to the nervous system that it’s okay to downshift and relax. Try a light walk, stretching, reading, or an easy creative activity.
- Boundary Scripts: Create a script of what to say when clients text emotionally heavy messages after your working hours, something like “Let’s cover this during our check-in tomorrow, so I can help and support you with it.” Speaking of working hours, set boundaries around your time. You DO NOT need to be on call 24/7, contrary to what many clients think.
- Weekend Micro-Retreat: Give yourself a protected 3-hour block every week with no fitness talk, planning, or messaging. Use the time to do something you genuinely want to do. If you feel like doing nothing, do nothing and don’t feel guilty about it.
- Regulate with Food: If you’re struggling to eat well, try simplifying your nutrition. If you have the ability to, try a meal prep service for ready-made meals or pre-prepped ingredients if you enjoy cooking. Stock up on meal bars or make your own grab-and-go options you can eat on-shift. Homemade bento boxes are a great way to monitor how much you eat and can be made up of quick, finger-friendly foods for between-session snacking. Don’t forget to hydrate! Bring your bottle along with your clipboard for easy hydration throughout the day.
Building a Support System: How Trainers Protect Their Mental Health Long-Term
If you’re trying to come back after burnout or prevent fatigue from taking over, you need the right support. That support is a combination of internal work creating boundaries and healthy systems and help from people around you.
These strategies can help you create habits and systems that will help you protect your physical, mental, and emotional help:
- Trainer Buddy System: Get your own accountability buddy. Have a 10-minute weekly check-in with another trainer. It’ll give you the opportunity to talk and listen to someone else who’s in the industry and gets you.
- Hire a Coach of Your Own: It may seem silly to look for a coach when you might have credentials yourself, but it can actually be super beneficial. Health coaches and life coaches can be especially helpful at helping you reduce negative self-talk and improve emotional balance.
- The Progress Log: Try tracking mood, energy, and workload like fitness metrics. It can help you identify patterns before you get to the point of burnout.
- Recognize the Benefits of Professional Help: Get regular feedback from people you trust and be honest with yourself. Recognize signs of needing external help such as unwarranted irritability with clients, loss of interest in hobbies and/or work, or recovery attempts not helping. Getting professional help is not a sign of weakness or inability to deal with life. It is a sign of self-awareness, strength, and a willingness to change.
- Build a Protective Net: Craft a mix of peer support, coaching, therapy, structured routines, and boundaries. That all works together to create a supportive environment you can lean into.
If you’re experiencing burnout, you likely already know that it’s not something that you typically recover from overnight. It takes time to learn new good habits and unlearn ones that don’t serve you. Just as you have patience and compassion with your clients, do the same for yourself. You are worth it.
Protect Yourself and Your Clients
If you want to do the best for your clients as a trainer, you have to take care of yourself. That means protecting your mental health and your business. Your clients rely on you — make sure your business is backed with the coverage you deserve.
Get complete personal trainer insurance with Insure Fitness Group today.
