Trainers Wanted
written by sean hyson
I’m a marked man. Being a fitness editor at Men’s Fitness (and, as of late, Muscle&Fitness) has made me somewhat of a target to trainers who are hungry for publicity. You wouldn’t believe what they’ll do to get my attention and deliver their pitches.
They call. They e-mail. They show up at my office unannounced. They’ve even followed me into the men’s room and told me ideas through the stall door.
Jeez, you’d think I was in The Beatles. Or The Monkees. Or maybe The Jonas Brothers?
I get chased like these guys. Unfortunately, not by 16 year-old girls
So, for anyone out there who’s stalking me, let me make it clear what kind of trainers I’m looking for to contribute to these magazines. (I’m sure you’ll find the policy is the same at many other fitness magazines, such as Men’s Health.) Here are my criteria:
#1 You Have to Actually Train People
Thanks to the Internet, trainers who have had only one client (or even none) can make a name for themselves in a short time and sell programs that aren’t battle tested. I try to steer clear of them. My friend Jason Ferruggia once told me that a trainer should have at least five years of experience working with clients before he writes an article, and he should have at least 10 years of experience before he writes a book. I think that’s fair.
I just don’t see how you could give solid advice on building muscle and losing fat safely and effectively without having practiced that advice yourself for a significant period of time. Again, thanks to the Web, an “expert” can easily regurgitate good information he got somewhere else and take credit for it in a magazine. But take it from me that the best ideas always come from guys who have a dense client base. And I can usually tell who they are.
#2 You’re Not A “____” Guy
If you’re 30 or younger and you already have a branded system of training, with T-shirts made up to advertise it, I can’t take you seriously. If you ONLY use kettlebells, clubbells, body-weight training—or you propagate some other fad at the exclusion of using common sense—I’m deleting your e-mail.
The best trainers all have at least this in common: they get results, no matter what. They look at what the client can do, wants to do, and will do, and they design a program with all those considerations. Kettlebells aren’t the end-all, be-all. Neither is the Westside Barbell method. Everything has its place and a great trainer knows how to pick and choose from many methodologies to make a successful workout routine. If you’re young and you tell me you already know the perfect workout system, you’re wrong. Having your own trademarked program with an acronym (say, C.H.I.S.E.L.E.D., and it stands for Can’t Hardly Imagine how Super Extremely Large and Exceptionally Diesel you’ll be on my progam) only tells me that you’re a good self-promoter. If you spend that much time and effort selling yourself, you probably haven’t spent enough time learning your craft.
I wouldn’t let this guy train my girlfriend’s dog
It’s supposed to be training people, remember?
#3 You’re Not Already World Famous
You rarely see reality show trainers in the magazines I work on. Our featured workouts of the month will never be written by Richard Simmons or Tony Little. One reason why falls under #2, but the main one is that we don’t want to look like a joke. Like we’re cashing in on the latest trend just because it’s the latest trend. Our audience is mainly men between 18 and 34, with a lot of older guys included as well. They want to get big, strong, and ripped, and they’re not afraid to lift heavy weights and train hard to get there. This puts them outside the mainstream, to some extent, and that means these mainstream coaches can do little to help them. Also, guys in this demo tend to be very suspicious, weary, and even hateful of celebrities, and I don’t blame them.
Most of these “trainers to the stars” and other TV infomercial gurus aren’t any more qualified than the guy who teaches the “butt blast” class in your local chain gym. He or she just happened to know someone, got lucky, and wound up on TV.
A certain reality show trainer I know won his first celeb client at a party. He had just moved to Hollywood, and was drinking a martini talking to some new friends. This celebrity happened to be there, migrated over to him, and said, “I heard you’re a trainer, but you’re drinking a martini.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, then you’re the kind of trainer I want to have.”
Sometimes it’s that simple, folks. She didn’t ask what kind of education he had, what certification he had, or whether he’d trained anyone before. Celebrities are, deep down, average people, and they make the same dumb decisions as the rest of us. Just because they COULD get the best experts out there to help them doesn’t mean they do.
I’ll come back with a part 2 next time.
Comments
02 Feb, 2011
Bob
Sean,
As kind of a subcategory to #1, although not entirely applicable here, it's even worse when guys who don't train people (and have never made money doing so) prop themselves up as authorities on the financial end of the business. They write articles, they give seminars and they put out DVD's, and there's not a single one of them who knows what the hell he's talking about. Stupidest industry in creation.
02 Feb, 2011
jonathan
Great post! Well done :-)
02 Feb, 2011
Chase Karnes
Great stuff, Sean.
And congrats on the Muscle & Fitness deal.
03 Feb, 2011
Eric Cressey
Great post, Sean. Taking it a step further, you'd be amazed at some of the fitness marketers out there who claim to be able to help trainers get dozens of clients overnight - yet they have never built up a clientele themselves, or even a popular website! Sad, but true.
Nice work. Hope you're well.
06 Feb, 2011
Sean Hyson
@ Chase,
Thanks man
@ Eric,
Thanks. I know what you mean and I'm sure that must frustrate you as you're one of the few who did put in your time building a business. We have to get some new articles going soon.
09 Feb, 2011
Tom
Sean:
I was looking at your point #1 above about actually training people and wanted to know what you think about young trainers who only have trained a couple years, but have turned into fitness bloggers or writers and because they are in the fitness professional inner circle or done some fitness marketing for themselves, they have now been labled "experts"?
No education, expired certifications, no longer training, etc... and you know some of these guys too.
The only way this will get better is to do background checks on trainers or experts before they get published or interviewed...if you do this, you will find out the guy is no expert, only a fitness marketer at best.
What say you?
12 Feb, 2011
Todd Bettler
Great article!
I've recently made the move to include personal training, my first certification is through ISSA, along with martial arts instruction, and I can't express enough how important articles such as yours, and others, are to my development and insight.
Thank you
Todd
12 Feb, 2011
Todd Bettler
Great article!
I've recently made the move to include personal training, my first certification is through ISSA, along with martial arts instruction, and I can't express enough how important articles such as yours, and others, are to my development and insight.
Thank you
Todd
13 Feb, 2011
Nick Efthimiou
Sean this is great stuff. I just finished a kettlebell coaching course with the WKC. Does that mean I won't ever use a barbell anymore? Hell no. In fact it makes me less likely to introduce something new into my client's training until I fully understand it, and how it is applied, and the risk to benefits. Whatever it may be.
I've only been training people for 2 years, and am still on a steep learning curve for the practical side of things, but one thing that I always try to keep in mind is:
"Methods are many,
Principles are few. Methods always change, Principles never do."
28 Feb, 2011
Gary Deagle
Just wanted to let you know I read this months Muscle and Fitness and the direction it has taken is awesome.
Much better and actually applicable stuff.
Keep up the good work Sean.
14 Mar, 2011
Tony Gentilcore
Spot on Sean. It amazes me that all someone needs is a Youtube page nowadays, and they're automatically considered an "expert."
Also, I've been in the industry for close to nine years now - and feel I've made a decent name for myself - and people CONSTANTLY ask me when I'm going to write a book or make a fitness product. Truth be told: I STILL don't think I'm quite there yet.
Anyways. great post!
14 Mar, 2011
Smitty
Great article Sean. I hear the term "guru" on the internet so much it makes me sick. It is those same trainers you never see any videos of them actually training.
14 Mar, 2011
Dean Somerset
So..you mentioned how to not write for your magazines, but how does the average trainer get to write for one of your magazines? I have a lot of ideas I'd like to run by you.
14 Mar, 2011
Don
Agreed Smitty, "guru" may be one of the worst words ever. Anyone can proclaim themself a guru, and if it's on the internet people will believe it.
I also agree with you Tony. I have been in this game a few more years than you. I have a pretty solid base of knowledge, and I don't feel like I know nearly enough. I will never know enough to consider myself an "expert". That's the point though, and why we are constantly learning.
14 Mar, 2011
Greg R.
Sean, Great post. I like to think a great trainer can train the whole family: Mom, Dad, Son, Daughter and have the patience to deal with the dog.
14 Mar, 2011
Sean Hyson
Thanks, guys.
Let me know if there's anything else I can make more clear on this subject.
15 Mar, 2011
Tyler English
Amen!
Today, everyone is a self-proclaimed expert. Yet, they've never trained a damn client in their life or sorry maybe a handful.
You almost feel bad for the mainstream public surfing the internet. Who knows "The Next Greatest Thing" they might come across.
Glad to know there is someone in the mainstream who keeps it real!
29 Mar, 2011
Sincere H.
Great post, Sean. It's amazing how many Facebook posts and emails I receive from "Gurus" on a daily basis, claiming to know what is the one true diet or training system for everyone.
Seriously, I didn't realize the mass human cloning phenomenon had begun, and now everyone is exactly the same.
Thanks, Sean. Keep them coming.
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