Are You Making Your Clients Better, or Just Making Them Tired?

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By Sal | September 6, 2011

You're serious about designing your clients' workouts and you want them to work hard. You push and motivate your clients as hard as you can and as hard as they can take. Your clients recognize and appreciate your hard work  and commitment (and theirs too!) and it makes you feel good, and your clients say they push hard even on days when they don't feel 100%.

But here's a question for you. Are you making your clients better or just making them tired?

Make no mistake about it; just because you push your clients hard doesn't mean you are materially improving them. At the end of the workouts if the "take-away" is that your clients have nothing in their tank when they are done, you have not contributed to your clients' development in any meaningful way.

The human body is an amazing machine and is capable of performing a great deal of work, but the goal should not be to have clients do the absolute hardest workout possible; this is not getting a person in shape. The body doesn't recognize intent, so whether you're beating up your clients in the gym or they are working on a crab boat in the Bering Sea, it matters not. The body wears down despite the best of intentions.

You will not improve your clients' fitness level by wearing them down. Spending hours and hours in the gym doesn't prepare your clients for anything - or endure anything - but spending hours and hours in the gym. The body doesn't grow - improve - as a result of constant work. It grows as a result of a combination of quality work and rest.

Don't hit your clients with more and more exercise, give them less and better exercise, and more rest. Quality over quantity. High-volume/low-intensity work that can be done everyday isn't worth much. If your clients get a sense of accomplishment by spending hours in the gym everyday, it's your responsibility to get them on the right track and realize that working smarter is better than working longer.

So evaluate your workouts. If you are always pushing your clients to do more, it might be time to back off. You might be doing good stuff with your clients, but doing too much of it.

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Topics: Personal Trainer Coaching, Training Philosophy, Training Style | No Comments »

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