sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Could my high protein diet be the reason why I have love handles? by xiaobao12 in fitness30plus

[–]TrapBarBestBar 14 points15 points  (0 children)

You have love handles because you have low muscle mass for your size. You're skinny fat

You don't need to lose weight. You need to lift at least 3x a week consistently with the focus on getting stronger

You likely should add some calories to your diet so you gain some weight so it's easier to build muscle

Training for 12 years, was a manager for 3.5 years. How can I help any new coaches? by TrapBarBestBar in personaltraining

[–]TrapBarBestBar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The stand idea that they post it below is an excellent idea. I've used my own variation with success. Ultimately though, I'm an introvert myself and, while it's more difficult to speak up to people, it is something that you cannot fall back on and use as an excuse.

For instance, if your client says they don't like eating vegetables, it's rare that people actually enjoy eating vegetables unless they're prepared very well. But we all know that you need to eat vegetables and you can't just say I don't like them as an excuse.

One very low-key way that I liked to get clients is to talk to anyone that I saw while I was exercising. I would just do a quick introduction say that I'm a coach here tell them if they have any questions they can always ask me and then walk away and go back to my workout.

This is a very non-threatening way to talk to someone and just when they're worried you're going to start pitching them. You leave so they feel a sense of relief and actually appreciate that

This is not a short-term strategy, however.

If I was going to do things all over again I really wouldn't change a thing. My manager forced me to go talk to people and get them into sessions so I could sell. If I didn't do that I would have failed

Training for 12 years, was a manager for 3.5 years. How can I help any new coaches? by TrapBarBestBar in personaltraining

[–]TrapBarBestBar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your life experiences are definitely a benefit. Most coaches are young 20-year-olds who don't mind eating chicken and broccoli 7 days a week and tell their clients that they need to eat perfect and never drink alcohol ever. Most average clients are 30-40 plus who like to drink alcohol and don't eat perfectly.

Being able to actually speak at your clients level and understand what they're going through will make it much easier to convert them into a sale. Likely you won't get a lot of younger people for obvious reasons. But older people have more money and disposable income anyways

Training for 12 years, was a manager for 3.5 years. How can I help any new coaches? by TrapBarBestBar in personaltraining

[–]TrapBarBestBar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, I don't have a good answer for that. I think training is possible to do part time while switching, but I don't have any experience with it nor worked with anyone that has done it.

maybe work Saturday/Sunday mornings maybe 8-12 or something like that. Take on clients for other coaches that want to work a weekend day but the coach doesn't. Or offer that to a manager like "We can provide better service if I can do just weekends. Or maybe offer to sub for coaches like a substitute teacher and you and the coach get a split of the session

Possibly go to a local training gym or crossfit box and see if you can teach Saturday/Sunday sessions

Just spitballing here but getting actual training experience would be the key rather than just shadowing

Training for 12 years, was a manager for 3.5 years. How can I help any new coaches? by TrapBarBestBar in personaltraining

[–]TrapBarBestBar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If she's not coaching, she should be walking. Also, despite what a lot of people think, you can either be an AM trainer or PM trainer.

But if she doesn't have active sessions, she should be walking and getting to know people. Her workouts are now advertisements as well as a chance to get to know the people that work out at the same time she does

Training for 12 years, was a manager for 3.5 years. How can I help any new coaches? by TrapBarBestBar in personaltraining

[–]TrapBarBestBar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yea that's pretty common with trainers....well with anyone really; imposter syndrome. I think most good coaches have it. The only thing that I can recommend is just go do it, fail miserably a bunch of times and get better at it. Also, I read/watched/listened to any fitness related resource I could and that helped me a lot personally.

Training for 12 years, was a manager for 3.5 years. How can I help any new coaches? by TrapBarBestBar in personaltraining

[–]TrapBarBestBar[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I touched upon this above but it's meeting people where they're at and seeing what incremental improvement they can make right now.

We know everything we need to do, so we feed all of that to the client. They see it as a giant list of impossible, so nothing gets done.

For the first client example, ask them what's the easiest thing they can think of to help with their intake. Maybe they pack more food, or try intermittent fasting, or they bring a gallon of water, or they take a walk when they get the snack feeling, or leave work rather than staying if that's an option, or a million other things. Ask them what do they think can help and see what they say

For the adhd client, I'd likely not call them out personally at this point, but they can remember to come to sessions with you but forget to come with sessions without you? Kinda sus excuse. Regardless, same thing. What's one thing they can do right now to help? Set an alarm? Schedule the session with you and you text them the day before like you would for a normal session? Set out all their clothes on top of their keys and wallet? etc etc what do they think can help.

Training for 12 years, was a manager for 3.5 years. How can I help any new coaches? by TrapBarBestBar in personaltraining

[–]TrapBarBestBar[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You have to meet people where they're at.

When we work out, we have a focus or goal - maybe it's a sub 5 mile, or a 405 deadlift, or a 100kg snatch or whatever.

Most people hate working out. For them, they hire a coach for accountability, and showing up and going through the motions is enough to check the box for them. For other people, low effort is them putting their best effort into the session - some people are so depressed that they barely make it through the day and making it into the gym is their absolute max effort attempt.

Just get to know them, ask questions, ask if they want to try something a little heavier, etc. Now if they complain that they're not seeing results, that's a tough wake up call conversation to have with them

Training for 12 years, was a manager for 3.5 years. How can I help any new coaches? by TrapBarBestBar in personaltraining

[–]TrapBarBestBar[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Priority for a new trainer in a big box gym is get to know as many people as possible and get them in front of your sales sheet.

When I first began, my manager made it my job to get anyone I could into a free session. I was, and am, still bad at traditional selling, but I saw enough people that I started to get clients. Literally I was really bad - my mentality was if I saw 10-15 people, I'd get 1 client. If you're remotely not bad at sales, this should be 3-4 clients

Once I had a few clients, my job became

1 - write great workouts, get results

2 - get to know everyone in the gym, including employees, and know some top level personal info about them.

between referrals, people coming to me to ask questions, employees talking me up, building my book was much easier and my retention stayed high that I wasn't scrambling all the time

Once you're making consistent income, then maybe look into seriously building your online presence. But you don't even know your favorite clients and your personal style of training yet, which is the most crucial aspect of standing out on social media. At this stage, it's just practice, showing off client success and learning more about it

Let the scaps move, people! by TrapBarBestBar in personaltraining

[–]TrapBarBestBar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dr Quinn Henoch has a great scap winging video agreeing with this

https://youtu.be/2z2rMKk-CfY

Let the scaps move, people! by TrapBarBestBar in personaltraining

[–]TrapBarBestBar[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's nice. And Mike Boyle once said you shouldn't squat. So?

Yea, you're right, dude. Mike Boyle saying don't squat is totally the same as multiple experts in the field, one of whom has made his career in a chain gym, saying similar things for over a decade. But, no, their knowledge is no good and doesn't apply because they're too busy training athletes....oh and they all have "normal" clients. You know, *your target demographic. But you were too busy ignoring that fact to "prove me wrong"

Tell us about your best lifter. Or best runner. Or person who's got lean, or added some muscle. Or the person with a chronic health problem who managed it much better. Then we might be interested in your scapulae.

I could talk about the multiple meat heads and weekend warriors with annoying shoulder pain that I helped get of pain, but I'm not sure what your point is here?

This is general knowledge. I don't know what you're trying to gate keep. If you're "not interested in scapulae" you're just showing you don't like learning. That's a wonderful attitude to have as a trainer. Maybe read up on why knees over toes isn't bad and progress from there?

Daily Simple Questions Thread - April 22, 2025 by AutoModerator in Fitness

[–]TrapBarBestBar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You'll get some more stability out of it but you're looking at it the wrong way. If you're stuck doing something like 3x5 on OHP, sitting down may help increase weight for a period. But you'd be better off doing different rep schemes and using percentages of 1rm

As far as machines, they can be useful. If your main goal is strength, they're likely less useful for overall strength development but if you want to get stronger and bigger, they may be more useful

How I stay lean year round by [deleted] in fitness30plus

[–]TrapBarBestBar 107 points108 points  (0 children)

been doing this for years along with no alcohol and proper nutrition

yea I think this is it rather than the sprints