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There is no doubt that innovation and technology in health and fitness is growing…but so are waistlines.
The Personal Training industry is continuing to experience rapid growth, more Trainers are flooding the market, competition on price is increasing and there’s more and more styles of sessions led by Personal Trainers available than ever before. In addition, understanding and utilizing technology directed towards the health and fitness industry has become part of the job for Personal Trainers. New tools provide the potential to improve exercise effectiveness, health and fitness outcomes or impact on the success of commercial operations. Of particular interest is the amount of enthusiasm and growth in the area of wearable technology. While the early adopters of smart watches and fitness trackers would pull a crowd between sets as they showed off their shiny new gadgets, products such as the FitBit, Nike’s suite of fitness tools and the Apple Watch are now considered mainstream tools by many clients and gym-goers. Considering this trend, it becomes important that Personal Trainers recognize their integral role in our rapidly changing industry. While it may be that the average client includes the purchase of software, an app or wearable device in their health and fitness program, will they actually get better long term results as a result of it?
As more and more apps and wearables permeate the marketplace, the sophistication of the offerings is increasing. Wellbeing plans are touted as being tailored to ‘suit your level’, location, goals, etc. Heart-rate monitors, pace trackers and even deliver ‘coaching’. Powerful tools are pushed with impressive marketing strategies that suggest online programs and mobile devices are capable of producing truly personalized experiences. The question emerges, if access to personalized coaching and targeting workouts are now readily available at a fraction of the cost of hiring a Personal Trainer, what is the future for the profession?
It’s all about relationships…
Whether it’s counting calories or counting steps, motivation and accountability are often key aspects of ‘the sell’ for consumer devices and software. While some users may experience successful outcomes with a prompt from their watch to ‘move more’, it is my experience that most people are unlikely to exercise long-term because their tech tells them to. Muting or ignoring a passive device is just too easily done.
Technology and Personal Training can, and should, have a close relationship. At Fitness Enhancement, clients often enjoy tracking their progress between sessions, but accountability through an app alone isn’t enough. Our Trainers create a positive and supportive workout environment, and cultivate a relationship built on trust and respect. They are there to get clients back on track when they have missed a session, skipped their workouts or gone outside their eating plan. Usually these things don’t happen because they didn’t see a reminder or notification pop up, there are psychological reasons behind these choices that need to be addressed if the client is going to get long term results once the novelty of new technology wears off. It’s about recognizing that health and fitness extends beyond timetables, rules and rigid structures that work for generic groups of people rather than unique individuals. Understanding each and every client as a unique person, not a demographic determined by data is what ensures a Personal Trainer will have a better relationship that leads to better results than technology without this human element can ever get.
When Personal Trainers work as professional and ‘Personal’ Trainers, technology is not a threat to this industry
For me, there is a core belief that while an app may be able to track how far you ran and record hours of sleep, it is the human side of our role that is the most important. That is not to say that technology is unnecessary – sticking to the pen and clipboard would be detrimental to our clients and our businesses. But there is a need for balance. Technology can look at the data that may have resulted in the client going off track based, but it can never understand the full story and have a compassionate, problem-solving discussion with the client. As we know, for many people making the right choices is easy in theory and a whole lot harder in practise. That’s why we are here. No app can go beyond giving generalised solutions (yet!), and leverage truly personalised details that emerge in partnership with a ‘Personal’ Trainer, such as disruptive life-events or individual stress and trigger points. Most importantly, a Personal Trainer uses their knowledge and experience to support the client with the tools, strategies, accountability and motivation to achieve long term results.
For ‘IM’Personal Trainers, Technology Isn’t Your Only Threat
Personal Trainers that give most their clients the same generic programs, or do little more than yell and count reps, can, and perhaps should, be replaced by technology or any of the other great ways the consumer can spend their money on achieving their goals. The type of Trainer we’ve just described, one that works with knowledge and expertise to support an individual clients’ pathway to success is really not all that common. At Fitness Enhancement, it’s the standard we ensure our team meets through education and on-going support, because we know it’s the level our best competitors aspire to and our clients deserve. But, with many Trainers having done quick and easy qualifications, and many of them doing no further education or being a part of a Gym or franchise that hold each and every Trainer to stringent standards, unfortunately this quality isn’t the norm.
It all comes down to this simple idea- if the services and expertise you offer can be easily replaced by a piece of technology…maybe you should be.