What’s the Difference Between Health Coaching and Personal Training?

Personal training may or may not include a component of health coaching. Although generally, I’d say the main difference is that a trainer tells you what to do for an extended time, and a coach guides you temporarily. While the latter’s functional nutrition coaching is short-lived, its effects may last longer than the former.

Take a closer look at the deep divide between personal training and health coaching.

Personal Training vs. Holistic Health Coaching

A trainer makes you dependent on them, and a coach tries to stimulate an experiential development of skills that the individual internalizes. By developing these skills, they eventually develop health autonomy and independence.

A Revelatory Exchange

I recently asked a friend why she was using a personal trainer, and she said it was “to get motivated.” I then asked her what she wanted to get motivated for, and she said it was to lose weight. When I asked her why she wanted to lose weight, she said she wanted to improve her overall health.

This middle-aged woman was not large and had no glaring health issues. Most trainers would consider her weight goal to be an appropriate goal. I would not. It’s too vague and full of self-deprecating innuendo that has been fed to us by mainstream narratives. Just think about the advertising campaigns for all the currently popular “weight loss” programs. They all have subliminal suggestions that you need to do this or that to correct some underlying problem you have. They make millions of dollars every year by selling this narrative.

Takeaways

Our exchange revealed that my friend expected a trainer to get her motivated. This thought process was wrong at its very foundation. Although I’ve known many great trainers, I think they would all agree that motivation must come from within the individual. Due to many reasons, people are wounded soldiers when it comes to believing in themselves.

All these reasons combined with years of life experiences have a terrible effect on the psyche. They eventually get stuck into compartments often repeat themselves as other manifestations.

Get Weight Loss Coaching Right at POT-WHC

As a good health and wellness coach, I can hear my client’s underlying self-beliefs or lack thereof. I know why they might feel like they won’t be able to meet their goals. The inherent resistance may be a deep-seated challenge to acknowledge, but they can face it with the right type of support.

Sometimes, just doing one thing a little differently can massively shift one’s overall experience and perception. Join my holistic health coaching program to identify and address your precise point of transformation.