Qualities of a Personal Trainer

​Personal trainers are enthusiastic people who are passionate about helping others hit their fitness goals. With a genuine interest in their clients they help them adopt positive daily habits that improve health and well-being. This is achieved by creating tailored fitness programmes that keep clients motivated, tracking forwards to achieve their goals.

Good personal trainers know that it’s not just the calibre of their training plan that counts but also their values, attitude and mind-set.

1 – Honesty

Top of our PT skills list  is honesty. It’s the personal trainer’s role to assess and identify client capabilities and to establish realistic goals and targets.

2 – Motivating

No two clients are the same. A PT will frequently need to adopt a wide range of motivational styles that cater for different needs. While one client may be really driven by an upbeat, interactive approach, another may find this irritating and switch off.

3 – Open Communication

Being a good communicator is essential for all aspects of the PT role. In  strong relationships with clients, they will open up more and more about their own challenges. For example, with their weight, health or personal life and it’s the PT’s job to show understanding and support.

4 – Supportive

Another important quality of a good personal trainer is being supportive. Clients are on a journey that at times will be challenging and by understanding their feelings,  a personal trainer can offer meaningful solutions.

5 – Customer Focused

Providing great customer service is vital. The client should be the pesonal trainer’s only focus for the duration of their session. Also, it’s important to strike the balance between service and client expectations.

6 – Empathetic

Empathy is a communication skill that helps forge relationships.

It helps to recognise different client circumstances and offer tailored support, understanding and insight. Used correctly, this enables to support clients through setbacks and challenging situations.

7 – Knowledge

This is paramount in terms of the skills needed to succeed as a personal trainer. Knowledge can be broken down into two aspects.

Firstly, the technical knowledge, which refers to professional expertise. For example, a high competence in explaining exercise selection and muscle groups targeted.

Second, is industry knowledge, ehich is a wider understanding of the active leisure sector, changes and key trends.

8 – Ethical

Another important value of a personal trainer is that of ethical conduct. Sounds fairly obvious? Working within their professional capabilities, the industry code of conduct and the client’s fitness levels at all times. Being ready to find solutions and a common ground that helps the client move forwards.
 

Sources: Academyof Fitness Professionals