The No Nonsense Guide to Online Personal Training
Lose Fat, Gain Muscle, Dodge the B.S.
Online fitness coaching
So you want to get in shape. For a host of 2020-like reasons (or perhaps completely unrelated reasons) you’re not going to the gym for an in-person trainer — yet you know you could benefit from one.
You do a Google search.
Up pops a plethora of ads assuring you that the six pack and godlike muscles are one purchase away — if you’re lucky, you may even stumble upon a discount (only if you click now, though).
Before you pull the trigger, chill for a second.
This article is written for people who genuinely want to become a better version of themselves — physically or psychologically or both — and don’t exactly know how to navigate the online options.
While I’ve been in the fitness and psychology worlds for over a collective decade, I can certainly empathize with how intimidating it is to step into unknown territory.
Let’s break it down.
In a nutshell, here’s what you should be looking for: a program that matches your personality, understands motivation, instills workable habits, knows how to leverage training models, and actually gives a shit about you sticking to them.
In a second but equally important nutshell, here’s what you should steer clear of: expediency (lose ALL the fat in just ten minutes!), dramatic results with minimal effort, knowledge-based products, and under-qualifications.
Those are some big nutshells, I know. Let’s work through them so you can make some decisions and start dominating your goals.
Habits and psychology — you need them
Disclaimer: I’m biased.
Not only do I have graduate training in psychology but I based my company around psychology-infused fitness. But then again, psychology was a hot topic when I was in the Marines as well, so let’s unpack it.
Here’s why you need psychology — it trains you to navigate your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and relationships to your environment.
Could anything be more important if you’re trying to lose fat and gain muscle?
Because let’s be clear, if somebody tells you that this exercise or this food is the KEY, they’re full of shit. Getting into shape is a campaign, not a book of secrets.
I want you to go through two quick scenarios in your mind: first, you’re enrolled in a program that solely focuses on calories and exercises. You have a good-enough workout that lasts approximately twenty to forty minutes and then poof, you’re back in the real world.
Screaming kids, pissy boss, moody friends, and traffic — pick your stress. The program you’re enrolled in doesn’t train your habits, so you react to the stress by reaching for sugary, fatty foods or projecting your anger onto your loved ones. Fact: high levels of stress increase cortisol, increase the likelihood to create and store fat, and generally makes you feel like trash.
In this scenario, your trainer or PDF encourages you to eat an apple for the sugar craving (even though your body is actually craving comfort or certainty as much as sugar) and do a few planks.
If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.
Tony Robbins
Next up: all the same stress, but instead of the apple-plan you’ve got a psychological response at the ready.
You know the screaming kids are an opportunity for you to exercise patience and develop them, you practice a cognitive reframe and realize your boss is actually pissed at your colleague’s presentation and not the fact that you were late, and the traffic — well the traffic still sucks, but you practice acceptance and put on your favorite podcast to get educated.
Sounds irrelevant?
Could be. But 90% of people quit the gym within three months. All this stuff is connected — you feel it, the science shows it.
Do those who quit have broken bodies? Do they not have access to calculating their TDEE via a Google search? Their bodies are fine and they’ve got a phone.
Quitting is a psychological response.
When I was running a personal training department at a box gym, this pattern emerged pretty damn quick. Those who came in for the extra sessions, those who trained their psychological muscle, lost the fat and got lean.
When you’re shopping around, find someone who’s going to turn up the volume on your good habits — it’s the only thing that’ll get you results and allow you to keep them.
EPOC Guided Training
A quick thumb-through of your social media platform of choice will show you that most programs focus on two things to get you results: exercise and diet.
The problem: most programs don’t train with EPOC in mind.
EPOC stands for excess post oxygen consumption, and it’s the reason why some people are able to get lean and stay lean while others workout with minimal results. You online personal trainer should be incorporating this into the overall regimen.
Essentially, the EPOC process occurs after high intensity training (about 80% of your VO₂ max) and training in a fasted state. It puts your body into overtime after the workout is done.
What this means for you: you’ll be burning even more calories after the workout (as opposed to just going for a jog) and, over time, your body will be reluctant to store fat because it will try to stay physiologically prepared for the intense bouts of training.
EPOC-based workouts should be intermittent and not everyday due to the intensity, but they’re a must. Have your trainer thread them in and recover appropriately.
When it comes to the purely physical aspect of training, this is a great way to not only chisel your physique but get into strong cardiovascular shape as well.
Fitness motivation
Let’s be real, we all need a pick-me-up every now and then. Some days can seriously suck and the quality of your workout is the last thing on your mind. This is where you need to be the leader in your own life.
Your trainer should be a quiet source of no-bullshit accountability — not someone screaming in your face.
Being a good leader is a campaign — it’s a fight, a struggle, a daily test.
Jocko Willink
And if we dig a little deeper, one of the points of your training should be growing your ability to motivate yourself. In other words, your trainer should be training you towards independence.
On day one of training — or ideally before you commit — make sure that the goal is not to get you results, but to teach you how to get results on command. Fitness motivation should be like a shot of espresso, make it quick and then get on with it.
In psychology there’s a term called scaffolding (originally used in education). It means you work with what you can and gradually but consistently expand your zone of competence. Personal trainers — especially online personal trainers — should be teaching you to fly solo from the first time you meet.
If you‘re struggling to find a good fit, take your time. Otherwise you’ll rush into a relationship too quickly, set yourself up for some sour feelings and increase your risk of fitness-relapse.
If you’re even looking for a trainer, you’re taking a potentially strong first step towards transformation. Keep that up and don’t let a damn thing get in your way — especially yourself.
Rogue Therapy
If you’re interested in what the application of all this looks like, shoot me an email and we can chat. I built Rogue Therapy on a single premise: get uncomfortable, it’s where the growth is. Our hybrids combine fitness, psychology and a sprinkle of military discipline into a uniquely-yours transformative process.
Cheers,
roguetherapy@gmail.com
