Can they respect that the trainee is not 100 % motivated to be fit/strong/flexible but is looking for hope that it might be possible to get towards that goal. Can they understand that for some people movement and sports is more related to frustration and failure and that pushing harder may repeat that cycle.
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Are they interested in the details of the things they do? Can they spot mistakes I’m making by looking at my body? Can they then go on to use a combination of vocabulary, analogies, and pointing out things physically on my body to show me how I can adjust?
And this one might seem odd but: are they interested in the world they live in and how they are playing their small part in making it better?
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I guess it depends on how in-depth we are working with each other.
If we were running a class or something very short-term together, as long as we both knew the material, coached in similar ways, and got along decently that would be fine.
If I was to say partner up with someone in a business or long-term type commitment.
I’d strongly prefer both our mindsets towards the fitness industry to be reasonably similar and ideally a very mindful movement approach to exercising. (however, that looks for them) The physical practice doesn’t really matter, though the way we go about it needs to be similar. Very open to new ideas, without falling for the traps of the fitness industry (I could rant here for hours about that)
I’m reminded of a buddy of mine, he’s a rugby player, a very strong dude. We have very different training histories and even train very differently, yet our core mindset toward fitness is very similar. We are both open to playing around with what the other person learns.
Also, I read the question as a coach, looking at partnering up with another coach.
As a client seeking a coach…
I look for a few things.
- Can that coach even do what they coach? (or prove they can actually coach it)
- if what they say doesn’t make sense to me, they probably don’t know anything.
- If they are actually good people, enjoyable to talk to.
- if they make their clients do cardio on a machine first. (I hate that so much)
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My goal is to develop trust in the coach so I can let go of my monkey mind and do what they tell me “is in my best interest”, rather than tweak programs or wheedle around and modify things. This is because I want to know if my coach is Jarlo or Jim Jones. I want to know does this person have my best interest at the heart of any advice BEFORE I drink the kool-aide.
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How open they are to working with non-elite individuals, people who want to get better than where they are right now but who will never be objectively fast/strong/amazing/placing on podiums. Is that something they’re okay with - are they interested in helping people become better versions of themselves and make progress, or are they more interested in making “winners”/only having amazing success stories?
How realistic are they about their clients having lives outside training or competing priorities (job, illness, childcare, vacations, etc.), and how do they handle that? Encouragement and assistance in keeping the client moving forward through setbacks or challenges, or frustration and disappointment that the client isn’t “adhering to the scheduled program” and is “noncompliant”?
How do they handle conflict? What drives them as a coach, what’s their North Star?
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I would want to know that a trainer would understand how to work with both physical and emotional/mental limitations, due to past injury, other loss of physical function, and with difficulties imagining the impossible becoming possible, as well as challenges staying consistent with training.
Also someone who’s got a lot of ideas up their sleeve about how to tailor a movement to suit the person.
Someone who is good at listening, understanding, and being affirming of a trainee’s experience while encouraging them to move ahead and expand their capacity and physical autonomy. And who can do all this with a sense of curiosity, experimentation, and fun.
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Not really about a coach, but here’s how I chose my psychologist. I attended several conferences where she was one of the speakers, so I witnessed first hand both what she said about several subjects, and how she handled people who reacted both in positive and negative ways to what she was saying. Her practical, compassionate, yet no-nonsense approach won me over. It turned out to be a very good choice for me.
I guess what I would like, if I were to get a personal coach, would be to be able to get to see them in action without the added pressure of a potential coaching relationship. Watching them teach and especially witnessing how they handle viewers’ questions would be helpful for me in deciding whether they might be a good fit for me or if instead their teaching style is not suitable for me.
On the practical side, I would also need to know whether they’re willing to do online sessions only or not, and what their hours of availability are: time zones are unfortunately a very real obstacle, and so are work schedules.
Since losing the forums, my motivation has plummeted, so I really could use a coach to keep me accountable to myself, but I get discouraged very easily, so a simplified selection process would be awesome.
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I want to know if they’ve injured themselves and how they came back from that. Feels like it’s an inevitability no matter the type of training you’re into. Yet, some of the trainers I see out there in the world act as though it’s never happened and or never will. I would want to check out reviews or even talk to past clients if that was available to me.
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I have been with my current trainer for almost 3 years. Prior to her I had a trainer who started out ok but then became so fixated on his phone during our sessions. So for me, I look for attention to my issues/goals and focus during my hour session. I am lucky with my trainer who focuses on my posterior chain and strengths my running. For me pairing GMB and my trainer is the best of both worlds. I started off with her slouched and forward rolled shoulders where I would ask on am exercise and her response would be “no way, I would never have you do that. You do not have the mobility or control to properly perform that movement.”
Since GMB we have delved into those exercises and she still ques me on position or corrects during. Oddly my trainer has a PhD in Anthropology with a focus on kinesiology and studies on human evolution. Her knowledge keeps me save, allows me to lift heavy, and her weekly workouts are like a box of chocolates…you never know what you will get.
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I don’t know if there’s anything that they can really put out there in advance, because I think it’s a bit about personality fit. I like being around people with a sense of humour… but it would have to be my kind of humous XD so I guess as long as their website/social media showed that (there’s a reason I ended up here at Alpha).
I’ve never really worked with a coach but I’ve had some pretty individual attention in yoga/pilates/ballet classes. What works for me might not work for everyone but I try to get a sense if they think there’s joy/fun to a workout, and if they’re generally positive and use lots of different kinds of cueing. I get frustrated when my physical limitations seem to be ignored (if it’s clear I’m pushing as hard as I can it doesn’t matter how many times you say “higher” my leg won’t go higher).
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