Do you recall the first time you met each of your clients? How about that first note of confidence? Has it started to fade away? While your clients may have felt motivation initially, they may have lost that first spark of excitement or lost sight of why they wanted to achieve a specific goal in the first place. If that’s the case, the best thing you can do as a trainer is to remind your client that a setback doesn’t have to lead to failure. Just ask Amy Morin, a contributing author at Forbes: “Almost every behavioral change involves at least one or two setbacks…the way you respond to those setbacks, however, is what determines the likelihood of reaching your goals.”
How to set realistic personal fitness goals
For many people, goals may feel unattainable because they seem much more complex than they actually are. For example, If your client would like to lose 30 pounds, he or she may feel like that weight is never going to come off when looking at it in the short term. If your client breaks that down to 15 pounds in six months and another 15 in the last half of the year, it may feel a bit more manageable.
Keep the workouts interesting and engaging
When the novelty of that initial motivation fades away, it may be because the routine has become exactly that, a routine. The important thing to remember is that your clients don’t have to spend hours with you to get the results they are working toward. Beyond that, your clients don’t have to stick to one specific workout routine to get the results he or she wants. For example, instead of just focusing on high-intensity interval training, aka HIIT, incorporate Pilates or yoga into the mix. Finally, you don’t want your clients to plateau or burn out, and incorporating variety will avoid just that while keeping things interesting in the gym.
Enforce accountability and reference your clients’ goals
It’s important to encourage your client to accept accountability, but don’t become too pushy. Whether it’s paying in advanced or sticking to a schedule, accountability will help your client stay on track.
One of the best ways to ensure that your clients stay on track is to reference their goals daily, weekly and monthly. If your clients are determined to reach a goal by a specific date, they will be more likely to pass on those tempting office treats if they have their goals in front of them every morning. For a quick and effective way to track goals, encourage your clients to use an online tool, such as Evernote. The basic version is free and an efficient way to organize daily tasks, such as going to the gym, and track those long-term goals.
Keep your clients going beyond each session
If you want your clients to stay committed to their training, they must commit to a healthy and active lifestyle. In other words, they must stay dedicated long after each session. Encourage your clients to download an inexpensive app, like Commit. Commit helps users form habits by asking he or she if they have achieved the goal they set for that day. For example, “Did you run today?” It will even remind users if they happen to forget.
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