For the last 18 months, I have been attending my local gym regularly. Not a brag, just context.
For the entire time that I have attended, the core team has been fairly stable, recently it was announced that the manager is leaving, moving to Australia of all things. With this change, I was reflecting on what I think makes a good trainer and a good manager. Mostly because I believe this person exemplifies the qualities of an excellent trainer and an excellent manager.
I often walk into the gym with a head full of thoughts of the day, and either as the trainer or manager on duty, they help set the tone for the space for me from the moment I enter it. I am sure this is true for other people who go there too. They are confident but approachable, carrying themselves with authentic energy, quiet authority and genuine warmth. People trust them, because they’re reliable and consistent. They personify integrity, effort, and care.
They set a formidable example in how they work and their own workouts. Always present, always prepared, always bringing energy to the space. They are fit, but I get the sense it is because they believe it is the best way to live, they believe looking after yourself is necessary and important, and because they are consistent in how they approach their day.
They exist in a ‘no excuses’ environment. They believe that life is about experiencing things and learning. Setting challenges, achieving goals and trying new ways of doing things. While it seems to be part of the whole ethos of the gym, their understanding of fitness and exercise is broad: strength training, functional movement, rehab protocols, group fitness, nutrition basics, and behaviour change.
I have no visibility of what things are like behind the scenes, but when I walk in, the gym is clean, it feels organised and ready for us all to roll in and do our class. Things have been repaired and old equipment has been replaced, just as I was thinking some of the medicine balls were getting a bit leaky or the walls were looking a bit sad. I would never complain, but I didn’t need to.
A good manager will manage with clarity and a strong sense of fairness. They will make time to give their staff feedback, they recognise when people go above and beyond and put in effort and make sure they are noticed and appreciated. If they do this, the team will have a culture of accountability and pride. I can see that the team they manage is proud to be in the team.
I imagine there is also lots of time in the day spent managing budgets, memberships, promotions, social media and working on balancing retention effort with bringing in new people, all while making everyone feel special, valued, like they belong to a community. I don’t see any of this behind the scenes work, but I know it happens because I can see the results of it.
I am sure that loving exercise and fitness is why lots of people think they could be a personal trainer or manage a gym, but from what I have seen, that is a small part of what makes someone exceptional in this space. Remembering people’s names, remembering birthdays and special occasions. Know who’s coming back from an injury, who just missed out on a promotion, and who’s quietly having a hard time and is either trying to show up anyway, or who hasn’t been. Knowing who has anxiety and self-limiting beliefs, and how and when to push them without making them feel guilt or shame. Learning who is motivated by whoops and cheers and who needs quiet encouragement, challenging people to be better, without intimidating them or having them remember that they are only lifting about a fifth of what the trainer can. They meet people where they are, whether that’s training for a Hyrox, training to avoid Hyrox, or learning how to use a rowing machine or doing an exercise for the first time.
I have certain things that I care about and am very good at, and as an educator - I know that it can be really frustrating when you spend lots of your day with people who don’t think like you, aren’t as capable as you, and don’t take it as seriously as you. As a super-fit person who decides to be a trainer, you probably end up spending a lot of your time with people who aren’t fit, who might be more lazy and more like a sloth than you could ever imagine being or relate to. Learning how to break things down clearly, correcting their form repeatedly without making anyone feel stupid.
Even though a trainer might never have been fat, or struggled with addiction themselves, I imagine you need to understand the psychology of change: how to build habits, overcome fear, and reframe failure. As someone who might run marathons, you have to find a way to celebrate the win of someone taking their first steps. In a world that loves to focus on numbers of calories, reps, heart rates and weight loss. You have to find ways to focus people on consistency, courage, commitment and incremental changes.
Another challenge: caring for individuals and caring about building a community equally. The gym isn’t just a place to train, well it is for some people, it’s a place where some people go to feel seen, and a place where others go to disappear. Some want to feel part of a community, others are there for personal reasons and individual goals. It must be hard to know what events to host where, what charities and causes to support when, how to encourage people to form social connections, and how to motivate others to lean in to help you create an environment where all these different sorts of people want to keep coming back.
The Heart
They are the heart of the gym, but to expand on this to facilitate understanding, what does a heart do? You mostly don’t think about your heart until it isn’t doing what it does, but in a management context, I think the ‘heart’:
Pumps energy and momentum through the team: their presence and actions keep things moving with a steady rhythm, making sure tasks, communication, and morale don’t stagnate.
Connect the different parts: of the organisation to make it feel like one thing: just as the heart circulates blood to every organ, a manager that is the heart of a place keeps all team members aware of how the big and little jobs fit into the bigger picture, and allow others to do what they need to do, and focused on what matters.
Responsive to change: a healthy heart adjusts to the needs and demands placed on the body, a manager that is a heart will respond and adapt as required, whether that is calmness in stress, working harder to alleviate pressure and moving effectively through new challenges.
The heart also is symbolic of love and care, so a manager who is a ‘heart’:
Creates emotional safety in the workplace: caring about how people feel, not just what they do.
Cares about the growth of others: supporting team members, nurturing talent, encouraging them to challenge themselves, improve and develop, this is part of how they look out for the mental health and wellbeing of the team.
Builds trust and strong relationships: a manager like this will act as a central point of trust, fostering connection between individuals and across the team.
Listens actively: just as the heart listens to the body’s needs, this manager listens deeply to what’s said, and unsaid and reacts appropriately.
Celebrates wins, holds space for difficult times: their authenticity and care means they are there for people and people feel comfortable including them when required in their highs and lows. They keep energy and morale high in the good times, and perspective balanced in darker moments.
A heart that works well does its job unnoticed and is steady and reliable. A manager like this would:
Set and keep the pace: maintaining a dependable rhythm in the work culture, they are a known quantity, are consistent, not erratic.
Hold things together: through the peaks and troughs of life and business, they remain composed, remaining cohesive and functioning.
Value everyone’s role in the organisation: they know they are vital, but they manage with empathy and understanding, thriving is possible because they value what everyone contributes to keep things moving.
Conclusion
There is only one way to be a good trainer and manager and do it consistently for this long: it has to be who you are authentically. It has to be you being you everyday. I think that is how you become a good manager, is figuring out in time how you can authentically be you as a manager. This person wears their heart on their sleeve and is the heart of the place. Not everyone can be that, but this manager is.
What I have learned from them most, is that while they are magic, none of this is magic. It is a habit. You do it because you care and value it. Doing the basics well, and doing it over and over brings results: in terms of physical fitness and management. Consistency creates excellence. Good management makes everyone around you better.
So whether you’re a trainer, a manager, an employee or a business owner, here is what you can learn from someone like this:
Show up.
Know your stuff.
Keep learning and setting goals.
Listen deeply.
Be present.
Treat each person you encounter like they matter.
Leave the space you’re in better than you found it.
Thanks for everything! Best of luck for your future!
