Introduction:
Using reflective practice in your personal training business is the ideal way to make sure you are giving your clients the best workouts possible whilst ensuring that you are doing the best job you can. It’s the feedback that you give yourself in terms of how well you think you did and what you could do better, and it should also come from your client to make sure you understand how you can serve them better as their trainer. By asking your clients for feedback and critiquing your own actions, you will vastly improve the rate of your own self-development. Reflective practice is just a matter of looking back at what you have done over the past few days or weeks and seeing what could be improved upon. It sounds complicated, but the process is as simple as looking back at specific tasks you have completed and asking yourself a few simple questions so that you can gather some information to improve yourself and the services you provide. The harsh reality of personal training is that it is a dog-eat-dog world, the best of the best survive and have flourishing businesses, whereas the trainers that think they know everything tend to lose clients and are constantly needing to replace them, which can be exhausting.
Instead, by looking at how you are training people and asking your clients for feedback, you can make sure that not only are you becoming a better trainer but that your clients are getting everything they need out of their training. By asking these questions you are more likely to retain your client base and have positive word of mouth from them which can, in turn, can make your business run smoothly and increases its profitability.
Reflective practice is an often-overlooked skill that can dramatically improve the quality of service you can provide for your clients. By making sure you are keeping your clients happy, they are more likely to stay with you and continue to pay for sessions with you. This could make your business more stable and reliable, which is vital to the success of any business.
STEP 1: RESPOND TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
- Did I select exercises in my client’s best interests and will help them reach their goals faster? Give examples based on client goals.
- Did I provide nutritional information based on evidence and within my scope of practice to assist my clients progress? Please share anything you provided regarding nutritional resources and/or questions you were asked and responded to.
- Did I provide consultations regarding progressing my clients’ workouts appropriately? (even though you may not have had the time to make these progressions, did you suggest anything?) Please provide an example and describe the progression.
- Did you create enough rapport during my sessions? If so, explain how this was accomplished.
- Did you make yourself available outside of sessions (within the timeline of this project) so my client felt they could ask me questions?
- Is there anything else that I can learn that will assist all or specific clients needs? Please think of one (1) thing you plan to pursue to improve yourself.
- Did I act professionally at all times? Explain and provide an example.
STEP 2: This assignment can and should be a comprehensive reflection of your experience, both good and bad. Please type your responses either in bullet format responding with at minimum 2-3 sentences per question. Each response is actually worth (30 points/210 points total). This is your culminating project and should be written comprehensively. Most student submission are at minimum 2 pages typed.
