There are many styles of coaching out there to help you achieve your fitness goals.
Personal training is individualized but might not always fit your schedule. Online coaching fits your schedule but can lack a human connection. Group coaching is fun and exciting, but at times, it lacks individualization to your personal needs. Training programs for purchase can help align your goals, but at times, the time commitment can be greater than your lifestyle allows.
Coaching online provides, goal-oriented training and workouts at your fingertips, all while receiving an individualized nutrition and training plan, that is in line with your fitness goals. Coaching in person allows for immediate technique correction, question and answers, direct motivation and accountability.
Technology cannot replace the massive benefit of coaching in person vs online, and a hybrid approach seems to be the best of both worlds and works for the majority of clients.
After working with a number of clients in person and online, finding the right combination of workouts, for your goals, and schedule is key to helping you get those fitness results you desire, without feeling overwhelmed by the entire process. Here are a few of the types of clients, I have trained over the years, and the recommended coaching approach.
In all cases, training programs, should start you from where you are, and then progress you in the direction you want to go. You may start (or restart) at a very basic level, and then as you become stronger, the approach to your fitness will evolve.
Beginners & Restarts
This could be a return from a layoff, from post-pregnancy to injuries, to a shift in lifestyle, that prioritized other things, but now you are looking to return to your fitness, with a little guidance and accountability.
Your schedule will determine how much time, you have to train. Your environment, such as at home will be a great place to start. The key here is to choose exercises and workouts, that you are most likely to complete, with the equipment you have on hand, or a small investment start-up investment, such as the 5-home gym essentials.
These workouts have only the essential exercise that will burn the most calories in the shortest period of time. Lifestyle habits and establishing a routine will be the key focus for returning from a layoff.
Parenthood
Becoming a parent, brings about a number of challenges, to your own personal schedule, energies, motivation, and body goals. Post-pregnancy moms looking to get reacquainted with their bodies, and find a piece of themselves in this “new normal”. Lack of time and energy to work out is an often mentioned limitation.
Workouts, designed at home, can often help to keep fitness easy while eliminating transfer time to and from the gym. For those who prefer to work out at the gym, this can help to compartmentalise their day. The gym allows for less distraction from house responsibilities.
Shorter workouts, scheduled earlier in the day, or while the baby is napping, can help hold you accountable. Weekly or biweekly meetings with a personal trainer, (often called a hybrid approach) can help initially with structure, motivation and support to help reestablish the habit of exercise, and prioritize self-care.
Busy Professionals
Individuals trying to find time in their schedule for workouts, good quality nutrition, and body goals – like fat loss, and strength/muscle gain, often do best with schedules, and this means booking an appointment.
A hybrid approach can work, meeting with your trainer 1-2X per week, plus at-home workouts, that are shorter, or stress-reducing walks outside in nature are a good approach if you are this type of client.
If you are an early bird, morning workouts are best, as they will be more likely to be skipped if left later in the day. Online coaching can be an option for you, once you have established good quality movement, and consistent exercise habits, of at least 3 days per week, year-round.
Whether it be fat loss or muscle gain, all my plans,
are personalized, to you,
your current level of fitness, and equipment.
Competition Prep
Those looking to explore contest prep or step onstage in the near or distant future.
The primary focus is to find balance in your lifestyle, before getting all unbalanced by stepping on stage. Lifestyle habits include training consistently at least 3-5 days per week, for a year, in a gym, a consistent structured but flexible nutrition, and a solid understanding of macros, and calories. The timeline to step on stage could vary from 6 months to 3 years.
If stepping onstage is a future goal for you, working with a coach will help align the training and nutrition for specifically contest prep. Going at it alone can be a very long road of trial and error, in which most competitors have a team of coaches helping design their bodies. If you are interested in this type of coaching, consistently is key, and learning your foundational movement patterns, is the best place to start.
Beach Body Prep
Those looking to get lean, and build muscle but have no desire to step onstage. There are some who referred to this as mock prep. The training, and nutrition overlap with those criteria of contest prep, however, the level of leanness is much lower than for that of stepping onstage.
You want to be a leaner, version of yourself while adding some metabolism-boosting muscle. You are currently training, however, may not be on a structured training program, and/or train at a gym and have tried various influencer programs, or workouts from popular coaching programs such as Beach Body. Motivation is generally not an issue, but you might get squirrely, and want to jump from program to program, trying new things. You want that next level of fitness, and want to see where you can take your physique.
Your goals and program should be aligned, and often too much variation in programming can actually be holding you back. A trainer or coach, can help design a program for your type of physique, align your nutrition to those goals, and keep you focussed, and troubleshoot as needed.
Everyday Athletes | Fat Loss + Build Muscle
Those who are just not getting results need structure + accountability. Most everyday clients fall in this category. You want to look good, feel good, and life your life.
You have solid lifestyle habits, eat well, sleep, drink water, and reduce alcohol intake but are having a hard time, finding your motivation. You are not a beginner but are not always confident in what you should be doing for exercises, or workouts, and feel you might do better if you had a little guidance. You are interested in fitness, but are confused, with some of the information out there, and would like someone to help guide you when you get stuck or have a question.
If you are this type of client, 3 days a week of strength training workouts (with a few options to keep things interesting), plus 3 x 30 mins of cardio is the best place to start. Not too much activity, and options to opt-out (with walking), in case you have those low motivation days. Accountability and support, comes form of an online trainer, or in-person trainer to help ‘kick your butt’ or give you that weekly to biweekly motivation to need to keep your fitness as a reminder.
Original | 03 June 2018
Updated | 29 May 2021
