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Home > The FITSPRO Podcast > 055 | Coach In Person Before Coaching Online
Podcast: The FITSPRO Podcast
Episode:

055 | Coach In Person Before Coaching Online
Category: Health
Duration: 00:00:00
Publish Date: 2020-01-21 05:00:29
Description: DO NOT COACH ONLINE BEFORE HAVING COACHED IN PERSON. In the world of online health and fitness, it is becoming more and more common for people to want to be online coaches straight out of the gate instead of coaching in person first. I may even do another episode on that issue all together and how I see it as entitlement and a desire for quick success vs. client servanthood and changing this industry. I digress… So, for today’s episode - someone either graduated college with their exercise and sports science, kinesiology, biomechanics degree AND/OR, they get their certification and want the freedom of coaching online before they have significant experience coaching in person. It’s a thing. I know because I receive DM’s about it all the time from young coaches wanting to build an online business. And I never encourage a coach to work online without first having worked in person.  Just like I would never encourage someone to be an online client before having worked with a coach and received instruction IN PERSON. It goes both ways in my opinion. There is too much value to be missed in the in person experience for both the client and the trainer when you jump straight to online training. I believe there is invaluable experience when working with clients and other coaches in a real, face to face setting. Your certification or education is nothing without job force experience. Do you know how to apply that knowledge to a human being? Do you understand the different ways a person can squat? Have you coached a human through the bench press or pull up? Have you helped someone move around their injuries? Had hard conversations with clients who are hyper focused on their physical image? Direct translations from in person to online Things I learned from working as an in person trainer, strength coach and performance coach in the private, college and physical therapy sector include, but are not limited to: Customer service - how you greet a client. The importance of the client experience.Time management on the floor and off the floor - how to time a 45 minute or hour session appropriately including a full warm up.Boundaries - what happens when a client no shows? Calls the morning of? How is that dealt with? You might be thinking that has no carryover to the online world but it 100% does. Coaches do not consider all scenarios before having contracts written up.Programming - this is a topic I get asked about maybe more than anything by fellow coaches. I’ve said someday I’ll create a programming course, because I know there is such a high demand for people who want to understand the ins and outs of programming + feel confident in their ability to assess & program efficiently. So, no surprise here...working in person is a freaking gem for programming. You get to see first hand different limitations people have, commonalities in the assessment process. You’ll find your go-to back up exercises and quick on the spot alterations to certain movement patterns. You weave creativity with efficient purposeful programming. So, you’re gaining experience actually writing the programming ahead of time, and then you get the on the spot trial and error + direct feedback from the client. I’m also going to add grit to this conversation. In person schedule and online schedule are polar opposites. In person you’ll likely work a split shift, 5 or 6am start time to about 10 or 11am. Break from 11 or noon to 4pm. Get your lift in, some lunch and programming, then train clients until 8pm. Your hours will often be opposite of normal work hours. Now, this could be TOTALLY false depending on the sector you work in. Obviously this was my truth for seven years of coaching in person, but in college athletics it was 5:45am to 7pm with teams in and out of the weight room all day. And it was a different schedule depending on the day. At the physical therapy clinic it was a mixture of the two,
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