Everyone wants results right? But just because you pay a trainer x amount of money doesn’t mean that you are going to get results.
Even though the trainer you work with may have some amazing success stories and looks in amazing shape themselves does not mean that you will get the same result. There are a plethora of reasons why you don’t actually get results; some based on the trainers incompetencies, your incompetencies, the fitness industries distorted reality, general impatience, following the wrong plans or just not knowing what it is that you actually want.
When hiring a trainer you are essentially buying an instruction manual. It can give you a structure and guide to make you get a result faster but ultimately it is up to you to do the work.
People often blame trainers for not getting results. They brand them bad trainers who have no idea what they are doing and trust me when I say there are a lot of trainers who fall into this category but before you place the blame on a trainer I want you to assess your own personal performance. If you want a specific result you need to adhere to a few basic principles;
1. You need to hire the right person. If you want to buy a car, you don’t go to a motorbike shop do you? The same can be said with personal training services; if you want to focus on postural correction then don’t hire a body building focused coach. You are responsible for the hire. Similarly, when you do hire this person, you need to understand that no matter how knowledgeable they are or how good of a service they provide, they still cannot get you a result unless you put in the work both in the session and outside of the session.
It is not a case of; OK I have invested the money in myself and now all I need to do is sit back and the trainer will give me my result. Honestly this is the biggest reason for failure. People want a result but are not willing to work to get the result.
This is not entirely the fault of the client however. It is the fault of the fitness industry in general. In the last 10 years the whole fitness industry has been based on getting amazing results in the quickest and easiest way possible. Its based on a false premise. Everyone is trying to sell themselves or sell a product and the best way to guarantee sales is through convincing people that what they offer can give clients amazing results in an extremely short period of time. This is why calorie restrictive diets, weight loss pills and 4 week programs are so popular. This is what people are demanding. People want to look like these beautiful fitness influencers with huge biceps and peachy bums but they want to have them immediately. That is not how it works.
Now lets get to the trainer. Trainers cannot guarantee you a result and if they do, they are not being honest. What trainers can do is provide you with a manual to get you the result you desire. Just like every profession; there are good and bad trainers. The good trainers are not actually trainers; they are coaches. They provide you with a success blueprint that you need to follow in order to get long term sustainable results.
This comes in the form of nutrition coaching (Not meal plans, not a number of calories to eat), lifestyle coaching, physical performance training and recovery protocols. Coaches educate you so that you can eventually do it yourself. Trainers spend an hour with you in the gym and focus on your Deadlift technique or how many push ups you can do. If you want to get results, educate yourself and get to a position where you do not need a coach anymore then hire a coach.
If you want to be relying on having a trainer for the rest of your life then hire a trainer. Here’s a little warning that I have for you though. “You can’t buy Champaign with beer money”, aka you get what you pay for.
Finally, if you want to guarantee your result. You need to search for the problem. As a society we suffer from shiny object syndrome; we chase the newest trend; be it Keto, IF or follow the influencer who looks the hottest. We jump at solutions because it is not trendy or sexy to be addressing the real problems, like;
Why are we not where we want to be?
What is holding us back?
Why have we failed in the past?
What do we actually want?
Do we really want to have 6 pack abs and a beautiful body or do we just want to feel good?
Are we willing to sacrifice certain things to get a result? These are questions we need to ask yourself before jumping in to find the solution. One thing I can guarantee right now is that hiring a personal trainer does not mean you are going to get results.
