In the early days of studying a heath and fitness qualification, I decided that a great way to learn more was to get myself a personal trainer and start training properly to see if it worked! My goal was to try and look more athletic and at the time, thought the best way to do this would by losing 4kg and toning up.

I met with a trainer who had been recommended through a friend. I expected to do a pre-screen of some sort by ticking a few boxes, having a few measurements taken, do a hideous fitness test and then get taken through a workout. I was very much mistaken!

We sat down in a private room and started by chatting about my day to day routine and what brought me to the gym. He talked about his background and really took the time to get to know me. By then, I felt quite at ease telling him about my personal health and the niggling aches and pains I occasionally experienced.

Soon we delved into topic of my goal. He asked me to describe what I meant by looking ‘athletic’. I was a little stumped with this question myself. I found it hard to explain the picture in my head and just assumed he understood what I meant. The point he was making was that his perception of athletic compared with mine could be quite different. He needed me to describe my vision.

It suddenly dawned on me how easy it could be for trainers to misinterpret things. Unless you truly know what a client specifically wants to achieve, it will be impossible to negotiate an appropriate training plan. It’s all about the trainer and client working out how they are going to measure and programme for the desired outcomes.

We decided that I would bring in a picture of how I wanted to look before he started to put a programme together for me. Funny thing was, when I showed him my ideal shape, he explained that I would need to PUT ON 4kg in muscle, not lose weight! We did some hypertrophy training and regular cardio and soon I was well on the way to my new look.

The moral of the story is that in order to truly understand someone’s goals, we have to get a clear understanding of what they mean. Goals need to be prioritized, broken down and discussed in detail allowing both the client and the trainer to determine whether it’s realistic, achievable and how they are going to measure the outcomes over the desired time frame. In short, these are called SMART goals and they are a great tool to use when screening and questioning your clients.

S =  Specific

M = Measureable

A=  Achievable

R=   Realistic

T=  Time

I’m not saying that we need to get all our clients to bring in a picture, but unless we ask them specifically what they want, we can’t get a good idea of how to programme and get them the results they desire.