Andrew Keller

Responsibilities

During my internship at United Movement, I assisted with one-on-one personal training sessions and helped create workouts based on each client’s needs, abilities, and goals. My responsibilities included setting up and putting away equipment, demonstrating exercises, providing feedback on technique, encouraging clients, and maintaining a clean and safe training environment. I also observed physical therapy and chiropractic services, learned how client progress was assessed and tracked, and gained experience using information from VALD force plates. Throughout the internship, I worked with clients of different ages and fitness levels, especially older adults, and learned how to modify exercises when necessary.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment during my internship was becoming more confident working directly with clients. Over time, I improved my ability to demonstrate exercises, provide helpful feedback, and modify workouts based on each client’s abilities and goals. I was especially proud of learning how to work safely and effectively with older adults and clients with physical limitations.

Learning experience

The greatest lessons I learned were the importance of communication, patience, and adapting to each client as an individual. I learned that the same exercise or coaching style does not work for everyone, so it is important to understand each person’s abilities, limitations, and goals. I also learned how important it is to build trust with clients, provide clear feedback, and create a safe and encouraging environment. This experience showed me how classroom knowledge can be applied in real situations and helped me become more confident and professional when working with others.

What advice would you give?

My advice for future students in kinesiology is to gain as much hands-on experience as possible and ask questions whenever you are unsure. Be willing to work with different types of clients, accept feedback, and learn from the professionals around you. It is also important to practice communicating clearly because building trust with clients is just as important as understanding exercise science. Take every opportunity seriously, stay open-minded, and use your internship to discover which areas of the field interest you most.