What is the biggest trait a personal trainer should possess? personality? seriousness but shows results?
Leadership.
In John C. Maxwell’s book “The 21 Indispensible Qualities of a Leader” highlight the following qualities:
1. Character: Be a Piece of the Rock.
2. Charisma: The First Impression Can Seal the Deal
3. Commitment: It Separates Doers from Dreamers
4. Communication: Without It You Travel Alone
5. Competence: If You Build It, They Will Come
6. Courage: One Person with Courage is Majority
7. Discernment: Put an End to Unsolved Mysteries
8. Focus: The Sharper It Is, the Sharper You Are
9. Generosity: Your Candle Loses Nothing When It Lights Another
10. Initiative: You Won’t Leave Home Without It.
11. Listening: To Connect with Their Hearts, Use Your Ears.
12. Passion: Take This Life and Love It
13. Positive Attitude: If You Believe You Can, You Can
14. Problem Solving: You Can’t Let Your Problems Be a Problem
15. Relationships: If You Get Along, They’ll Go Along
16. Responsibility: If You Won’t Carry the Ball, You Can’t Lead the Team.
17. Security: Competence Never Compensates for Insecurity
18. Self-Discipline: The First Person to Lead is You
19. Servanthood: To Get Ahead, Put Others First
20. Teachability: To Keep Leading, Keep Learning
21. Vision: You Can Seize Only What You Can See
being able not only to listen to the client but also be aware of what they’re really saying by body language and other things. You need to address each client individually and not compare to others. We each are different, we each have different needs and desires. Its our job as a trainer to focus on the goal of the client, yet along the way educate and help them make life style changes, not just temporary changes
It’s nearly impossible for me to pick just one!
A trainer needs to be a skilled communicator. This includes:
1) Good listening/input. For example, it benefits the client when you take in plenty of information from them initially to figure out where to start in their training plan. Getting feedback as you go is important, too. Active listening also helps you to deduce what kind of a learner your client is so that you can better work with them. Nonverbal language is key also. I’ve heard the figure that 87% of the way we communicate with one another is nonverbal.
2) Effective cuing/output. As stated, it’s important to know what kind of learner your client is so that you can get them to understand what you want them to do. An auditory learner might be able to take in almost everything you say. A visual learner is going to get the most out of seeing a demo of each exercise. A kinesthetic learner will understand a movement by actually doing it.
Communication output can also include non-verbals like smiling, high fives–all of the encouraging words and behaviors that come to many trainers very naturally 🙂 Most trainers are innately effective communicators, or “people people”, but it never hurts to think about how we can be better at it.
Trainers who are organized, reliable, and knowledgeable/professionally certified also benefit themselves and their clients.