Fitness Trainers in India come in all shapes and sizes. At times the roundness of their belly is rounder than the client they train for weight loss, some have biceps and triceps bigger than the rest of the gym combined, some earn more from selling protein than personal training, and almost all are willing to work with you without the knowledge of the gym.
This desperation leads to their downfall, yet given the circumstances it is unavoidable. Given the plight of the fitness training profession, it is imperative for a fitness trainer to use all tricks in his book to keep the bank account rolling.
The Plight of Fitness Trainers
Fitness trainers should be treated in the same line as preventive or rehabilitative doctors, but when you pay them lesser than a security guard, you’re surely not going to get much out of them. With salaries that would put a vada pav vendor to shame, fitness training brings with it shame that repels most educated and skillful people from entering into this profession.
With such a low sense of respect and negligible basic pay rates, a fitness trainer is forced to burden himself with clients in order to earn in volume the salary he doesn’t get. And as the competition increases the salary and consequently the quality of service further reduces. This leads to the fat belly, as trainers barely get time or money for their own health. And as the old saying goes “You cant give what you dont have”.
When you start losing your own fitness, is the first sign of when the job turns from passion to a more mechanical way of earning money. As the urge to earn a living overtakes the urge to spread good health, trainers offer generic plans to both teenagers and those addressing postnatal issues. This is the reason we see trainers tending to several clients at the same time without doing justice to any.
Vada Pavs and Fitness Training
It is futile to expect a trainer who is on a staple diet of vada pavs (due to his economic condition) to help you with your lifestyle. As a result most fitness trainers are nothing more than ears for you to vent out your daily frustration. The money you pay them is more for being patient listeners than training.
On the other extreme the lack of knowledge creates a big divide, lack of knowledge creates lots of ego. Some fitness trainers are intoxicated by ancient methods of fitness and training. These fitness trainers get you results by putting you through overtly excruciating rituals and deficiency causing diets, but the price you pay for it in the long run is too high for the short term barter.
This is the reason most people who lose weight fast gain it back faster, and those who train extra heavy weights get joint troubles after a certain age. Fitness training is more about ensuring permanent wellness for your client, sabotaging this for short term gains and an extra buck is way too much bad karma.
Some Top Trainer Traits
Most fitness trainers aren’t qualified enough to take up the task of realigning your lifestyle and telling you the bitter truth. The ones who are want to stay ahead of the curb and not empower you so much so that you become independent.
A genuine fitness trainer has many qualities but here are some essential ones.
Talks the talk and walks the walk– Always be humble and notice the positives in the people around you. Faults are easier to find, but eliciting them hardly makes any difference. Working on the strengths increases your level of understanding and then you can focus on gradually diminishing the faults. Along with this the body language and the physical conditioning of the fitness trainer should be enough to inspire trainees.
Different strokes for different folks– No two workout or diet charts can be similar. You have to customize as per the specific habit of your client.
Its not all about the Money, Money, Money– Desperation is the downfall. When the fitness trainers are too desperate for money it robs them of their creativity and prevents them from doing justice to their clients. Be worthy of your role in someones life and you will get all the money you deserve.
Find your why– If you know why you are into your profession you will manage to progress any how. Yes the financial rewards for taking short cuts appear more beneficial but greed is detrimental to sustaining your efforts.
Prescribe exercise plans and design meal plans– Instead of merely using a generic plan, test your client and prescribe a specific fitness plan, similarly gauge your clients likes and dislikes before designing their food plan. Clients is more likely to stick to his regime and diet when they enjoy it. So make entertaining exercises and workouts and a nutritional plan which becomes a part of the lifestyle rather than a short term diet.
Educate and empower– As a fitness trainer your mission should be educate and empower your client rather than making them dependent on you. Once you focus on making them independent your ingenuity shines through, clients usually respect that and are ore likely to renew their plan with you.
No end to learning– You will need less strategies and schemes if you have more knowledge. Keep updating your knowledge through quality learning. Everything available on the Internet is knowledge and you should understand how to filter the good from the bad.
Forces of Good Courses– Courses from ACSM ( Aerican College of Sports Medicine) give you the necessary arsenal of knowledge and good connections to help you further your fitness careers.
I will further use this section to assist fitness trainers all around and people seeking fitness trainers to gauge and choose the best ones. I will make the information like the vada pav, easily available and cheap, but with added health benefits.
