You’ve finished your course, passed the test, and have your certificate in hand. You feel ready to take on any client that comes your way until someone really does show up in front of you. They talk to you about their concerns and health problems, and you get a deer-in-the-headlights look and realize you have no idea what to do. I’ve seen this happen to many trainers and have had it happen to me too. Your education, whether it’s a college degree or an industry-approved certification, teaches you an incredible amount, more than you could ever truly absorb in a single attempt.
Where many courses fall short is in specific skills you need to be successful as a personal trainer. You may know how to test for mobility and calculate macros or a 1-rep max, but those activities are done far less than soft personal training skills such as active listening, trust building, and emotional intelligence. Personal training is about much more than just knowledge of the body and fitness. It is about understanding how and why people are where and who they are, then helping them change. So what skills do you need to take you from fitness nerd to fitness guru?
Key Takeaways
- Master Soft Skills
- Develop active listening, clear communication, and emotional intelligence to connect deeply with clients.
- Adapt Coaching Styles
- Tailor your approach to meet the needs of diverse client groups, from seniors to athletes, using authentic and flexible coaching methods.
- Specialize and Focus
- Choose a niche you’re passionate about, such as online training, yoga, or working with chronic conditions, and build expertise in that area.
- Support Client Independence
- Teach clients the skills they need to manage their fitness journey independently, fostering long-term success and trust.
- Commit to Growth
- Continuously refine your knowledge, revisit foundational concepts, and seek new opportunities to enhance your skills and career.
Master Essential Soft Skills Beyond Fitness Fundamentals
Anyone can do an internet search and find answers about anatomy and physiology. What the internet does not have is the physical presence clients often need for adjustments, demonstrations, and reassurance of correct form. While it is becoming increasingly personal, online advice does not provide the same amount of customization a trainer can provide.
The most successful people in the world aren’t good at everything. They do a few things well and focus their efforts there. The fitness industry is no different. You can’t know everything about everything, and you don’t need to. Find a niche you enjoy, one you can excel at, and run with it. That specialty could be online training, yoga, Pilates, circuit training, dance, or anything else you’re passionate about. When possible, work somewhere that appreciates your knowledge and has clients who can benefit from it.
After spending the last decade working with trainers from around the world, I have seen one essential fitness-related skill lacking most frequently, and that is training seniors and those with chronic health conditions. Depending on the facility you work in, you may see very few of these clients or it may be your entire clientele.
In speaking to many new trainers, they tell me that they want to work mostly with athletes, often because they are or were an athlete themselves. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but the reality of the fitness industry is that only a small percentage of trainers will work with elite athletes. The majority work in gyms, studios, or for themselves where they will meet people of all ages and abilities. This makes it critical to know how to work with these individuals, for your benefit and theirs.
Communication Skills Every Trainer Needs to Master
Communication is key to success in any industry, especially in personal training. Your role as a trainer is to communicate effectively with clients so that their minds can learn. What their mind processes can then be taught to the body. It’s all about communicating with the client so they can learn to communicate within themselves. Here are three simple skills to develop to communicate more effectively as a personal trainer, starting today.
1. Listen actively – Focus your attention fully on your client. Leave your judgment behind and have an open mind. Be engaged with the conversation, asking questions and repeating what you understood about their answers. Remember that active listening is more than hearing words. Listen to their tone of voice, their emotions, and also to what they’re not saying. Often, you can find out a lot about a client simply by observing their body language.
2. Use clear and concise language – When it is your turn to talk, do it clearly and simply. Use language that is easy to understand. While technical jargon has its place, use words that don’t require a medical dictionary or fitness background to decipher. If such words or phrases are needed, help your client understand their meaning. This goes for abbreviations too – VO2, 1RM, and Target HR (volume of oxygen, 1-rep max, and target heart rate, respectively) are all useful statistics to know, but if you write them on a program without fully explaining them, your client will not benefit from these seemingly obscure numbers. Clear and concise language is also paramount in cueing exercises. Make your explanations short and sweet so clients can focus on the movement itself, not your monologue of how to do it.
3. Adapt your communication when needed – Not everyone learns the same, so having the skill set to alter your communication style on a client-by-client basis will help you train more people more effectively. Some clients are visual learners and benefit from demonstrations. Others are tactile learners and do better with hands-on adjustments. An effective way to teach for some is to relate it to an activity they already do. When you can connect a movement, like a single arm shoulder press, with an everyday activity, like putting a dish on the shelf, it becomes easier to understand (and they’re more likely to do something they see as actually beneficial).
Develop Versatile Coaching Skills for Different Client Types
Aside from having a knowledge of fitness, effective trainers have advanced soft skills that enable them to train the mental and emotional sides of their clients. Two of these soft skills are coaching and emotional intelligence. There are countless styles of coaching – motivational, supportive, authoritative, or in-your-face. All of these styles and more exist for two reasons.
First, because we as trainers are different. What may be an innate part of your personality may not be a part of mine. It is important to be true to ourselves when we coach so that we can do so authentically. This allows us to show up as our best selves for ourselves and our clients.
Learn what your unique style of coaching is and then lean into it. You may also have more than one style depending on the diversity of your clientele. For example, I train two very different populations. Much of my work is focused on aging adults, so my coaching style is softer and more supportive.
Several months out of the year, however, I coach track and field. During this season, I shift to a more authoritative, motivational, and occasionally in-your-face coaching style. Different parts of my expertise and personality come out when I work with these groups, as do yours when you train clients. Find out what aspects of your coaching people enjoy and which ones they do not. Ask trusted clients, friends, or other trainers how you can improve or change to be a better trainer.
One of the most important things we can pass on to our clients is the skills to coach themselves. When I was training new fitness professionals in a previous role, I would often tell them that the best trainers are the ones who teach so well that they put themselves out of a job.
Everyone has a different philosophy for their clients, but one of my goals as a trainer has always been to teach clients the skills to be independent in their health journey. I want them to know what feels good, how their body works, and how to make choices to support the lifestyle they are creating. This allows them to take charge of their own health and change their behavior in a way that is lasting and doesn’t revolve around my presence in their lives.
Learn the skills you wish your clients knew and then teach them. Give them the power to transform their own lives and watch your career grow as a reputable source for knowledge and guidance. See our blog on why supporting your team’s mental well-being is key to your success for more information.
Build Emotional Intelligence to Connect with Clients
Developing emotional intelligence is important for you and your clients. The Oxford English Dictionary define emotional intelligence as “the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2023).
When you become aware of your emotions and how they affect you, you can be more perceptive to the emotions of others. Our mental health plays a significant role in our fitness journey. When you help clients combine healthy recognition and expression of emotions with physical activity, your clients will see progress they never knew was possible.
If you are able to view and understand your clients’ emotions, you can “read the room” more effectively and tailor your session to their needs. For example, if you have a client struggling with body image, they may not feel comfortable working out in the middle of the gym and may prefer a more secluded place. In that place, they are better able to focus on form and muscle contraction because they’re not worried about what others are thinking.
Another client may come in frustrated from work. If you know your client well, you can alter your workout to meet their needs. If they are the type to vent or get anger out, incorporate bigger, louder movements (think battle ropes). If they need to move inward to process frustration, turn to a stretching session or isometric exercises to allow them time inside their heads. See our guide on the benefits of exercise on mental health for more information.
Developing emotional intelligence can also help you set aside all of the emotions thrown at you by clients throughout the day. Often as trainers, we become our clients’ sounding board, and it can be easy to absorb the energy they give off, get riled up by a story, or feel down because they’re having a hard time. Learn to be conscious of your emotions and energy levels and differentiate between yours and what your clients bring to the workout. It allows you to positively influence the energy in your sessions and is an act of self-care to help prevent burnout. (in-text link to the article “Self-Care for Personal Trainers” on IFG site)
Embrace Continuous Growth as a Successful Personal Trainer
As a personal trainer, you are constantly evolving – adapting as clients, needs, and trends change. Some skills you may use throughout your career, while others may just be in use for a season. Especially in the first few years of the career, there is such a learning curve. You are constantly being exposed to new people and ideas and it is an exciting time to grow so much in such a short time.
For more experienced trainers, it can be easy to fall into the trap of complacency once you’ve hit a place where you’re comfortable and confident. Wherever you are in your career, consciously choose to develop and enhance your skills as a personal trainer.
Study and restudy what you learned in your certification course and other educational endeavors. Seek out reputable sources for improvement, professionally and personally. Finally, go out into the workplace and use your skills to help your clients transform their lives while also transforming your own.
Guest blog written by Sara Jackson.
Sara Jackson loves helping others live and move in a way that empowers and uplifts them. She encourages people to connect to their bodies and the world around them through fitness, nutrition, and mind-body work. She provides workshops, content, and consulting to individuals and businesses to foster growth and improve well-being. Sara is a lifelong student whose education includes a B.S. in Exercise Science, 200-Hour CYT, Certified Life Coach, and Certified Personal Trainer, among many others.
She has worked on the corporate level of an international fitness group, trained other fitness professionals across the U.S., and worked with numerous fitness start-ups and wellness businesses around the globe to promote whole person wellness. When she’s not in the gym teaching, she’s probably outside somewhere finding her soul up in the mountains or out in the desert. Connect with her on her website at www.theriseandflow.com.
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References:
Oxford English Dictionary. (2023). emotional intelligence, n. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary. Oed.com. https://doi.org/10.1093//OED//3253634716
