Motivating vs. Lecturing
I had a couple come in together to talk to me about lecturing them. I was wondering how does a trainer motivate their clients to complete challenges on their own without feeling like their trainer is lecturing them? I felt awful that they had a terrible week because they wanted to be defiant and do exactly the opposite of what I was saying. They felt I was just telling them that they were wrong and they had to do things my way. That wasn’t my intention to make them feel bad for being themselves. I felt, on the other hand, that I was giving them ideas for how to plan out their week. Am I doing something wrong?
A big part of assessing clients prior to training them is to get insight on compatibility.
We as trainers cannot “tell our clients what to do” we can however, sit down with them and plan out fitness goals together. Keeping track and staying in communication with them along with making sure they are on “the same page” takes being consistent without being pushy.
I constantly remind my clients that this is about their success, their journey, I can only do so much and that ultimately it’s up to them to do the work.
This could simply be a matter of clashing personalities, you may want to suggest another trainer for them because it’s imperative for you be yourself and formulate your business personality the way you see fit.
You may want to consider the Health Coach certification through ACE. It goes into detail on how to put the burden on your clients and how to get them to succeed.