Working yourself out of a Job
First, sorry for not making to many entries this week. I have been swamped with work!
Okay, onto the entry...Working yourself out of a job. This is directed towards people in the personal training profession (I hate calling myself a personal trainer because it usually has such a bad image that goes along with it. I just call myself a fitness coach now). The phrase working yourself out of a job is just as it suggests. I have always been of the belief that you are a good trainer if you can work yourself out of a job. If you can develop your clients level of technical proficiency, understanding of training and confidence to a point that they can actually get out there and do it on their own, then you are doing a good job.
Obviously, there are going to be a few clients who will just train with you forever. That is just what they do. But ultimately, you want to be able to get your clients in, teach them, and then get them out. I tell all my clients that I don't want to train them forever and I don't want them to train with me forever. I want them to get as much from me as possible so that they can be independant. You don't want to be dependant on someone your entire life for your own health!
If you have never worked with a fitness professional, find one that is knowledgeable and that can give you some new ideas for your training. Get a few sessions from them, ask a ton of questions and learn how to make your training better. I have a few clients that train with me once a week, or once every other week (twice a month). I also have a few clients that I have trainer for a long time (some for several years) that no longer train with me, but train on their own and email with me to consult on their training program to make sure that they are setting things up properly from month to month and developing like they should. Not that I believe in "online training" (an entry for another time), but these are people that I have worked with for a long time, I know they are doing things correctly with regard to technique and all we need to do is talk about manipulating the variables to get what they want.
So, in closing:
1) If you are a trainer, you should really be trying to kick out proficient and confident clients (who 9 times out of 10 will refer other people to you).
and
2) If you have never worked with someone, you may benefit from having a few sessions with someone who is knowledgeable and can give you some direction with regard to program design, exercise technique, exercise selection, etc....
Have a healthy weekend!
Patrick
Okay, onto the entry...Working yourself out of a job. This is directed towards people in the personal training profession (I hate calling myself a personal trainer because it usually has such a bad image that goes along with it. I just call myself a fitness coach now). The phrase working yourself out of a job is just as it suggests. I have always been of the belief that you are a good trainer if you can work yourself out of a job. If you can develop your clients level of technical proficiency, understanding of training and confidence to a point that they can actually get out there and do it on their own, then you are doing a good job.
Obviously, there are going to be a few clients who will just train with you forever. That is just what they do. But ultimately, you want to be able to get your clients in, teach them, and then get them out. I tell all my clients that I don't want to train them forever and I don't want them to train with me forever. I want them to get as much from me as possible so that they can be independant. You don't want to be dependant on someone your entire life for your own health!
If you have never worked with a fitness professional, find one that is knowledgeable and that can give you some new ideas for your training. Get a few sessions from them, ask a ton of questions and learn how to make your training better. I have a few clients that train with me once a week, or once every other week (twice a month). I also have a few clients that I have trainer for a long time (some for several years) that no longer train with me, but train on their own and email with me to consult on their training program to make sure that they are setting things up properly from month to month and developing like they should. Not that I believe in "online training" (an entry for another time), but these are people that I have worked with for a long time, I know they are doing things correctly with regard to technique and all we need to do is talk about manipulating the variables to get what they want.
So, in closing:
1) If you are a trainer, you should really be trying to kick out proficient and confident clients (who 9 times out of 10 will refer other people to you).
and
2) If you have never worked with someone, you may benefit from having a few sessions with someone who is knowledgeable and can give you some direction with regard to program design, exercise technique, exercise selection, etc....
Have a healthy weekend!
Patrick
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