Desired Characteristics of A Coach

General Intelligence

General intelligence is pretty easy to pick up when you talk with an individual, and this is one of the most important factors when choosing a coach or personal trainer. There are some very basic principles that guide physical training, yet there is a huge proportion of the fitness industry that does not apply these principles correctly. An intelligent trainer will easily be able to successfully apply these principles to your training, yet someone who lacks general intelligence will provide you with training that makes no sense. Physical training is so far from rocket science that it is impressive how people still manage to miss the mark.

Curiosity / Passion in Physical Culture

Coaches and trainers do not need to be athletically talented individuals. They do, however, need to be curious about physical training and how it affects the body. They need to be practitioners of what they are helping other people achieve. Why would you want to learn from someone who does not practice what they preach? It simply doesn’t make any sense. This does not mean that they need to be talented at what they practice, but it does mean they need to be moving their body on a consistent basis. If you truly love this topic, there is no way that physical training is not a huge part of your life.

Enthusiasm, Energy, Healthy, Vibrant

A coach or trainer is supposed to be someone you strive to be like. They should set the example of what a healthy lifestyle looks like 95% of the time without being too psychologically rigid. This in turn usually results in someone who has vast amounts of energy not only for their professional endeavors but also their personal endeavors and athletic pursuits. Coaches and trainers should be vibrant individuals who can energize others. All these factors result in a high-energy, enthusiastic individual who is eager to coach their clients. Coaching is a very active profession, and therefore this is really a requirement to be successful.

Technical Excellence

Coaches and physical trainers do not need to be particularly strong or exceptionally fit, but they do need to have reached technical excellence. Technical excellence in resistance training means being able to perform all the movement patterns with perfect form. This really isn’t a huge ask for those in the fitness industry given that most of these movement patterns can be learned by all individuals in the space of six months. If a trainer cannot successfully perform a squat or a deadlift, how are they going to teach you? This unfortunately is hard to pick up on for individuals who do not work in the fitness industry—how are they supposed to know what “good” looks like? This is where you will need to use the internet and find individuals who have excellent credentials.

Consistency of Client Base

The ability to keep clients a long time is a good sign of emotional intelligence. Personal training involves a great deal of talking; resistance training has a lot of rest periods, and this is why you need to “click” with your trainer. When a coach or trainer is able to retain clients for very long periods of time, it usually means they are very good at building good relationships with their clients. If this is within the skill set of a personal trainer, then they will have a very consistent client base.

Things You Shouldn’t Look for In a Coach

Genetic Talent

Physical genetic talent and athletic ability have nothing to do with being a good guide or coach. In fact, sometimes it can even make you a worse coach as you cannot understand why certain individuals cannot perform certain tasks or why they progress so slowly. This doesn’t mean that those with genetic talent will automatically be bad coaches, but it should not be the driving factor when looking for a coach. Genetic talent can also make people misunderstand the principles of training. When an exceptional individual follows a terrible training programme, they make rapid progress.

Athletic Identity

Athletes see themselves as athletes; they create an athletic identity. This is often a sign that they are not attempting to find excellence in the coaching profession. Some athletes are excellent coaches, but most athletes are excellent at being athletes, not at being coaches—they are by no means one and the same. If someone wants to be an excellent coach or trainer, they need to be progressing as a coach, not just as an athlete.

Physical Appearance

People picking their trainers or coaches based on their physical appearance—this is probably one of the biggest problems in the fitness industry. Don’t get me wrong, a coach needs to be in very good condition, because they are curious about physical training and this results in them practicing what they preach. However, this doesn’t mean they have the best abs in the gym by any means. Physical appearance in the sense of being very lean is heavily influenced by nutrition adherence and genetics. Nutrition adherence in order to be extremely lean is not required to be an excellent coach, and neither is genetics. Nutrition adherence for being extremely lean is very different from having a very healthy, well-balanced diet.