What I Did

My senior exit project was to shadow and learn about personal training and creating my

fitness plan for a client. To start my project I needed to find a good personal trainer that was

willing to help me succeed. I went to Genesis in Manhattan, Kansas, and got in contact with

Charlijean. We looked at the forms they go through when starting their training program. It goes

through the client's goals and what they are doing right now for their physical activities. The

Form also asks for weight height and what concerns you have and would like to work on or

improve on. Charlihjean explained to me that you should always find the why in everything

when talking to your client. The last final steps for the form are the process and the scheduling.

Usually, the first day is seeing what you can do and then you visit your trainer twice a week for

about 4 weeks this is what gets you the confidence and the knowledge to keep working out when

the sessions are over. I had to time and schedule when I was going to be going to the gym to

gather photos, videos, and more information. I visited with charlie bean for most of her sessions

shadowing her and her client taking notes and listening to how she is with her client. The next

step for me was to Build a form for my client and gather feedback. I took my client's information

and gave a couple of starter exercises to do every day. I checked up with my client every week

and heard her feedback and how she thought she was doing. I kept track of all her information

and it was a great outcome overall.

 What I learned

I started my project expecting to jump right into learning exercises and movements but a

personal trainer has a much bigger job than that. When you get a new client, as my mentor told

me, you need to make a good first expression, and when they walk through the gym door, you

need to look for body language. Being curious is a good thing in this situation, and seeing how

they walk and move and their facial expressions can also give you an idea of how they might be

feeling. People that sign up for personal training usually need encouragement on improving and

injury or strengthening or weight loss, and some people might not be too confident in themself so

looking for their facial expressions can help you a lot. When talking to a client I learned that you

need to ask more questions than what the form is asking, my mentor said to “find the why in

everything”. This not only gives you a better understanding of your client but becomes closer to

your client finding some interest and similarities as well. Talking to your client with confidence

that they will get the outcome they want by being consistent and working hard will convince

them more that they really can do it because everyone can do it. It is just a big mental game.

Another big thing I learned is diets. Diets are not necessarily recommended because it is pretty

difficult to stay on one diet. My mentor explained to me that meal prepping is one of the best

ways to lose weight and eat healthier, for example when you come home from a long day at

work and you are hungry but u dont want to make anything and you either go out and buy food

or eat pre-made meals. Meal prepping by pre-cutting veggies and preparing foods that are easy to

eat right out of the fridge will be much easier.

 Challenges I Faced

Throughout the course of my exit project I faced multiple obstacles and challenges. The majority

of my challenges were from time management. First I knew that my mentor was planning on

moving to Kanasas city towards the end of the year so I had to finish all my training before she

left to her knew job. It was very challenging with having a busy schedule and having too find the

time when she was available. The second challenge was making sure that the client was okay

with me shadowing my mentor and making sure it was okay to take pictures.