Are you passionate about ALL of your clients or do you wish you were training a different type of clientele?
Rachel, I am fired up about my client who is a double amputee and a stroke survivor. He can only move one side of his body in a limited way. At the end of the class, he sings for all of us.
I am fired up about a new client who is touch older than 50. She contacted me regarding a product I distribute that gives her the freedom of running again. Very soon we will be training together.
I am fired up about all my clients who have diabetes who have decided to design a vision and work toward fulfilling their personal visions with me as their coach. It is exciting to me when ALL of my clients entrust me with with themselves.
I am excited that my client an MD can hold a plank for a minute. I am excited that she can touch her toes.
I am excited that today when I went to train my oldest client who is 87 years old….
When I noticed that she was looking so radiant….
When I asked her what did she do that was different…..
She said to me in her broken English…..
“I was exercising.”
I nearly cried.
I am passionate about all of my clients.
To my mind, the question about being passionate about all of my clients is different from the question of do I practice in a particular niche. As I said in my earlier answer, I AM passionate about all of my clients because I do some analysis and selection BEFORE I take on a client. If I feel that we do not match, I don’t take them as a client. Therefore, once I take them, I’m fully engaged with them and I am passionate about helping them.
Separate from that is do I practice in a particular niche. Yes I do. But I don’t think that precludes me from working with general fitness clients as well. An analogy to medicine would be an Internist who “specializes” in a particular medical disorder, yet also sees general medicine patients as well. I specialize in working with female athletes of all ages. Improving sports performance and perhaps more importantly, reducing their risk of non-contact knee injuries is my “specialty.” I have a ton of experience in this area and am specially trained. However, I do LOVE working with clients with other issues and challenges. In my opinion Rachel is correct in that to be really successful at what we do as trainers, we should specialize in a particular area. However, with that being said, I think that working with other clients (with GENERAL FITNESS needs) outside of your specialty area, keeps you engaged in all aspects of this huge world of fitness that we are involved in.
LaRue, CSCS
www.lecfitness.com
[email protected]
I am passionate about all my clients BUT…there are some I am really passionate about. To say I could actually weed out clients because they don’t fit the bill for me is not something I am willing to do because… I find I am more passionate about the ones that work hard, push themselves towards their goals, do what it takes, and have a positive attitude about all the hard work. The problem with weeding out for me is…I would never get the chance to know if a person fits that bill until I train them for a while.
But I do have a favorite….
50 year old male, needs to lose almost 100 lbs (or should I say..used to need to lose 100 lbs :D), started off very shaky, but is one of my strongest, toughest, smartest, most dedicated towards succeeding clients I have ever had!
