Push Clients, Don’t Punish Them
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By Sal | July 28, 2010
Somewhere along the way a school of thought developed within the training establishment that pounding clients was a responsible thing to do. Unfortunately, there are still fitness "professionals" who think that beating up clients with ridiculously difficult workouts will improve a client's fitness level. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The popular television show "The Biggest Loser" glorifies this kind of behavior and promotes the image of personal trainers as a cross between drill sergeants and the Marquis de Sade. Frankly, the trainers on this show would have been fired for unprofessional behavior if they worked for the people I worked for in the late 1980s, the people responsible for making personal training a profession. The idea that overweight and out of shape people need to be demolished in order to get them to change their ways is nonsense.
At the heart of the matter the "Punishers" don't understand the responsibilities of a personal trainer or what constitutes an appropriate workout. Punishers are too lazy and impatient to design a training program that will be effective over the long haul. These trainers have one gear - high gear - and keeping their clients in this gear results in burnout, injury, over-training and ultimately failure. Both the client and the trainer experience the failure, although the trainer is usually totally unaware that they are to blame.
I can hear you ask, "What's the difference between push and punish?" Well, the smart-assed answer is the "ni," but the real answer is, "It depends." How's that for professional acumen?
Seriously, if you are aware of the individual needs of your clients and don't treat them the same way there's a better chance you won't be a Punisher. Beginners need to be trained differently than intermediates and the workouts of intermediates must be different than advanced clients. And if you use my training program and follow the teaching progressions you won't be guilty of overdoing it with clients.
The success of your clients - and your business - depends on you designing and implementing workouts that reflect a commitment to an overall plan of consistency, teaching and incremental improvements over the long-term. Knowing the difference between "push" and "punish" will help you to be successful.
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Topics: Personal Trainer Coaching, Training Philosophy, Training Style | No Comments »
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