Gym Trainer Becomes a Life Coach

By John Spence Ellis Ed.D.

Life coaching is getting much attention, and still many trainers don’t know exactly what it is or how to integrate it into their current business offerings. Before we discuss how you will add coaching to your business, it’s important to learn the fundamentals of this emerging field.

Life coaching can be termed lifestyle coaching, life strategies coaching, wellness coaching, fitness coaching and personal coaching among others. In the past, many people did some form of life coaching, but did not call themselves life coaches. The field as we know it today started in the early 1980s. Prior to the term “coaching,” people referred to themselves as mentors, advisors, or consultants. Today, personal fitness professionals are often asked life coaching types of questions with no real skill set to appropriately respond. Coaching can be challenging for a trainer because science tells us that when you apply certain principles, you yield specific physiological results. Coaching is much different.

As a trainer, you can rationalize why someone is better suited for functional training rather than power lifting, or why skipping a pre-workout meal would leave the client hypoglycemic at the end of a grueling workout. As a trainer, it is easy to say, “You’re doing great! Keep going. This will give you the results you want!” As a coach, you learn how to dissect the motivational strategies of each client and not give all clients the same “cheerleader” routine. Some skills you learn as a coach include how to determine if a person makes decisions based on internal or external factors. For example, someone who is motivated internally would say, “I know I did a great job because it makes me feel great inside.” On the other side, a person motivated externally would say, “My spouse complimented about how great I look. I’ll sign up for 6 more sessions.”

Coaches train to enhance their listening skills for clues as to the client’s internal strategies for success. They look for cues such as if a client moves towards what they want or away from what they do not want. For example, a coach would determine if the client is moving away from or towards something by asking an open ended question such as “what is your reasoning for making that decision?” If they answer “I needed to get out of my current situation”, the coaches conclusion would be “This individual is moving away from something they don’t want”.

There are many additional tools that coaches use aside from assessing language such as personal inventory lists of strengths and weaknesses. Coaches also use surveys, journals and a daily, weekly, monthly and annual goal planning. All of these tools are a means allow the coach and client to determine how the client interprets the world and how they speak to themselves about their experiences in the world (internal dialog). One of the outcomes of coaching should be for the coach and client to develop the most concise path to attain what is truly desired based on THE CLIENT’S values.

Your personal training and exercise science skills will be a good foundation to build upon your with a life coaching career, however there is so much more to know to accurately assist a coaching client with his or her goals based on his or her values, goals and belief system.

If you decide to invest your resources in becoming a life coach, the following are some things you should consider when choosing a life coaching training program:

1) Select a program which covers the types of coaching skills that would be most applicable to your area of focus. For example, some programs focus on relationship coaching or executive coaching, which are not likely something a fitness professional would add to their current skill set.

2) Select a program that fits your schedule. Some courses require you to participate in teleclasses at pre-selected times, which may not work with a trainer’s traditional split schedule. Others are more of an open format, which allows for busier and less structured schedules.

3) Select a program that is most congruent with your values. Some courses have more of a spiritual context, or specific ideology, while others simply give you valuable tools that don’t subscribe to any specific thought process and have universal appeal.

Once you attain the knowledge to become a life coach, how do you it with your personal training business? There are an infinite number of options. One way to start would be to incorporate coaching for your personal training clients. So, during your warm-up and cool down periods, you use your newfound skills to get the client into the right frame of mind to stay focused and get the most out of the training session. This will likely improve your client’s results, but because the service is not clearly defined, it could be difficult to charge.

Another option is to offer a 90-minutes session once a week. It can be evenly split between fitness and coaching. A quiet room with privacy is needed for the coaching segment for confidentiality. At least once a month should be dedicated to a coaching session to check in with progress, re-establish new goals, or come up with solutions for obstacles and so on.

You may decide to offer the coaching as a completely independent component of your professional services. In these situations, you may have different attire or even meet in a different environment. When you segregate your services in this manner, you may find that you attract a completely different client base than you currently have, or have been attracting, for your personal training services.

Frequently, life coaching takes place by telephone and over the internet via email and webinars. Coaches can have electronic forms for the client to access prior to each phone coaching session. The coach will have time to review and assess the information from these forms to help direct the focus of the forthcoming coaching session. The website can be used to offer initial information about the coaching services, the coach’s bio, coaching philosophy, surveys and messages of inspiration.

Life coaching can also be done in a group environment, just like group exercise is done. Each class/session has a specific theme. The attendees each have a similar interest in the class format/topic being discussed. And, each participant is at somewhat of a similar ability level/place in life. Coaching topics for groups could include “Moving Through Mid-Life,” “Momentum in the New Year,” or “Discovering Your Ideal Self.” Each of these topics would appeal to specific demographics which would allow for better dialog and continuity within the group.

When you are marketing your new life coaching services, you must consider who will be using your coaching skills. Remember as a coach, you want to gain the respect needed for your new higher echelon of professional services.

You are likely wondering how much you will earn Life Coach?” This depends on many factors. The factors include professionalism, branding, geographic location, target demographic, education and experience. Coaches can demand as much as $200 per hour, but the average is about $75 – $100. Asking too much may price you out of the market. Asking too little may indicate you lack credibility and results.

When you become a life coach, your personal training business will grow and you will also learn much about what has brought you to this point in your life and what you can now do to reach the top. Life coaching is a road of self-discovery for both the coach and the client.

John Spencer Ellis, MBA, EdD is the president of NESTA (National Exercise & Sports Trainers Association & the Spencer Institute for Life Coaching. He may be contacted at http://www.SpencerInstitute.com

Gym Trainer – How to Become a Trainer at the Gym

Gym Trainer

To become a gym trainer, you must first become certified. A personal fitness trainer certification will allow you to train in all gyms.

Gym trainers make between $30 – $100 per hour. Trainers often work a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening. In some cases, the gym trainers may only work a morning shift.

training clients at a gym is a fun and rewarding career which enriches the lives of all involved.

Gym trainers are both men and women. Age of trainers ranges from 18 – 80.

Once you become certified as a trainer, your career path doesn’t have to stay in the gym. Although you can become a gym manager, gym owner or stay a gym trainer; the real opportunities exist when you step outside of the gym. Trainers who work with clients in small groups, outdoors, at resorts and online generally have more opportunity to become more overall successful.

To begin your career as a gym trainer, contact NESTA now.

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