COACH VS. PERSONAL TRAINER

You might see a number of health professionals referring to themselves by different names - coach, guide, trainer, therapist, instructor… the list goes on.

I, personally, refer to myself as a “Women’s Holistic Health Coach” - a name I pretty much made up. But, my base qualification itself has me as a Personal Trainer. So, why do I only ever refer to myself as a "coach"? Why not "personal trainer"?

Thrive Coaching is based on developing women's holistic strength and fitness.

Key word here = holistic. Definition: "The parts of something intimately connected... the whole person, taking in to account mental and social factors".

If I am only a personal trainer, I provide advice on physical exercise only. And I stopped doing only that a long time ago.

I am a coach because all my clients are coached holistically - with an emphasis on not only their physical health and strength/fitness gains, but just as much with a focus on improving mindset, body image, and tackling the issues in their life that are ultimately acting as obstacles towards the physical fitness they want anyway

The first words I say to any new client I meet are along the lines of:

"Our working relationship needs to be based on trust. You will not be able to give me 100% in the gym if you're not working on yourself outside of it." So I ask for honesty and prompt for a lot of discussion during session, because I know, from years of experience with hundreds of clients across two continents doing this, that it works.

A personal trainer will be committed to delivering a (hopefully high quality) physical training service. They will most likely program physical exercise for you, run you through a dedicated workout during their PT session with you, and maybe will check in occasionally on your nutrition.

A coach, as I like to see it, looks at all individual parts of your life, your behaviours, your habits and your attitudes, and pieces them together to come up with solutions that will guide you towards achieving your health and fitness goals.

I, personally, include emotional and mental wellbeing in those individual parts, because it is a strong belief of mine that all facets of health go hand in hand. It is very difficult to be exceptional at maintaining your physical health, for example, if you are riddled with stress. Therefore, I refer to myself as working holistically.

So, it depends on what you’re looking for. A personal trainer will run you through a workout, focus on your physical and aesthetic goals, and (ideally) work to get you to meet those goals. But, a coach tends to go a little deeper. My clients are usually coming to me with a desire to work on themselves from the inside out, and a whole lot of stuff they’d love my assistance and guidance with, in order to improve their life holistically. One of those parts is learning how to get physically strong and fit in a gym environment.

Happy coach-searching!

Grace x