Anytime we intervene with a client and provide any form of leadership, guidance, or coaching, we become bound to some actions that are considered cornerstones of a coactive relationship. This is especially important if you are being looked to as a nutrition specialist. This is saying the same as you being an expert.
One of the cornerstones we are talking about involves the work we do after we have assessed our client, but we need to be aware of it upfront, as to be best prepared for how to apply the proper coaching mindset and presence for what comes next. This is because working as a nutrition coach, or a Sports Nutrition Specialist specifically, requires that we help clients make changes – which has shown to be especially difficult when food intake is involved.
Essentially, there are three main parts to your coaching service delivery. First, is the act of assessing your client, followed by how to have coaching dialogues with them, and this becomes necessary right after assessments most frequently; the last skill we need to master requires that we understand the stages of change. Sometimes referred to as the Stage of Readiness, the two are synonymous. We will learn more detail on this aspect of coaching after our discussion of assessing our client.
A day in the life of a nutrition coach or specialist would normally include assessing clients, advising them on nutrition strategies, and measuring where the client is both now and determining the date of the next measure checkpoint. We then adjust our plans and continue to provide education and support for our athlete. This is the operational construct of our coaching model.
Achieving goals happens when two requirements are met. First, try breaking down the action you want to do (the goal) into specific aptitudes (skills). Second, we get our clients to build certain aptitudes (skills) through strategic daily actions (practices). Your recommendations form the basis of these two outcomes.
Here are a few supporting ways to help clients who are looking to make changes and/or outcome goals:
Encouragement is important at the beginning of a change process. In the Preparation Stage, your client is committed to making goals but they are not yet capable. They need someone cheering them along and this is a great way for the Specialist to be effective.
Establishing accountability throughout your co-active relationship allows your athlete to know you are going to hold them accountable in a way that is regular and predictable.
Acknowledge all positive progress – this helps clients concentrate on the good things that are happening when efforts to change feel challenging or slow to occur. We use Appreciative Inquiry to zero in on these “good things”. This informs clients that you understand that progress is significant and it also shows that you will be celebrating victories with them.
Coaching also allows you to identify barriers and obstacles in advance of any change efforts. If we can avoid any problems that may arise later, we demonstrate understanding of our client’s needs; we also are less likely to hear of these problems as excuses from our client later.
Intake and initial assessment of your client
First, it just makes sense that we assess our client. We ask a lot of questions and we make sure that we -at the very least – get the critical information we need from our clients. We need to be efficient here, as our first meeting with a client seems to be the hardest to contain within a single coaching session.
We want to keep our questions and quest for client knowledge related to only the data we need to take the next steps. With the assessment complete, we then take time to discuss the results with our client if we were in a typical coaching environment. You may need to fine-tune how you follow up with assessments according to how you are operating. For example, working with one client at the collegiate level, you might perform the follow-up assessment differently than how it would be completed for a triathlete.
Ultimately you want to construct your entire program of nutrition planning around what you learn in the assessment of your client. It’s important that we take the time to get this right. Once you’ve completed your assessments you can then triage the information accordingly.
Assessing the Client, their Training Regimen, and the Sport
Start by using specific screens as forms to take in your new client. We want to keep this part of the process simple. In fact, whenever possible, it is best if we can be present with the client during this process. This way, you and your client can start benefiting from the assessment dialogue and intake interaction right away. To keep things basic and streamlined, only access what you need from your client and use as few forms as possible. The screens and assessments you use can double as both an initial baseline evaluation and then to track progress over a period of time.
You should have a clear, step-by-step, repeatable, and trusted system for performing assessments.
Your clients will rarely know what they want and need in specific terms from you as a coach and mentor. Some will come to work with you because it has been ordered by another coach, and others may voluntarily use your skills and knowledge for specific performance goals. You have to learn what these goals are.
Athlete clients may worry that you’ll judge them, or they may feel “stupid” for not knowing how to fuel themselves properly or maybe they feel you view them as having fallen off the wagon of good, healthy eating. They could also feel worried, insecure, ambivalent, overwhelmed, confused, or just busy and inattentive. This can also lead to clients telling you only what they think you want to hear. People can be pretty creative as they explain reasons or their rationale for why they haven’t reached their goals yet; this may or may not be legitimate.
You do not just need “information” from your clients — you need the right information about the individual, their needs, the activities they participate in, and the uniqueness of participation. Using curiosity and asking well-formed questions can help you get the answers you need from athletes. Combined with intuition, use your instincts to ask questions where you see a gap between what is stated by the client and what they are currently doing. It’s not that clients aren’t enlightened or insincere instead, it is a testament to how we are not always clear about why we do things. We want to gather the information that is actually relevant. Information that is concise and of course, we collect this information in the most effective and time-efficient ways as possible. This information gathering should be:
So what we’re really talking about here is information gathering that is:
- Purposeful In other words, every piece of information you ask about has a reason to be there.
- Focused on getting helpful and appropriate data about your client.
- Action-oriented. In other words, you get the information you need in a format that you can use immediately to create an action plan; one that your client will be excited about, do consistently and benefit from over time.
How do you accomplish this? What about using a system? Part of your system needs to include a very clear process for gathering information.
At your first meeting with a client, or perhaps even before you meet, you will assess them using a well-structured set of questionnaires.
These questionnaires have a few different features built into their design and construction; we are looking to get the information we need, in a timely manner – that is imperative. But it will also ensure that you ask about all the right things and that you can repeat your assessment process consistently with every single client.
Having questionnaires filled out before you meet with someone means that your client starts thinking about these questions in advance, which gives new clients time to reflect. Without knowing it, the process itself initiates the process of change So we are planting seeds before our first meeting with the client.
But regardless of when you fill out these forms, once they’re completed you’ll have a lot of information to guide your discussion right away.
Your programs should be based on a collection of questionnaires, worksheets, and other forms to assess and track everything from: body measurements, eating habits, use of time/training volume, perceived stress, blood chemistry, and more.
As mentioned, you might notice that you can cover a lot of ground with a few simple assessments. Any relevant topic is on the table for discussion; we can ask about everything from very practical details to clients’ mindsets and stage of readiness.
Most forms will have a client version, but you may want to consider developing your own coach versions, with scripts that you can use to introduce the questions to your client, or a rationale for why we ask certain questions. With practicality and efficiency in mind, you might consider using forms that serve as both an initial baseline assessment and to track progress periodically.
If your assessment uses questions that have numeric scores, such as those that ask clients to rank themselves on a scale of 1 to 10, you can use those scores to track progress as well. This is a subjective rating, but it still counts. In fact, your client’s perspectives are a major determinant in this process (whether it is successful or not).
Let’s say that a client reports a 6 on how they feel about their eating habits currently but after you start working together, they might bump their score up to an “8” in a month. This would represent measurable progress.
Also unknown to the client, responses to questions can suggest what areas to work on and track but this relies on good questions, strategically placed and discussed for follow-up.
You don’t even have to come up with your own ideas — ideas will often be right there for you, in the client’s own thoughts and words expressed in their responses. Consider the reality that most clients will give you too much to work with. Triaging priorities and sorting through the information is made easier with well-crafted assessments.
After you have some information from your client, try shifting your focus to the following:
- What does the client want to do? Make sure you clearly understand the client’s goals.
- How does the client want to get those goals? What are they ready, willing, and able to do to achieve them?
- Where’s your client starting out?
What’s their level? — In terms of their physical capacity and fitness, as well as their ability to be consistent with habits?
What will really make you a great coach is the ability to avoid simply telling an athlete or player to do something. It’s about knowing what questions to ask, and then leading the person in the right direction.
At NESTA, we frequently like to break learning down into ways that make practical applications more straightforward. The 5 questions – Who, What, Where, When, and How can be very useful for providing structure to our training. We don’t have to rank or divide clients as experts or novice learners but we do need to understand the client’s nutritional levels, based on what they know, what they can do, and what they can do consistently.
Most clients in personal training environments are those who have some knowledge about food intake, they may struggle to do their habits consistently, and just want to look, feel, and perform a bit better. But a nutrition coach or specialist is more likely going to work with those who are already accomplished, higher-level athletes who are already quite consistent with the basics and are looking for the extra edge in body composition, performance and recovery. With these clients, we might use more advanced nutritional strategies. The five questions then come into a bit more importance as well as do things like elimination diets to test for food intolerances and sensitivities.
Coaching Elite Athletes
Some clients will be elite or professional physique competitors or athletes such as MMA fighters, who need elite-level nutritional periodization. With these athletes, not only do we do much more in-depth, tailored programming and close monitoring, but you might also introduce even more sophisticated strategies like testing their client’s genome or microbiome.
Since most clients have tried many strategies in the past, we want to find out what they see as their self-limiting factors and past successes. We ask this of them so that we can use the tenets of Appreciative Inquiry to reinforce their strengths as they talk about their list of “pros”. Focus less on the “cons” if they are brought up, but we do want to note them if they trend into the “self-limiting” area of influence on our client’s actions and success. We want to build intimacy and trust by learning where are they struggling but we also want to know what they are already doing well for themselves. Try asking about what’s already worked for them in the past, or is working now.
This way you can use their strengths to boost their self-esteem and confidence. Regardless of the type of form you use, be completely familiar with the questions; brainstorm ways that you might use the information that you get from your client.
Getting Started
The NESTA Sports Nutrition Specialist course is designed for personal fitness trainers, strength coaches and nutrition experts who want to learn cutting-edge techniques for increasing sports performance, reducing recovery time, and enhancing the overall well-being of your clients and athletes.
If you want to help clients with food, diet, weight management and improving the results of their fitness routines, the Fitness Nutrition Coach course is for you. You will learn about optimal nutrition, including proven techniques for increasing energy, optimal health and decreased dependence on medications. Instantly increase your job and career opportunities with this popular professional credential.
You can become a Certified Personal Fitness Chef and expand your current personal chef business, or add a new profit center for your fitness or wellness business. Many personal chefs cook and coach people in groups to help more people and earn more money per hour. Some chefs provide weekly meal prep service for health-minded customers and athletes.
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.
NESTA coaching programs are open to anyone with a desire to learn and help others. There are no prerequisites.
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