The Power of Positive Fitness Training

Heather Rider

The Power of Positive Fitness Training

Five Tips for Motivating Your Fitness Clients…
By: Heather Rider

When it comes to motivating your clients, what tools do you use? Are you the cheerleader? The bully? For many different clients we have to take on different roles: therapist, friend, mommy, daddy, you name it. I have never been a big fan of the negative. I don't like to take an exercise class where I am being yelled at boot camp style ( I got that enough at home) and I have always leaned towards the people who see the brighter side of life. That being said when it comes to training, being a positive force can be a key to motivating clients. Here are a few tips I use in my lecture "The Power of Positive Training."

1. Create Fitness Goals From The Beginning

I have learned that asking a client what their fitness goals are rather than their weight and measurements not only seems to excite ( and sometimes confuse) them but it makes me feel like I am doing my job a lot more effectively. After all, simply focusing on appearance doesn't make me feel like I am really enhancing anyone's life unless they are healthy too, and as a trainer it is way easy to burn out fast. We have to be motivated too! So at the beginning when you are taking down all your new client's information, ask them to name three fitness goals. That may be running a 5k, climbing a mountain, or in some cases simply being able to get down on the floor to play with a grandchild.

2. Focus on Mind And Body

Many clients are very out of touch with their bodies and their minds. For example, when I have a client do a lunge, I ask them where they feel it working. If they say they don't know, or possibly they identify an area that the lunge isn't working, I know they are not properly focusing. I ask them to not only do the exercise but to also focus their mind on the muscle they are working. The difference is always clear. The "ah hah" moment is when I can see they feel it where they should! Make sure clients always get stretching and relaxing in as part of their routine. Running themselves down will only burn them out and then you lose clients.

3. Stay Away From Weighing Your Clients

This is always a touchy one. Whenever I bring this up in a lecture I get a mixture of trainers vigorously nodding in agreement and others clearly squirming in their chairs in disagreement.

Have your client set 3 fitness goals during your first session. These may be as simple as walking a mile or a bigger challenge like biking 20 miles. It all depends on your client's abilities and current level of fitness.

Many trainers see this as a good tool for tracking progress. However, the more research I have done with people, the more feedback I have received that in reality the weighing is really not as appreciated as we might think. It actually seems to mess with people's minds. When the weight is down everything is great, and when it's not everything is terrible. This is not the way I want my clients to measure their happiness or how they feel about themselves. Weighing clients puts the emphasis on …weight, of course! If a client is severely overweight, let a doctor take care of checking the progress on that; our job is to keep them motivated and fit

4. Emphasize Strength

The expression on a client's face when they do their first pushup, or ten pushups, or a pull up is priceless. Keep the emphasis on being strong!

5. Keep the Encouragement Coming!

Maybe it goes without saying but positive feedback is the best tool around. Keeping track of what someone was physically able to do before your magical touch came along and then after is a great tool for both of you. Your client can see how much progress she has made with you and you both get to see how fabulous a trainer you are! So with every achievement, acknowledge it! I had a client once who was very excited that she was able to stand up from a chair without holding onto anything. She was a nanny, and eventually she was able to do that holding a baby. Very exciting! Training can be incredibly rewarding. It's easy to sink into the traps that can lead to burn out for you or your clients. Keep it fresh and positive, and you and your client will always want more!

About Heather Rider

Go to About Heather Rider for her bio and more of her articles.

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