What is a coach for life?
When it comes to hiring a professional, people value trust and consistency. Many people have the same doctor, dentist, physiotherapist, accountant, financial planner, or even hairdresser for decades—maybe even for life. Most of us seek out a professional we like and then stick with them.
We believe the same should be true of a fitness coach: Find a coach you trust can help you with your nutrition, health and fitness, and stick with that coach for life.
What’s the role of a coach for life?
The coach for life’s roll is to manage your individual health, wellness and fitness as you age. Your needs will be much different at 55 than at 20. It’s your coach’s job to understand what you need at all of these stages.
Your coach will do this by developing a relationship with you—by getting to know your health and fitness goals, and then by providing one-on-one personal training, group class coaching, or individual programming (depending on your needs).
Some people meet their coach once a week (on top of doing group classes two or three days a week) while others meet their coach one a month or once a quarter. The frequency with which you meet with your coach will depend on your needs and goals and will change based on what’s going on in your life. If you’re injured, for example, you may need to see your coach more frequently for direction with your rehabilitation. The idea is for your coach to be whoever you need him/her to be at any given time.
In short, your coach is in your life to help you maximize your health and fitness progress so you can live the most fulfilling life possible.
What the process looks like for you?
Once you discover a coach you connect with, you will start personal training. During this time, you will learn various movements crucial to improving your fitness—from weightlifting to gymnastics. You will gain strength, power, mobility, cardiovascular endurance and learn new skills in the process.
During these initial 12-20 one-on-one sessions (depending on your abilities and limitations), your coach will also diagnose your physical weaknesses and limitations and put a plan in place to help you improve.
When you’re physically (and emotionally ready) ready, you will graduate to group classes, where you will get the chance to workout with other coaches and athletes and continue to improve your fitness. At the same time, your coach will remain an integral part of your fitness development.
How is having a coach for life different than what you get at other gyms?
In short, the fitness industry is a bit of a mess. One of the reasons for this is because it’s a constant revolving door of personal trainers and coaches.
Unlike other healthcare professionals—be it physiotherapists, chiropractors or massage therapists—the average personal trainer stays in the fitness industry for less than two years, often as a personal trainer or a group class instructor. The problem lies in that once he discovers he can’t make a living as a coach or trainer (or he gets bored of being a cheerleader during group classes) he generally moves on to a new career. In other words, a lifelong career in the fitness industry is rare.
This is bad news for the client. At some gyms, this revolving door means just as you develop a trusting relationship with a coach you connect with, he bails and leaves the gym. At other gyms, it means you never even get the chance to work with a personal coach at all. Instead, you attend group classes, where nobody ever gets to know much about you or your individual needs.
This is not the case at Cumming Strength and Fitness.
We are fostering career coaches who have the chance to earn a professional wage in the industry. They want to develop a real relationship with you so they can cater to your individual needs and truly make a difference in your life. This means you get a stable, lifelong coach to help you reach your goals, and in return, our coaches get the chance to have a stable career.
Coach for life education
Another problem in the industry today comes down to education. Basically, anyone can call himself a personal trainer. A weekend course is generally all it takes to earn the right to put someone’s health and fitness in your hands. A scary thought, really.
Our coaches, on the other hand, go through a two to three year coach development program, receiving academic and technical education, business education, and coaching mentorship to help make them some of the most qualified fitness professionals in the industry.
Coach for life MadLab Group connection
We are part of a greater business network of gyms, and together we are changing the way the world sees the fitness coach. Our strength is in our numbers; there are currently more than 160 MadLab gyms around the world, who have all embraced the concept of a coach for life.
Our collective vision is for our coaches for life to become part of a broader picture of health professionals—where the coach is at the centre of the health hub.
Devin Glage from the MadLab Group put it this way: “I envision the day where a client walks into the doctor’s office, and the doctor asks, ‘Who’s your coach?’ I’m going to give you something to fix this specific symptom and then you’re going to go back to your coach and continue to work with them on the things that are good for your long-term health and well-being.”
“I envision a referral network back and forth with physios, doctors, nutritionists, coaches—a giant wheel all pointing back to this place—the gym. And the coach. Because the gym is where people spend most of their time.”
Join us in the revolution to professionalize the fitness coach. Because having a professional coach in your life will help you live a healthier, fitter, and ultimately longer life.