Mindfulness in Personal Training

Mindfulness as a practice has been exploding in popularity, making its way into professional sports, healthcare spaces, and school classrooms. The study of its effect on both the mind and body has increased in the research in recent years, showing promising benefits (Wang, et al., 2023). Mindfulness in personal training is one intersection that has profound potential to impact people. Understanding how to incorporate mindfulness into your training sessions is critical now more than ever. 

I want to give special thanks to Carissa Fish, an expert mindfulness and wellness coach, who spoke with me as I prepared this article, provided me with background information about mindfulness basics, and suggested ways to apply it to personal training. In our conversation, we discussed:

1. The definition of mindfulness
2. Mindfulness in personal training
3. Application of mindfulness in personal training
4. Mind-body connection
5. Stress and recovery

By the end of this article, personal trainers will gain insight into adding a new layer of expertise to their sessions. 

Mindfulness Defined

Simply put, mindfulness is the opposite of being on “autopilot.” Some activities, such as brushing teeth or driving to work, are examples of how it is expected to be on autopilot. Some activities, however, are too easy to be on autopilot, often at our health’s expense, such as eating, exercising, and spending time at home. Being mindful includes being present in the moment with kind and curious attention.

Being present and putting our attention in the moment deserves it. This can be challenging, especially with phone notifications and the following duties. However, mindfulness does not mean pushing out any thought in our mind; instead, it means recognizing that it is there and balancing it with the moment we are presently in. 

Mindfulness in personal training

Many personal trainers already use mindfulness without realizing it. Recent research has explored how mindfulness may enhance athletic performance and mental health and reduce injury risk (Anderson, et al., 2021). one of the main reasons people look to personal trainers is to help them be aware of their bodies while exercising. Some examples of this are:

• Wanting to use the proper form
• Wanting to know how far to push themself
• Wanting to get more consistent on their own

Mindfulness is critical to accomplishing all these goals, and personal trainers play a crucial role in helping clients achieve these goals. Think about how a workout would go if you just scrolled through social media or had an important phone call the entire time. You wouldn’t be mindful of your form, pushing yourself the right way, or being consistent with the distractions. 

Here are some questions and pointers that experienced personal trainers often ask to help their clients grow in mindfulness during their sessions:

• How did you feel at the end of your set?
• How did your hip or shoulder feel with that movement and load?
• You should feel your hamstrings stretching under tension as you go down and your glutes squeezing as you come up.
• Grab the floor with your feet as you perform the exercise.

These questions and pointers are helping the client avoid autopilot and be present, paying curious attention to how their body feels specifically. If you aren’t using these questions and pointers now, they are a great set to start with as you incorporate mindfulness into your sessions. 

How can personal trainers immediately apply mindfulness to their sessions?

Clients often come to personal trainers believing they can’t exercise well enough on their own, with self-criticism and judgment. Mindfulness can bring self-compassion to the training session, where the personal trainer helps the client believe in themselves and grow their self-compassion. Too often, clients come to sessions comparing their bodies to someone else or their past selves. 

Personal trainers looking to incorporate mindfulness play a key role in helping clients accept themselves for where they are at that moment, not where they used to be. They can support their clients in this place by having them ask themselves: “What is here right now”? This question can help clients not push through pain or themselves too far, which we all tend to do if unchecked. 

As personal trainers, we have the opportunity to help our clients learn to accept where they are at during a training session.

The body scan is another quick tool that allows clients to slow down enough in their day to notice something about their bodies. The body scan also allows the client to receive information about what their body is up to and not doing in that training session. Here is an example of how this dialogue can play out between a personal trainer and their client:

Trainer: “Before your warm-up, start with a body scan. I want you to take a moment to see if you can notice anything about how your body is feeling. Let’s start with your feet and work up to your head. Do you feel any tightness, pain, tension, etc?”

Client: “Now that I think about it, I’ve been sitting all day, probably with my feet tucked under my chair with my knees bent. I felt some tightness in my hamstrings.”

Trainer: “Ok, that is great to know! Let’s start with extra hamstring stretching in your warm-up and add some single-leg leg RDLs for strength, which should help those hamstrings feel better.”

The body scan can also be used as a post-set check-in, especially with new exercises or higher intensities, for clients to report sensations or feedback they observed. The information gained from these regular check-ins is vital for building trust and a safe exercise environment between the trainer and the client. Here are key moments to check in with your client:

• First session after significant time off of training, such as after vacation or being sick
• After increasing the intensity of the exercise, such as by increasing the weight or complexity
• Before changing part of the routine
• If you observe any apprehensive body language in your client

Mind-body connection

The mind-body connection is the opposite of the “autopilot” concept we discussed earlier. In autopilot, it is challenging to be acutely aware of the intricacies of how posture feels and where our limbs are in space. The mind-body connection, instead, is an intentional choice to learn our body’s vocabulary for what feels good. 

Research indicates that teaching older adults who are taught techniques on relaxation, breathing, and yoga’s mind-body connection created a satisfying internal focus on bodily sensation (Gilchrist, et al., 2022). Improved focus, decreased fear of falling, and improved memory are other benefits that older adult clients may have from growing in their mind-body connection.

A non-exercise example of a mind-body connection (there are many types) is how we know when we are hungry. For some, it becomes difficult to form thoughts. For others, it is low energy. Just as it is essential to read our body’s signs of hunger, it is also crucial to read our body’s signs of what it is physically feeling before, during, and after exercise. 

Think of a complex exercise such as a deadlift. To deadlift, one must grab the floor with their feet, create tension in the sides of the hips to keep the knees in line with the feet, hinge the hips backward, maintain a neutral spine, and keep tension in the shoulders. That is a lot to do simultaneously, and a solid mind-body connection is utilized. In other words, the mind-body connection is an awareness of the checkpoints of your form in the exercise context. 

Support clients’ stress and recovery with mindfulness

We don’t heal or perform well when stressed. Mindfulness allows us to participate in rest and healing instead of checking out. Instead of checking out on the couch with social media at hand, mindfulness encourages us to prioritize proper restoration. That looks different from person to person. It could be a walk outside without music or podcasts, time practicing an instrument, or anything else that allows us to escape the hamster wheel. 

We are also at a higher risk of injury when we’re stressed or not paying as close attention to our body as we should. Many studies have shown mindfulness’s value in sports or lower injury risk (Erikson, et al., 2022). Even though your personal training clients aren’t all competitive athletes, they still train with you to increase their performance. For clients already in pain, mindfulness may also help reduce their pain (Brandel, et al., 2022).

One activity that can support stress and recovery is the five-senses activity. Go through your five senses individually and see what you are sensing. What are you hearing, touching, smelling, seeing, and tasting? You may find a sense to hone in on during your recovery. 

Recovery is just as necessary between the sets as after the workouts. We know that the cause of injuries while training is less about a specific exercise and more about exceeding the body’s recovery threshold. Make sure that the rest between sets is fluid and regulated based on the client’s feedback.

Diaphragmatic breathing is an excellent activity that takes less than a minute and can lower blood pressure and heart rate, taking our body out of a sympathetic state. When stressed, we usually breathe with our chest and accessory breathing muscles in the shoulders. This robs us of the benefits of increasing vagal tone, which calms our body. To breathe diaphragmatically, inhale through the nose by expanding the lower stomach and ribcage without lifting the chest or shoulders. 

Breathing helps you be present because inhaling and exhaling require focus. Focused breathing practices also increase activity in the brain’s part responsible for attention. To improve the focus during breathing, try counting breathing. A basic exercise is the box breath, where you inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, and hold for 4 seconds. The time intervals can be adjusted. 

Conclusion

Incorporating mindfulness into personal training sessions offers an invaluable opportunity to enhance clients’ physical and mental well-being. By integrating mindfulness techniques, personal trainers can foster a deeper mind-body connection, improve client focus, and promote self-compassion, ultimately leading to more effective and fulfilling workouts. 

The strategies discussed, from body scans to mindful breathing exercises, provide practical tools for trainers to help clients stay present and attentive during their sessions. Embracing mindfulness in personal training supports physical fitness and nurtures a holistic approach to health and wellness.

Carissa Fish is an expert mindfulness practitioner who has dedicated over a decade to studying and practicing wellness. She has a master’s degree in Mind-Body Medicine from Saybrook University, specializing in Integrative Wellness Coaching. Carissa loves to take the concepts of mindfulness and self-care that have been transformative to her well-being and share them with others in simple and accessible ways. She offers individual coaching and group speaking engagements. If you’d like to work with her, reach out at hello@carissafish.com.  If you are reading this, she invites you to drop your shoulders and take a deep breath—great job.  

References

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2. Brandel MG, Lin C, Hennel D, Khazen O, Pilitsis JG, Ben-Haim S. Mindfulness Meditation in the Treatment of Chronic Pain. Neurosurg Clin N Am. 2022 Jul;33(3):275-279. doi: 10.1016/j.nec.2022.02.005. PMID: 35718396.
3. Ericksen S, Dover G, DeMont R. Psychological Interventions Can Reduce Injury Risk in Athletes: A Critically Appraised Topic. J Sport Rehabil. 2022 Feb 1;31(2):224-229. doi: 10.1123/jsr.2020-0315. Epub 2021 Sep 15. PMID: 34525450.
4. Gilchrist H, Haynes A, Oliveira JS, Grunseit A, Sherrington C, Bauman A, Shepherd R, Tiedemann A. The Value of Mind-Body Connection in Physical Activity for Older People. J Aging Phys Act. 2022 Jun 25;31(1):81-88. doi: 10.1123/japa.2021-0503. PMID: 35894992.
5. Wang Y, Lei SM, Fan J. Effects of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Promoting Athletic Performance and Related Factors among Athletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trial. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 22;20(3):2038. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20032038. PMID: 36767403; PMCID: PMC9915077.