PERSONAL TRAINER PRABH SOHI TELLS QH WHAT DRIVES HER THE MOST AND SETTING REALISTIC GOALS
Prabh Sohi, a personal trainer based in Doha, with over 20 years of experience, became involved in fitness due to her career as a police officer in England. In order to meet the required fitness levels for the job, she began exercising regularly, and found that it helped her mental health on particularly stressful days. She quickly realised the benefits of exercise not only for physical appearance, but also for the mind.
“This is what drives me the most: the knowledge that even a small amount of movement can help your mental health,” she says.
Prabh became a personal trainer to gain more knowledge about the body, correct exercise form, and nutrition. She began assisting friends and family with their exercise plans, and her client base grew through word of mouth.
Prabh’s goal when she first became qualified as a personal trainer was not to make it a career, but to gain more knowledge and share the benefits of training on mental health with others. “The more clients I saw get physically stronger and becoming more resilient inspired me to want to do it more.”
Prabh is a level 3 trained personal trainer and specialises in weight loss, cardiovascular fitness, and strength training. She trains clients on a one-on-one basis, as well as running 30-minute High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) classes twice a week for all levels at Y Village 2.
So how does she develop personalised fitness plans for clients?
Each fitness plan is tailored to the client’s goals and what they hope to achieve through the sessions.
“I use a questionnaire to get a better understanding of their weekly activities, how much time they have and also if there are any barriers to them doing the exercises,” she says.
Prabh feels age, current weight, and activity levels are crucial factors to consider when designing a plan. With regard to nutrition and diet, Prabh emphasises that exercise and nutrition go hand in hand. She advises her clients on the foods they should be eating to achieve their goals and believes it is important to get the body moving to increase life expectancy and quality of life.
“Life is also for living so I am a big advocate of eating a little of what we like and having a meal out and having chocolate in moderation,” she suggests.
Prabh has worked with a diverse range of clients, from those who want to lose weight to those who simply want to be able to get off the sofa unaided. She trains individuals and couples who motivate each other.
But she considers tracking to be important.
“For some, it will be when I can see certain weights are becoming too easy so I will up the weight size, for others it will be when they have hit a plateau in their weight loss. Progress is very different for every client so there is no set time for adjustments in the plan to be made, these are done when the client is hitting certain goals and we need to move to the next one,” she points out.
When asked what the most challenging aspects of being a personal trainer were, Prabh felt it was managing the client expectations.
“We are all so different. There is no quick fix to changing our body shape or getting fitter, it’s all about consistency and being honest. I don’t believe in fad diets; yes, they may work in the short term but they are not sustainable,” she proffers.
What about those considering a career in personal training?
Prabh advises doing it for the right reasons.
“It isn’t all about the money, there needs to be a drive and passion to see people changing and doing it for themselves. Do your research and make sure you pick a good company to train with who will provide you with the correct knowledge and be there to support you when you start your journey as a personal trainer,” she concludes.
You can reach out to her at prabh.sohi2020@gmail.com
