If you’re feeling motivated to seek out a fitness coach or a personal trainer, chances are you see it as a means to an end. That can often give the relationship a transactional feel: you pay an expert coach for their time, and in exchange, they help you achieve a specific goal.
While shedding some pounds or setting a new personal best is nice, hitting those targets aren’t the only thing the personal training process can do for you. In the act of moving towards your goal, you’ll likely realize that there are some unexpected, longer-term benefits to fitness coaching that can change your life in ways both big and small.
So with that in mind, it’s worth taking a closer look at three unexpected but nonetheless transformative benefits that you can find by teaming up with an expert to elevate your approach to fitness.
1. You’ll realize that health isn’t just skin-deep.
For many personal training clients, the objective is an improved physique. That’s a totally natural desire, and there’s nothing wrong with working out to look better. But with the help of a good fitness coach, achieving those exterior goals involves taking a holistic approach that prioritizes sustainability over shortcuts. In the process of taking a different route than you might have on your own, you’ll experience how the connection between fitness and health is more than just what we see on the outside.
For example, you may find that your coach wants you to lose weight by doing a surprising amount of strength training, which can speed up your metabolism and help you build that strong and lean physique. But in addition to serving your primary goal, regular strength or resistance training can improve everything from your bone density to your mobility and mood. That’s just one of the ways that an exercise routine featuring the four types of movement can serve both your aesthetic goals while improving your health biomarkers.
If the personal training process involves any level of nutrition coaching, this holistic approach to health can extend well beyond the number you see on the scale. Instead of just counting calories, working with a coach can help you identify efficient ways to fuel up on vital micro and macronutrients. In addition to dropping pounds, this process can keep your body in tip-top shape for the long haul, while helping you deepen your understanding of the connection between what you eat and how you feel.
You may not seek out a personal trainer because you want a healthier heart or increased longevity into your golden years. But if you can access those unexpected health benefits at no extra charge, then you have plenty of reasons to keep coming back for more workouts long after you’ve reached your initial goals.
2. The physical grind helps your state of mind.
Greater overall physical health isn’t the only positive change that personal training creates. When you and your coach put in the work to improve your physical fitness, a sharper mind and a stronger mindset emerge.
This happens in two ways. The first set of changes come as a byproduct of a regular exercise regimen, which is easier to keep up with when you have a coach leading the way. Physical activity has been shown to improve memory as you age and sharpen your creative thinking skills, among other brain-boosting benefits. In terms of day-to-day mood, the endorphin rush that’s earned through movement creates a powerful sense of well-being, helping you keep stress and anxiety at bay. On days when you might not feel like you’re in the right headspace for a workout, staying accountable to your coach and showing up to sweat could turn out to be exactly what you need.
The process of striving for your goals with a coach’s help can also expand your comfort zone, revealing the inner strength you didn’t know you had. That breeds the confidence you need to take on any challenge. With their motivational support, you can realize that setbacks don’t have to stop you, and that short-term failure is not final. Through the accountability the coaching relationship creates, you’ll hone the discipline it takes to show up and keep pushing yourself even when you’d rather be doing anything else. A good coach can illuminate your path, but it’s ultimately you who has to show up and do the hard work — and you who gets to reap the rewards.
As the endorphins and sense of empowerment kick in, something amazing happens: you actually start to crave a good workout. What once seemed like a burden now empowers you to move through your days with poise and purpose. Exercise can give way more than it takes, and a coach with the well-rounded expertise to work both your muscles and your mindset will make it easy to see why.
3. Your coach can become a trusted friend.
If you have enough willpower, self-discipline, and know-how to build a viable workout routine on your own, you can reap almost all of those physical and mental benefits without the help of a coach. It’ll take work, but it’s doable.
But when you go it alone, you sacrifice the chance to forge the kind of bond that develops when two people share a common purpose. That’s because your coach’s goal is to do whatever it takes to help you achieve yours. Your wins are their wins, and they’ll feel just as motivated to find a way past setbacks as you are. They’ll take the time to understand what makes you tick, so they can introduce the movements and motivational strategies that get results. Fitness can be a lonely road, but personal training ensures you’ve got a partner who’s fully invested in making your journey a successful one.
While that bond may be built on exercise, it’s not the only area of life that it touches. As you get to understand each other and build a rapport, a legitimate friendship develops. Like any good friend, your coach is there in your best, worst, and sweatiest moments. They know your likes and dislikes, and how to say exactly what you need to hear at the right time. Especially if you’ve chosen your coach from a big pool of available candidates, there’s a good chance you also have some shared interests that have nothing to do with fitness. Before you know it, you’ll be checking in and catching up with each other even when there aren’t any workouts on the day’s schedule.
So with all of those advantages in mind, why limit your time with a coach to one specific time slot when training with Future keeps you connected all week long? No matter where you are, when you work out, or what you’re after, anyone can access our full collection of expert coaches, who always offer on-demand, one-on-one attention and a customized approach to achieving your goals. All it takes is a quick survey, and you can find a Future coach who can become not just your personal trainer, but a personal friend.
Another unexpected advantage? You can save $130 when you pay just $19 for your first month of Future coaching. If you don’t think it’s the beginning of a beautiful relationship, you can cancel at any time. Find your coaching fit at Future and get moving.