Do you ever hear people say how they need to get into shape with a fitness coach but when the same people hear the term "personal trainer" their eyes widen and they shake their head in fear, saying "No, I want someone to take it easy on me?" With hundreds of positions in the fitness industry, it's no wonder why people can get so confused on which professional is the right one to help them with their very specific goals and limitations. You know you want to get in shape, and you know you need help but how do you know if what you need best is a fitness coach or a personal trainer? Let's first break down the meaning of each and list some key differences between the two from your favorite fitness professionals.
What is a Personal Trainer?
According to dictionary.com, a personal trainer is "a person who works one-on-one with a client to plan or implement an exercise or fitness regimen." This type of professional has a knowledge of exercise prescription, tracks a client's physical progress and knows the amount of stress imposed on the body to make it lose fat, gain muscle or become stronger.
The Role of a Personal Trainer
The main role of a personal trainer is forming safe and effective workout programs for all clients on a medical level based on personal medical history and fitness limitations. Personal trainers keep you motivated and make sure that you are properly executing exercises to prevent injury and promote recovery and wellness from past injuries.
What is a Fitness Coach?
A fitness coach combines a systematic coaching process and personal training (or fitness instruction) to empower clients to develop a fit lifestyle as well as the ability and self- confidence to maintain a fit lifestyle. This type of professional takes your needs and wants and uses them along with their motivation and communication skills to verbally and physically fill in the gaps.
The Role of a Fitness Coach
Where a Personal Trainer can give you a specific workout to get you to your goal, a Fitness Coach takes your exercises and use it as a tool to apply to your life to successfully make a healthy, long-lasting lifestyle change. Fitness coaches identify the underlying issues that prevent you from achieving your stated goals and knows how to solve those problems.
The Main Difference between a Fitness Coach and a Personal Trainer is Certification.
A personal trainer is an individual who has taken secondary education in order to be deemed legally accredited and insured to prescribe workout programs to all their clients. Fitness coaches use motivation, psychological tools and your own passions and interests as guides to make a deeper connection in your fitness journey but are not certified or licensed to give exercise programming or nutritional consultations which may not be beneficial for all populations.
So, What's Right for Me?
There are pros and cons to everything in this world and with this comparison, there's no exception. It all comes down to what you specifically need and what your weaknesses are. While every Personal trainer is a coach, not every coach is a Personal trainer, so if your goal is to know what exercise program will get you the results you are looking for, what you need is a Personal Trainer. Although both Fitness coaches and Personal trainers are limited through their scopes of practice, the best professionals should have qualities of both to really change lives and make the most successful and well-rounded approach to your fitness journey.
So how do I know if my trainer/coach is a good trainer? Stay tuned to our next blog, Top Traits of a Terrific Trainer
Awesome!