Even experienced bodybuilders use personal trainers or coaches. Why?
Engaging a PT to help you with your diets and training does not mean that you do not know what you are doing – but rather, it is like a smart business decision. Richard Branson has had many advisors over the years, yet who would question his ability in building businesses? So why would he resort to the advice of others? For the same reason that world class athletes and body-builders also seek advice from coaches.
Reason 1 – leverage
You can leverage from the experience of the PT who in turn has leveraged and fast-tracked their knowledge from the experience of others.
If they have been to an academy where the lecturers have themselves worked in the industry for decades, they will have benefited from the accumulated knowledge of thousands of workouts of hundreds or thousands of people like yourself.
If you consider for a moment that a PT has been in the field for 2 years and trains the average amount of six sessions per day for a total of 30 per week, then they have the experience gained from 3,000 workouts over the last two years. Compare that to your own training where you may be training 5 times per week for a total of 500 workouts in the same time frame.
If the PT has learnt from an experienced ex-PT then the knowledge base could be the equivalent of tens of thousands of workouts.
Additionally, if the PT has the average of 15 clients with some regular attrition and refreshing, then they will have seen a variety of physical conditions, weaknesses, injuries, and rehabilitation over 40 or more people, compared to your experience of just you.
These factors mean that the PT can be better-equipped to help you avoid issues that delay or halt your progress, or can help you better recover from a set-back.
Reason 2 – outside perspective
In every aspect of life, we often have trouble thinking clearly on matters because we are too close to the problem. It can take an outside perspective to see things more closely. A PT, combined with their knowledge of various training issues, and their experience of dealing with people under different mental stresses, means that they may have the knowledge to help you through your challenges whereas you could never see the issue clearly enough to deal with it efficiently.
Reason 3 – injury knowledge
A PT will, via their accumulated knowledge from thousands of workouts and leveraged learning curve from many clients, will quite likely have more experience of injuries, injury recovery, and injury prevention. The only way for you to gain the same type of I depth knowledge is to suffer the injuries yourself and experience the challenges and recovery processes. This however, is a painful way to learn, in more ways than one.
Reason 4 – learn from errors
Many business people use a similar approach – they study companies that have failed to see what they did wrong, in order that they avoid those problems. Business owners, for the same reason, will also pay consultants considerable amounts to gain their knowledge of particular aspects of business, knowing that the consultant has worked with companies that endured the types of problems you are trying to avoid – what better way to learn than from the mistakes of others?
Reason 5 – mental support
Seeking mental support does not mean that you are weak. You can easily imagine that any elite athlete can push themselves to their limit, even if that limit is much higher than the average person. Our nature is such that we generally continue to up the ante in whatever we pursue, until we reach a limit where we either stall or break.
A PT with the right experience will have seen other elite athletes at the peak of stress and will have had to help their client through the challenge. You may not have experienced the new level of stress before, and when you do, your mental state, be the very nature of what we are describing, will not be well equipped to handle the challenge. You will not be thinking straight.
A PT will not be as emotionally involved as you and can therefore think more clearly. Their experience in dealing with others in similar situations will also have given them certain skills to guide you through the maze of frustration and confusion, not to mention the possibility of direct knowledge of how another client handled it (or didn’t handle it) and the lessons from someone elses’ success (or failure).
