How to slam dunk an active, healthier lifestyle…
As a trainer and coach, I see many clients who struggle with the motivation to be more active and fit. Facilitating behavioral change also happens to be an area many personal trainers struggle with when training their clients. Here is an example: Client A hires a trainer to help them lose weight. The trainer knows what needs to be done. He knows how to guide the client through a great workout, burn a ton of calories, keep a good food log, etc. However, what the trainer may NOT know, is that deep down inside Client A may be feeling the following:
How does a Trainer solve this motivational dilemma? Their client HATES exercise and sees it as a necessary evil. If Client A trudges through the monotonous work and even hits their weight-loss goal, long term maintenance seems improbable. Moreover, I’ve found if the focus at the gym is weight-loss alone most clients will give up before the finish line. For a true and real lifestyle change Client A needs to be taken from “I HATE THIS” to “I LOVE THIS–I can’t do without it, my workout is my favorite thing about my day–I AM fitness! I OWN fitness! This is WHO I AM!”
Realigning a client with what they LOVE means building on positive association. I once had a client who told me two weeks into our training that she HATED the gym! When asked why, she told me that she hired me because she felt something was missing in her life, but didn’t know what it was and thought that personal training might be the answer. After listening, I asked her if she had done any sports or recreational activities in high school or grade school.
That is one of the very reasons I invented RigRack. You can literally take effective and FUN workouts ANYWHERE. Clients LOVE to workout outdoors at parks and on the beach. Throw in a BBQ after a killer workout with your pals at the beach and you have a PARTY! Everyone has a body and moves it around. If we find out what our clients love to do, be it sport, recreation, or fitness–build on that passion! Capitalize on their victories in each session, surround them with social support–continue to build on those positive associations with exercise, and you will see fitness motivation change from CHORE to PASSION! |
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