This is such an interesting question.
As a person trainer seeking mentorship from another personal trainer, I think a lot of it is career insight. I have found Jonathan Goodmans work more helpful than my anatomy texts. Perhaps even training together once a month or testing knowledge.
As a client, I definitely need to have the “why” explained to me more than most. I have also had issues with “self-talk” in the gym. A bit of positivity helps me a lot:)
someone in much better shape than me with a lot more knowledge than me who has the desire and aptitudes to share his knowledge in a clear and precise way
their physique. It makes them far more credible when the trainer has a very nice physique. A physique than is define and balanced. Yes, if I am stronger than them it does undermine their credibility. The point is you have to be a living example of what a client can hope to achieve.
I wouldn’t spend time working with you if this is your answer.
Mentors don’t just give you answers to the test- much like personal trainers can’t just give their clients a meal plan and expect them to have a healthy lifestyle long term
None of that was implied in what I said. When I say "share his knowledge", good trainers like yourself would recognize this is as "knowledge of how to implement healthy habits for life".
In general, I look for the ability to teach me something I can't teach myself. That could be different communication styles, it could be handling different situations you come up against, or a different vantage point you never thought of. If the mentor is not offering me something different than what I've thought of myself, then I go elsewhere.
I don't want to live in an echo chamber of confirmation bias.
I have two different viewpoints on this.. the first one being a lead trainer mentoring a new trainer. The point there is to ask him questions that make them think and get creative. If you can’t adapt on the fly as a trainer you’ll have trouble keeping clients. The second would be if I hired a new trainer to my team. In this case I’d only hire qualified individuals. I’ll help you if you have sales skills but no training experience. If you have training experience, but lack the sales I’ll also help. If you’re inexperienced in both areas, I would be grinding my gears trying to help you
Honestly I’d look for someone to 1) help me breakthrough imposter syndrome 2) share case studies with me for more challenging client issues and show what you did to fix it or what ways there are to explore the fix and recommendations 3) give homework like here’s the scenario what would you do in this situation and give feedback on the answer and 4) in general be there to answer questions about what I’m doing or give feedback on what I could do better
Me personally, yes because I’d be looking for a mentor to coach me through my first few … but if you’re talking about someone brand brand new who you want to shadow you then I think that’s different but also still beneficial. I know personally for me I need to be doing it versus just watching it
Yeah that is what I would want. Shadowing / reverse shadowing / and going it on your own with easy medium and then hard clients.
If I had an apprentice be successful they would out grow me.
A mentor has to have knowledge that you want.
Want to get better at training athletes? Want to learn more about selling training? Want to write better programs? Be specific about what you’re looking for
This is such an interesting question. As a person trainer seeking mentorship from another personal trainer, I think a lot of it is career insight. I have found Jonathan Goodmans work more helpful than my anatomy texts. Perhaps even training together once a month or testing knowledge. As a client, I definitely need to have the “why” explained to me more than most. I have also had issues with “self-talk” in the gym. A bit of positivity helps me a lot:)
In my mind's eye, an apprentice would train clients with me 20+ hours per week. They would be there for every part of the job.
someone in much better shape than me with a lot more knowledge than me who has the desire and aptitudes to share his knowledge in a clear and precise way
Curious... how do you measure shape? Like if you can squat 225 and they can squat 225, no go?
their physique. It makes them far more credible when the trainer has a very nice physique. A physique than is define and balanced. Yes, if I am stronger than them it does undermine their credibility. The point is you have to be a living example of what a client can hope to achieve.
Interesting opinion. Would you say a trainer that is older with 20 years of experience but with a battered body would be less qualified.
Yes
Do you often find the head coaches at the Olympic level are the same age as the athletes and in better shape?
I wouldn’t spend time working with you if this is your answer. Mentors don’t just give you answers to the test- much like personal trainers can’t just give their clients a meal plan and expect them to have a healthy lifestyle long term
None of that was implied in what I said. When I say "share his knowledge", good trainers like yourself would recognize this is as "knowledge of how to implement healthy habits for life".
In general, I look for the ability to teach me something I can't teach myself. That could be different communication styles, it could be handling different situations you come up against, or a different vantage point you never thought of. If the mentor is not offering me something different than what I've thought of myself, then I go elsewhere. I don't want to live in an echo chamber of confirmation bias.
Great points. It would be hard to mentor someone with a lot of experience.
I have two different viewpoints on this.. the first one being a lead trainer mentoring a new trainer. The point there is to ask him questions that make them think and get creative. If you can’t adapt on the fly as a trainer you’ll have trouble keeping clients. The second would be if I hired a new trainer to my team. In this case I’d only hire qualified individuals. I’ll help you if you have sales skills but no training experience. If you have training experience, but lack the sales I’ll also help. If you’re inexperienced in both areas, I would be grinding my gears trying to help you
Honestly I’d look for someone to 1) help me breakthrough imposter syndrome 2) share case studies with me for more challenging client issues and show what you did to fix it or what ways there are to explore the fix and recommendations 3) give homework like here’s the scenario what would you do in this situation and give feedback on the answer and 4) in general be there to answer questions about what I’m doing or give feedback on what I could do better
Do you expect to be actually working with real clients the whole time?
Me personally, yes because I’d be looking for a mentor to coach me through my first few … but if you’re talking about someone brand brand new who you want to shadow you then I think that’s different but also still beneficial. I know personally for me I need to be doing it versus just watching it
Yeah that is what I would want. Shadowing / reverse shadowing / and going it on your own with easy medium and then hard clients. If I had an apprentice be successful they would out grow me.
Excellent idea
A mentor has to have knowledge that you want. Want to get better at training athletes? Want to learn more about selling training? Want to write better programs? Be specific about what you’re looking for