Being a personal trainer for quite some time now, I've helped dozens of clients with their fitness and health goals. I've had my clients achieve their goals, and helped them maintain. I've also had clients who have struggled to reach their goals and they couldn't seem to figure out why.
It's my job to help give my clients a path to follow to achieve their health/weight loss/fitness goals. It's a lot of work, but I love it. I do consultations with my clients, find out where they need help, I make the workout program, get them working on their nutrition, if they do in person I schedule sessions with them, if they are online I check in multiple times per week, schedule check-in phone calls, update their training programs, etc, etc.
However, I have discovered much to my dismay, although I put in a lot of effort and work on my end to help my clients work towards their goals, I cannot force people to do the work on their end. I cannot force my clients to show up to their sessions, or do the workouts on their own, nor can I be there with them every hour of the day to ensure they are following my nutrition recommendations and that they are eating properly for their goals.
Sadly, I am not a magician. If I cannot get my clients to put forth some effort of their own, they will not reach their goals. You see, much to some people's assumptions, hiring a personal trainer or health coach will not fix your problems if you do not put in the work! Kind of like hiring a math tutor will not make you ace your tests if you do not actually study and do the homework.
As someone who has been through their own personal fitness and health journey, I can tell you that having help and guidance from a coach/trainer is essential for most people to succeed. It is very rare that you will find someone who has been through a full lifestyle change for better health not had help or guidance along the way.
Hiring a trainer helps to take the guessing out of the process. You get workouts and nutrition planning to get towards your goals, and someone to turn to for guidance and advice. But, and I cannot emphasize this enough, you have to put in the work!
I've had a couple of people come to me and say they've had programs or trainers in the past and claim "it didn't work". I am going to be brutally honest and say that its not the program that didn't work. I can almost guarantee you the program was most likely just fine. The problem was that you didn't follow the 3 C's!
What are the 3 C's?
Compliance, Consistency & Communication!
Why are these 3 C's important? They are important because they can make or break your success.
Let's start with the first one, compliance. Compliance meaning you are actually complying, following and executing the plan given to you. If I give you a program for 3 workouts a week for the next month and you do zero or maybe 2 workouts in that month, are you actually following my recommendations? If I give you a nutrition plan for a caloric deficit, and increasing protein for fat loss and you refuse to change your eating habits, are you being compliant?
The second, consistency. If you are being compliant, great, that is step 1. Step 2 means you are consistent with it. It means you are consistently making effort to get in those 3 workouts, week after week. You're being consistent, even if you don't "feel like it" because you know if you keep going, results will come. If you are being consistent with eating mindfully and choosing mostly nutrient-dense foods suited for your goals and doing your workouts, you will move forward towards your goals! The constant effort of moving forward towards your goals is what's going to get you there. Even if it's a slow process, if you're consistent with your compliance (see what I did there!) you will get there!
The last one, and in my mind the most important: COMMUNICATION. If I don't know you're struggling, I cannot help you in overcoming the obstacles. If you don't give feedback about your workouts, nutrition plans, etc, how can I know you are following my recommendations and that they are/aren't working for you? I put a lot of emphasis on communication with my clients. Hence why I check in so often because I want to know how you're doing.
I want to know what you're feeling good about and what you're struggling with. It's my job as a trainer and a coach to help in any way I can. But I can only help if you communicate with me.
When I have clients suddenly fall off the radar, not answering my messages, not checking in for their workouts, not talking to me during our sessions, I get worried. I get worried because I want my clients to succeed. I want them to reach their goals and feel amazing about themselves.
Helping people and seeing them succeed makes me so amazingly happy about what I do. But when they start slipping away, I know they are checking out mentally (and physically). I know when they check out and slip away, they stop their workouts, they don't eat well and they feel discouraged and frustrated. That being said, struggles happen and it is totally ok to sometimes feel frustrated with the process. I always tell my clients, it's not an easy process, it is hard, and there are times you will struggle, but it is so worth it when you stick to it. When I can get my clients to communicate with me about their struggles, I do everything in my power to help them and get them back on track.
Just like anything else in life, it is important to have a team to support you and help you, but you must take charge of the journey for yourself. As a trainer, it is my job to support you and give you the best plan for you, but without complying with said plan, not being consistent and not communicating with me, you cannot expect to reach your goals.
It's my job to help give my clients a path to follow to achieve their health/weight loss/fitness goals. It's a lot of work, but I love it. I do consultations with my clients, find out where they need help, I make the workout program, get them working on their nutrition, if they do in person I schedule sessions with them, if they are online I check in multiple times per week, schedule check-in phone calls, update their training programs, etc, etc.
However, I have discovered much to my dismay, although I put in a lot of effort and work on my end to help my clients work towards their goals, I cannot force people to do the work on their end. I cannot force my clients to show up to their sessions, or do the workouts on their own, nor can I be there with them every hour of the day to ensure they are following my nutrition recommendations and that they are eating properly for their goals.
Sadly, I am not a magician. If I cannot get my clients to put forth some effort of their own, they will not reach their goals. You see, much to some people's assumptions, hiring a personal trainer or health coach will not fix your problems if you do not put in the work! Kind of like hiring a math tutor will not make you ace your tests if you do not actually study and do the homework.
As someone who has been through their own personal fitness and health journey, I can tell you that having help and guidance from a coach/trainer is essential for most people to succeed. It is very rare that you will find someone who has been through a full lifestyle change for better health not had help or guidance along the way.
Hiring a trainer helps to take the guessing out of the process. You get workouts and nutrition planning to get towards your goals, and someone to turn to for guidance and advice. But, and I cannot emphasize this enough, you have to put in the work!
I've had a couple of people come to me and say they've had programs or trainers in the past and claim "it didn't work". I am going to be brutally honest and say that its not the program that didn't work. I can almost guarantee you the program was most likely just fine. The problem was that you didn't follow the 3 C's!
What are the 3 C's?
Compliance, Consistency & Communication!
Why are these 3 C's important? They are important because they can make or break your success.
Let's start with the first one, compliance. Compliance meaning you are actually complying, following and executing the plan given to you. If I give you a program for 3 workouts a week for the next month and you do zero or maybe 2 workouts in that month, are you actually following my recommendations? If I give you a nutrition plan for a caloric deficit, and increasing protein for fat loss and you refuse to change your eating habits, are you being compliant?
The second, consistency. If you are being compliant, great, that is step 1. Step 2 means you are consistent with it. It means you are consistently making effort to get in those 3 workouts, week after week. You're being consistent, even if you don't "feel like it" because you know if you keep going, results will come. If you are being consistent with eating mindfully and choosing mostly nutrient-dense foods suited for your goals and doing your workouts, you will move forward towards your goals! The constant effort of moving forward towards your goals is what's going to get you there. Even if it's a slow process, if you're consistent with your compliance (see what I did there!) you will get there!
The last one, and in my mind the most important: COMMUNICATION. If I don't know you're struggling, I cannot help you in overcoming the obstacles. If you don't give feedback about your workouts, nutrition plans, etc, how can I know you are following my recommendations and that they are/aren't working for you? I put a lot of emphasis on communication with my clients. Hence why I check in so often because I want to know how you're doing.
I want to know what you're feeling good about and what you're struggling with. It's my job as a trainer and a coach to help in any way I can. But I can only help if you communicate with me.
When I have clients suddenly fall off the radar, not answering my messages, not checking in for their workouts, not talking to me during our sessions, I get worried. I get worried because I want my clients to succeed. I want them to reach their goals and feel amazing about themselves.
Helping people and seeing them succeed makes me so amazingly happy about what I do. But when they start slipping away, I know they are checking out mentally (and physically). I know when they check out and slip away, they stop their workouts, they don't eat well and they feel discouraged and frustrated. That being said, struggles happen and it is totally ok to sometimes feel frustrated with the process. I always tell my clients, it's not an easy process, it is hard, and there are times you will struggle, but it is so worth it when you stick to it. When I can get my clients to communicate with me about their struggles, I do everything in my power to help them and get them back on track.
Just like anything else in life, it is important to have a team to support you and help you, but you must take charge of the journey for yourself. As a trainer, it is my job to support you and give you the best plan for you, but without complying with said plan, not being consistent and not communicating with me, you cannot expect to reach your goals.
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