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2006/03/24, 04:44 AM
Friends, Roman, Trainers, i need some help. I'm writing a dissertation on the decline in basic programme writing and general advice given to members in gyms. As there are so many personal trainers wanting to charge members for advice they seem to feel that if anyone is doing something wrong 'they should have had a personal training session then'. This in my opinion is wrong wrong wrong! Your opinions please. Many thanks, Kev
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2006/03/24, 08:20 AM
Kev - it may be that the clubs are to blame. When I worked in the big name clubs you were instructed to be constantly hitting on the clientele for training (walking up, talking to them, correcting their form, trying to get them in for a consultation). It got ridiculous, to the point where the gym memebers complianed because they couldn't workout without a trainer appraoching them, and as soon as they saw a trainer headed their way they would go the other direction.
Many trainers in gym don't write programs because they don't have much education in program design and because they aren't pauid by the club for their program design time, they are paid to get people to spend money.
The clubs I worked in changed their training philosophy so many times it would make your head spin - they were always trying to catch the next trend or fad. We trainers were forced to use the newest methods..even if they weren't effective. This was one of the reasons I left and started my own business - they wanted me doing 'functional' 'dynamic' training with my client's who had bad knees, atrthritis, etc and didn't have enough function to walk quickly, much less balance on a BOSU while having a med ball thrown at them. I believe that there is aplace for all of those types of training, but you have to evealuate the needs and abilities of each client and design their program to increase function for them, whether that means walking without tipping over or being able to squat on a swiss ball. The clubs rarely have trainers who specialize in different populations, most are young fitness enthusiasts who have been picked by the gym because they look good and have gone through the gm's own certification course. The top trainers aren't found in chain type gyms because those gyms don't pay their trainers crap. Every month that I hit my sales quota, they increased it - am I a trainer or a sales person? Even once you had as many clients as you could fit into your schedule, you were expected to sell more training packages (and who will train those people?).
I also saw/heard trainers at the gym tell prospective clients that they could prepare them for a bodybuilding show 9the same trainer turns to me, after the guy signed up and left, and says "you will help me, right?" Well, maybe you shouldn't tell people you know something that you don't. then I had to watch while he trained this guy completely ineffectively).
I think that trainers should give some advice freely - My approach was that if I saw someone doing something wrong/dangerous I would approach and initiate a conversation, asking about thier goals. then I would ask if maybe I could show them a more effective way to perform the exercise they were doing, or maybe a more effective alternate. Then I would walk away. If they found my advice useful, they knew they could find me in the training center.
There are a lot of people, however, who want to sit with you in a consultation and have you design a full diet plan, workout program, etc for free. You have to know how much to give away and how much your knowledge is worth. I paid a lot for my schooling and certifications, and the gym definitely didn't pay enough hourly for me to sit and give it all away for free. You have to consider that, when not training, most gyms pay there trainers about 6 dollars an hour. If they pay them. Some require the trainers to be there without pay (how is that legal?). Unless you are selling training or training a client, you are pretty much working for nothing.
Gyms use to give free equipment orientation - some still do, some don't. I know that many of my clients came from the introductory 'free session' because they felt they needed guidance.
One problem with program design in the clubs, though, is the clientele. You can't very well get a client on a year-long periodization plan if they aren't going to be consistent and keep showing up. I had a definite progressive program for all of my clients - but most of the time it was one step forward, two steps back because they failed to show up consistently or didn't do the work on their own that they needed to. It is rare to find a client who will commit and do whatever you tell them to. Maybe if the clubs/trainers made it more affordable..I don't know.
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If you have a strong enough why you can bear almost any how.
- Nietzsche
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