Personal Trainer or Life Coach?

How do you know which approach is best for you?

Do you have difficulty exercising on your own or  your ways of doing things, old habits and patterns continually interfere with reaching your  goal, in the gym and elsewhere?  Maybe you have an interest in using physical activity for personal development or to achieve life balance? Could be that personal fitness training may not be enough and life coaching or lifestyle fitness coaching needs to be considered.

 

Lifestyle fitness coaches work to encourage clients to use training and sports to build behavioral skills for use at work, at home or in their social lives. This specialty is particularly relevant to fitness professionals because it is founded on expertise in sports and exercise science. People trained as lifestyle fitness coaches develop communication competencies parallel to those of professionals trained as life coaches, but lifestyle fitness coaches choose to specialize in issues that arise from, or can be related to, the world of sports, fitness and health.

Distinguishing Coaching and Training Models

 

Clients who hire life coaches or lifestyle fitness coaches rather than personal fitness trainers are likely to encounter different work methods and communication techniques. For one thing, life coaches tend to identify relationship building and communication as their principal domains of expertise. They may attempt to bring about client stories, strategize, and provide motivational and supportive messaging.  Life coaches generally prefer to encourage clients to come up with their own answers by using powerful questions that challenge and confront client self-perceptions and self-limiting beliefs.

• a process of inquiry and personal discovery to help clients develop awareness and a sense of responsibility
• identification of realistic goals
• a strong focus on action
• strategies, structures, feedback and support to move forward the with the action

Personal training may have some similar elements, but the scope of work is likely to be narrower.  Personal fitness trainers typically rely on instructions and technical information and have a more hands-on approach, guiding clients through exercises and training processes. Though communication methods that build rapport and trust are important, trainers are more likely to define their roles in relation to education in biomechanics and physical training techniques.

Knowing that coaches and trainers rely on different skill sets and ways of connecting with clients sets the stage for answering our central question of which model works best for you? What needs to be added to this discussion is an understanding of the client. Clients who have worked with life coaches describe self-empowering life transitions. They speak of feeling guided rather than directed, motivated rather than pushed, and supported rather than dependent.

Learning how to use weight machines and how to do different exercises, with generally positive experiences where you enjoyed the training, might just be all you need to create a lifestyle change and good habits. But, if you  just wish you could continue so you would be sure to exercise, developing behavioral competencies may also be needed support for managing a life transition.

Determining exactly what clients need and what expectations they have of professionals they plan to hire providing training guidance alone on machines and equipment or programs may not lead to their developing self-sufficiency and sustained commitment. This is probably one of the strongest arguments for using coaching models within health fitness settings.

Whether you are looking for a personal trainer, or life coach or both,
ReFre5h Life Coaching www.refreshlifecoaching.com will help to find the best fit so you can make the changes you desire.

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