Today’s post is a guest post by Aaron Callaghan, PTA Global Faculty Member and director of Peak 40. Peak 40 is a company specialising in lifestyle transformation for males aged 40 and over, teaching proven techniques to understand the relationship between mindset, recovery, nutrition and movement. Their goal is to help you thrive, not just survive, as well as enhancing how you look, feel and perform.
I have two questions for you:
- How much time do you spend reading/ researching movement, rehab protocols, hypertrophy programs, weight loss strategies etc?
- How much time do you spend learning how to connect and build a relationship with your client?
If you’re anything like me, for ten years it was ALL about the movement. Superset this, drop set that, multi planar ankle mobility, shoulder stability and the list goes on.
Even better – if a client looked half interested I would give them a science lesson on what they were doing!! (Ok, let’s be honest….even if they didn’t look interested they would still get the science lesson!)
Wow – how smart am I!
Then, one day when listening to trainer and fitness business guru Alwyn Cosgrove speak, the penny dropped with one statement.
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Yes, during all those years my motivation was always about making that training session the best part of their day. But unfortunately, where I failed was in not taking the time to meet the individual where they needed to be meet that day.
How do I physically match and emotionally attach the movement to the individual?
Would it be possible if I ask the right questions and listen with empathy and without my ego in the way? Yes – that’s right – we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. The client will give us all the answers we need. INTERESTING!
So….instead of being the sage on the stage, I could become the guide by the side.
Could this be the start of a lasting relationship?
Are they going to enjoy working out on machines or are they going to be more engaged playing with balloons and the ViPR? There’s no right or wrong answer here but as a trainer these are things we need to know and understand.
What about when Jane comes in and has a sore back from sitting at the computer. Do you blast ahead with your planned session, do you send her home, or do you seamlessly tweak the program on the fly and explain how you’re going to look after their back while still taking her closer to her goal? Who knows – if we get it right, Jane’s back might even feel a bit better. As they say ‘motion is lotion’ for the body.
What about when John, whose goal is weight loss, comes in and hasn’t had much sleep because his kids were sick last night? Do I still take him through that planned metabolic resistance circuit? Or do I use simple strategies to down-regulate his sympathetic nervous system and add to his recovery? Which strategy will take him closer to his goal?
In Tim Ferris’s book ‘The Four Hour Chef’, he looks at how you can accelerate learning. One of the key ingredients he mentions for success is to learn or be mentored by someone who has achieved your goal.
Six years ago, I started a journey that has taken me to San Diego, Queenstown and Dubai. It was a chance to accelerate my learning, to listen and learn from the best. It ended up becoming a family.
If you’re looking for answers to those tough questions and want to become the ‘go-to’ trainer with a waiting list of clients, invest in your future with a PTA Global Mentorship and become the trainer that can EDUCATE, ENTERTAIN and EMPOWER.
See you there!
-Azza.
