I use to call myself a Personal Trainer. Now I call myself a Holistic Health Coach. What triggered this change?
I worked in a commercial big-box gym for years. At first it was exciting because of the environment, the different people around me, everybody shared the same values and passion and the fact I get to help people and get paid for it!
Typically when I new client gets started they perform a consultation. In these consultations I would get to know the member better, build rapport, perform goal setting and eventually prescribe an exercise program based off of the assessment and consultation findings. Member after member, client after client, I would begin to see recurring patterns. Everybody, about 90% of people, wanted to lose weight. They also wanted to increase strength and muscle mass, but at the end of the day the number on the scale was the biggest factor into going to the gym, exercising and paying for sessions.
The clients that saw the biggest changes and drop in weight were the ones that made the strongest lifestyle and nutrition changes. Exercise in and of itself was not, and is not, the go-to method for weight loss. People needed time to create healthy habits at home, prepare for meals, understand proper nutrition, de-stress their environment, balance emotions, get enough sleep and hydrate properly. Most of my clients who achieved their goals strived to achieve some of these lifestyle and nutrition principles.
I realized that the problem has to do with perception.
People who sign up for Personal Training effectively sign up for exercise, they do not sign up for nutrition, sleep, hydration and/or relationship management. They perceive that exercise will be the main method for achieving their weight loss goal. What they actually need is proper hydration, sleep, organic nutritious food and stress management. The clients that achieve their results will often make major changes to their diet and lifestyle. The problem is is that this takes time, and when you have clients that sign up for 2 months of training they cannot possibly make all these changes. And if they do somehow make these changes in that timeframe, there is no way that these changes will stick long-term. It is also important to note that many clients I receive are very stressed out with work and finances, don't eat properly, rarely drink enough water and have poor sleep. These people should not be focusing on exercise as a weight loss method as exercise in itself is a stressor as well. Many clients need breath work, core training, slow walking, stretching programs and de-stressing exercises to reach their goal, rather then typical exercise programs.
The same thing can be said for signing up with a Nutritionist, Sleep Doctor, Breath Coach, etc. When you sign up with a Nutritionist you perceive that you will be improving your nutrition to achieve your weight loss goal. The Nutritionist does not prescribe an exercise plan to also increase muscle mass and strength which are extremely important to achieving your weight loss goal. Nor will they talk about breath work as a possible remedy to your gut health, or if stress is a contributing factor to your nutritional roadblock.
I'm not saying that Nutritionists, Dietitians, Sleep Doctors and Breath work coaches are not necessary. They are much needed when you need specialization in that particular area. I believe that most people can get great results from mastering the basics. When you have really tried to master the basics but there is something still getting in the way of achieving your results, then by all means seek expert and specialist advice.
Therein lies the need for a Holistic Health Coach. The word holistic comes from the concept of holism, which is:
"the theory that parts of a whole are in intimate interconnection, such that they cannot exist independently of the whole, or cannot be understood without reference to the whole, which is thus regarded as greater than the sum of its parts. Holism is often applied to mental states, language, and ecology" (google.com definition)
Holistic Health is the process of achieving your health goal by focusing on all aspects of ones life. Rather then take a magnifying glass and approach your body with a narrow focus, we look at the whole picture. A Holistic Health Coach will evaluate things like stress management, sleep hygiene, hydration, detoxification, food and any other potential roadblocks stopping you from achieving your health goal.
According to Holistic Health, when things are not going as planned when working towards your goal, focus will be on any potential roadblock as stated above. Maybe you're going to bed too late? Maybe you're consuming too many carbohydrates and not enough fats? Perhaps you're consuming too many carbohydrates because you're stressed out? And perhaps you're too stressed because you didn't get enough sleep?
A Holistic Health Coach will try to find the cause of why you're not getting towards your goal. This is important because if you do not try to get towards the cause, then you're only trying to fix symptoms. And fixing symptoms is not a long-term sustainable solution to an ongoing problem.
Exercise is a component of being holistic, because the human body was made to move. Your muscles need to contract and relax and they need to move your joints. But fitness training is not the only solution towards ones goals. And you may ask "but what if I only want bigger biceps? Or butt muscles"? Well, if you want to grow muscle tissue there's nothing wrong with that, but you also need proper nutrition to help in recovery and growth, as well as sleep, reducing inflammation and going to bed on time to optimize the process.
Nothing in the body works in isolation. Everything works together, moves together, breathes together, lives together and functions together. A Holistic Health Coach understands this concept and chooses to provide help towards their clients with a holistic approach to their fitness, lifestyle and nutrition goals.