Motivation really is key, there are many methods and paths to take when on the journey to success but motivation really is fundamental to achieving true success, especially in the long run. When all efforts fail, your level of motivation will determine how efficiently you get back on the horse and in some cases will determine if you even get back on the horse. As a personal trainer, your passion for fitness is most likely very high, therefore you’ve already associated necessary connections between aspects of fitness and your goals, this can be very challenging, however, for clients. They might be unfamiliar with how important motivation is, or perhaps they are unaware of how to keep it once they have it. Nevertheless, as a trainer, it is partly your job to both motivate and retain motivation in your client, however, we believe the latter needs more emphasis, so this post is focussed on keeping clients motivated. We have broken down this blog into a step-by-step format, with 3 key steps aimed at helping you figure out: what level of motivation your client is at, what key barriers they are facing, and if necessary what key changes in their lives need to be made, to spark remotivation.
Step 1: Assess Your Client’s Current Level Of Motivation
Talk to your client, ask them how they are feeling. Sometimes it can take going back to the introductory phase with your client, asking them again why they wanted to begin training with you and what inspired the goals they had chosen for themselves at the start, have they changed, if so why? These are basic fundamental questions which need to be covered to thoroughly understand where your client’s mindset is and how you both as a team need to progress with this knowledge. Remember, if your clients level of motivation is low, you must first determine whether it a result of their goal setting, perhaps they have achieved it or become bored of their current ones, it is your job to acknowledge these fluctuations and then reassess.
Step 2: Apply Shock Principle
If you have assessed your clients current level of motivation and found it to be lower than where it should be, you now to revamp the workouts. The training is what the client comes for most, they are paying you for your training service, so in short, provide them with that service. They are most likely unaware of how to train themselves, so show them you have the knowledge and ability to that part for them, introduce new training mechanisms to their programs, teach new exercises etc. When you apply shock principle, a client begins to realise the worth of their training sessions with you and understands why training with you is crucial to their progress, if they can perform all exercises and training principles you throw at them, they probably do not need a trainer.
Step 3: Ensure Sessions Are Enjoyable
Once you have ensured steps 1 & 2 have been applied, the last and probably most important step is ensuring the sessions are fun to attend. Does your client enjoy the sessions? Now to some this sounds contradictory, “training shouldn’t be overly fun, we are here to work” au contraire if the sessions aren’t enjoyable, you are making a big mistake. Think about it, why do we train? To perform at a better than where we are, now who are we doing this for? Ourselves. So if we training to perform better for ourselves, because we want to experience more euphoria in achievement, but we aren’t enjoying the process, what’s the point? The enjoyability of the sessions are vital, your client needs to look forward to these sessions more than anything else in their day, they need to dread it to some extent, this ensure the sessions are challenging and will help them adapt afterwards, however, when training with you, they must feel physically and mentally engaged 100%.
If you found this post insightful, why not check out some of our previous posts on our blog page or if you are interested in becoming a qualified personal trainer check out our main page for course information and if you have any questions feel free to email us at info@focusfitnessuk.com.
Written by Daniyal Siddiqui.