what's up guys this is jeff from sorta
healthy and today i'm bringing to all of
you a video that i probably should have
made a little while ago better late than
never though today we're talking about
communication skills that you should
have as a personal trainer i've covered
this topic indirectly in previous videos
but today i'll be diving into this topic
with more focus and detail to be
successful as a personal trainer you do
need to communicate effectively believe
it or not though you actually don't have
to be that good of a communicator i'm an
introvert i'm not an outgoing person who
always feels the need to be the center
of attention if you saw me in action in
a gym or fitness facility you would
never know that this is because over the
years i have acquired a very particular
set of skills
skills that i'll be passing on to all of
you who are willing to learn before we
get into all that all i ask is that you
consider liking the video and
subscribing to the channel if you
haven't done so already
this is the best way to support this
channel which is a free resource to all
fitness professionals
thank you for the continued support
everyone without that support
none of this is possible so in today's
video i have five strategies and those
strategies are in no particular order if
you can master all five
becoming a successful personal trainer
turns into a relatively easy task my
first strategy is compliment people
often
and always be as genuine as you can be
this probably sounds a little bit
obvious but let me key you guys into a
little secret
the more you genuinely compliment
someone the more they will like you
people who give sincere compliments
often are viewed as more charismatic and
better communicators i just used two key
words in those last two statements
genuine and sincere your compliments
need to be genuine
and sincere if you notice that a client
is looking a little bit leaner
or more muscular you absolutely need to
tell them don't lie and tell them that
if you don't see it but if you do you'd
be a fool to not let them know you can
absolutely make someone's day with a
well-placed compliment and besides the
fact that this
is obviously a good and nice thing to do
there are of course monetary reasons to
do this as well your clients will
definitely be more willing to train with
you continually
if they like you i know duh jeff how
obvious is this stuff that you're saying
today well if it's so obvious
why don't you do it then okay okay might
not be talking about you directly but in
all seriousness though
i don't see that many trainers do this
well at all so of course don't let that
be you another time when i'm likely to
give a client some extra compliments
is when they don't do something well and
they know it let's say i have a client
who keeps losing their balance during
split squats
they're getting frustrated and they're
letting me know about it i will
genuinely try to find something that
they're doing well with and remind them
of their progress
i might say split squats are hard most
people struggle with those
your balance and strength have gotten a
lot better though and with more practice
you'll get the hang of the split squats
too always remember that many people are
partially seeing you due to a lack of
confidence
whether they gain weight over the years
by being inactive and eating the wrong
things
or maybe they're much weaker than they
used to be when they were working out on
a regular basis
their confidence is probably lower than
you think and probably lower than they
care to admit they didn't hire you and
pay you large sums of money for no
reason throwing in some genuine
compliments on a regular basis
when appropriate can really help them to
feel confident and of course to like you
more
as said before everyone wins here my
next strategy is to become a master of
asking good questions
questions are king every time when your
client walks in
after greeting them there are always a
few questions that you should ask
always ask them how they're feeling and
always ask them if they're sore anywhere
not only are these questions practical
they also get the communication train
moving they're practical because they
let you know if you need to do any last
minute changes to today's workout if
someone's coming in with some sore
hamstrings from some weekend warrior
activities
i'm probably not going to have them do
five rounds of deadlifts that day
like mentioned before though these
questions open up the lines of
communication
too which to some extent should stay
open for the rest of the session
some of the questions that i'm about to
bring up have been discussed in previous
videos
but i'm bringing them up today as well
because they're important and they need
to be asked
many times when clients are doing
exercises i'll ask things like
how does this exercise feel easy medium
or hard after finishing an exercise i
might ask
how many more reps do you think you
could have done in that last exercise i
asked questions like those ones to
figure out if i need to make certain
exercises easier or harder if someone
said the exercise felt easy or they
could have done
five more reps i make the move harder we
usually want at least medium difficulty
with only a few reps left in reserve
as always exceptions do exist i make
sure to ask where did you feel that
exercise the most
with certain moves i followed that up
right away with no right or wrong answer
to that question
that way they don't feel like i'm
quizzing them or anything i ask these
two things the most with gluten core
exercises
because many people have trouble
activating those muscle groups properly
if they're feeling moved like a plank
for instance
mostly in their legs well something's
probably not going right there maybe
their back was in the wrong position
maybe they weren't tightening their core
enough
it's impossible to have the answers if
we never ask the right questions
if you see your client wincing during or
after an exercise or rubbing an area
ask them if they're okay or if they feel
any pain there don't pretend like you
didn't see their reaction it's also very
important to ask some nutrition-based
questions as well
you could ask how is your food
journaling been going or how have your
hunger levels been since we lowered your
calories a bit or you could simply
ask what's for dinner get the
conversation going and try and keep it
relevant to their goals most of the time
you certainly don't have to keep the
conversation solely focused on their
exercise and nutrition though with most
clients you should probably ask at least
a few report building questions every
session
examples include what do you have going
on for the rest of the week how's your
family been do you have any good trips
coming up soon
you need to build a connection with your
client if you want to train them long
term
this means that you'll need to get to
know them a bit you also need to make
your sessions enjoyable why am i going
to pay you thousands of dollars to train
me
if you just stand there silently that's
boring maybe even a little bit
uncomfortable i'm not going to pay you
in that situation at least not for long
so be engaging and ask lots of questions
don't let the chit chat get in the way
of your work but don't underestimate the
value of asking good questions
questions are king my next strategy
builds upon the last one and this
strategy is to keep the conversation
about them they are paying you for your
time
not the other way around the focus needs
to be on them and you're steering the
ship
when they're in the gym they're in your
domain and you are the expert
don't let this go to your head though
your mission is still to help them again
that's what they're paying you for let's
go back to a question that we asked
before what do you have going on for the
rest of the week
after they answer that question they'll
likely ask you the same thing answer the
question honestly
and be as fun and detailed as you think
makes sense given their personality and
after that return the focus of the
conversation
back to them remember you steer the ship
when you're in the gym or fitness
facility you're in charge
you talking about yourself often will go
from interesting at first
to a little bit annoying and eventually
you'll just seem like a conceited
ecomaniac
if you talk about yourself to your
clients too much they'll eventually
start to think am i really paying this
guy to tell me about himself
what the am i doing and i think you
all understand that's not what we're
going for here if you keep the
conversation mostly focused on them
they'll never think anything like that
they'll think wow jeff is a really
caring trainer he's always checking in
on my family and what i have going on
you won't come off as conceited you'll
come off as caring and ultimately that
will make you
successful i should say here that i do
genuinely care about what my clients
have going on in their lives
i genuinely care about how their family
is doing i care because i want them to
do well
people have pretty good instincts when
it comes to things like this
so be as genuine as you can be when
getting to know your clients my next
strategy seems so obvious to me but i
know unfortunately a ton of trainers
screw this one up
and it ruins their chances of being
successful the strategy is to be as
positive as possible
always if i haven't made it clear
already if you're not enjoyable to be
around
you will not be successful in this field
unless you're positive
no one's going to want to be around you
think about how much time you'll be
spending around your clients too
i mean you'll be seeing most of them for
a few hours almost every single week
that's quite a bit more than you'll see
most of your friends and family members
if you're not positive and upbeat well
yeah you're just gonna get old
really fast also remember they are
paying you to help them make a positive
change
whether you're going to help them lose
weight get stronger or whatever else
you're being hired to help them feel
better if you're not being positive then
not only are you failing on that mission
a little bit but you're also shooting
yourself in the foot
and making things so much harder than
they need to be if your client is
feeling down
be the cheerleader and boost them back
up it's part of the job again when
they're feeling down or their confidence
is waning
let them know what they're doing well
steer the ship you're in charge oh and
by the way while we're on the subject of
positivity
make sure to greet your client when you
first see them for the day and always
make sure to greet them
by their name there is absolutely power
in greeting someone by their actual name
it's a much more personal touch that
will pay off in the long run
you're a personal trainer after all get
personal my last strategy to be an
effective communicator as a trainer is
to be confident but
what if i'm not confident well fake it
until you make it in all seriousness
though i have an entire video right here
on how to increase your confidence as a
trainer
check it out if you're struggling here
if you're not confident as a trainer or
communicator though
yeah back to what i was saying before
fake it until you make it confidence is
not built overnight you need to put in
the time
effort and reps if you will to feel
truly confident
in training like most things this takes
time expect to feel very uncomfortable
for your first year doing this
but even beyond that try to view every
client interaction
as a learning experience the hands-on
experience you get from interacting with
multiple clients early on
is incredibly important you can't
replace it be aware though
it is very challenging and draining at
times once you get past that first year
it does get a lot easier
until that point though you might have
to fake it a little bit and you might
have to fake it a little bit because to
be an effective communicator
you do need to sound convincing you do
have to genuinely believe what you're
saying
all of that takes confidence and like we
said before confidence does take time if
a client does ask you something that you
don't know the answer to
don't lie and make something up tell
them i'm not sure about that one
let me do a little research on that and
i'll get back to you at the end of the
day though they're in your domain
and they probably know very little about
exercise and everything else that you do
that alone should make you feel more
confident so remember speak with
conviction
and sound as confident in your words as
you can it will make you a more
effective speaker
and people will take what you have to
say more seriously unlike my other
strategies this one can take some time
to master but you will master it
if you're continually trying to better
yourself and your skills
and that my friends is all that we have
for today do you guys have any other
communication strategies that you like
to use with your own clients
if you do make sure to let me know down
below and if you haven't liked the video
yet or subscribe to the channel
please consider doing so because it does
help the channel to grow
which does allow me to make more free
content for all of you thank you very
much for watching everyone
and until next time stay sorta healthy