Do you think you know all there is to know about building muscle and shedding fat? Maybe you’ve even successfully prepared yourself for an athletic competition or a physique show. Or helped others train in the gym or for a championship. However good you may be, everyone needs a little extra sometimes. Have you ever thought about what you can achieve with the professional help of a coach?
There’s a reason professionals all have a team of people working with them. Sometimes, even the most dedicated and educated athletes need that extra push, advice, and another point-of-view. You don’t have to be a professional competitor to benefit from professional body coaches and trainers.
A trainer provides you with better accountability, efficiency, and objectivity during your workouts. These three are the main reasons you should at least look into professional coaching. A new instructor can provide a whole new outlook on the way you’ve been training your body.
COACHES PROVIDE ACCOUNTABILITY
The number one reason you need a coach is accountability. It’s easy to let yourself slide when you don’t have someone to report to on a weekly basis. When you have to send progress pictures or show up for a training session, however, your coach will know if you’ve stuck to the plan. You don’t want to face the embarrassment of failing on your program, so you’re much more likely to stick to it.
Having a coach gives you a template to follow; all you have to do is continue the regimen. He or she is there to get you in the best shape of your life, so you can be sure they won’t lead you astray. Also, people tend to get better results when they invest in their success, so paying for a coach is another source of motivation to excel.
COACHES ARE OBJECTIVE
You can write your training and diet program, but what happens when you hit a plateau or have a week of terrible workouts? Will you freak out? Throw in the towel? It’s much easier to get down on yourself and give up when you don’t have an objective set of eyes guiding you in the right direction. Coaches take the emotion out of the equation, only basing their opinions on what they see right before their eyes. Trainees tend to be hyper-critical of themselves, so having a neutral set of eyes can keep them on track when the going gets tough.
For more experienced gym-goers, athletes, and bodybuilders, that objectivity extends and can help you hone in on little details that you may not have noticed or even known about before. Once you get to a higher level, you need another professional to help fine-tune your skills.
COACHES ARE EFFICIENT
If you have an experienced coach, you’re approaching your fitness goals in the most efficient fashion. Honestly, a professional makes the whole experience more manageable for you. Rather than spending your time researching and trying to figure out what exercises to do and how machines work, a professional can help you get there.
You may even know a lot about physical fitness, but a certified personal trainer has studied hard to get where they are! Professionals keep up with trends, news, studies, and often network with each other to learn the best methods of keeping their clients in good shape.
You’ll learn about nutrition, nutrient timing, training techniques and mobility exercises that you may not have known about on your own. It’s your coach’s job to educate you on health and fitness and to create the best program for your needs.
How to Pick the Right Coach?
So how do you know who is the right coach for you? It really depends. You have to figure out what qualities you place a high emphasis on.
Some qualities to think about:
Philosophy There are many ways to skin a cat. Find a coach that you see eye to eye with.
Education There is a wide range of education in the coaching field from not even having a certification, all the way up to PhDs and everything in between. In my opinion education doesn't necessarily have to be formal. There are very intelligent people without any formal fitness education.
Experience With coaching, experience is extremely important. Not only do you want a coach who has been there and done that but one who also has worked with clients similar to yourself.
It is very important to do extensive research before hiring a coach as you want to make sure that the coach cares about your health. You do not want to risk working with a coach that will put your health in danger or put you through unhealthy & extreme measures. Hiring a good coach will give you great success & a great experience to learn more.