The human mind and body works hand in hand as a complete and complex ecosystem, perhaps, one of the greatest architecture of nature! It is also the most powerful gift ever exist that has been taken for granted by many. To under utilize this wonderful combination would be a waste.

Our mental attitudes determine a lot on how we perform and manage our body. It can even affect our health. Do you think a cancer patient will survive long if he/she constantly put him/herself under negative state of mind? One can easily research the internet, library or bookstores and find information and real life stories of how negative thinking can destroy a person’s health as well as how a strong and positive mental attitude can lead a person back to complete recovery from illnesses that are view as critical. Vice versa, our body affects our state of mind as to whether we are putting ourselves on resourceful or non-resourceful state. Take for example, how would you feel if you are slouching compare to sitting up straight and how it affects your mental attitude? The whole point of it is, our mind and body works in an inter-related cycle. You might be thinking, yes, I already know all these, the next question to yourselves might come in; why am I not living my life in good shape or health the way I want it to be? There is a great difference between preaching or knowing and putting knowledge into use with proper guidance.

As technology advances, more products and gadgets surfaces, that offers attractive benefits of health and fitness in the convenience of place, space, comfort and time. No matter how advance they may be, nothing beats going back to the root of nature; that is through exercise, proper diet and lifestyle, which is also the most challenging to implement and maintain. Technology merely serves as a complement or support and not a total replacement.

Due to the challenges and complexity of developing one’s mind and body through exercise, lifestyle and diet, there arise the need for sports and fitness trainers and coaches. A coach or trainer understands the science of mind and body in order to help the individuals to develop in sports, fitness and in life as well.

If you are thinking; I know myself the best, so why should I need someone else to tell me what to do? No matter how best we know ourselves, all of us have blindspots. In fact, most of the time, we need someone else to highlight to us our weakness or areas that we tend to overlook. This is especially important when comes to fitness and sports where effectiveness and safety are of utmost concern.

Nowadays, one can easily and conveniently obtain information, instructions, tips from books, magazines and internet, sometimes, one can even received advice or instructions from someone in person for free! Thus, you might be thinking, can I do away with paying someone else to do the coaching or training? Yes, you can, if that is how far you want to achieve from all these resources. One thing about resources that you find from internet, books or magazines is that they can come in too many different variations and forms that one can get confuse easily. Some source may advocate this, while others may discourage. A good coach will not only understands your uniqueness, strengths and weaknesses, he/she will be able to help design the right programs based on your needs and uniqueness. Each and every one of us is different and unique. The method that may work for some may not work well for others. Instead of one size fits all instruction, customization would be a more suitable approach when comes to coaching and instruction. That’s where a qualified and experience trainer or coach comes in. If you are confused with the information you come across the next time, first thing is to consult your fitness trainer, sports coach or a qualified professional.

If I can obtain instructions for free somewhere else, wouldn’t it be better? A reiki-healing teacher once shared with us her response to her students with these questions, in view of some who offer the instructions for free: “the reason why we charge is because we want our students to understand the importance and appreciate the values of the teachings, to put them into good use and most important, to practice!” How often you will find that free things or services are being taken for granted or being abused? Nowadays even services that are paid for are being taken for granted, so shouldn’t it be charged for more in this scenario? Even though that piece of instruction is as simple as a small tip, it is still worthwhile paying for it, compared to having to struggle for weeks or even months on your own just to get it right because of that missing piece of puzzle! Check out the various clubs or schools on the rates and services offered by trainers/coaches/instructors, usually the rates commensurate with experiences and quality of the programs. Do they offer any trial or preview lessons for you to assess the coaches/trainers/instructors and the programs? Do they offer any schemes like money back guarantee and such for assurance to the clients? Do they have any promotional lesson package deals to suit your needs?

So what to look for in a coach, trainer or instructor? One of the qualities that distinguish between a coach/trainer/instructor and a good one, is believing in the potential of each and every student. If you approach a trainer/coach/instructor and he/she has some doubts in your abilities, be prepared to look for another one. There is another issue in this, which is what you think you can do vs what you want to achieve out of the programme. With that in mind, a good and experienced coach/trainer/instructor can help you to manage your goals and break it down into manageable stages; sometimes the whole process can take a longer phase especially those people who had sustained injuries before. A good coach/trainer/instructor also has the patience and motivational qualities to help the students/clients to work towards their goals and constantly challenge these goals to move on to the next level.

Unlike other fields, sports and fitness boils down to a lot on experiences than qualifications. It is through the ability of harnessing the power of knowledge through personal experiences and the unique personality that sets a good coach/trainer/instructor apart from the rest. A good coach/trainer/instructor has been through the ups and downs, trials and errors of various training methods/ approaches themselves and learning from these experiences. That’s where he/she is in the best position to determine what works, what doesn’t, the reason why and how to go about implementing programs and delivering the techniques to help their clients in a more effective and safer manner. In addition, a good coach/trainer/instructor is flexible to changes and yet maintaining a consistency in the training programs by offering alternatives. A good coach/trainer/instructor also has to be creative with ideas as well to add fun, variations and challenges to training, for example, coming up with related games or group activities to build up the skills learnt and to facilitate a fun interaction, coordination, teamwork and communication between the students as well.

A good coach/trainer/instructor acts as a facilitator, teacher and mentor not just in the mechanics of the body, but also be able to help a student/client in dealing with their mental attitudes as well. Using the simple example of the standing board jump, if one sets his/her sight on the passing mark, chances are he/she will either miss the mark or just barely make it pass the mark. In order to jump far, one has to set their sight as far as possible! One of the challenges in being a powerful coach/trainer/instructor is how to motivate and inspire a student/client in setting their sight far instead on just the passing mark! A lot of times, coaches/trainers/instructors have to work with the client in managing their own fears, self doubts and personal barriers that are preventing them from realizing a higher potential of themselves. In sports performance, one can only prepare that much physically; ultimately whether one can make it through whatever challenges being presented before them, will depend on one’s mental strength and toughness.

There is no end to how far a person can achieve in sports and fitness. The role and mission of coaches/trainers/instructors will continue to grow so that everyone deserves a chance to be the best that they can be in sports, fitness and in life as well!

The material presented here is merely our opinions and views and not a representation of which ever association, organizations or schools.

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Article contributed by Aspiring Goals Team