Personal Training Research Paper

I had the opportunity to shadow a personal trainer named Josh Henderson. He is a personal trainer on the side, while working for a healthcare company for his main job. Some background information about Josh is he is from South Carolina and loves to lift heavy things. Every 3 months Josh competes in a regional or national powerlifting competition. Recently he got 2nd place at the 2016 Empire classic for strongmen in the heavyweight class. He not only makes goals for his clients, but trains with his clients for goals for himself. His goal now is to get his bodyweight below 220 pounds by August 20th to qualify for a Beach Classic in Seattle(I forgot exactly what the name of the tournament was). Josh is very passionate about personal training.

I arrived at Brentwood Elementary schools soccer field about 30 minutes before the training session was supposed to start. Josh was already there, setting up every exercise the way he envisioned it. At first it looked like a circuit training session, but after further inspection it was a way to see the clients fitness level. It started with a sprint from the goal post to the 19 yard box. Then it moved to running through a series of tires.
Before starting the training, he said he wanted to take a picture of the client as well as measuring body composition(Body fat and muscle mass).

I then asked a series of questions. For example, I asked how long he had been a personal trainer? He responded for about 4 years. He also said at first, he was just a trainer without a certification for people he knew for two years, then he decided to get his certificate and became certified. What had gotten him interested in personal training was his passion for weight lifting and perfection. He loves to see proper form at the gym from everyone, and doesn’t like to see anyone

fail.
Josh is unsure of where he wants to go in life, but wants to own his own fitness gym where he would be the gym’s personal trainer. Personal training will help him achieve this goal because he will have that personal touch with every client making it easier for them to work with him there. Josh loves to see clients making progress, where he hates people that give up that he knows can get the work done.
The client we were working with was an individual wanting to lose 20 pounds of body fat. I asked him what sort of time frame he is looking at for this goal. But, he responded with we have to see how the client does on her first couple of visits before we make a set timeline. Josh even let me measure some initial values, like waist size, arm size, and things like that.
The relationship between the client and trainer was very firm.

After the workout, I asked Josh how long he knew the client, he said this was the second time they had met. When I asked how he knew her so well, he said he didn’t. I was puzzled, he said he found something they had in common and went with it. To me, this interaction looked like it had been in the making for at least two years. The workout seemed to me that it worked for the client because as an initial or baseline score, the client was able to complete it and not be “tortured” to much. Josh used the word torture as being the absolute limit of work the client could

do.
This experience really opened my eyes to how important personal trainers are to clients health. Personal trainers want the best for their clients. As Josh put it, “money is not a concern to him, I am more concerned with achieving the clients goals.” I asked him what this meant, and he responded with “I don’t do this for the money, money comes and goes, but seeing that smile on that clients face after the success they achieve is most important to me.”
I loved every moment of the training, the client never gave up, Josh pushed the client again and again to see how far he could push the client to finish, and the client never gave up. The only surprise I noticed was that the client wanted more out of the initial workout, Josh promised her “torture” for the next workout. I could honestly say I would love to become a personal trainer after seeing that experience. The way he conducted himself with the client was astonishing. Hoping to become a physical therapist, I would love to match the character and intensity of Josh, in my future.
This experience really opened my eyes on how to be the best trainer possible. From finding something in common to discuss, all the way to pushing limits for the client. This experience was very beneficial. Josh invited me to talk part in his clients visits whenever I had free time.