Wondering Should You Be Changing Personal Trainers?
Few things in this world can remain a constant, other than time, perhaps. It doesn’t stop for anyone, or anything. In the rest of the world, things evolve, dissolve, and fluctuate. The health and fitness world is no exception. We may change gyms because we move to a new part of town, or an entirely new place. Perhaps you feel you would do better with a different trainer, or even by yourself. We change workout partners when these things happen, if it is applicable, of course. We also might decide to take a different approach to our exercise, and that could mean changing personal trainers.
Changing personal trainers can be a difficult thing to do, for both parties. As a longtime personal trainer in Austin, as well as a gym owner with 2 personal trainers in my employ, I will assure you that it is very difficult for me as well! Often times relationships are formed as are bonds. Anytime people have to move on, whether it be an amicable split, or a negative one, it is tough on everyone, especially when there has been a long term relationship. As they say, however, it’s a cost of doing business.
Personally, I have a very low turnover rate amongst my clientele. In fact I have trained several of my clients for well over a decade. These include some of the doctors, athletes, and also, some of the not so competitive folks, who simply enjoy working out with me and seeing the positive results. Professionally speaking, it is a great honor when a client stays with you for such a long time. It’s very satisfying and a great source of pride to me. There are, however, people that will move on, for whatever reason, and that is simply a fact of life, and something that every business has to deal with. Nobody stays forever. Not even personal trainers
Changing personal trainers, from a gym owner’s standpoint, quite honestly, is a very stressful and frustrating process. I work very hard to gain clients, and I put my reputation on the line every single time someone comes in to train with one of my personal trainers. Seeing one leave is a tough pill to swallow for sure, but, transition is natural. There is an enormous amount of effort required to keep one’s website high enough in the rankings to be visible. There’s obviously a far greater amount of time, effort, education, and experience, behind being a successful Austin personal trainer than putting up a website, and that, is where most of the long term clients come from. Word of mouth. If I can deliver results time and time again, to a huge variety of clients, with a vast assortment of imbalances, goals, injuries, professions, and histories, then I must be doing something right. To gain a client from that, is beyond flattering, but then to lose one, because someone is changing personal trainers, or the trainer is leaving, is frustrating, to say the least.
I have always had quality trainers in my employ, and I am proud of the fact that we don’t ever sell out to the fitness cliche of a super buff trainer in a far too revealing outfit as a come on or as a qualification of employment at the Austin Fitness Center. That’s not how we do business. Clients come to us because we know more. It’s as simple as that. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always mean that a client won’t be changing personal trainers, as it’s not just a black and white issue. There’s logistics to consider. Personalities at play, etc. It’s just a fact of life that not everyone will stick around. You don’t stay in touch with everyone you’ve ever known, and you’ve likely changed jobs more than a few times in your life. These things happen, and are perfectly natural. So is changing personal trainers. For someone working out with a trainer they do not feel is qualified, or senses a personality mismatch, you absolutely should move on to something that will benefit you more, whether you feel a kinship with them or not.
Not so long ago a gentleman came to the gym, with his wife and signed her up for training with one of my employees. His plan was to exercise on his own while his wife was working out with her trainer. I noticed he was doing exercises that he had no business doing considering his imbalances. He was heading down the one way road to some serious injuries. When I pointed out a few things to him and politely offered up some suggestions on better, more appropriate exercises for him, as well as how he should be doing them, he immediately asked if he could train with me. During our initial session, we worked to correct some of the issues he was having, and he told me he has a trainer in a different part of town who has him doing 250 pushups, for example. I explained that he shouldn’t be doing any pushups at all until his levator scapulae. trapezius, and infraspinatus were lengthened,and subsequently strengthened. He said he wanted to fire his incompetent trainer, but couldn’t because they had become friends over the years. This is something that happens in a lot of gyms. Unqualified and inexperienced trainers are more like workout buddies than personal trainers, and ultimately, you’ll not only waste a lot of money with them, but you could get very hurt in the process. Changing personal trainers in this scenario would be very beneficial. Friendships are one thing, but business is business. If the trainer is really your friend, he or she will be fine with that. I have had to tell friends that training was a waste of time and money because they weren’t willing to put forth the effort needed to succeed, and while it was awkward for a moment, we are still every bit friends that we always have been. Friendships and business are 2 different things.
As a gym owner who loses a quality personal trainer, it’s tough on the business end of things, but it’s also tough because you lose a part of your team that you depend on to make you successful. In the end, it all works out, no pun intended, of course, and everyone finds a new groove in which they can be happy and succeed in. Changing personal trainers every so often, is part of life for me as a gym owner, unfortunately, but we always come out ahead with a great new employee, a refreshed outlook and optimism, and everyone moves upward and onward to better things.
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Andy
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