What do Trainers want,
what do they think you want?

by Gabe Rinaldi MA, FIT General Manager 

What do trainers want and what do they think you want?
This month I interview 9 trainers (5 males and 4 females) at FIT to find out about their performance and aesthetic goals, ideal unrealistic attributes, and to learn what they think most clients want out of training. The goal of this article is to get trainers to share their thoughts in an effort to draw conclusions on why we do what we do. I’ll draw the conclusions at the end. For now let’s simply get down to it.

What are your personal performance based goals right now (if any)?

Karen Kieffer
My current performance goals are to increase strength. I have embarked on a heavy lifting cycle of 4 sets for 8-10 reps at 85% of 1RM. 4 weeks into the cycle I am performing squats and deadlifts for 1RM of 157 lbs, shoulder press 1RM of 70lb, chest press 1 RM of 81lbs, and three strict pull ups. My immediate focus is to bring up my upper body strength and increase the range of motion in my squat at the current weight.

Shaun Conness
I got my road bike all fixed up, so I want to get back to being able to do hill repeats on Page Mill road. I also want to maintain the ability to run a sub 25min 5K and do a 97m tabata row. I want to do 5 BW OHS. I want to be able to do all of this without irritating my broken leg. Pain free is my main goal.

Scott Kolasinski
Get stronger in powerlifting lifts, as well as be in greater anaerobic & aerobic condition to run throughout pickup basketball games.

Danielle Durante
My personal based goal right now is to build my strength for Olympic weightlifting. Due to an injured wrist, I am limited to many exercises. Therefore, my goal is to be able to back squat double my body weight.

Kevin English
I have been training for some sprint distance triathlons and have completed two with one to go in September. Along the way I have been trying to become somewhat of an adequate swimmer. I don't know if I have become any better, but I have become more confident and in doing so have decided to do a half ironman in March. So here's to the wet suit and cold water.

Michelle Watson
I do not really have any performance-based goals right now but I am hoping run a half marathon by the end of the year.

Jimmy Noreiga
My personal performance goals are first and foremost to get back on the basketball court and play at the same level of intensity as I did prior to my injury. But I would also like to clean and jerk 100kg, snatch 85kg, and be top 10 in all crossfit workouts on the web.

Analisa Naldi
-Clean and Jerk BW – 78kg
-Get over my 50kg Snatch “hump”
-31 Consecutive Pull-Ups in less than 60”
-10 Body Weight Dips
-1 Muscle Up
-50 Consecutive Double-Unders*
*Closest to this one right now…..

I workout six days per week….even twice per day at anywhere from 3-5 times per week. Double days usually consist of a CrossFIT session or high intensity interval session and a strength and/or power based session. Without any specific performance goals (other than those listed above) I am training because I love to train. Do I need a specific goal or some event to train for? Yup. How do I come up with that? Divine inspiration….or a random challenge. Will I be able to focus and achieve whatever performance based goal that ends up evolving from these questions? You betcha!
Now….any suggestions?

Gabe Rinaldi
I am focusing on strength and power for the rest of the year. I want to bench 300 lbs, squat 400 lbs, deadlift 500 lbs, snatch 105 kg, and clean and jerk 130 kg before the end of the year.

What are your personal aesthetic based goals right now (if any)?

Karen Kieffer
Current cosmetic goals are to increase medial and rear deltoid size, increase quadriceps vastus lateralis and vastus medialis size, and reduce body fat while maintaining fat free mass.

Shaun Conness
Stay fairly cut (12% body fat or less)

Scott Kolasinski
Having 4-5% body fat and a six-pack is nice, but I'm not committed to it because of my strength goals. Apparently looking like David Beckham isn't bad, but I don't have the money to turn into that, so I'm stuck.

Danielle Durante
I do not have any personal cosmetic based goals.

Kevin English
I don't have any cosmetic based goals now as my focus is on training for the triathlons.

Michelle Watson
I would like to lose a couple pounds. Due to all the summer fun, I have gained a few pounds and am looking to lose them so I need to add in a few extra CF workouts per week.

Jimmy Noreiga
Aesthetically I would like to tone up which means I will have push myself away from the table.

Analisa Naldi
My insecurities have always been with my abs (hidden beneath the belly), my triceps (which are slowly starting to poke out and define their station on my arms), and my back. While being more performance focused and looser with my daily nutrition goals, my body fat percentage has barely budged, if at all in the last few months. I fit into my clothes, love my lulu’s and feel pretty happy with how I look when I’m wakeboarding. Would I like to have a washboard? Yup. No doubt. Am I taking the most appropriate steps with my nutrition guru Scott to achieve that washboard? Nope. Why not? I don’t know. Sounds like I’m narrowing down my next experiment and set of goals…..hmmmm…..will keep you all updated.

Gabe Rinaldi
I always want to look better; however, with my current strength goals I know I need to eat more, cut out any cardio related activities and focus on the heavy lifting so I will likely put on some fat during this training phase. It’s okay though because it is part of the plan and I will be able to switch up my goals and cut the fat next year.

Describe your ideal performance and aesthetic attributes you would like to
possess. This can be completely unrealistic.

Karen Kieffer
My ideal performance “fantasy” is to be a title holding female kickboxer. As far as cosmetic attributes, I’ve always wanted to be 5’4” with long legs instead of 5’1”.

Shaun Conness
Dunk a basketball ball, run a 4.4 forty, shoot a sub 70 round of golf, and be 6'1", 200lbs and 8% body fat.

Scott Kolasinski
Vertically jump 11 feet off one foot. I'd like to be 4-5% body fat while eating pizza, ice cream, doughnuts, and pies and totally avoiding any sort of cardio.

Danielle Durante
My ideal performance attributes are to be able to build up my strength for Olympic weightlifting along with being in better CrossFit shape (increase cardiovascular / respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy). I would like to back squat double my body weight, snatch 60kg+, and clean and jerk 70+. My cosmetic attributes are to have a six pack again and be 5'10" :).

Kevin English
My ideal performance goal would be to win my age division in the half ironman, that's the unrealistic part, more realistic would be to finish in a respectable time 5:30 or 5:45. And to do so coming across the finish line looking like a freshly chiseled sculpture (that's the unrealistic cosmetic attribute).

Michelle Watson
I would love to look like the Crossfit girls...lean, ripped, and shredded (not to mention they can kick most guys' butts during workouts). Watching workout videos of them inspires me to train harder and push myself to the next level. Performance wise, I would like to be able to back squat twice my body weight.

Jimmy Noreiga
If they can be somewhat unrealistic I would like to have a vertical leap of 40 inches, run a 4.4 40yard dash, and be able to dunk a basketball. Aesthetically I would like to have 3% body fat.

Analisa Naldi
I’d love to be able to rock a CrossFIT workout with the speed of Annie Sakamoto, the grace and strength of Nicole Carroll and the power of Eva Twardokens. (see www.crossfitsantacruz.com)

Gabe Rinaldi
Well, since it can be unrealistic I would want to be very quick (sub 4 second 40 yard sprint), fast (sub 9 second 100 meter sprint), powerful (50+” vertical jump), strong (1000 + lb squat), great endurance (able to win the Tour de France), and of course be great at a lot of sports. I would like to be good at everything. In real life if I were to be good at long cycling events like the Tour, then I would be 6’4” tall and weigh about 150 lbs. If I were able to squat 1000 + lbs, then I would weigh over 300 lbs. My ideal body would likely be 6’4” tall, 240 lbs, and about 5% bodyfat. I care too much about performance goals at the moment to do the type of training that could help me get to my ideal cosmetic goals. I’m not sure I could ever get there genetically, but maybe I’ll try one of these years. I like mixing up my goals, but overall I care much more about function and health than appearance.

What do you think most female clients want in terms of performance and aesthetic goals?

Karen Kieffer
Most female clients I have worked with want to increase their energy levels and sport performance, especially endurance, Although many women want to be stronger, they do not necessarily want to increase muscle mass and fear losing their femininity. Cosmetically, many women want flat stomachs, firm arms, and to lose weight, especially the infamous 10 pounds.

Shaun Conness
I think most females overall want to have the physical ability to do something that they may not have thought they can do. I believe most of the female clients at some point wanted to feel a little stronger as well. I think a far amount of females have had a goal of getting a little tighter. I mostly think females want to feel healthy, be pain free and have a good mental image of themselves when they look in the mirror.

Scott Kolasinski
A lean body that radiates confidence and beauty while having a sense of feeling strong. Just how strong, I'm not sure. For some, it may mean to be able to put a number on a certain exercise(s), such as back squat her goal body weight for 5 reps. For others, it may mean to not feel physically dependent on another to help with things around the house.

Danielle Durante
For both male and female clients, performance and aesthetic goals are really to maintain overall health/fitness in general, or for a specific sport, or rehabilitation. Most of the male and female clients want to build strength and endurance, increase coordination and flexibility, and to lose weight to be in a healthier state.

Kevin English
I think most females unless they have specific goals of competing in something, want to be stronger yet at the same time be leaner.

Michelle Watson
I think that it varies greatly amongst all our clients but overall, I think most women want to be lean, toned, and maintain a healthy weight. I think that most women have the drive to push themselves to improve in the areas they are weak in and enjoy seeing their advancements over time. The main goal, which I think applies to both our male and female clients at FIT, is to improve their overall health and reap the health benefits that exercise offers.

Jimmy Noreiga
I think most female clients would like to possess more upper body strength but without gaining size. Their ultimate goal would be to get smaller or more toned (especially lower body) without looking muscular while gaining strength in the process. Some don't mind being ripped up, but most feel that is too masculine.

Analisa Naldi
I think FIT female and male clients, for the most part want the balance of both. They want to be motivated, functional, strong, and look capable of completing any workout thrown at them. For some clients, this means looking long, lean, and slightly muscular. This, in my experience has proven to be both females and males. However, I have yet to have a client tell me that they do not want any muscle definition. Or, on that same note, to have somebody tell me, that they have no interest in being able to complete a push-up or a pull-up, unassisted, through full range of motion. I think that deep down, everybody wants to feel capable, confident, and eye catching in their skin. Whether this means their goals are performance or visual based is their own prerogative.

Gabe Rinaldi
I think performance goals are all over the map depending on the specific female. For cosmetic goals I think many women want curves, but want to be lean enough that they don’t have flabby arms or a flabby butt, but they just want a flat stomach as opposed to a ripped up 6 pack stomach (a small percentage of women want a ripped up 6 pack in my experience…usually the trainer types). I think the longer a female trains the more they want to get really lean, but for the most part I’ve never met a women who wanted to get huge. There are a select few who get in to bodybuilding, but that is not the type of female training at FIT. I think our female clients want to improve health and function and get leaner and “toned”.

What do you think most male clients want in terms of performance and aesthetic goals?

Karen Kieffer
Most men either want to increase specific sport performance, or increase strength and muscle size; especially the upper body. As far as cosmetic goals, bigger chest, back and arms, unfortunately most men forget about their legs.

Shaun Conness
I think most male clients want to feel good, be stronger, have more endurance, be athletic and be able to play with their kids and not feel wiped out afterwards. I think most male clients want to have less bodyfat, and look good with their shirt off.

Scott Kolasinski
Look like a fitness model on most of the "Muscle Mags", be able to bench at least 300 lbs. (forget about doing Olympic weightlifting), and live like Hugh Hefner (now that's a pretty cool performance goal.).

Kevin English
I think most male clients want to be stronger and look stronger i.e., better muscle size and development.

Michelle Watson
I think that most males want to be lean and muscular but apply the most focus on overall strength. I think that males do have some cosmetic goals but their performance goals are more of a priority, as is the case with our female clients also. Our clients want to look toned, lean and muscular but at FIT I think that the overall goals of our clients are more performance based rather than cosmetic.

Jimmy Noreiga
Most male clients want strength and to be toned as well, but don't mind some size in their upper body.

Gabe Rinaldi
I think most males desire greater strength, power, speed, etc. I think most males want to be very lean with a 6-pack stomach and some degree of muscularity. Most men probably prefer the type of body seen in Men’s Health as opposed to Muscle and Fitness with the huge bodybuilders. Like our female clients I think our male clients at FIT generally want to train for health and function and to get leaner and a bit more muscular.

Conclusion

To summarize the answers it seems that every trainer has a performance goal of some sort. Some were more strength oriented and some were more endurance oriented, but all 9 had something they wanted to do. In terms of aesthetic goals every trainer wants to be leaner or more toned. Danielle and Kevin mentioned they don’t have any aesthetic goals, but in a later question mentioned ideally being leaner. It seems to me that we all desire to be leaner, but many of the trainers know the training and food intake required to get that lean would take away from other goals or lifestyle factors that are more important. Well, more important at this current training phase anyway. Desired attributes ranged from endurance to strength to CrossFit performance, but nearly everyone mentioned really elite performance and lean bodies. It seems we tend to think both males and females want to improve performance, feel capable, look fit, get leaner, improve strength, and radiate confidence.

Now, how does this relate to what we do at FIT? This forms the foundation of everything we do. We are smart enough to know many people come in the door with aesthetic goals first, but we realize as a company that most people eventually want to improve performance, feel capable, look fit, get leaner, improve strength, and radiate confidence. Interestingly enough, these are the same goals that these 9 trainers mentioned for themselves, albeit with different language. I would say we tend to train our clients the way we train ourselves, not because we don’t know any other way to train, but because we tend to have many of the same goals. It is important to realize that each training goal can be measured on a continuum and we don’t all desire the exact same result. The bottom line is we walk the talk as a company. Our training philosophy is governed by what people want. We use the most advanced techniques to achieve these results. Check out Johnny’s article on Olympic weightlifting in this month’s newsletter to read about one method we use to train many clients. Best of luck with your training goals and remember to always communicate with your trainer so everyone is on the same page with what you really want.

Gabe Rinaldi
FIT General Manager