Now, don’t get me wrong. I’ve met a lot of top notch trainers over the years that have great Boot Camps and get great results with their clients.
But unfortunatley, I’ve also met and seen some that aren’t qualified to sweep the sidewalk in front of the gym, let alone charge up to $300 a month for a Boot Camp and $50 to $100 an hour for private training to “help” people get in shape.
And it seems, as in many areas of life, the bad seem to outnumber the good. And it’s the people who need help who ultimately pay the price.
So, today I’d like to share with you my top 10 Charactersistics for telling the difference between a great Boot Camp and one that shouldn’t even be washing your sweaty workout towels.
10 Signs Of A Bad Boot Camp or Trainer
#1: They Don’t Do Any Assessments
The best Boot Camps perform thorough and complete assessments when working with a new client, before doing anything else.
On the training front, that means doing movement screening and even basic performance tests. And on the nutrition front, that means looking at the client’s current intake and assessing a host of lifestyle variables, including: schedule, primary complaints/discomforts, current level of social support, willingness to change, and more.
But is that how most Boot Camps do things? Heck no.
Most Boot Camps perform no assessments whatsoever! And if any are performed at all, they’re usually done in the “free consultation or workout” in order to embarrass a client into purchasing a membership.
That’s a huge mistake. Good assessments are the only way to gain real knowledge of their client and make the critical coaching decisions — without which they have about a snowball’s chance in hell at seeing real results.
If you’re not put through a thorough battery of assessments in your initial meeting, RUN!
#2: They Can’t Demonstrate Previous Successes
Boot Camps and Training both require an Investment. In fact, 3 classes per week for 6 months can cost between $1,000 and $1,500 dollars and Personal Training can cost anywhere between $720 and $1200 a month.
So, what are you getting for your Money? Well, if a Boot Camp or Trainer can’t demonstrate their previous successes, you have no idea. None at all.
Results oriented Boot Camps and trainers keep detailed statistics of their clients. They track client adherence. They log how their clients’ bodies are changing and over what time period. They record performance and lifestyle changes. They keep photo albums with before and after photos.
And they can point to compelling testimonials from previous clients about their services. They can probably even introduce you to a few, so you can talk to them directly about the experience.
The worst Boot Camps and Trainers have nothing. No photos. No testimonials. No data. Nothing.
If a Boot Camp or Trainer can’t show you compelling evidence that they’ve helped people like you get the results you want, assume that it’s because they’ve never actually done it before.
#3: They Don’t Have Multiple Certifications
Most personal trainers who run Boot Camps in the world today have nothing more than a high school diploma and a personal training certificate they got at a weekend personal training seminar.
And have little to no training specific to exercise nutrition. (Registered dietitians do need to possess an undergraduate degree. But this degree specializes in clinical nutrition — i.e., what to serve hospital patients — NOT exercise nutrition. Big difference.)
So if you have exercise, health and performance related goals, are these the types of folks you want to throw your money away on? Not me.
If it were me, I’d look for someone with multiple certifications. Someone who has clearly made it a priority to seek life-long education. Someone who’s gone out and sought a diverse knowledge profile, learning about training methodologies, body composition, nutrition, supplementation, performance and more.
The best trainers go out and do this. They’re life-long learners. They spend 5-10 hours per week reading top-shelf training and nutrition information from the best in the field.
The worst trainers who run Boot Camps, stick with their weekend certification or try and copy what legitmate bootcamps and trainers do with little success. They waste their time reading muscle magazines, or People magazine. And they end up not even knowing how much they don’t know.
#4: They Aren’t Healthy or Fit
Just like realtors who’ve never owned a home and financial planners who are broke, out-of-shape Boot Camp instructors piss me off.
Now, let me clarify. You don’t have to look like a fitness model to be fit and healthy. So that’s not the standard here.
However, if a trainer doesn’t have more muscle, less fat, and a better health profile than the average person, why would I listen to any advice on building muscle, losing fat, and getting healthier from them?
It’s a no brainer. If a trainer isn’t healthy and fit — and doesn’t practice the behaviors necessary to remain that way — they can’t be my coach.
#5: They Don’t Know The Difference Between an Outcome and a Behavior
“I need to lose 10 lbs,” that’s an outcome goal. “I need to exercise 5 times per week,” that’s a behavior goal. Boot Camps who don’t know the difference between the two should be fired immediately.
You see, focusing on outcomes, that’s the job of the trainer. Their program needs to be built in such a way that the outcome is an inevitable consequence.
However, focusing on behaviors, that’s the client’s job. Therefore any Boot Camp worth a damn knows that to achieve success, their clients must be rewarded for successful behaviors, not for specific outcomes.
Followed this week’s habits 90% of the time and didn’t miss any workouts? That’s worthy of a reward — regardless of the outcome — because it’s this pattern of behavior that’ll eventually lead to success.
In addition, the best Boot Camps have ways to monitor behaviors and track client adherence/accountability (such as an adherence chart, that tracks client’s weekly adherence to ensure that behaviors are being monitored, rewarded and adjusted weekly)
The worst Boot Camps, on the other hand make progress seem like voodoo, separating the outcome (weight loss, etc.) from the behaviors necessary for the accomplishment of that outcome (X exercise sessions per week, eating X servings of vegetables per day, etc.).
Your Boot Camp should give you simple behaviors to practice, track whether you’ve done so, and reward you when you have. That’s their job. So are they doing it? Or are they just asking you to step on the scale? (Or worse yet, neither?)
The fact is that there are three types of clients behaviors we deal with and if a bootcamp or trainer doesn’t know the difference and how to help each one, then again there playing a guessing game with your hard earned money and effort!
#6: They Don’t Have a 3-Month Plan From The Start
Before day 1, session 1, after all the assessments are complete, the best Boot Camps will already have, in hand, at least a 3-month plan based on their client’s level, needs and goals.
When I walk around commercial gyms and hear experiences of members from other boot camps, it seems like a cruel joke (and the joke is on their clients) that most trainers are making up workouts as they go along, the old workout of the day mentality or making eroneous claims of burning X-amountof calories per workout!
There’s no plan. There’s no “big picture.” They’re making stuff up as they go, or there changing the workouts so often that there is no way of perefecting a new exercise or even if there progressing. What a waste of everyone’s time and the client’s money. I mean, seriously, where else in life do we find noteworthy success coming as a result of no planning, no forethought, copying other trainers/bootcamps programs and such obvious lack of care?
If your Boot Camp can’t show you their 3-month outline on day 1, session 1, after all the assessments are complete, get away. Fast.
#7: They Don’t Track Your Progress
Clients want to achieve something measurable. So what happens when your Boot Camp measures nothing at all?
The best Boot Camps and trainers measure everything. They monitor and record performance variables like sets, reps, and rest intervals. They monitor nutrition habit and behavior compliance. They monitor workout attendance. They monitor body composition by measuring skin folds , fat and taking circumference measurements. They take pictures. Need I go on?
The point here is that you miss what you don’t measure and record. Also, without metrics, no one knows if progress is actually being made. So isn’t it time we got rid of all these Boot Camps who don’t measure or record anything in favor of those Boot Camps who do?
#8: They Don’t Know How To Help All Types of Clients
There are basically three types of Boot Camps. First, there are the Boot Camps who are simply terrible, who can’t get great results with any of their clients. Of course, there are plenty of these out there. But if you’ve got your head up, these are easy to spot.
Next, there are the Boot Camps and Trainers who are great, who can get great results with all of their clients no matter who they are or where they’re coming from. Of course, these are few and far between. And if you find one, you lucked out.
And finally, there are the in-between Boot Camps and Trainers, those who seem to get great results with some clients but can only help a small percentage of those that actually come to see them.
The goal of every Boot Camp should be to learn the techniques and strategies necessary to help EVERY type of client that comes to see them. That’s the hallmark of the great ones.
#9: They Don’t Integrate Training and Nutrition
In order to change your body, there is something you need to know. And you will likely never learn it at a commercial gym.
Exercise, alone, doesn’t work.
Time and time again, the research has demonstrated that without a dietary intervention, even performing 5-6 hours of well-designed exercise programming each week leads to surprisingly little body composition change.
So you can bet that the best Boot Camps and Trainers offer an integrated nutrition solution as part of their programming. They schedule private nutrition sessions. They assess your nutritional intake and compliance regularly. They show you around the grocery store. And more…
The worst Boot Camps and Trainers? They either leave you to figure it out on your own. Or they offer useless nutritional sound bites in between workout sets. And if they do offer any type of nutrition it’s usually some calorie deprived diet with a single focus weight loss without a concern for body composition, health and performance.
The good boot camps implement nutritional strategies that improve body composition, health and performance and have the education and certification to back it up!
#10: They Don’t Care
Let’s be honest here. If your Boot Camp and Trainer doesn’t do most of the activities I’ve listed above, regardless of whether or not they say they care, they simply don’t.
They don’t care about being good at their job. They don’t care about helping you achieve your goals. They just don’t care.
And that’s the worst part of this all, isn’t it? People are throwing hundreds of dollars a month at people who just don’t give a sh#@*. It’s a shame.
But it’s not necessary. Armed with a little knowledge, informed people can choose wisely if a Boot Camp and Trainer is in their future.
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