The Lost Art of Saying “I Don’t Know”
“I don’t know.” Three words many fitness pros struggle to say aloud. There’s a belief that admitting ignorance makes you look weak or damages your credibility, as if there’s some inner fitness police waiting to shame you for not memorizing every detail of the Krebs cycle.
Sure, there are things a trainer should have a solid grasp of: the rotator cuff muscles, how to program around low back or knee pain, how many calories are in a gram of protein, and who Mel Siff is. But you can’t know everything about everything. Where’s the levator ani located? And what exactly is the levator ani? What are the benefits and pitfalls of concurrent periodization? What’s the atomic number of adamantium? If you do happen to know all that, you’re impressive—but most of us don’t.
If you don’t know the answer to something, don’t pretend to be an all-knowing genius. Being honest with clients is the better move. Saying “I don’t know” signals authenticity, and in my experience, clients appreciate the honesty.
I’ve never lost a client because I didn’t know the exact function of the psoas or because I questioned the use of heart-rate variability training in undertrained bears. The reasons are simple: I do know the functions of the psoas, and the HRV claim was ridiculous.
If I don’t know something or a client wants to dive deeper into an area where I’m not an expert, I’ll say, “I don’t know, but I know someone who does. I’ll ask them.”
This happened with a client who wanted to add Olympic lifts to her program. We’d been focusing on the basic barbell lifts for months, and she had made great progress. She asked if I’d be willing to include Olympic lifts. I wasn’t comfortable teaching them myself, so I connected her with a few coaches in the Boston area who could help. It worked out wonderfully. A few weeks later she emailed to say she’d found her people and was having a great time.
Some readers might think, “Dude, you lost a client.” And yes, I did. But what happens when she’s later asked by a friend or colleague for a trainer? She’ll likely point them toward someone who showed care and integrity.
Three takeaways from this post:
1) Your clients won’t care if you don’t know the answer. Saying “I don’t know” is responsible, followed by, “but I’ll find out.”
2) Referencing other fitness professionals isn’t a bad business move. In my experience, it often leads to more referrals because clients feel you have their best interests at heart.
3) For the record: I don’t pretend to know everything about the Krebs cycle.
If you’re truly curious, yes—the Krebs cycle is not my favorite topic. It’s a pelvic floor muscle region, specifically part of the anal triangle—let’s leave it at that to keep things simple.
And one last note: if you don’t send others my way, you’ll hear about it from me. Dead serious.
