Pros And Cons Of Hiring A Fitness Coach
63% of ladies and gents fail to follow through on their fitness goals [1]. Big number right?
In real world terms that means when you hear someone say or post about the start of a fitness journey..
Their desire to build muscle, lose body fat, improve health, and/or be outright more active? There’s a greater than great chance they will indeed not stick to that journey.
Which leaves 37% that will stick to the journey, those living by the “I will never quit code”.
However.
Although not quitting is how you reach any sort of success, it doesn’t translate to experiencing success.
We have categories:
Jacks and Jills that start and fall off.
Jacks and Jills that go after it and don’t fall off, but aren’t exactly making strides.
The ones that reach their physique goals one way or another, yet lose out on the achievements because they’re unsure of how to maintain.
And of course, the ones that set a goal, reach it, and apply the physical and mental fitness maintenance measures going forward.
You know what makes you most likely to fall into category number 4? Hiring a fitness coach.
Not to mention, the leading causes of death are all heart related and many of those relations are a byproduct of obesity and/or poor health habits [2].
So, there’s a healthy need to get and keep people healthy.
And there’s a healthy need to help real people reach their fitness goals. I’ll say again.. it’s unlikely to see success.
A fitness coach’s job is to teach you how to make your goals reality, and guide you through the process in an economical manner.
But how do you find the right one? How do you vet a fitness coach to know he or she is legit?
In such a low barrier to entry industry hiring a trainer is a fearful endeavor.. no matter how necessary it may be.
So, in this journal entry we’ll cover: the differences between a personal trainer and a fitness coach, why you should or shouldn’t hire a coach, what makes a coach good, how to find the right one, and much more.
By the end you’ll know if hiring a trainer is right for you and what steps to take next.
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Pros And Cons Of Hiring A Fitness Coach
What Is The Difference Between A Personal Trainer And A Fitness Coach
Personal trainers and fitness coaches share in that they’re fitness professionals prescribing dietary, exercise, and recovery protocols to help a client realize their fitness related goals.
IE build muscle, lose body fat, improve health, endurance, gain strength, and so on.
To split these hairs, there’s a technical divergence between a personal trainer and a fitness coach.
Personal trainers (PT) guide workouts, usually provide dietary instructions, and likely will prescribe “homework” which would be workouts to do on your own. Yet it’s not uncommon for a PT to keep it strictly about the exercises you do together.
The practice of personal training dates back to the ancient Greeks of 776 BC, before it was seen as an occupation [3]. Training one personally was in preparation for the gruel of the Olympic Games.
On the other hand, a fitness coach oversees exercise protocol, dietary protocols, and works on adjusting a client’s lifestyle as a whole, for long-term adherence.
..slight distinction.
While trainers typically do their deeds in-person. Fitness coaches are typically online, with some implementing a combination of online and in-person tactics.
Being that online fitness coaches can handle business from anywhere in the world, an advantage is they can make a living working with niche clients, without scheduling restraints.
And still a disadvantage is an inability to physically adjust a client’s form or positioning, to improve an exercise’s effectiveness or reduce injury risk. Or even study breathing patterns for that matter. Part of why creativity and being a clear, concise communicator is key to impactful online fitness coaching.
Note: Online coaches that aren’t the best communicators should seek experienced clients for safety purposes.
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Online Fitness Training Options
Online fitness training has quite a spectrum of options with online fitness coaching being the most involved. But here’s a list of what’s out there:
Fitness Apps
Just like you have an app for the weather, for your notes, or for how often you use the bathroom (yes those exist).. there are smart phone apps for fitness.
Features vary, but generally provide a combination of:
Community
Workout routines
Meal plans
Don’t forget those annoying “it’s gym time” alerts
Sleep tracking
Exercise library
On-Demand Classes
On-demand classes are like having a workout DVD back in the day. If you’re familiar with what a DVD is of course.
Somebody reading this probably hasn’t a clue what a DVD is, and that’s okay.
I’ve come to terms with my place on the timeline 😆. But on-demand classes are workouts you can follow along with while tuning in whenever you please.
Think Tae-bo, think P90X, think something you can subscribe to on YouTube.
Solo or group classes, just in your living room, hotel room, or beyond. I’ve seen folks in the gym with a phone propped up while locked-in on an on-demand routine.
Streaming Classes
A streaming class is all I mentioned with on-demand, minus the on-demand part. It’s in real time.
There’s a time and internet-based location for you to show up ready for work.
One benefit is the communal aspect and the urgency of “it’s happening here and now”.
Note: Sometimes streamed classes are available for use after the session airs.
Custom Written Programs
Custom-written programs don’t exactly fall into the online fitness training category. But their adjacent nature is worth a mention.
Custom-written programs are as the name suggests. They’re plans created for a fitness enthusiast to follow on their own. Crafted for a personal set of goals.
There’s no limit to what a program can include or exclude. There can be specialty plans that only include diet, only include a specific body part, maybe full training and diet guidance, just workouts, and so on.
The main barrier to calling it online fitness training or coaching is an ongoing agreement and/or communication. Once you receive your plan that’s about it.
Pre-made Fitness Plans
Pre-made fitness plans are in the same “close to, but not quite” boat as custom-written programs. The differentiator is they are already designed for a particular aim, IE lose body fat while building muscle, or lean bulk.
Although not custom to you, these have value if the information is written well enough to adapt the variables to your situation.
Usually in the form of a phone friendly PDF.
Online Fitness Coaching
Online fitness coaching is the pinnacle of online fitness training.
With online fitness coaching an expert (hopefully) guides your workout, recovery, diet, and overall lifestyle direction. The idea is to seamlessly sow mental, physical, relational, and professional health together in a sustainable way.
This means developing a personalized plan for you to abide by and regularly review the status of.. based on progress or lack-thereof for strategic adjustments.
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Types Of Fitness Trainers
So many wants, so many needs. So many experiences, specialties, and avenues for education.. as humans we’re the same in a lot of ways and different in a lot of ways.
You can say the same for types of fitness trainers.
You can pretty much find a trainer or coach that either targets a particular niche or has enough experience in a particular niche to make your goals reality, whatever they are.
You can find coaches that specialize in:
Pre/post-natal Fitness
Senior Fitness
Youth Exercise
Bodybuilding and Physique
Performance Training
Corrective Exercise
Weight Loss
Weight Gain
Group Fitness
Group Personal Training
Stretching and Flexibility
Nutrition
Wellness
Strength
And so on. This is by no means a comprehensive list.
Reasons To Hire A Fitness Coach
With advancements in technology and of course pride.. I’m a fitness coach that’s not unfamiliar with the question:
“Why would I need a fitness coach?”
I could go on for quite a while with specifics, however they all nestle into two broad categories.
The why boils down to one of two reasons:
Expertise you don’t have. You don’t know what you don’t know, and that will hurt you on a fitness journey figuratively and possibly literally.
You have enough knowledge and understanding, but lack the drive or a system for continued implementation. Or you aren’t able to objectively oversee the process.
Reason 2 is why it’s not uncommon for coaches to hire coaches. There’s also the fact that even the best of the best can benefit from an extra set of eyes.
Hence bodybuilders hiring coaches prior to competition despite years of experience.
But back to the statistic. 63% don’t stick to their fitness goals, that means something [1].
One way to cut some of the time between “I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m not getting results” and “I now know what I’m doing, look at these muscles” is hiring a professional.
So first ask yourself: do you know what to do, when to do it, how it should be done, and do you have formidable guardrails in place to ensure it is continuously done? A way to honor your duty when motivation lacks?
Internally ponder:
“Can I sustain a system on my own as I am currently wired?”
“Can I objectively oversee my own path to mental and physical fitness success?”
There’s no pride to consider, there’s only reality to deal with. You know yourself better than anyone else.
Many have tried and failed and decided not to repeat that mistake by hiring a professional.
Reality is reality.
Now, more reasons to hire a fitness professional rapid fire style.
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What You Get When You Hire A Fitness Coach
Expertise
Accountability
You get your workouts mapped
Goals properly set and tracked
Performance monitored
Progress evaluated beyond a scale or body fat percentage,
Variables appropriately adjusted
And more
You’re much more likely to reach your goals, 80% of personal training clients continue because they’re satisfied with their results [5]
Ensured consistency
Remedies for when you plateau or progress stalls
Direction
A personalized strategy tailored to your current abilities, lifestyle, health and injury history, dietary habits, and exercise habits that progresses with you
Prescribed diet and exercise habits with your current status and desired status in mind
Reduced injury risk because an expert understands technique, workout splits, progressive overload, and what can be handled based on your current ability and injury history
Education
Shortened time to success
Exercise selection
Periodization
Technique enhancement
Realistic goal setting
Support
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Pros And Cons Of Hiring A Fitness Coach
Advantages Of Online Fitness Coaching
Convenient schedule
Flexibility
Custom to you
Less intimidating than in-person
Can move at a personalized pace
Easily adapted to your lifestyle
Usually cheaper than in-person
More privacy
Professional knowledge
Easier to find a coach you relate to
More coaches to choose from
Not limited by location
Less difficulty changing coaches if it doesn’t work out
Chance to learn how to abide by a routine at your pace
Easier to vet a coach’s background
Start with a plan TODAY
Disadvantages Of Online Fitness Coaching
Could feel impersonal with a bad coach
Takes more effort to make form corrections
You need a degree of self-motivation
Bad fit potential
Easy to mislead your coach about whether or not you’re adhering to the strategy (yes clients lie sometimes)
Advantages Of In-person Fitness Training
Knowledge from a professional
Easy real time adjustments
Lowered injury risk
Scheduled workouts
Disadvantages Of In-person Fitness Training
Time constraints, especially with back-to-back clients
Scheduling limits
Dietary protocols aren’t always included
Usually more expensive than online for a quality trainer
Harder to vet
Harder to find the right trainer with the right location and the right availability
Bad fit potential makes for a worse experience when you have to show up face to face
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Advantages Of Training Without A Coach
You won’t have to pay somebody
You’ll save money if you know how to expedite results
You get to play by your own rules
Disadvantages Of Training Without A Coach
Hard to say what’s going well or not
No professional to consult or confide in
No certainty on if you’re executing the plan properly
Potential to waste a lot of time not making progress and ultimately money
Potential to waste a lot of money on unnecessary aids a professional may deem unnecessary for your case and cause
No fast tracking of results
You’ll have to teach yourself how to program
No accountability
No “skin in the game” making it easier to quit
No social or commitment pressure keeping you engaged
You’ll possibly be delaying the inevitable that is of paying a fitness coach to reach your goals
What To Look For In A Personal Trainer Or Fitness Coach
You work hard for your money, so hard that you only want to spend your money in places that bring you value. Places that make your life easier.
I hope.
To spend your hard-earned bucks and get fitness results it’ll take some research. A degree of research and a degree of instinct usage.
As life currently stands, social media will likely drive most of your coaching search. And I know it’s not an easy process when everyone that finds a way to lose 7-10 pounds puts “fit” in their name.
So you have the not really trainers and the dedicated coaches showing up on the same list.. all because of “fit”.
Including me 😆. But I do contend I coined my name very early in the Instagram era.
All in all the green flags of a fitness coach that knows a thing or two are:
They make good use of captions on social media
They maintain a fitness blog
They have a consistent routine of their own with obvious results
They practice what they preach
They have fitness certifications or applicable degrees
They have years of industry experience
They can show success stories
They have no issues discussing your potential plan of action
They effectively convey a message
They effectively listen to a message
They’re willing to set up a consultation call
They’re serious about uncovering your needs, your motivations, and your goals
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How To Find A Personal Trainer
The tough part about putting your money in the right in-person personal trainer’s pockets is you need a location, availability, and specialty match.
You need access to one another, schedules have to line up, and they need the knowledge to get you where you want to be.
To check these boxes you’ll scour the web, see if you can find relevant references maybe from a friend, coworker, or family member, you’ll turn to social media, and/or see who may fit your needs at a local gym.
The web:
Craig’s list, dedicated personal trainer sites like Bark or FitnessTrainer, you can google search trainers in your area, and so on.
References:
Have a friend that made an impressive transformation? Ask for details about their trainer, see if it sounds like the right fit.
Social media:
Look through location tags, hashtags relevant to your area, or type personal trainer in (insert city) on the search tab.
Local gyms:
Call gyms around town inquiring about a PT that works for you. Or try the gym you’re already a member at.
Some facilities are strictly PT gyms and almost all others offer some version of personal training, so you’ll have options.. unless you’re in a “one horse” town like what my first college was. We didn’t even have a Walmart.
Also plan the questions you have for a potential trainer ahead of time. When you meet for your consultation, pay attention to how they communicate and address issues to ensure the fit feels right.
How To Find An Online Fitness Coach
The easiest way to find an online fitness coach is to turn to social media. Reason is you can get more intel on their style of communication and a hint of what knowledge they may or may not have the fastest there.
Chances are you follow a few or your algorithm plants a few potentially good coaches in your line of sight.. day after day.
I know how these algorithms work, you can click on one weightlifting video and you’ll see 30 more shortly afterward 😆.
But you can further search for an online fitness coach using:
Social media search engines
Hashtags
Explore pages
Google
Online trainer directories
Fitness blogs
And word of mouth AKA references still apply
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Services Offered By A Good Online Fitness Coach
A good online fitness coach’s playbook is full of plays designed to put you in position to win.
They should offer:
Mandatory check-ins
Text support
A flexible nutrition program
Resistance training and cardio guidance
Exercise execution instructions
Avenues to correct exercises
Empathy without allowing excuses
The willingness to push you
Personalized structure
A willingness to adapt their philosophy on the fly, being that one size does not fit all
A good online fitness coach has a usual method to their madness, but takes the time to understand your specific version of the goal before tailoring their strategy to your lifestyle.
It’s about you and your success more than it’s about “watch how my method always works”.
Price Considerations When Hiring A Fitness Coach
As with all things you get what you pay for. However, when it comes to pushing purchase on the service price think about:
Services offered
Level of expertise
Available equipment
Location
Demand
Solo or group training
Session length
Number of sessions or weeks
Package length
Payment options
Flexibility
Adaptability
Communication frequency
If it costs a bit too much or if you want a ballpark sample, see if they offer eBooks.
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How Much It Costs To Hire A Fitness Trainer
Again, for fitness coaching or personal training price points it’s similar to commerce in all sectors..
You get what you pay for.
Cheaper may be cheaper for a reason, yet that doesn’t mean you need to sell off your personal assets for a 12 week package.
The numbers have to make sense, but as long as your potential coach or trainer is able to convey the value of their work, you’ll be comfortable paying the price to be a better version of yourself.
In-Person Fitness Training Cost
In-person fitness training typically ranges from $40-$125 with a national average of $55 according to thumbtack [4]. Free lancers or trainers running their own business set their own prices. Outliers would be celebrity trainers. They probably cost $125 per minute 😆.
Trainers working under a gym’s umbrella usually have structured prices without wiggle room. They offer a certain number of packages at a certain price point, end of discussion. And they take home a certain percentage of the package price.
Online Fitness Coaching Cost
Online fitness coaching costs vary a bit more than in-person, in fact it can range from $80 to $1,200 monthly.
Is It Worth Hiring A Fitness Coach
Worth is relative, but..
If you’ve concluded you aren’t in the position to attach yourself to your mind and body goals without assistance.
And you find great value in reaching those goals, hiring a fitness coach is absolutely worth the investment.
Again, even trainers hire trainers.
It cuts your time to goal down and/or makes it possible in the first place. Someone to see things from a view you don’t have, and with a skillset you don’t have makes things more economical.
And we sometimes forget it’s their job, they know their job better than you as a part-time fitness person. Similar to how you know your profession more thoroughly than them.
It’s like looking at a cardiac surgeon and saying you can pull up a YouTube video and complete your own heart operation.
The surgeon went through a learning and trial period to perfect their craft.
Same applies to fitness coaching on a different scale.
But the issue is usually about price. If a coach wanted to train for free most would be all in, so it’s usually about price.
“Should I pay x dollars for a fitness coach?”
Well..
The chances are you have a bit of wiggle room in your budget if you compare it to running into long-term health issues. Obesity costs an American $1,861-3,097 more annually due to health care prices, than what a person in a healthy weight class pays [5].
Or consider what you’d have available if you were to cut down on fast food spending or Starbucks trips.
Or if you gave up on quick fix expensive supplements proven to not even provide a placebo effect.
Can’t forget to mention Uber Eats. My daughter had some unknown individual knocking on my front door on a Saturday night.. unannounced. I was not expecting company 🤨.
The moral is you pay for experience and their ability to get you where you need to be with less effort, and in a more efficient and sustainable timeframe.
Success is worth the ticket.
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What To Do If You Can’t Afford A Fitness Coach
Math is math. If your desire adds up and you find a coach equal to your needs, but a purchase would put your checking account balance in the minus?
You have to find another route, giving up isn’t on the table.
Payment plans
Save up for a later date
Find less expensive alternatives
A lot of fitness coaches offer options that’ll allow you to spread your package payments over a long period of time. Makes it more digestible. If segmented payments work for you, it’s a go.
If you don’t qualify for a payment plan or one isn’t offered, start a personal savings plan. Budget your funds and project a time period in which you’ll be able to afford your preferred fitness coach. Have a chat with she or he and discuss a later start date.
If you want to try something in the meantime or don’t see a clear route to training, see if your preferred coach has an alternative way to help.. IE challenges or eBooks. Those are usually at a discounted rate.
Why AI Isn’t A Good Substitute For Fitness Coaching
The artificial intelligence (AI) phenomenon is upon us.
It’s prevalent in all aspects and walks of life now. Some ways voluntary and some without consent or even knowledge.
When it comes to fitness coaching I am not a fan. It removes the personal facet that can’t be replicated.
For one, you don’t know what you don’t know, so how could you ask the right questions to figure what you should know? I’m also unconvinced a form of software, no matter how adaptable, can hold you accountable..
Just silence the notifications. No peer pressure or social responsibility to communicate in the slightest.
So AI would have to:
Ask the right questions
Probe a question’s responses correctly
Have a feel for when to push, pull, or relax based on a client’s temperament
Deeply understand a client’s goals when they don’t have the appropriate words to convey them
Adjust programming in real time
And you as a client would have to be completely transparent in your recaps in the absence of strategic probing.
I see AI as just something in the way of you getting the results you yearn for.
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My Thoughts
Overall health, muscle, reduced stress, cardiovascular strength, muscle again, less body fat, don’t forget muscle 😆, and more can come with exercise. Can’t let that be forgotten.
Investment in health and wellbeing isn’t “cool” like buying a pair of sneakers, but when you live it? It brings the most internal and external value.. no matter how “unflashy” it is. It turns more heads than any material item, your head and others.
Hiring a trainer is similar to a therapist, not only in the outside point of view sense, but also in that they’ll challenge you in a way a loved one or you yourself wouldn’t be able to.
Doctors, lawyers, judges, personal trainers, fitness coaches.. there are professions for a reason. You cant watch a 0.6 minute video and know how to build a house. There is an art to this.
Keep in mind this is a way of living. Do not expect freebies. Do you do freebies at work?
Alright, Pros And Cons Of Hiring A Fitness Coach, It’s About That Time
And there you have it. I appreciate you making it to this point of the journal. It means a lot and hopefully the information provided gave you what you came for.
Today we covered the specifics of what a fitness coach is, what a high quality coach offers, and how to find one that suits your needs.
Most people may fail along their fitness journey, but that has nothing to do with you. With information and fortitude success is only a commitment away.
So is a fitness coach in your future?
Whether it’s a yes or a no, just ensure you - Be Great.
Sources:
[1] pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8194699/
[2] cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
[3] timetoast.com/timelines/personal-training
[4] thumbtack.com/p/personal-trainer-cost
[5] fitsw.com/blog/how-personal-trainer-software-affects-retention-rates