By: Kyle Hunt
I get it, you know what you are doing. You have successfully built some muscle and lost a little fat all by yourself. You have this fitness thing down.
Why would you need a coach? To quote one of my favorite movies, “…because I know there’s a lot more in you, a whole other level, that for some reason you just don’t want to go to!”
Let’s face it, you are a lousy “trainer”…at least when it comes to your own body. It doesn’t matter how successful you are helping other people, when it comes to yourself it is an entirely different story. As Dan John once wrote, “when you train yourself, you have an idiot for a client.” In my opinion, he put it nicely. If you train yourself, you are setting up to underachieve. Before you email me about how successful you have been coaching yourself, be honest, are you currently making as much progress as possible?
Look, I have made amazing progress over the years coaching myself. It’s one hundred percent possible! However, I have made even better progress under the eye of coaches for reasons detailed below. Plus, I always take something valuable away from every coaching experience.
Here is a secret, that most fitness pros won’t tell you…we all have or had fitness coaches at some point in time. It’s true. Most, if not all of your favorite fitness professionals also have trainers.
It seems strange, right? Why do people who get paid to write training and nutrition programs turn around and hire someone to write them a program? For starters, we (us coaches) believe in the benefits of coaching. It’s hard to trust someone who doesn’t feel they would benefit from having a good coach. A good coach will bring out the best in you, regardless if you are a beginner or a seasoned gym veteran. At the end of the day, it all comes down to results, but it’s not all about the x’s and o’s.
“If more information was the answer, then we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs” – Derek Sivers
Online personal training is one of, if not the fastest growing careers in the fitness industry. All you have to do is look on social media and you will see the abundance of people advertising their coaching. As a coach, I believe this is a great thing. Not only are more people able to make a living doing what they love, clients now have a better chance at finding the right coach for them.
Throughout our lives, whenever we had to learn or improve at something, we had “coaches” to help guide us. In the beginning, in the earliest stages of life, our parents were our “coaches”. We learned everything from them. Being a parent myself has really hammered this point home.
Next, our school teachers acted as our “coaches” and if we struggled, we got extra help from a tutor. In a more literal sense, sports teams always have coaches. Think back to T-Ball or Small Fry Football. Even professional athletes have coaches.
I will stop now, I’m sure you get the point. Here are my top three reasons why you should seriously look into hiring a fitness coach.
#1 – Accountability
This is probably the biggest reason why any of us need a coach. A coach is there to help keep you on track and accountable. There is something to be said for having to check in with someone who is monitoring your progress. If you know at the end of the week you have to send update pictures and weekly weigh in’s to a coach, you are more likely to stick to the plan 100%. All of a sudden those cookies don’t look so good anymore.
On the training side, following someone else’s programming brings the intensity to a new level. You will have added motivation to not let your new coach, or better yet yourself down now that you have some skin in the game. You invested money in getting results, now it’s up to you to put in the work.When effort goes up, often times so do results.We all tend to get better results from something we pay for compared to something we get for free, because free has no value.
There is another aspect of accountability as well…
When I think back to the training I used to do as a high school wrestler, there is no way any of us would have trained that hard without a coach. If the coach wasn’t there making sure we did everything, we would have slacked off big time. Sometimes it’s best to delegate the thinking to someone else. Relieve yourself of the responsibility and put that in someone else’s hands.
#2 – Objectivity
Coming up with your own programs is great while everything is going well but what happens when you have a few bad days? Immediately questions start popping in your head.
And that is only training. Dieting for fat loss is the worst! Contest prep? That is another level of mind f**k.
If you were coaching someone else you could take emotion out of it and create an objective plan of action. Emotion should never get involved in making decisions about your training and nutrition. However, if you are training yourself that just is not possible. You are too close to the action. Most of the time the objective eye from a coach is there to protect us from ourselves. It’s easy to add more work or reduce calories as soon as you hit a sticking point. But sometimes that’s not what you need. Sometimes you just need to be patient. Results take time.
With a coach, you don’t have to think about any of this. Now you can focus 100% on just the training and eating, just show up and get the job done.
Keep in mind, it’s important that you hire a coach you trust. Because at the end of the day, we both know, if you don’t trust your coach 100% you will be second guessing them every step of the way. If that happens, none of these benefits mean anything.
#3 – You Need the Learning Experience
Last but not least a good coach will provide you with a great learning experience and a fresh perspective. No one likes to do what he or she is not good at. Sometimes it takes a coach to program a specific exercise or rep scheme to get you to do something you have never done before.
Or maybe you have always followed a specific diet until you hire a coach that prescribes something completely different that produces better results. Chances are any coach you hire will put you on a program that you wouldn’t have put yourself on. Everyone comes at this thing with unique perspectives. You have room to learn, we all do. Not even the most educated fitness professional knows everything.
“Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it”
Proper technique is another important aspect to consider. Form is something that can always be worked on and improved. I have my clients send me in weekly updates with videos of them performing certain exercises. Not only do I want to see how they are performing the movements, I also want to be able to provide accurate guidance to help them get better.
There are a lot of great coaches in the industry; the key is picking the right one for you!
How to Pick the Right Coach?
So how do you know who is the right coach for you? It really depends on what qualities you place a high emphasis on.
Some things to think about:
- Philosophy – there are many ways to skin a cat. Find a coach that you mostly see eye to eye with. A little difference in opinion is great but too much will just lead to second guessing. You need to be able to trust your coach and let them do their job.
- Education – There is a wide range of education in the coaching field from none, 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. However, with that being said, look for a coach with qualifications. A few physique pics on Instagram is not enough. Find out if they have an exercise related degree. Do they regularly attend seminars and certifications?
- Experience – With coaching, the 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.
- How Personal is the Coaching – This is a big one. Unfortunately, some people with large followings see coaching as a quick way to make a buck. They essentially just use their following as a way to generate hundreds of clients and then give them all the same program. A few big names in the industry have been exposed for this but I’m sure there are still a ton of people out there doing it. Find out how many clients the coach works with at a given time to ensure you are not going to be just another number.
It doesn’t matter where you are in your fitness journey, hiring a coach is a great way to fast track your results.
Looking for a fitness coach? Let’s see if we would be a good fit!
Click the link below to learn more about Hunt Fitness Coaching
Learn more here: kylehuntfitness.com/complete-coaching
Other Articles You Might Like:
1- How to Choose the Right Online Fitness Coach
2- Why You Should Never Train Yourself
3- The Ultimate Guide to Daily Undulating Periodization
4- The Ultimate Warm Up Guide to Improve Lifting Performance
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- Master the scientific principles surrounding proper programming.
- Learn how to create training programs that actually deliver results.
- [BONUS] Daily Undulating Periodization (DUP) 3 Week Strength Program.
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