The Importance of Motivating Your Client

the-importance-of-motivating-your-client

Motivating Your Client

As we have seen before, motivation is one of the main psychological processes behind exercise behavior. A lot of trainers fail to understand the importance of motivating their clients or take an overly simplified attitude towards motivation. The concept is complicated and there are certain features to be known and understand in order to be not only an effective trainer but also an effective motivator for the client.

Motivation is a key attribute for personal fitness trainers. The development of the personal training profession has changed over the years, requiring more from trainers. Because exercise science has become more accessible to the general public by way of the Internet, personal fitness trainers are being tapped as much for inspiration as they are for the knowledge and information they possess.

Being able to act as a motivational figure to your client can take an exhaustive amount of energy and effort. Therefore it’s important to hone your motivation skills to ensure your training methods are the most effective they can be.

We have to be aware that 50% of the clients will drop out of exercise programs after 6 months (Kravitz). We cannot keep every single client, but we should try to reduce the amount of those who are lost through negligence or incompetence from the trainer, or those who leave due to a lack of motivation.

Personalize the goals for each of your clients. Try to avoid basic, generalized goals such as losing weight or gaining muscular size. Instead, goals should be very detailed and you will want to discuss specific measurable goals for the client to ensure that your client can clearly understand a summary of their precise desires to achieve.

Instead of losing weight (general), find out how much weight each client would like to lose (specific). Define personal goals and map out a schedule of activity to achieve those goals in specific periods of time. Keeping goals personal helps you connect with clients on a deeper, more intimate level.

Remain confident and true to your own unique personality. Your natural charisma and energy levels tend to be of great influence to clients, who are typically looking to you as their leader. Understand that clients look to personal fitness trainers for knowledge, inspiration and for opening doors to enhanced levels of health, fitness, and wellness. Project these attributes at all times and you will be more likely to facilitate a clients’ belief in your leadership and your abilities – and most importantly – a client’s belief in him or herself.

Showing how much you enjoy your job and your client is easily done by using encouraging words, congratulating them on all goals and accomplishments – regardless of whether they are great or small – and continue to challenge clients to strive to achieve their personal goals.

Expand the client’s vocabulary. Bring the client up to speed with strength training vernacular. For instance, tell your client the difference between “active stretching” and “passive stretching” . Increase the client’s confidence by explaining strength training phrases and terms and by using this vocabulary in corresponding conversations.

Motivating clients is most definitely an art form that takes practice. Many trainers will make mistakes along the way. Treating the client as the subject of an experiment is one common mistake seen in the field. When this style is

deployed, the trainer only punishes or rewards the client, mostly the former. This method can also have some positive effects, but the main problems with this approach are the simplifying effect and the short time frame of interaction.

Additionally, the biggest concern is remembering that your clients are individuals who deserve the utmost respect,

positive feedback, and a positive coactive relationship. The trainer is there to help the client to better themselves. It is very difficult to get positive outcomes from a trainer who is always yelling, punishing and humiliating their client. Yes, some people do respond favorably to this technique of motivation or treatment, but the majority of clients won’t fit into this category.

Another very simple, but inappropriate motivational approach is seen in trainers who believe in a particular motivational approach and expect each client to respond to it accordingly. This technique is only about the instructor. But the one-size-fits-all approach disregards the unique characteristics of the client.

A common belief among trainers some when an exerciser is not doing everything the way the instructor ordered, is that he or she lacks motivation and is rebelling. This is not true, as certain clients want to learn in their own way and are very motivated and determined to do so. To consider this as lacking motivation is a great misunderstanding, which can have a detrimental effect on the effectiveness of training and the relationship between the client and the trainer.

Starting Your Personal Training Career

Now it’s your turn to take action. Did you know that most fitness careers don’t require formal education or a degree?

Learn more about the variety of fitness industry careers. 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.

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.

If you are ready to start your online personal training or coaching business, don’t forget to learn more about our online coaching course. You will also really enjoy this very comprehensive training course called Online Expert Empire.

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.

Thanks for reading!

The NESTA/Spencer Institute Team

PS: Click here to see many helpful business/career resources