What classes as a good PT?
9 out of 10 enquiries we get around PTs from our website start like this:
“How much is a PT session?”
Now let’s be honest, price is important especially in the current climate but what never fails to amaze me is why no one asks something along the lines of (in my case)
“Do you have anyone with experience of working with a bloke carrying about 10kg too much, has parts of his body that break easier than they used to and enjoys a beer on a weekend?”
Your question could be
“Do you have anyone that’s worked with a mum in her early 30’s that’s had 2 kids, hasn’t had time to do anything for myself in 6 years and now my kids are at school I need to do something for me?’
Whatever your version of the above is surely that’s at least as important as the price if not more so?
The reality is and I will say this, the world and indeed our area of Leeds, is littered with a PT who will undercut the next and the reality is they will do that as they will treat you the same as the next too.
A few current members of our gym have, in recent months, showed our team some of the “nutritional” advice some PT’s not a million miles away from the gym gave and in some of the weeks of the program they had a full time working, mother of 2 on 700 calories per day.
Will this lose you weight? Yeh of course it will.
Is it sensible, advisable, or even practical? Not at all and actually stupid in most instances. (This is content for another blog though)
This isn’t uncommon, we see it all the time, the truth is most PTs shouldn’t give out “Prescriptive nutritional Advice” unless qualified to do so.
There are specific qualifications for nutrition as often outside factors to consider like someone’s medical history for example, but we can leave this part for another day.
You can become a qualified PT in as little as 4 weeks (or even less) so is this person likely to charge as much as someone who has 10/15 years under their belt? No, probably not and that brings me back to my original point that people only ask about price not the PT’s credentials or areas of specialism.
Up until now I guess I have been the anomaly in the gym as have been the one who openly a qualified PT and I have been happy with that. I have learnt so much over the years from Joe back in his old gym and the people he had around and then as the team at Trident which continues to grow with Louis & Antoni etc.
I know my way around a gym, I have trained for long enough and ultimately feel comfy training on my own but the last few years I have struggled. Various injuries have kept popping up and meaning some of the things I did before or have always done were just not possible.
I had a shoulder operation last year and the recovery of that from a mobility, strength and confidence perspective was much more difficult than I thought it would be given it had been rendered useless for 18 months while waiting for the diagnosis and operation.
Thankfully Joe had spent a lot of time researching the operation I had and how that would affect me short, medium, and long term (Joe is a nerd like that) and as my business partner gave me much more rehab than the hospital physios did who basically wanted me to get to a point, I could open a door on my own and then get me off their list asap.
Joe used to be my PT, I trust him implicitly and his knowledge is second to none but now he is my business partner. If we ever train together, we talk work so don’t have the switch off you want when training, it’s not beneficial for either of us, so I set about with Joe’s instructions under my belt to train on my own.
I knew my training wasn’t working within a few weeks of starting again but I didn’t know why or what was happening.
I’d get into the gym, armed with a list of exercises and movements to aid recovery and frustration and embarrassment was creeping in.
Bearing in mind I am surrounded by a team that is second to none in terms of their credentials, one is my business partner and others work for me did I ask for help?
No did I heck, I did what I thought
“Just keep doing same thing, it’s better than nowt”
Weeks this went on for and it would have been years had Liam not clocked for what was going on seeing me week in week out, basically unable to complete the movement to get the result I needed.
Doing them wrong wasn’t due to lack of effort or even lack of knowledge as I knew what I had to do but at this stage my shoulder mobility, range of movement in my back and arm which then led into my overall posture meant that my body just wasn’t able to move in the way it had previously and needed to for my own benefit.
The key was someone with 20 years’ experience could see what wasn’t moving right, what wasn’t working and ultimately how I was compensating with other areas of my body to make me feel like I was “training properly”.
Liam spoke to me after my session and said something along the lines of
“Look, don’t take this the wrong way but I can see you are struggling, there are so many bits I can help you with if you will let me, I can see what is going on and I think I can help you”.
I didn’t take it the wrong way, but I was embarrassed. Embarrassed that someone could see me in the gym in my mind doing things wrong.
This wasn’t the case; I think Liam could see the effort but knew that on my own I couldn’t get my body to move in the way my mind wanted it to.
I did two sessions with Liam stripping back my movement and focussing on my rehab, (I won’t bore everyone with the long-term goals here as it’s a separate story) but within those two sessions I knew I should have asked someone for help earlier.
Joe had offered but I rejected this but, with all the PTs in the gym only a few had the knowledge or the experience to help me at that stage.
The younger team that has qualified in recent years or are doing further qualifications now wouldn’t have had the knowledge as to what my operation had been, what that restricted and how that impacted muscle groups around the affected area.
In fact, this has been openly discussed among the team to pass on experience and knowledge to them, but this made me ask myself a few questions:
- Should I have asked for help earlier from one of the team/PTs? YES!
- If I didn’t own a gym and chose a PT based on price and not relevant experience, would I have got the same results? NO!
- Is every coach out there suitable for every person? NO!
- Would working with a coach without experience have cost me more in the long run both financially and physically? YES!
- Is it hard for a coach who see’s people training to the best of their ability but ultimately doing it wrong because of how they have been taught or maybe due to their own injury for fear of upsetting the client? YES!
- Do gym members feel embarrassed to ask for help if they train week in week out and are not seeing the results from their efforts? YES!
- Should seasoned Gym Goers occasionally reach out to a coach for some guidance/pointers? 100%
This last question here is the one above all else I think people should think about, our bodies change as we get older, train more and pick up injuries. Spending a few quid on a coach every now and again can just help correct form or help you get the best results for your efforts that help you in the long run.
A PT/Coach shouldn’t just be someone who makes you feel sick or unable to walk after every session as they often do, it’s someone who listens to what you need and isn’t afraid to speak openly to you. That’s the sign of a good client coach relationship.
