Leadership Styles for Personal Training

Since there are different people with different fitness goals and varying personalities that desire personal training, a personal trainer must be able to match each client's personality and goals.

You may have had a personal trainer that you noticed reacted to you differently than he or she reacted to another client. The reason for this is how a trainer trains you may not be as effective on someone else due to a different personality, goal, or demeanor.

There are four different leadership styles that personal trainers use depending on the motivation and goal of each client.

The first leadership style in personal training is the Telling method. This method is used when working with clients who are unable and unwilling to perform the workout tasks on their own. An example of an unable/unwilling client would be someone who was given orders from a medical professional to exercise in order to reduce stress or cholesterol, help their weight or their heart, or for other medical reasons. The person does not necessarily want to work out and does not know how but knows that they must in order to better their health. In this situation, the personal trainer must use the Telling method of training, giving direct orders to the client and being more forceful so that the client will want to comply.

Clients in this position are seldom happy they have to resort to personal training but they do understand that their lives may depend on getting in shape now. Clients trained under the telling method are usually people who have avoided proper exercise and healthy eating their whole lives and are only resorting to working out due to doctor's orders.

The second leadership style is the Consulting style. This style is used on clients who are unable but willing to work out. An example would be a person that decides they want to lose weight and get in shape but does not know how. The training would then be less direct and more of a mentoring situation, consulting with the client about their goals and what to do to reach their goals. Instead of portraying a leader, the trainer is more of an advocate for the client's cause. These clients are usually receptive to learning and will try to follow directions from the personal trainer.

The Participation style of leadership involves clients who are able but unwilling. An example of this would be a person that has worked out before, knows what to do, but lacks the motivation to do it on their own. In this situation, the personal trainer would do the workout with the client, participating in each task. This helps the client do the task when the trainer is doing it with him or her because the trainer then becomes a competitor of sorts and clients falling in this category need the competition to motivate them.

Finally, we have the Delegation style of leadership in personal training. This is perhaps the easiest style because it involves clients who are both able and willing. The client is able to perform the tasks and motivated to do the tasks on their own. The personal trainer would then delegate workout tasks for the client. This type of clients needs minimal supervision and possesses much motivation.

Whatever method must be used for you, you will be secure in the knowledge that your personal trainer has your best interests in mind. It will benefit each of us to know which method best fits us.