Reframing the Role of the Personal Trainer.

I will like to thank Doug from mojoepoe, who recently commented on my previous post regarding Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs. He correctly pointed me in the direction of what I have learned from Maslow and how I have utilised Maslow as a model/framework to understand those clients or players that come to my session today.

Through the next series of blogs, I will attempt to explain my own experiences using Maslow as well as other models/frameworks to inform my coaching, and to grasp what I feel empathy for.

If I experience Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs as a form of “mission base”, a base for operations, a base from which I can observe, or a base from which to proceed,then I can appreciate two important things:

A client or player can arrive at a session with any of the needs that Maslow mentions, and in no particular order. It could be that they have arrived to find self-esteem, or prove it. They may have arrived seeking belonging, being a part of a group about to train. Any of these may take priority over the others. It might be that they are asking me about their potential, and whether or not I am going to help them find it.

They may of course turn up with no reason at all, but I still have to deliver a session. The “ What am I doing here “ type are thinking “I have to be here because someone told me to”. What are their particular needs today? Am I able to discover which ones they might be? All they want to do is get through the session and move onto something else.

That if the first two tiers in the Heirarchy, namely the Physiological and Shelter needs ,have been met, it leaves me room to concentrate on the other three tiers, the finding Self Esteem, the finding Belonging, and even the finding of Potential.