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carolinek250 · 12-07-2008, 02:26 AM

I'm in the same boat! Some clients are great and make all the changes I suggest, others just want a few exercise sessions a week to make themselves feel fitter, but aren't that bothered about losing weight, therefore not prepared to make the committment to make changes....

It pains me to be honest - I feel they are wasting their money, but they still get a lot out of the training, and I use the time to try to educate them and inspire them to make changes. So they do make changes, but just more gradually and through a process of 'normalisation' of concepts that might at first seem 'out there'.

I struggle to get anyone to log food though! One new client has impressed me no end by signing up to Calorie King already, and she's had great results already...

I've been speaking to trainers who make their clients do 30 day elimination diets, or follow super strict protocols then sack them if they don't comply, but I agree with you - the ones that need the most help are the ones you would scare off with this approach! It does mean you get the most committed and then the best results, so it makes you look like a great trainer, but it's not about the trainer!

I'd rather really help people change their mindsets and get slower results for the people who really need the help, than filter out the 'demotivated' before I even start.

We can make them work hard, and educate and inspire... It's finding the balance - but that's what I love about the personal bit of personal training - we have to take each unique individual and figure out what to do in each case.

Also, I think by constantly looking to read more of other people's work and writing I get inspired by new ideas and wasy of phrasing things that might help me get my clients to be more compliant. I acknowledge that if they are not changing, then on some level I am not having the effect I would like to be having, so as much as I am frustrated at their lack of compliance, I am also frustrated as I think it must be a fault in my communication... I've just read Leigh's FLTS and where I think if I was suddenly that harsh some of my clients might run a mile (hey, it will have worked on one level!) I have some new ideas on how I might get them motivated to tighten up, some new ways of saying things to illustrate the importance of the nutrition etc...

I'm going to get all my clients to set New Year's goals, then make them all re-visit that on a quarterly level, minimum. Something I've started doing (did a 100 day 100 goals goal setting programme Aug - end Oct and felt lost until I re-set them all at the end of Nov so losing the numbers but making it a quarterly thing). It does make a difference, but you have to be bought into your goals, which of course I am and I can't make a client be...

Sorry for the long reply - it's something that is always on my mind too (one of the 'culprits' is my 3 x per week 6am client so I sometimes ask myself why I'm getting up so early!).

12-07-2008, 02:26 AM	#2 (permalink)
carolinek250 Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Southampton, England Posts: 56	I'm in the same boat! Some clients are great and make all the changes I suggest, others just want a few exercise sessions a week to make themselves feel fitter, but aren't that bothered about losing weight, therefore not prepared to make the committment to make changes.... It pains me to be honest - I feel they are wasting their money, but they still get a lot out of the training, and I use the time to try to educate them and inspire them to make changes. So they do make changes, but just more gradually and through a process of 'normalisation' of concepts that might at first seem 'out there'. I struggle to get anyone to log food though! One new client has impressed me no end by signing up to Calorie King already, and she's had great results already... I've been speaking to trainers who make their clients do 30 day elimination diets, or follow super strict protocols then sack them if they don't comply, but I agree with you - the ones that need the most help are the ones you would scare off with this approach! It does mean you get the most committed and then the best results, so it makes you look like a great trainer, but it's not about the trainer! I'd rather really help people change their mindsets and get slower results for the people who really need the help, than filter out the 'demotivated' before I even start. We can make them work hard, and educate and inspire... It's finding the balance - but that's what I love about the personal bit of personal training - we have to take each unique individual and figure out what to do in each case. Also, I think by constantly looking to read more of other people's work and writing I get inspired by new ideas and wasy of phrasing things that might help me get my clients to be more compliant. I acknowledge that if they are not changing, then on some level I am not having the effect I would like to be having, so as much as I am frustrated at their lack of compliance, I am also frustrated as I think it must be a fault in my communication... I've just read Leigh's FLTS and where I think if I was suddenly that harsh some of my clients might run a mile (hey, it will have worked on one level!) I have some new ideas on how I might get them motivated to tighten up, some new ways of saying things to illustrate the importance of the nutrition etc... I'm going to get all my clients to set New Year's goals, then make them all re-visit that on a quarterly level, minimum. Something I've started doing (did a 100 day 100 goals goal setting programme Aug - end Oct and felt lost until I re-set them all at the end of Nov so losing the numbers but making it a quarterly thing). It does make a difference, but you have to be bought into your goals, which of course I am and I can't make a client be... Sorry for the long reply - it's something that is always on my mind too (one of the 'culprits' is my 3 x per week 6am client so I sometimes ask myself why I'm getting up so early!).