*I was initially going to put this into the personal trainers thread but I think it may be helpful to someone that struggles with weight loss. Or a trainer that struggles with a tough client
**If you don't want to read the whole thing, I'll sum it up by saying, exercise is best when you're less stressed.
Ever put your heart and soul into a client and they would constantly cheat on their meal plan or miss their days where they aren't training with you? I had a client that would eat like crap all the time. She liked eating out often and it seemed like she had all the time in the world to do things EXCEPT workout. Unless of course it was with me. So I hit a big concrete wall.
One day I was training with a client and I could see that she was just not feeling it. So I stopped the session, took her into the yoga room where it was quiet, and I asked her, what do you want( Like what do you REALLY want ). Of course by now we had built up a good rapport and she felt no pressure to give me what she felt I wanted to hear. ( I think clients do that more than we realize) So she spoke to me about her goals in life. The ones that were REALLY important to her in terms of relationships, family, and her professional career. And I came to a realization that she just wanted to be happy. Fitness was about 6th on her list of priorities and I think since we're so focused on fitness we want everyone's priority list to start with being in shape.
Why post this? Because I think it's important to remember that clients all want to be healthy. No one wants to waste their money. So it's important to step back and get to the point where you know what is most important to them. In some cases, you can appease your client by just giving them more muscles or a smaller waist. But people have relationships, kids, weddings, family issues, baggage, desires, and our added pressure of getting them in shape can do more harm than good if we don't understand everything else that's going on in their lives.
I think every trainer should get a boxing training certification. I have not had many clients that did not enjoy just hitting something with no fear of recourse. Granted it is extremely tiring, but if your clients don't seem to be getting much from the traditional exercising, give boxing a try. Help them relieve some stress.
**If you don't want to read the whole thing, I'll sum it up by saying, exercise is best when you're less stressed.
Ever put your heart and soul into a client and they would constantly cheat on their meal plan or miss their days where they aren't training with you? I had a client that would eat like crap all the time. She liked eating out often and it seemed like she had all the time in the world to do things EXCEPT workout. Unless of course it was with me. So I hit a big concrete wall.
One day I was training with a client and I could see that she was just not feeling it. So I stopped the session, took her into the yoga room where it was quiet, and I asked her, what do you want( Like what do you REALLY want ). Of course by now we had built up a good rapport and she felt no pressure to give me what she felt I wanted to hear. ( I think clients do that more than we realize) So she spoke to me about her goals in life. The ones that were REALLY important to her in terms of relationships, family, and her professional career. And I came to a realization that she just wanted to be happy. Fitness was about 6th on her list of priorities and I think since we're so focused on fitness we want everyone's priority list to start with being in shape.
Why post this? Because I think it's important to remember that clients all want to be healthy. No one wants to waste their money. So it's important to step back and get to the point where you know what is most important to them. In some cases, you can appease your client by just giving them more muscles or a smaller waist. But people have relationships, kids, weddings, family issues, baggage, desires, and our added pressure of getting them in shape can do more harm than good if we don't understand everything else that's going on in their lives.
I think every trainer should get a boxing training certification. I have not had many clients that did not enjoy just hitting something with no fear of recourse. Granted it is extremely tiring, but if your clients don't seem to be getting much from the traditional exercising, give boxing a try. Help them relieve some stress.
