If you’re looking for more stability in your business, accountability can get you there in more than one way. What does the word accountability really mean?
Account: This word can mean an actual account relating to banks and finances or it can mean “to monitor” or “to keep track of”; to be responsible for something. Either way, there is a sense of responsibility attached to the word.
Ability: This is all about having the knowledge or skill to perform a certain task.
There is only so much about your client’s fitness journey that you can control. Trainers take on the weight of new pressure whenever they acquire a new client.
Your client sought your expertise when they likely had many possible options to choose from. Whether it be to shed a few pounds or firm their midsection, we as trainers have the responsibility of assuring that our client’s goals are met.
As a trainer, you can program a certain amount of weight for your client to lift, along with the rep range and break time in between working sets. From then on you can monitor and make sure they are using proper form and gradually increasing in weight, intensity, and duration as their fitness improves.
This is the part that we play as trainers, being accountable and providing your expertise and knowledge in attaining specific goals for your client.
How to Help your Clients Become More Accountable
As a personal trainer, you carry the responsibility of helping a client reach their fitness goals. On the other side of the spectrum, your clients also have the responsibility of taking heed to any orders or advice deemed pertinent in achieving their health and fitness goals.
There is a two-way road in that both the trainer and the client are holding each other accountable for the client’s ultimate fitness or health goals.
How do we integrate the same level of dependability for the client? As trainers, we can give clients tasks to adhere to and goals to achieve to keep them accountable.
A task can be as simple as keeping a good log to track the food they are consuming each day or a running log to track the distances covered and calories burned during certain exercises. The hope is that these tasks will translate to your client’s specific goals.
Your client can be given the goal of running a certain distance on a particular day or over the course of a week or month, which also plays a role in achieving that goal physically.
These are certain ways you can keep your client accountable, which helps to make your job as a trainer easier, and streamlines the results clients are wanting to achieve.
Boosting Client Accountability
Motivation and commitment are individualized constructs. What speaks to one person may have a contrasting impact on another. It’s your job to know your clients – not just what they want to achieve, but why they want to achieve it.
Try these and other techniques and remember to practice them yourself. As trainers, we must model the behaviors we continually encourage our clients to adopt.
Setting Goals
Clients will have an idea of what they want to accomplish, but it will likely take the shape of generalized statements such as “to lose weight” or “to tone up” or “to build endurance”. None of these statements include the why. These are not specific goals with defined timelines, reward systems, identified resources, or measurable outcomes.
If you want to set a client up for success, help them shape the goal into something tangible and specific. This also includes identifying external supportive resources (tools, groups, etc.) as well as planning for high-risk situations and determining methods for avoiding relapses.
Creating a Goal Tracking System
Research continually supports the idea that a person who can track and measure progress is more likely to succeed in reaching their goals. You can help your clients visualize their progress.
Depending on the goal and the appropriate timeline identified, You may consider creating a calendar where your client can track their daily and weekly progress. A progress calendar will help your clients act with intention and accountability every day.
Affirmations Can Be Handy
Affirmations to be tremendously powerful.
Displaying encouraging statements in your studio or club or posting new motivating images or phrases on the social media accounts you use to interact with clients is a quick and simple way to motivate and affirm your clients. You can also invite your clients to share their own examples and favorites.
Anything that helps your clients refocus and continue to pursue what is meaningful to them.
Your Personal Training Career Simplified
How does accountability tie into being a personal trainer?
Responsibility has been placed in the hands of the trainer to take the necessary course of action to deliver results for a client.
All in all, this helps to foster and improve the trainer and client relationship and related interactions in helping them achieve what they seek.
Check out what it takes to start a career in personal fitness training. This is your most affordable and fastest way to become a highly qualified personal trainer.
Is your recertification coming up? Learn more about earning your CEU credits. You can find the full list of CEU courses here.
There is always something exciting about earning a new training or coaching certification and applying that new knowledge of how you train your clients. This also helps you hit the reset button.
NESTA and Spencer Institute coaching programs are open to anyone with a desire to learn and help others. There are no prerequisites.
That’s it for now.
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