11 Feb How To Find A Great Coach That’s Right for You

If you want to find a great coach or trainer to help you reach your fitness goals faster, there’s a few things you need to consider.

Let me share a list I came up with that represents the top check points you should consider when looking for a coach.

Actually, how to find the best coach or trainer so you can achieve the specific health, fitness, lifestyle, or performance goals you want.

Here are some questions to ask yourself as you select your coach (note: the first 3 are the absolute minimum requirements):

1-Are They Passionate?

You definitely want to find someone that has passion for what they are doing.

Passion really does “trump” everything else.

If they truly get excited about teaching, exercise, nutrition, and helping you, you’ve got a winner.

Passion is easy to spot, so it shouldn’t be difficult to see if someone you’re considering is passionate or not.

If there’s no passion, it’s easy to just move on.

2-Do They Have Experience?

Does your potential coach have good experience in what they are teaching?

How did they get the experience and ask about their background.

Do they do the things they preach themselves?

How many years have they been doing what they do and what other diverse or unique qualifications do they have?

More experience usually equals better results, as long as they still have the passion and continue to learn themselves and not remain stagnant, of course.

Experience speaks volumes.

3-Do They Have a Strong Education or Training Background?

What specific training, courses, certifications, or educational background background do they have?

There’s a million certifications out there these days, so do your due diligence and research a little to find out what type of training is involved to get those certifications.

While some “certs” are extremely rigorous to obtain, others are quite easy.

A great example is training with kettlebells.

Because this is such a movement skill, it requires the best training.

And if someone is teaching this without proper training, you’re not getting the most benefit and certainly not training the safest way.

Some certifications require a certain educational background or degree, others do not.

Having a top-notch education and the right certifications means your coach is highly qualified, however, this doesn’t always guarantee success.

Remember, it’s a combination of all this that really makes the difference.

4-Are They Constant Learners?

Is your coach someone that continues to learn by attending courses and seminars or by reading books and journals on the latest research?

Someone that is a continuous learner, always seeking to be better and keep up with the latest information, that’s someone you want to coach you.

Once you stop learning, you stop growing.

No matter how experienced or educated your coach is, it’s critical that they keep feeding their brain and improving their skills, so they can provide the absolute most benefit to you.

You want someone that’s totally up on the “latest” information.

If they are passionate about what they are doing, chances are they are continuous learners, as well.

If you hear them say “the latest research shows…“, then you know your coach is staying up to date.

5-Do They Have Personal Involvement?

Is your coach personally involved and doing what they preach to you?

Do they exercise, do they eat right, do they live a healthy and energetic lifestyle?

Your coach needs to look the part, they need to exercise and be fit themselves.

I’m not saying they need to look like a fitness model or high level athlete, but your coach should be someone who practices what they preach and lives the lifestyle.

They should be a positive role model for you.

6-Do They Really Care About You?

You want a coach that genuinely cares and gives a damn about you and your goals.

Someone that understands what your challenges may be and what you are going after.

You want someone that applies all of their strengths, talents, and knowledge to really help you achieve your outcome.

Someone that will be able to recognize if progress is not being made, so they can simply change the approach.

A good coach cares and makes changes if something isn’t working as planned.

7-Do They Have The Right Mindset?

Is your coach a motivator and an inspiration?

Do they have the right attitude and energy to lead you to your goals?

Are they positive and have the right mindset qualities you need to succeed?

Attitude, energy, and enthusiasm are contagious.

Make sure they have a fresh mindset and attitude for you and your needs.

8-Do They Have a Good Personality?

Is this someone you want to hang with?

Since you’re going to be spending some time with them, you want them to have a pleasing, likable personality, right?

Are they a good communicator?

Someone that can provide the positive reinforcement when you need it, but also give you a shot of reality and honesty in a motivating way.

Can they lift you up, instead of tear you down?

Are they a genuinely cool person?

I’m not sure about you, but I like down to earth, cool people.

9-Are They Objective?

Here’s the deal on this.

How do you know if you are making progress without objective measurements?

Is your coach getting a good baseline from where you’re starting from and measuring along the way?

Otherwise, how do you really know if you’re making progress?

You won’t.

Taking objective measurements is critical to do to assess what is working and what is not.

A good coach will constantly be assessing things to ensure progress is being made.

Measurements like weight, girth, body composition, photos, and performance measures are some of the key objectives to track success.

Make sure your coach measures success, at least to your satisfaction so that you know you are making objective progress.

10-Are They a Good Teacher?

Obviously, you want someone that has developed the skill of coaching.

You want someone that can really teach you new things.

Do they know how to get the best from you?

Do they know how to best relate the information to you?

Another example of why having a top level education potentially serves no useful purpose if that person can’t teach what they know effectively.

Not only should they be good at teaching, you’re coach should be passionate about teaching.

Again, something you’ll be able to gauge pretty easily.

There’s a simple checklist to evaluate how good your coach, trainer, or instructor is and how to select the best person for you.

Ideally, you’d want to have all this.

Remember, there’s many great coaches out there, but you have to do your due diligence.

Hope that helps.