Being “in the moment” is a special quality that will enable a trainer to take a client to the next level. The next level as it applies to exercise is a level of physical performance a subject has not yet achieved. A subject exercising is capable of exercising at an absolute level. Somewhere below that limit is what a subject is willing to do by themselves. A good personal trainer who is “in the moment” will get the subject go to the next level – somewhere above what they are willing to do and closer to what they are truly capable of. As one of my clients once told me, “I pay you to give me a workout I could not possibly get by myself”.
To help a client get to that next level a good trainer will be able to be “in the moment” every minute of the workout. By paying close attention to the client the trainer will be able to anticipate the breaks in form and be able to talk them through it without an interruption in the flow of the exercise. As the set becomes difficult the trainer will be able to help the client with breathing and help the client avoid the panic that can happen when doing demanding work. The trainer will know what the client is experiencing every repetition of every exercise. To do so the personal trainer will pay close attention to cues – facial expressions, breathing, breaks in form, and what they say. Each client will be different and will respond differently on each exercise. A personal trainer should intimately know how each client will respond on each exercise or each exercise sequence.
A personal trainer might ask for “one more” when the client is about to throw in the towel. The client is thinking, “OK I wasn’t going to but I will try it. I don’t want to quit so close to the end”. Years ago at a health club during one set I heard a trainer tell the client “one more” five times. He had no idea where that client was in the particular set. He had no idea what that client was capable of.
That personal trainer was not in the moment as the client was going through a difficult workout. His body language shouted out boredom. The trainer was constantly looking at his watch. The trainer who is in the moment will be totally consumed with what is going on with a client during those most difficult repetitions. She will find great satisfaction in taking the client to a level the client could not possibly achieve by herself. She will draw upon all her past experience of exercise and her knowledge of that individual client. She will use whatever psychological ploys she knows that worked in the past. It is anything but boring for the trainer, and the client will really appreciate it. The workout is gratifying for both the trainer and the client.
In order to understand what the client is experiencing during a workout a good trainer will have “been there and done that’ workout many times over. The workouts should preferably be under the supervision of another trainer. By submitting to their demands one gets a better idea of what it is like to be on the receiving end. Twenty-eight years as a trainer and I still learn from workouts and use what I learn to better understand what clients are experiencing physically and what they are thinking every step of the way – to be in the moment.
John Kelly has been a personal trainer for 37 years and specializes in high-intensity circuit strength training designed for safety and maximum impact in minimum time. For more information go to either one of John’s websites: Fitness Training Austin or New Orleans Personal Trainers.
