Do NOT Hire a Virtual Personal Trainer if They Do These 3 Things...
Lets get real, whether we like it or not, the world is becoming more digital.
We buy everything online now...
Literally, everything!
Even though we've seen online ordering and the online business model grow over the last twenty years, especially in the last ten, the pandemic (I believe) showed the doubters in the business world what was truly possible from behind a computer screen.
Personal Training and Health Coaching was no different.
Due to the lockdowns and social-distancing, between 30-40% of gyms and wellness facilities closed their doors.
This left 3 choices to those wellness professionals that were seeking employment...
1. Try to find work in a bigger globo-gym that was open but dramatically reduce their workload due to individuals not coming in as much while competing with other PT's.
2. Leave the coaching industry and find work elsewhere.
3. Convert their clients and complete business model to online coaching.
If you haven't noticed yet, the online coaching space is absolutely BOOMING!
But with the industry becoming so saturated, how can we know for certain that we are hiring a coach that can truly help us achieve our fat loss goals all the while being from behind a computer screen or telephone?
Here's a hint...
It isn't someone that promises to get you shredded in their 21 day challenge.
It isn't someone that has a dozen certifications either.
The coach you should hire to help you achieve your health goals is the person that teaches you proper APPLICATION!
Can a coach take all their knowledge of nutrition, fitness, physiological health, etc and properly "tailor" it to YOU SPECIFICALLY!?
At the end of the day, we know to achieve fat loss is simply calories in vs. calories out.
However, if it was that easy, everyone would be massively skinny and ripped.
Yet, there is still an obesity and autoimmune disease epidemic going on.
Losing weight is the easy part (assuming all things physically are in proper working order) but keeping that weight off while continuing to improve your physical performance as the years go on is the hard part, especially when we all come from different dieting backgrounds, medical backgrounds, genetic makeups, lifestyle stressors, goals, restrictions, etc.
Can you achieve weight loss in joe-blow's 21 day shred challenge...sure.
Will you keep it off without that coach properly teaching YOU how to periodize your training and nutritional protocols to prepare for life's constant up and downs? Nope!
This is what separates the good coaches from the premiere level coaches.
So, what are some warning signs you can watch out for to protect yourself?
1. A coach that promises results in "x" timeframe - the reality is, depending on your lifestyle stressors, dieting history and what your blood work reveals, will determine an IDEA of how long it will take for you to achieve your goal but you need to look for a coach that keeps things 100% real with you and doesn't try to paint this instant transformation picture for you.
2. A coach that doesn't communicate well - I'm all about relationships and communication when it comes to coaching. How in the world do you expect to achieve results with a coach that offers you a bi-weekly check in phone call or email while not responding to your texts in a professional timeframe? When you go to the grocery store and have questions, you need a coach that is available. The same for when you are in the gym and are questioning how to perform an exercise. You need a coach you can depend on to pick up their phone!
3. A coach that doesn't teach nutritional periodization - our diets are meant to have on periods and off periods, we are not meant to live on 1200-1500 calories all year long. If we do, we face massive hormonal problems later down the road. We need a coach that can properly structure the calendar year according to your goals and knows when to put you back at maintenance to achieve hormonal rebalancing as well as a caloric surplus to help develop muscular strength and size to aid the dieting process later on.
As someone that's been an online and in-person trainer for the past 13 years, both areas have their pros and cons from a client perspective as well as a coaching perspective.
Regardless if you choose to dive into the world of virtual personal training or hire someone in-person, you should hire someone that will customize a routine for you specifically, have outstanding communication skills and be able to teach you how to structure your protocols year-round. If you hear someone offering a quick fix solution, run the other way.
If you're interesting in learning more about our training programs, feel free to drop us an email at anytime.
"Coach Taz" aka Taylor Rodriguez is owner and head coach of Taz Fitness & Nutrition. He is a Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach located in Deltona, FL that coaches individuals online and in person. Taylor was a former partying pro wrestler turned fitness enthusiast after the economic downturn of 2008-2010. After losing almost 70 lbs, his new passion is to help struggling individuals find a new confidence within themselves to achieve any goal that they see possible. To begin coaching with Taylor or to request a free consultation, contact us today.
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