Carole Frost

 

Article By Carole Frost B.Sc (Hon’s)

What if there was a course that as a Fitness Instructor could help you increase your income but improve your clients fitness and general health (in and out of the gym), but also naturally facilitate weight loss and improve their adherence and commitment to your regime… would you be interested? Well in my opinion I know there is such as course, and it is the ancient discipline of Yoga.

Why do Personal Trainers need Yoga?

Yoga 2Recently I was tutoring a Yoga course, and in the next room were a group of Advanced Resistance students and their tutor Tim. They were interested in the activities of our day and were asking questions. I explained (much to their shock) that no requirement for flexibility has to be had to teach Yoga. To their surprise we also discussed how yoga could really help them as Personal Trainers improve their clients mental outlook and adherence to their training. Together this would improve their client’s performance and their own effectiveness as a Personal Trainer. Tim then told the group that after a few 1/1 Yoga sessions he recently did, had noted a clear and marked improvement in his own training and cycling performance…food for thought (and Tim isn’t easily impressed). Why was this? …Well that’s another article.

For those of you who haven’t ever tried yoga don’t pre-judge it from just watching classes through a studio window. It’s not a religion and it certainly isn’t about being flexible or meditating for long periods.

But isn’t it all about flexibility?

Yoga is 6000 years old and also has a lot of history and philosophy around it, but some of its common techniques such as performing poses, breathing and relaxation exercises are very easy to understand and are also easy to integrate into your sessions as a P/T.

Yoga does involve poses, both simple and advanced, but whichever ones you choose, it is the process of performing them and making them ‘ Yogic’ rather than just ‘stretching’, that bring the well documented benefits of Yoga such as, weight loss, reduced stress, better sleep and athletic performance to be.

What make a pose/stretch ‘Yoga’ and not just a ‘Stretch’?

A stretch only becomes Yogic, when we incorporate our ability to concentrate on our physical positions and work/notice or watch the breath as we hold the pose. When we bring the mind to work with the body together it is Yoga.

What is Yoga apart from just stretching? How does it bring all these benefits?

Yoga means ‘Union’. The Philosophy of Yoga is concerned with coming to know our underlying ‘Self’. This means the part of us beneath the ego, beneath emotions, beneath the mother or father in us, beneath our job role etc. In Yoga the ‘Self’ is what basically exists (or what is left of you) once you remove these external layers or labels that the world places on us. Yoga seeks to reveal that this underlying ‘Self’ is ever happy and ‘doing just fine thank you’, and above all is in total control, as opposed to letting our ‘Monkey’ minds, with its emotions and ego rule the roost creating havoc! In its simple form is called being mindful and is a very useful technique in the area of weight management and stress management (1). You might not think that Yoga stops you from opening the fridge door again, but it can!!! Mindfulness has been the subject of many newspaper articles over recent years.

Whether you choose to take on board the philosophy or not , the good news is that the techniques still work all by themselves. Yoga helps us to manage our stresses, reduce anxiety and through the physical poses build stronger and more flexible bodies. It makes us more ‘mindful’ of what we are doing, a well reported reason why weight loss occurs in regular yoga attendees. Mindfulness improves FOCUS and will improve your clients adherence to their goals….yes I know sounds magic!!

Hatha yoga helps us calm this ‘Monkey’ mind through the use of physical poses (or asana). Since the mind is naturally wanting to be active (telling you to remember things, worrying you, causing you to create dramas in your head), the poses are used as a focal point for our minds to concentrate on, so rather than worrying about dinner for the kids or paying the bills we concentrate on our breath in the pose and pay close attention to the reactions of our body as we hold the pose. This concentration on the body absorbs the mind, ceasing the chitter chatter to bring relative stillness inside – this is like holiday to your brain, and explains why yoga is so great at controlling anxiety and can reduce blood pressure etc. Flexibility is not the primary purpose of asana, but without a doubt can be beneficial to some clients and WILL naturally improve as a matter of practice.

As a P/T you can use your knowledge of anatomy to tailor yoga poses to assist clients in their goals during the pre/post stretches. I’m sure many of you already include yoga poses into your programmes without realising it e.g. runner’s stretch, hamstring stretches. You would be doing your clients a huge disservice is you did not include them! But, the same ‘old’ stretches can become a little dull and boring….???

Traditionally there are 8 steps in Yoga to realise this ‘SELF’. In the West we primarily focus on 3 of these:-

  1. Use of yoga poses (asana – this is Hatha Yoga)
  2. Use of breathing exercises
  3. Use of various meditation / relaxation techniques

As a Yoga qualified P/T or fitness instructor what added benefits can I offer to my clients ?

Your clients will benefit from: –

  • A sense that you are training the ‘whole’ person and not just their bodies.
  • Greater variety and more targeted pre/post workout stretches
  • Having their boundaries stretched and being introduced to a new approach to their ‘life’ not just their ‘gym’ workout
  • IMPROVED PERFORMANCE AND FASTER RESULTS
  • Reduced stress and anxiety in their lives
  • Ability to adhere to their programme much better
  • Weight loss to greater or lesser degree
  • Access to whole range of other breathing and relaxation techniques you will have learned on the Yoga course and can offer to your clients if needed.

You benefit from: –

  • Standing above your colleagues and offer a unique selling point of your services. Many gyms now include yoga on their list of ‘In-House’ training courses for gym and P/T staff. Members love the 1/1 attention.
  • Ability to be more creative in your approach to programme design.
  • Using new skills to help clients achieve their goals
  • Up-skilling means you can potentially increase your hourly rate.
  • Offer pure 1/1 yoga sessions with clients rather than just incorporate into the pre/post workout sessions.
  • Expand your client base

The public seems to be demanding more and more from Personal Trainers & Fitness Instructors generally, more expertise, and more knowledge in the area of health and fitness. Training in Yoga can be a most cost effective way of keeping ahead of your competition. Clients expect the usual pre and post workout stretches but you can rise above the rest and offer:-

  • Use of more multi-joint based exercises for your clients specific benefits
  • Improved and a wider variety of functional strength and flexibility work
  • Help clients reduce/manage their stress
  • Improve clients own body awareness and proprioception

When you understand what Yoga really is, what its aims truly are, you will understand Yoga builds strong bodies and strong mind. Doesn’t that sound like a match made in heaven for any trainer?

I believe if it were discovered now, Yoga would be hailed as the original course in Emotional Intelligence and be the ultimate tool needed tool to survive modern day life.

Some people believe Yoga is for those who are weak, or want to run away from life and sprinkle fairy dust everywhere! This is a huge misconception. Yoga teaches us hard lessons about ourselves, but also encourages us to get out there and live life to the full…. have the confidence to dive in! Be happy, laugh, love…BUT learn how to manage yourself from the inside. This is why Yoga does not much bother about changing the outside world….it produces change from the inside of us. Yoga creates a can do attitude!

“Things outside (of ourselves) neither bind or liberate you…only your attitude toward them does” (2)

Science is now substantiating the many claims of this ancient technique. Yoga has shown itself to be way ahead of it time in both its ideas of physiology and how we manage our physical bodies and our minds to achieve an optimal state of health both in and out of the gym. Yoga is a tool for everyone but as a personal trainer, fitness instructor, you are in a unique position to show your clients how this tool can make life-changing transformations either just physically and/or mentally.

Why not book your Yoga Diploma course now! There is no pre-requisite but if you already hold a level 3 qualification you can use your graduate voucher to help you pay for the course.

 

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References:-

  1. The Science of Yoga. The Risks and Rewards, William J. Broad
  2. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Sri Swami Satchidananda.