What Do People Who Stay Strong Year-Round Have In Common? They Hire a Coach

Photograph: Getty Images; Collage: Gabe Conte

When Sarmad Khan, 32, began his fitness journey a few years ago, his goals were pretty basic. He just wanted to get healthier, and when one of his colleagues at the public school where he teaches invited him to work out at his CrossFit gym, he discovered a new routine he enjoyed. Eventually, he outgrew the class environment and wanted more out of his gym time. That’s when he started paying one of the coaches he’d met through CrossFit to program his training. And after two years, he switched to working with another coach at his gym, Emilio Joubert, for more individualized programming.

It’s not cheap, but he thinks it’s worth it—he’s stronger than he’s ever been and is setting PRs he never imagined he’d be capable of, like a 385-pound back squat. He’s also slowly transformed his body. His initial goal was to “look good in a t-shirt,” but he achieved that aesthetic goal long ago. Now, he wants to see how strong he can get and is enjoying pushing himself and trying new movements and techniques, like doing dips with a chain and getting comfortable with uncomfortable movements like heaving heavy sandbags and mastering the Zercher squat. “I feel strong,” he says.

Some people, especially those who know how to periodize and plan their own training, will find that a regular gym meets all their needs just fine. Or maybe they prefer taking boutique fitness classes at places like SoulCycle and Barry’s. However, many people don’t have a solid plan at the gym and would benefit from working with a coach like Khan, who I first met at that CrossFit gym, does. Working with a trainer can lead you to achieve way more gains—or whatever your goal is—than you might otherwise.

Hiring a coach can also be a smart choice for those who are coming back from injuries, who need particular accommodations, are concerned with learning the correct form for lifting movements, or just want the support and peace of mind that comes with knowing your coach has your back. That’s partially what led Hunter Abrams to seek out a coach about two years ago. On Halloween night in 2021, they fell down the stairs at a nightclub, breaking their toe. Their next few months required surgery, bed rest, and physical therapy. 

After they had surgery and got back home, Abrams says, they "had to use the bathroom and couldn't get off the toilet.” Their dad had to help them off, and the experience burned in their mind. “I just remember thinking, I never want to feel like that again: I want to be strong. I want to be mobile.” When they began working out with their coach, Michael McGuire, they hated the deadlift. Now they deadlift 275 pounds—more than they weighed when they began their fitness journey with McGuire—and look forward to their twice-weekly sessions.

For Abrams, aesthetic goals were not the impetus for seeking out a coach, but simply by virtue of building muscle, they’ve dropped weight in the past two years. More importantly, in their work as a professional photographer, they're no longer afraid of a long day on set, or reliant on assistants to move heavy equipment around.

So what should you look for in a coach, and what exactly does a coach do? People who are qualified to help you work out and program your training can go by many names: personal trainers, fitness coaches, strength coaches, and the types of certifications they have can vary, so wading through the designations can be a bit like looking for a therapist. Joubert says that as far as he’s concerned (with the exception of specialized athletic trainers or strength and conditioning coaches), all of these terms mean virtually the same. The most important thing to look for is someone whose style and values reflect your own.

“Consider who you are and think about what your constraints are, what your necessities are, and look at what they stand for,” he says. “For instance, I'm a pusher. I push people really hard. I believe in being mobile and being conditioned and everything like that. My style can scare people, and if it does, that's okay. Find somebody who's a little bit more moderate. But try to look for a coach who is open and honest about what it is that they believe in, what their goals are for you, and pick and choose depending on what you want to do.”

McGuire adds that “the person with the biggest biceps might not be the best person to help you get the biggest biceps” and compares the search for a trainer to the trial and error often involved in finding the right therapist. He says the best thing to do is “just start,” and if it’s not working with the first person you choose to work with, “just have the bravery to be like hey, I don’t think this is working,” and keep looking.

While hiring any kind of trainer is a luxury, there are many tiered options and ways to make having this type of support and guidance at the gym an accessible option. You can go the full monty and spring for a personal trainer who not only comes up with all the exercises and programming for you but also visits your home or meets you at the gym to guide you through your workouts in person. Or you can pay for a coach to make you a training plan as Joubert does for Khan. The coaching relationship at that tier can look different depending on who you work with. Joubert has boundaries about how interactive he is with clients at Khan’s level, who are not paying for one-on-one, in-person training. But he has such an enthusiasm for the people he works with that he regularly reposts their workout videos on Instagram and gives feedback via text.

The cost of a one-time training plan or one with moderate tweaks will cost less than the more individualized services and can range from $50 to $100 or more, depending on the coach. Then there are high-end trainers who meet with you in person multiple times a week and are on-call for all your questions and concerns. Prices vary significantly from trainer to trainer, but for coaches interviewed for this story, their rates topped at around $500 per month for such services.

Digital offerings, like Future, meanwhile are aiming to make these services more accessible and wide-ranging to all. The brand's model hinges on digital personal training that comes in at a more palatable $149 per month (billed annually) or $199 billed monthly. Other personal training apps like CoPilot and Caliber do the same for roughly the same price.

Of course, not everyone can afford even the most scaled-back options that coaches like Joubert offer, but “I also think that a lot of people are just hesitant to invest in their fitness because they're not sure about the results they'll get,” he says. “I think that if it was more understood that the results that you get from coaching are very good, more people would see it as a little bit less of a true luxury and more as a legitimate option that you can take even if you're not like killing it financially.”

In other words, if you want to get strong, it's time to invest.

Originally Appeared on GQ