It is fairly easy to become a qualified personal trainer, however it's NOT easy to become a good personal trainer. There has been an increase in the amount of new personal trainers in the last few years, but from people who I have personally seen, people who I actually know who aren't necessarily best suited to being a PT, and talking to other people in the nutrition and fitness industry, a lot of the 'newbies' are quite poor.
The past week I received a flyer through my door (I won't name who, and I also receive about one every month on average) about a local personal trainer advertising his services, anything wrong with that? Nope, The issue I had with this flyer, and with most of the flyers I get, is what was on it. It's always the same old stuff - "want to get fit? want to lose weight? build muscle? I can help you achieve your goals! Fitness is my passion" etc etc etc. Firstly, if you're a potential client, you would hope that fitness is his passion, so that is pointless to say, especially if you have no evidence of that. Secondly, saying the same old lines is again pointless - you want to stand out and gain attention from potential clients. Many people put flyers through peoples doors saying those things, so why not come up with something different?
Then I read the contact details, and for me this is an important part. Like with most of the flyers I get, there was no private email address, just a standard '@hotmail' one, which looks incredibly poor. It then had the phone number and address, which is perfectly fine. Then (as it's very common now) it had the social networking links - Twitter, Instagram and I think Facebook, but not sure. Back in the day, most people would 'Google' someone if they want to find out more about them, but unless they had a fair following online, it was often hard to find people. However these days most people will search on social networking sites, and that's what I do, so I did. I found him on Twitter and I wasn't shocked really. He didn't come across well on the flyer, and on Twitter 95% of his pictures was him in bars, on holidays, his car, his gadgets and selfies. Most of his tweets were anything but health and fitness related.
Is that someone who has a passion for health and fitness?? nope. He comes across as a 'typical lad' and maybe decided to get a PT qualification so he doesn't have to work in an office - who knows. He doesn't even have a website. I think anyone who is serious about being a personal trainer will have their own website. It's a place to show who you are, your background, your qualifications, testimonials, and to be able to contact you. This guy doesn't have that. He has a link to his Twitter to show his non fitness posts and pictures, not very professional. He isn't the only one, I see loads of these kinds of flyers.
Lastly, from what I have seen, he's not even in that good shape to be honest, which just tops it off. Poor advertising, poor fitness related social media, and poor shape. The thing is, he could actually be a good trainer, but unless you're easily convinced, you wouldn't get to find out because the advertising is so poor.
Be wary of the common advertising lines that trainers use, and always check them out on social media. Don't just jump at a trainer simply because he bothered to do a flyer.
Lee Gregory Fitness
