I get to travel around to a large number of gyms and personal training facilities in St Albans, Hitchin and around the East Midlands. There are a number of things I see personal trainer in St Albans doing that I think have no place in the fitness and health industry. So if you are a personal trainer St Albans reading this please take note and never do this again. Oh and if you have a personal trainer that does any of these things, it may be time to reassess.
#1 Eat Whilst Training A Client
This baffled me the first time I saw it and I assumed it was a one off or specific to the St Albans gym I was in at the time. However, sure enough I have now seen personal trainers at countless gyms and personal training studios eating whilst they are supposely training a client. I don't know of any other industry that would accept this, however, it seems that within the fitness industry standards have been allowed to slip to a level that makes it acceptable to charge a large amount for a training session, yet give a level of service that is far lower than any other industry would allow.
Another point to bear in mind is that whilst you are eating your food you are not able to save your client from any potential mishap that is a possibilty when they are exercising under your care. You need to have two hands available at all times simply to be able to help a client with technique or take and hand weights to them that could otherwise cause an injury if picked up incorrectly.
#2 Use Your Mobile Whilst With A Client
Alot of St Albans personal trainers will be shaking their head at any trainer eating in front of their client but having been to hundreds of personal training studios in my time using a mobile whilst training a client is common practice. Whether that is to check your texts, facebook posts or actually take a phone call! This just shows a massive lack of respect to the client you are training and makes it clear your interest is elsewhere.
At The DVCC we make it very clear that whislt a client is in the building they are the number 1 focus. There is very rarely anything as important on your mobile as the client you are training in front of you.
#3 Turning Up Late For A Personal Training Session
One of the issues I see with the fitness industry is that there is a perception that it can be very complex. So that when a client walks into the gym or personal training studio they give over their care completely to the personal trainer that is training them. This means that they are unlikely to question any behaviours that they see that make them feel uncomfortable.
For example I have seen highly succesfull business men and women allow their trainer to arrive for their training session late and often after the client themselves. The client in this case would never dream of allowing one of their employees to behave in this manner, however, because of the perceived expertise of the personal trainer it seems to be accepted.
Of course I understand that very occasionally there may be a legitimate reason to be late for a session, however, if it happens more than once it is something that you need to fix. If your client can arrive on time and they are more than likely alot busier than you then there should be no reason you can't. 30 minutes early should be your new "on time".
If you are a client that has a personal trainer that is often late to your sessions then I would like you to ask yourself if you would allow this in the business that you are in? Check out our St Albans Personal Trainer page for an alternative option.
This list is by no means exhaustive and I am sure I will follow up this blog with others as I see more practices by personal trainers in St Albans. Please let me know in the comments below any other practices you have either seen or experienced so that I can add them to my list! If you are looking to see how personal training should be done and live in St Albans please go to St Albans Personal Trainer
