Let me start by saying that this is my opinion about what is most rewarding to me. You may get jazzed up by a completely different demographic. That’s cool. We’re all different and so are our clients. For me, though, the most rewarding clients are the ones that are coming back from injuries, illness, or simply years of disuse, and have become tentative about starting an exercise program. Let me tell you why that is.

Many trainers like working with athletes or high ambition/high motivation clients. It’s easy (so to speak) because they expect to accomplish their goals and are willing to work for it. Those with injuries, illness, or limited through disuse can be more challenging. There tends to be a lot more individual problem solving, from the psychological end as well coming up with unique adaptations to deal with their physical limitations. That challenges my mind and creativity and I love discovering new ways to do things.

The other part that I love about working with this population, is that they are usually unaware of how much they can change their physical lives. Most often they are amazed at the things they are capable of doing after training for a time. They come in thinking that they’d be happy if they could just go up and down stairs more easily and, with consistent work and progression, they’re out paddle boarding or hiking mountains. That kind of life change and their excitement about it, is what has kept me passionate about personal training for almost 40 years.

My point in talking about this is simply to let other personal trainers in on the benefits, the joys, of working with a physically challenged population. So, if you get the chance, take on some clients that fall into this category and see for yourself how rewarding it can be.