Fit Pros who work with over-stressed females

lol I actually have a client who is a handful in this department.. I put a heart rate monitor on her, sit her down in the corner and mark a spot on the wall and tell her to breath deep and not think about anything until I can see her heart rate drop to a level I feel marks her as relaxed. It is easy to see when she thinks about things as her heart rate will jump up over 10bpm. I remind her to stop thinking and focus on her breathing. When she is calmed down and in the moment, then we start to train and not before.

Its funny because the first time I had her do this she asked,"How the heck do you know when I am thinking?"

I use Pilates in every session with every client no matter what their goal. If the client is excessively stressed, we start and finish every session with mat work to concentrate on breath control while centering the body with precise and flowing movements utilizing the powerhouse... all of the Pilates principles.

Often times, just gaining control over their breathing empowers them to tackle the process of believing in themselves enough to revisit the situation with a renewed sense of control.

I have several clients who often are very stressed when they come to a training session. The causes are different; one is in a care-giving situation, and others have medical or personal stresses.

Depending on the situation, I may change the planned training session and usually reduce intended intensity significantly. Since I am a MELT instructor, I use that technique very often to calm my clients down. At the same time, I listen.

While I cannot offer advice on the situations themselves, I usually emphasize the fact that ALL stress is internal and that sometimes the only path possible is to change our own reaction to a situation if external circumstances are beyond our control.

I also point out the health risks from the stress itself. I may nudge people to seek help if I notice escalating situations.

One of my clients is a SVP of a very-well known PR company.

She has kindly left a testimonial on my page regarding my approach.

I believe the missing link in general in working with people whoever they are is to include coaching.

As a consequence of my training with Wellcoaches, I am able to help people look at areas of their wellness where they might need to concentrate on in order to achieve their overall wellness.

So instead of doing just a fitness assessment I always offer a wellness assessment. The wellness assessment focuses on eight areas of their wellness which include work/life balance and stress management. Once the client learns coping strategies the likelihood of she arriving to her sessions stressed out is minimized.

Hope this is of help. If you have any questions Ryan, feel free to shoot me an email.

Hi Ryan,

Just wondering, did the woman identify herself as over-stressed and scattered" or was that the impression she made? There's a big difference.

In my experience, as a woman:) and having worked with a lot of women, many women accept stress and scattered thinking as a somewhat normal state i.e., they appear worse off to those seeing them than they actually feel.

Now, if in fact, they report feeling over-stressed and scattered, it helps to listen to them. Let them vent. Sometimes we just need to let it pour out of us. And then we're done! No need to solve any issues, problems, or situations. A simple off-loading of emotion does the trick.

If that state still persists, then start them moving and keep their state of mind and energy in mind when guiding them through their workout. You might need to modify what you've planned; some women need a kick-ass, sweaty session to relieve their stress, others may benefit more from a more contemplative, deep breathing, and stretching session.

I gotta say, as a woman who is sometimes stressed myself, I have found one of the best solutions is to take (or teach) a Group Ex class with a group of other women! Women have the tendency to understand and support each other, even if they do not know what the specific stresses of life are that particular day. Chances are that if I had a bad day because my boss gave me a hard time or I got in a fight with my boyfriend or I don't know how I am going to pay the bills this week, I know one or all of these woman has had that same feeling before. We are all here to support each other. Its nice to know you are not alone and its important to do something beneficial for yourself!

Generally when you have a group of people with similar interests (i.e., exercising together) and similar goals (i.e., a healthy life style), they tend to feel connected and feel they have the support of their peers. People are usually in a good mood in fitness classes, and a smile is contagious! I find myself working out harder when I am exercising with others; and I find I feel less stressed, more energized and can think much clearer after a good workout and a few positive words and friendly faces from my fellow female exercisers!

Nothing against the guys, they can be great supporters and motivators as well! :)

Some truly great answers given here. I do agree with most of the suggestions given but I do have my own pretty covert method of handling over stressed female clients, being one myself I thought my method would work for others as well :)

Given my personal physical re-conditioning I am religious about beginning my sessions with Foam Rolling. During this time I have my clients decompress physically and mentally. As I guide them through the release techniques they share their day and their stressors. Inevitably as they begin to "tense up" again I am cuing them to breathe deeply to "relax their bodies" to achieve release of the muscle, but it also serves an emotional release because they are subconsciously "releasing" the stressor as they breathe deeply to complete the foam rolling.
The foam rolling doesn't take a great deal of time and by incorporating coaching in this fashion the client is able to calm down and focus on the workout, feel as though they've been heard - especially when they are given affirming or encouraging feedback and I am able to keep the session on course. A few of my clients affectionately call this their "Couch" time, because we do often develop or reinforce work/life balance strategies or set other goals as they are "laying down" on the roller. This coach/counseling foam rolling time is the norm for most of my sessions and living in working in the DC Metro area my often over-over-stressed female clients love it.

Now, if they come in swinging, that's a whole different ball game, the session plan changes. Then it becomes a kick-butt, sweaty, visualize your stressor under your feet, HIIT kind of day. After a challenging session, we take a a few minutes to discuss any strategies or goals that may need tweaking and adjust their course from there.

Truth is, it's a matter of understanding people and being an effective coach in addition to an effective trainer that is going to make the difference when training women, at some point every woman is going to be over stressed and it will affect her workout. As trainers we have to be prepared to either guide through or guide around it.

Aren't most of us over stressed? Just females?

When I get a "frantic female" I have her stand still, pick one foot up or stand on a BOSU and close her eyes

Once she's calm, I ask how are you doing today? then we begin!