5 Skills Needed to be a Personal Trainer

Mere qualifications and certifications although important, are certainly not enough to guarantee success in the profession of a personal trainer. There are a few other special attributes that would make all the difference between a successful personal trainer who is popular and sought after and another who is not attracting as many clients. Knowing what are the 5 skills needed to be a personal trainer would go a long way in building a strong reputation in the fitness industry which would then send the best clientele your way.

1. Personality and Social Skills: More than any other profession, it helps for a personal trainer to have an extrovert nature and a cheerful disposition. A friendly, outgoing personality will make people quickly warm up to you and look forward to their workout sessions with you. Nobody would enjoy being with a trainer who simply trains in a matter of fact manner and remains distant and disinterested with the clients. A successful trainer goes out of his way to connect with the clients by having them talk about themselves and asking open ended questions to get an insight into their requirements and inclinations. This helps the personal trainer to win the clients’ trust and to better understand their fitness goals.
2. Leadership: Personal training is all about inspiring people to work their bodies towards achieving certain fitness goals. This is by no means an easy task as the trainer has to help them shake off the natural lethargy that is the most common obstacle to exercising. They have to know how to motivate their clients to sweat it out and push the limits of their endurance in order for them to complete a workout routine. The essence of leadership lies in the ability to influence and lead people without being overbearing. It also involves commanding the respect of your clients, making them want to follow you.
3. Professionalism and Discipline: Like with any other career, personal trainers too need to show the highest standards of professionalism in the way they dress, the manner in which they conduct themselves with their clients. It is extremely important to be polite and sincere in your dealings with your clients and to show that you value their time by always being punctual. The path to fitness entails lifestyle changes and calls for a great deal of commitment and self control. Today’s stress filled and fast paced lives have made it so easy to succumb to temptations that await us at every nook and cranny. The ideal personal trainer must lead by example and pro actively show and lead clients on the path of health and fitness. “Practice what you preach” should be your motto, if you want to gain the respect of your clients.
4. Empathy: As a personal trainer, fitness may be your forte but you need to be sensitive to the physical limitations of your clients and take care to ensure that they do not feel discouraged at their inability to do a particular workout. A successful personal trainer would keep in mind that his clients come from diverse backgrounds and professions and may take a while to break free from the habits and schedules they have been following for so many years. You must be able to strike the right tone which is a combination of empathy and firmness else it may put them off fitness altogether.
5. Creativity: Going by the book rarely works in any field and it is much the same in personal training as well. Every individual has unique aptitudes, tendencies and thresholds. For a personal trainer, the skill lies in being able to discern individual potential and design specific programs that are tailor made to suit individual requirements. A lot of imagination and creativity is needed in order to keep up the interest levels of the client and prevent monotony from setting in. A personal trainer has to be on his toes to find innovative methods of training and to design challenging but enjoyable workout routines that ensure that clients are always motivated and not getting bored with their sessions.

To sum it up, personal trainers mainly need to develop and polish their interpersonal skills so that they can connect better with their clients on a one to one basis and can come across as a fine blend of professional expertise and a people centric personality.