If only us trainers had that magic motivation pill for our clients to take when they needed prompting outside of the gym. We give them exercise and mobility homework plus eating and sleeping suggestions to increase their chances of success, but they don’t always follow through.
Let’s face it, one of the top reasons our clients hire us among education and accountability, is for motivation: to get started, to get moving, to get stronger, to get out of pain, to get healthy, to get their partner or doctor off their back!
Motivation is the fuel that drives them to achieve their fitness goals. In my 27 years as a personal trainer with a Master’s in NLP for Fitness Professionals, I have humbly realized that we need to understand first what motivates our clients to want to achieve their fitness goals, before we can address what their fitness goals are!
Here are 3 concepts to consider that will enhance your client’s chance at success, whether they are a new, ongoing or potential client. Keep in mind, each concept builds into the next one.
Step 1) Shifting the client from goal-setting to go-getting.
Chances are in the initial meeting whether the client has hired you yet or not, the topic of fitness goals is going to come up. This could feel like a lot of pressure for them, who have maybe failed in the past or is just looking to improve their overall health, but they don’t know where to begin. Let’s take the pressure off for them.
Instead of focusing on esthetics, body fat % and weight on the scale, invite your client to start paying attention and documenting daily improvements as a form of measuring their success.
If they think their goal is to lose weight, you can ask them, “in the meantime, would it be ok with you if you could perform daily tasks with more ease and had more energy throughout the day?” This shifts their focus away from numbers and measurements and encourages the client to get to know their bodies, understand their habits and pay attention to how they move through life.
Not only does this give them autonomy, but it also gives them immediate doses of satisfaction when the grocery bags are feeling lighter, and their mood is more consistent and brighter! This increases feelings of excitement, hope and personal satisfaction and THAT is motivating!
Step 2) Meaning before measurements.
Human beings are meaning makers. Help make fitness meaningful for your client by asking powerful questions.
What does your client value about being stronger, having more energy throughout the day and sleeping better at night?
When all that is happening then what else is possible in their lives?
Values are what is important to us and what drives us to invest time, energy, or resources to achieve or avoid. Imagine what is possible for your client when they are excited about exercise because you helped them get clear on what they value about being fit and how it improves their everyday life.
Get them into a state of positivity so that they can feel what’s possible. Emphasize reasons to exercise beyond esthetics, such as, enhanced mental health, improved posture, mood boost, building confidence and discipline, increased social connection and emotional stability. This is what they really want from fitness, they just didn’t know it yet.
Making it meaningful for your client also retains their trust and loyalty as a client for a very long time!
Step 3) Away from and towards.
In NLP, we learn that there are 2 kinds of motivation: towards something you want or away from something you don’t want. Both have their uses and simply understanding this concept can completely change the way you look at go-getting forever!
Notice how your client is describing the results that they want to achieve from a fitness program. They might be stating all the situations that they don’t want to be experiencing anymore, such as “I don’t want to be overweight, I don’t like the way my clothes are fitting, I don’t want to be at risk for heart disease or diabetes because it runs in my family”. When your client understands what they are moving away from, this can be useful to get them started, but now we need to help them get clear on what they are moving towards.
We call this a well-formed outcome in NLP. What does it look like, sound like and feel like to be fit and living life more fully? Helping them adjust their image in their mind to get clear by asking these questions will surely elicit strong enough emotions that will compel them in the right direction!
If they are having trouble imagining a well-formed outcome, remind them of their values and what is important to them about being fit and feeling strong.
By understanding our clients at a deeper level, we can tailor our approach to keep them engaged and motivated not only in our sessions together but also outside the gym.
The magic is found in meaning and what is meaningful is truly motivating.
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