The Fitness Industry: What We as Professionals Can Do To Change It & How To Establish Trust and Buy-in with Clients
The reputation of the business led fitness industry has taken a hit in recent years. Whether it be for unqualified Instagram influencers and their misplaced brand deals with snake oil companies, ‘fake natties’, unprofessional coaches, false promises or fitness fads, it seems that everyone has their own horror story. Whether we like it or not, these stories reflect on the industry as a whole and us as fitness professionals too and as a result the tides are changing. Our clientele are demanding more. The use of fitness professionals with credentials and academic preparation appear to be of increasing importance to personal training patrons (Thompson, 2020) according to research into recent fitness trends. This is in contrast to a study done by Melton, Dail, Katula and Mustain in 2011 who noted that previously, clients did not know and could not name their trainer’s qualifications but merely assumed they had some. Things move fast in this industry and this was a different time. We can no longer take the trust of our athletes for granted. Just because we care does not mean we are entitled to the trust of our trainees so how can we secure our place in this ever-changing industry? What steps can we take as professionals to earn the trust of our trainees and improve the reputation of this business? We already know our technical knowledge is and continued education is vital to delivering the best possible evidence based service so what else is there?
Eric Cressey, author, founder and owner of Cressey Sports Performance facilities talks about the importance of getting our clients to ‘buy in’ to the information and techniques we are teaching them. Building buy-in is essentially earning the right that our trainees take on, value and listen to the advice we give them as coaches, by demonstrating that our guidance is worthy of their attention. The goal of building buy-in is to strengthen the coaching relationship and ensure maximum adherence to a fitness programme to secure the best possible results for the client. Building buy-in takes work and Cressey suggests prioritising the following aspects to build trust and increase results:
Cressey states that we coaches should not only individualise our programming but take time to learn the individual learning style of our trainees. In short, the way we relay information should be adapted to the audience. As coaches, we interact with and teach lots of people with different backgrounds and experience and it is our responsibility to reach them as best we can with information to help them reach their goals. Possibly every coach has at one time felt like they were doing their best to explain fitness concepts to a client but their point wasn’t landing as intended. Developing our understanding of coaching theory can help avoid this confusion and ensure communication is effective and clear. There are four main learning styles, according to McMorris and Hale (2006): theorists, pragmatists, reflectors and activists. The theorist take time to analyse an activity before they do it and they tend to prefer training alone. Pragmatists aren’t cautious to try something out with minimal thought and questioning. Reflectors on the other hand, will always think about something before doing because they are cautious and therefore they are keen to listen to coaches on the theory of an activity. In contrast, activists are the first to try something new out and are not afraid of making errors. If we develop an understanding of how our clients like to learn, we can even adapt our coaching style accordingly.
The second point that is key to Cressey’s methods is over delivery. Coaches should be going the extra mile to get to know their trainees and demonstrate that they are willing to go above and beyond to provide support and deliver results. If our clients see that we are making an effort on their behalf, they are likely to want to do the same. Examples of this may include communicating with other experts working with our clients (for example, physiotherapists and doctors) and getting to know relevant details about the people we coach such as their preferred learning style and what environments they are most comfortable to exercise in. Bret Bartholomew, another prominent coach and author on the subject, takes this further with the suggestion that taking time to listen and relate to clients can go a long way in helping to build buy-in. He also suggests that we reflect on the way we interact with our trainees to ensure that our requests and interactions are coming across in a clear, authentic and considered manner. Filming or taping our sessions, provided all the ethical steps are taken beforehand, can help us have the self-awareness required to improve our interactions and relationships in the fitness environment.
Finally, Cressey encourages coaches to build a team or a referral network of competent professionals with complimenting skillsets to our own. Not only will this help facilitate good communication between the team surrounding our clients but it shows a professional’s humility and competence. Making appropriate referrals to other professionals when the circumstance calls for it can help clients to trust the judgement of their coach as it can show they know and respect their scope of practice, allowing clients to see that they are in the best possible hands at any given time. Bartholomew expands on this by encouraging coaches to drop their ego. It is natural to take clients asking questions we cannot answer as a threat to our credibility but admitting when do not know all the answers is key to providing a more complete service and ultimately improving the perception of our industry. With this referral network, we can carve-out a niche as a middleman of sorts, providing access to tried and true professionals in a variety of fields. These relationships provide smooth transit between professionals and help ensure a positive experience all around.
In summary, excellent communication and interpersonal skills, continuous professional development in other relevant disciplines, and having the humility to admit when we do not have all the answers will help us rebuild trust and improve the client experience within the fitness industry. Ultimately, our ability to be self-aware and our keenness to self-reflect will be the key to improving our professional competences. A flexible individualised approach can allow for adaptation to the person in front of us and not every other person we trained before. If we can improve ourselves as professionals, we can expand our reach within the industry and play our role in our development and progression of the fitness industry.
References
· Bartholomew, B. (2020, August 30). How to deal with difficult athletes. [Video]. https://brettbartholomew.net/difficultpersonalities/
· Cressey, E. (2013). 6 ways to get athletes to “buy-in”. https://ericcressey.com/6-ways-to-get-athletes-to-buy-in
· McMorris, T., & Hale, T. (2006). Coaching science theory into practice. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
· Melton, D., Dail, T. K., Katula, J. A., & Mustian, K. M. (2011). Women's Perspectives of Personal Trainers: A Qualitative Study. The sport journal, 14(1), 0104.
· Thompson, W. R. (2019) FACSM WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF FITNESS TRENDS FOR 2020, ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal: 23 (6), 10-18.
Injury Rehabilitation: The Gap Between Medical Staff and Personal Trainers in Recreational Sport.
Communicating with physiotherapists as a fitness professional working with recreational athletes is key to being able to provide a complete service to our clients. It is a fact that injuries and pain among personal training clients are not uncommon and therefore a physician who can lead a successful and speedy rehabilitation is vital. Ideally, as fitness professionals we are led by the medical professionals in charge of a client’s rehabilitation to ensure our messaging is correct and clear and that we are not slowing down the recovery process by giving conflicting or incorrect information. Thus, communication between medical and fitness professionals will go a long way to providing the best possible client experience. However, it is the experience of many fitness professionals working in recreational sport that that trying to communicate with physiotherapists is a fruitless endeavour. This is likely down to barriers such as patient confidentiality and lack of time on the part of both the fitness and medical professionals. This is an issue particularly seen in recreational sport because unlike in elite sport, the personal trainer and medical professionals do not share an employer and the organizations are rarely linked. In professional sport the situation is not perfect and barriers still exist but at least the professionals surrounding an athlete work under the same professional umbrella to provide the best possible care.
Causing a larger gap between the disciplines, as personal trainers, we are taught as soon as a movement causes pain it is out of our scope of practice. We are obligated refer out at the first signs of pain during training. On the other side of the table, physios will often discharge patients who are out of the acute phase of recovery but still having some pain in certain movements. There-in lies a problem: Who’s scope of practice is this client who cannot perform certain movements without pain but the physiotherapist considers them discharged? In practice, if a fitness professional is not equipped to help with the particular injury they are healing from, they are in a position where, to be totally safe, they must avoid movements that cause pain. This isn’t a long term strategy as it allows for muscular atrophy in the affected muscle groups and may over the long term train faulty compensatory movement patterns in order to avoid pain which are problematic in the long term. Now a problem has been established and the scene has been set, the goal of this article is to discuss possible solutions that are emerging to address these issues and how ensure the best possible and most seamless client experience after injury.
A profession that is emerging more in the recreational sport sector is the accredited exercise physiologist (AEP). As well as working with athletes, the AEP works with amateur and recreational athletes to test aspects of their physiology and create programmes based off of the results with the goal to improve health outcomes. Unlike most personal trainers, they are qualified to work with unhealthy populations as they have to undergo 4-6 years of higher education in biomechanics, cardiac rehabilitation, kinesiology, amongst others to become board certified. AEPs can be useful when attempting to bridge the gap between physiotherapy and full fitness because they are able to perform tests on clients who still have some pain and help through programming to correct problematic movements. Often, an exercise physiologist may work as a personal trainer and in many other surrounding professions so it is possible you have worked with one, thus you may already have one in your potential referral network. When a client is in pain and you as a trainer are out of your depth, refer out. A referral to an AEP is a possible option for helping support your clients when getting back to movement that is pain-free after a stint with the physiotherapist or other medical professionals.
A further option for patients in later stage rehabilitation is medical training therapy (MTT). This course is covered in many places by insurance when doctor has prescribed it. MTT is used in the later stages of injury rehabilitation and aims to help return strength, endurance, stability and coordination close to the levels they were pre-injury. This is normally prescribed for around three months and normally works by allowing patients to continue training by themselves around twice a week directly following their sessions with their physiotherapists. Their training programme is written by their physio in charge of their rehabilitation and is often supervised by other injury rehabilitation specialists. It is becoming more mainstream so asking clients to speak to their doctors about MTT maybe helpful if they are still having issues resulting from the period spent injured that you do not feel fully prepared to help them with. MTT could also be used to support injured clients with their adherence to physiotherapy exercises. It is common that despite attending physiotherapy sessions, the ‘homework’ prescribed by the physician is not consistently followed, thus limiting the benefits of physiotherapy and slowing their return to peak performance. This course of action may also help to make clients who are nervous to return to the gym after their experience with pain an injury feel more confident, facilitating their return to physical activity.
Hopefully, this article has been able to highlight the importance of our referral network. Networking within your area and surrounding yourself with other professionals that compliment your own interests and skill sets can help us smooth over the gap in the industry between medical staff and fitness professionals. Taking the time to reach out to and foster professional relationships with physiotherapists, strength and conditioning coaches, exercise physiologists and other personal trainers can be mutually beneficial to you and your clients. Reaching out to professionals in your referral network yourself on behalf of your clients (always with their written consent to share their information) can help us foster these relationships and make the client feel supported through pain and injury. It can also help us as professionals serve an important purpose as a middleman between tried and tested professionals when a client may not know exactly where to turn for a particular issue.
Finally, this fitness article is not complete without a shout-out to continued education. A further option that can be explored when personal trainers are interested in expanding their professional competence is a Level 4 qualification. This is an excellent option for personal trainers looking to be better equipped to handle clients with lower back pain, obesity and diabetes. This course can be used to expand a professional’s scope of practice to more vulnerable populations and allow us to work with those who most need our help. Since lower back pain is very common and almost everyone experiences it at one time or another (Hoy et al., 2010) this can help us support our clients with one of the issues they are most likely to face in their lifetime. This is an option for coaches who may be interested in working in a more medical setting.
In conclusion, there is a gap in our industry with which our clients need our help. Injury and pain in humans are almost an inevitability and our trainees need our support in finding health and fitness professionals to help with all stages of life. Expanding our own skill set as well as communicating and fostering relationships with other excellent health and fitness professionals will help us close this gap, provide a more positive experience and overall a better quality of life for the clients we work with.
References
Hoy, D., Brooks, P., Blyth, F., & Buchbinder, R. (2010). The epidemiology of low back pain. Best practice & research Clinical rheumatology, 24(6), 769-781.