How to Combine Health Coaching and Personal Training

Learning how to combine health coaching and personal training is critical as the wellness industry continues to grow. The industry is worth $1.5 trillion, and experts say it’s growing five to ten percent each year. What can you do to take advantage of this trend as a fitness professional? Consider adding more services.

As awareness of wellness and health increases with consumer spending, clients want to target more than just fitness. A health coaching credential will allow you to grow your career along with the industry as you offer clients more well-rounded and complete services.

Why You Should Offer Both Personal Training and Health Coaching

According to the experts who study the industry, consumers want more out of wellness services. They’re interested in improving health, fitness, and nutrition. They also want to sleep better, look better, and practice mindfulness.

By combining health coaching and personal training, you directly cover at least three of these. And when health, fitness, and nutrition improve, the others aren’t far behind.

In other words, by adding health coaching to your personal training business, you will be better prepared meet consumer demand. You will attract more clients because you can offer more than other trainers.

Are you completely new to the industry? Learn how to get started as a personal trainer.

Know The Roles – Personal Training vs. Health Coaching

Before you launch into a new career or additional services, it’s essential to understand the differences between personal training and health and wellness coaching.

What Does a Personal Trainer Do?

A personal trainer’s role is to help clients set and meet fitness goals while monitoring their progress. They educate clients about fitness and exercise. They create workouts and guide clients through new exercises to correct form.

Along the way, trainers may act like coaches, but this isn’t their primary role. A personal trainer can coach their clients and even work with them for long periods to help them reach long-term goals in sports or fitness. Not all go this deep, though. Many trainers primarily plan workouts and lead training sessions.

What Does a Certified Health Coach Do?

Like a personal trainer, a health coach helps clients set and meet goals. These may include fitness and broader wellness goals related to health measures, weight, sleep, mental and emotional well-being, and nutrition and diet.

Health and nutrition coaches follow their clients’ progress, help them adjust goals and strategies, and make changes to their plans for better results. They act as motivators, cheerleaders, and guides. The main focus is helping clients achieve lasting, healthy lifestyle changes.

How to Combine Health Coaching and Personal Training in 5 Steps

Combining and adding services to your personal training business is a smart, professional move. It means you can offer more to current clients and attract new people looking for something more than just a gym session. Here’s how to do it in a few simple steps:

#1. Get Certified as a Health, Nutrition, or Wellness Coach

Assuming you are already a certified personal trainer, add to your credentials to become an official health coach. If you don’t have any certifications yet, look for a program that offers both. Find a bundle that includes personal training and health coaching at a reduced cost.

As with personal training, health coaching certification is important. First, a certification program teaches you how to be an effective coach. A credential also communicates your professionalism. Clients are more likely to choose a certified coach over an uncertified one.

If you’re serious about a career coaching people to make significant lifestyle changes, you need to be certified. You wouldn’t expect a personal training client to take you seriously without a credential, and health coaching is no different.

#2. Introduce Health Coaching to Current Clients

If you currently work as a trainer, you have a head start getting clients for health coaching. Once you have your credential, start with your existing clients. Explain the new service and how they could benefit from it as an integrative health approach.

You know your clients, so you can probably pinpoint those who could get the most out of health coaching. It’s worth your time to develop a few personalized proposals for those clients you think would be most receptive. Give them a sales pitch.

For example, maybe you have a client who has been trying to lose weight without much success. Explain how your health coaching services can help them make lasting lifestyle changes that lead to sustainable weight management: building healthy habits with nutrition, working on a healthier relationship to food, coping mechanisms for overeating, and so on.

#3. Market and Highlight the Benefits of Both Services

As you market your new service to existing clients, you’ll also want to target new clients. Use social media, your local gyms, and networking opportunities to sell the unique benefits of combined health coaching and training.

It’s not a tough sell. Most people are open to making bigger changes beyond simply working out a few times a week. In addition to the benefits of their health goals, introduce a pricing structure that illustrates the savings they’ll get from combining two services.

#4. Allow Each Service to Complement the Other

It might make sense in some situations to provide one service or the other, but most clients will get more benefits from your combined training and coaching. Combining the two services into one also makes more sense for you. You can streamline your offerings and provide a truly well-rounded service to each client.

The two naturally complement each other. As an example, a client comes to you with the vague idea of improving their health. As a coach, you can help them narrow this down to measurable goals and help them make important changes. As a trainer, you can provide workout sessions that complement these changes and their overall goals.

#5. How to Combine Health Coaching and Personal Training While Keeping It Simple

Because these two services naturally complement each other so well, there’s no need to make this difficult. It may seem initially overwhelming to offer a new service, but you can do it without overcomplicating things:

• Start with training clients. Practice your pitch for health coaching with the clients you already have. This will probably get you some coaching clients, but it will also prepare you to take on new clients who don’t know you yet.

• Add the new service slowly. If you already have a successful personal training client list, there’s no need to rush the coaching element. You can afford to take your time bringing it up with clients, adding it to your website and social media, and marketing it if you feel overwhelmed.

• Take coaching online. Online coaching sessions make it easier for both the coach and the client. It can be tough to find time to meet in person with busy schedules. You can do fitness training in person at the gym and supplement it with virtual health coaching.

• Keep services separated as needed. It’s important to know when to keep your two services separated. Some clients just don’t want a coach. They want a workout, and that’s fine, so don’t fight it.

Health and fitness professionals must keep up with trends and consumer demands. More people want the complete package. They want to work on fitness and wellness together. Meet that demand by combining personal training with health and nutrition coaching.

Whether you already have a personal trainer certification or just starting your fitness career, consider adding a health or nutrition certification. ISSA’s Health Coach Certification program is entirely online and will provide everything needed to begin offering health coaching sessions.

References

Feeling good: The future of the $1.5 trillion wellness market. McKinsey & Company. (2021). Retrieved 26 January 2022, from https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/feeling-good-the-future-of-the-1-5-trillion-wellness-market.