Coach Vs Personal Trainer: What’s the difference?

To most people a coach and a personal trainer are the same thing. The terms are used interchangeably to mean the same thing - namely someone who works in a gym and helps other people do workouts. This shallow understanding misses a great deal of detail and it is my hope in this piece to convey that detail to you, my dear reader, and in so doing impress upon you the very real and very significant difference between coaches and personal trainers. 

Training vs exercise - The fundamental difference 

To get to the heart of this matter I think it is first necessary to distinguish between training and exercise (bare with me here, I promise it’s going somewhere). To quote Mark Rippetoe “training is the process of accumulating the specific physiological adaptations necessary for improved performance in an athletic event. These physiological adaptations will either be metabolic, structural, or a combination of the two”. In other words, training is about the long term development of physical characteristics. Exercise on the other hand, is done for the immediate effect it produces in the here and now - getting hot, sweaty, and tired, burning off some calories, and releasing endorphins. Think spin classes, boxercise, and Joe Wicks. 

To my mind, the distinction between a coach and a personal trainer runs along the training/exercise distinction. A personal trainer (ironically) delivers exercise to their clients, while a coach delivers real training. That sounds simple enough on the surface but there’s a bit more to it. 

Basic education vs working methodology 

Becoming a personal trainer is really easy. To be “fully qualified” to work in a gym and be insured as a PT you need a level 3 personal training qualification. This qualification is roughly equivalent to a BTEC. The qualification requires you to pass a few multiple choice tests and then a laughably easy “practical assessment”. To pass my practical assessment for my level 3 I was required to demonstrate and instruct someone in the performance of a plank and a cable triceps push down. This incredibly low level of basic education may qualify you to direct some exercise on a suite of machines but that’s about it. This is not to say there are not some very knowledgeable and highly effective personal trainers out there, but simply to highlight that the barrier to entry is very low. 

Coaching requires much more. To be able to effectively construct and deliver a training programme you first need a far more robust level of basic education. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and physics is a prerequisite to quality coaching. Good coaches will generally have more qualifications to their name than a basic PT certificate. Education and certification is available in a wide range of disciplines and there are plenty of places out there offering high quality coaching education. 

More than this though, a coach needs a philosophy and a system. Training can’t merely be directed by vibes and whims. Good coaches have good systems in place and an overarching training methodology that guides all of their decision making processes. The best coaches are constantly refining and updating these methods and systems as their own base of experience and education grows. I am a Starting Strength coach, meaning I coach according to the Starting Strength methodology but my coaching doesn’t begin and end there. The Starting Strength method is what underpins my work, but layered on top of it are my own personal systems, methods, and techniques developed through continued education and personal experience. 

The difference in practice 

What am I talking about when I talk about methods and systems? One of the most obvious examples is when it comes down to teaching technique. The Starting Strength method has a specific model for how the squat should be done and a refined teaching method for getting a new lifter to move in accordance with the model. Other coaches may have slightly different models or teaching methods, but what’s important is that they all have systematised methods of approaching teaching the squat. These things don’t appear by accident, they’re the product of deep knowledge of the underlying concepts and of considered personal coaching experience. 

What to look for

So how do you tell the difference? If everyone and their mum is using the two terms interchangeably how do you determine whether the person you’re looking at is an actual coach or merely a personal trainer? Here are some things to look out for when making your decision.

What are they doing on the platform? Quality coaches offer real time feedback in the form of cues. They walk around their lifters, observing them from different angles and bark cues and commands at them when necessary to help optimise their technique in real time. Personal trainers count reps and offer encouragement. Watch the PT’s in your gym next time you see them and pay attention to which ones are doing coaching, and which ones are dishing out high fives. The worst culprits use the time their client is working as an opportunity to take a sneaky look at their phone - STAY AWAY from such people. 

Are they writing anything down? Training is a long term process. In order to be effective in the long term, data needs to be tracked. Is the coach doing this? Are they logging weights, sets, and reps somewhere or are they just rolling from one exercise to the next with no attempt being made to record what’s been done? 

This is similar to the first one but what do their lifters look like? Are they squatting high? Is their back horribly rounding on the deadlift? Are they doing things that might actually be dangerous? Is the coach trying to address any of these issues? 

What does their online presence look like? There are two ways to market yourself online. The first is to produce high quality informative content aimed at helping people for free. Articles, youtube videos, podcasts, and social media posts all designed to pass on knowledge and experience to those who could benefit from it. The other method is to use high pressure sales tactics to emotionally manipulate vulnerable people unhappy with their bodies to buy things they don’t really want. All of the coaches I know and respect use the former method, while I’ve been personally burned more than once buying into things sold with the latter method. 

Which one suits you? 

I do not write this piece to dunk on personal trainers. Personal training is just fine as it is and a real market exists for those who primarily just want to have fun, feel good, and burn some calories. More power to them! This article exists simply to draw a clear distinction between real coaches and personal trainers who use the term coach to describe themselves. If what you want is serious physical development then you need real structured, systematised training delivered by an experienced coach. 

Here at Cast Iron Strength, my focus is on helping people build muscle, develop strength and improve their physical capabilities through structured barbell training. I work with clients on a 1:1 basis both in person in Cardiff and online throughout the UK. If this article has piqued your interest and you want to find out more, you can do so here.