The most important function you serve as a Certified Personal Trainer is to be a positive motivator and advisor. Anyone can go onto YouTube and learn proper exercise form or get diet and exercise tips. The true value that a good trainer brings to the table is the ability to listen, analyze and provide a plan of action that is based upon logic and observation. The cornerstone to the effectiveness of a plan is compliance and belief in the program.
There are five key functions that you can provide to help keep a client in a positive mindset.
1. Keep good records of clients to show improvement
It can take quite a bit of time before a person sees a large change in their physical appearance. So, it is important that you provide them with positive feedback in a form they can see. If you keep accurate records you can show them progress toward their goal even when there is little visible change in their appearance.
2. Listen to the client and steer them away from a negative mindset
People like to have a person that hears their concerns and reassures them when they feel discouraged. That can go a long way toward keeping a person in a positive mindset.
3. Provide feedback using positive statements
If you tell a person what you don’t want them to do, than the object of their focus is on the very thing that they should not do. If you tell someone don’t eat any junk food every time they get hungry – the first thing they will crave is junk food. You have planted a desire to eat junk food in their subconscious by telling them they can’t have it.
4. Make it fun in a professional manner
The average person thinks exercising sucks. If they truly enjoyed it they wouldn’t need you. It is your job to keep it fun but remember that your idea of fun may not be the same as theirs so be professional and assume that they will be easily offended.
5. Walk the talk by being positive yourself
Nobody likes a negative Nancy. Being negative is infectious. It may seem like you are being empathetic by agreeing with a person’s negativity, but empathy is not what they truly need. A person that is in a negative state of mind needs you to bring them up by offering encouragement. If they just want training advice they can go on YouTube. Remember…what sets you apart is that you are an effective motivator!
Become a positive force in the lives of your clients. You are the person that they rely to motivate them and help them to reach their goals. How a person feels has a profound effect on how successful they become.
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Read more about the foundations of a positive mindset in John’s Blog: The Greatest Ergogenic Aid Never Invented
John Rutnik is a NFPT Certified Personal Trainer. He holds an AAS in Electrical Technology and has been a certified personal trainer since 2008. John has been involved in physical fitness and weight training since the late 70’s and is an avid outdoors man. He became a personal trainer after rehabilitating himself from a spinal injury he sustained in a car accident and losing 70 pounds. John later obtained ISSA Certifications as both a Fitness Trainer and Specialist in Sports Nutrition and became Lead Fitness Trainer at Anytime Fitness in Schenectady NY. His training philosophy is “no man left behind,” everyone deserves a chance to succeed.