Look at Me or Look at You?
Are the trainers you see out there putting your interests first or are their motives disguised?
We all do it, we scroll through the instagram feed or let YouTube do the hard work for us and push content. Those of us who show an interest in sport are constantly shown god-like physiques and influencers promoting their supplements, workout tips and tricks or easy to follow plans to become just like them.
So what to do if you are looking for a trainer or solid advice from individuals online. I have categorised trainers into two broad categories to help you do just that.
The LOOK AT ME Trainer
With the enviable physique this trainer is full of aesthetic appeal. They have achieved the pinnacle of success when it comes to how they look and no matter your opinion on how they got there, it has taken sigificant effort, sacrifice and discipline which is commendable.
Social media has given the perfect platform for these individuals to share their successes, a virtual bodybuilding competitition stage if you like and why not, practice makes perfect or, in the worlds of RuPaul "if you can't love yourself, how the hell are you gonna love somebody else".
However when this promotion spills over into flagrant commercialisation and self serving profit driven actions it can be damaging to industry and ultimately the individual:
- Promoting their own easy to follow training plans, tips and tricks
- Hidden commissions from supplement, equipment and clothing
- My most hated: Advertising as having a natural physique when they are in fact using performance enhancing supplements.
Together these actions build an illusion of how the trainer has achieved their success when in reality the story and lifestyle are very different. For the individual this leads you down a path of short-termist thinking, critical missing information and ultimately failure. When as an industry and society we should be striving for long term sustainable health practices this is hugely damaging.
Advice: We are all individuals, whatever advice you take make sure it passes the following tests:
Is it objective advice and not delivered with any bias other than your own health interests?
Can you tailor the advice to your situation? Your lifetstyle is unique to you, would following the advice ultimately fail because you can't sustain it?
Is the guidance credible? Backed up by genuine results and reviews from others.
The LOOK AT YOU Trainer
This trainer may or may not have enviable physique but they sure as hell know what they are talking about. They have built a wealth of expertise through their training and I would say more importantly, their own experience dealing with a broad range of clients.
Honesty and credibility underpins their way of working and their loyal client base, genuine positive reviews and client waiting list validate this.
Social media is the perfect platform for these trainers to share client successes or client feedback, demonstrate their services in action and show how they offer a broad range of tailored services.
Advice:
Seek a trainer who promotes their clients success or whose clients promote their trainer.
Don't accept template/off the shelf materials, in some way it must cater for your lifetsyle and attributes
Has this blog article sparked your interest for tailored training? Feel free to reach out to me for advice or to arrange a no obligation consulation.