Today is World Mental Health Awareness Day!
This is my message to personal trainers, as both a personal trainer and a mental health professional:
Hi trainers, boxing coaches, martial arts teachers, sports coaches,
This is me: Professionally, I'm a Personal Trainer. I'm a Krav Maga and Boxing Instructor. I am also a certified family and individual therapist and Social Worker. I wear a lot of hats throughout my day as I offer my clients, fitness and mental health solutions and often the two overlap. I wanted to give trainers a message that I learned while balancing all these hats together for many dear clients of mine:
Make your goal: Client belief in oneself
If this is your goal behind every other milestone, then your clients life will improve and together they will reach their fitness goals.
Here's how it works:
There are many different styles of trainers; some are tough on their clients and their clients benefit from a rigorous, high expectation, regimented intervention. Other trainers are on the other side of the spectrum where they offer interventions with more positive feedback and slower steps. There is no right or wrong way. Get to know your style and use your strengths to help clients implement these health changes offered through your fitness training; They need to be able to stick with it and maintain it even after the training is over. Learn to push your clients just the right amount so they succeed and keep growing.
Help your clients free themselves from negative self talk and learn to motivate themselves from an accepting and positive place through your fitness training by
Following these few steps:
- Assess goals with your clients. Listen to how your clients feel about the fitness and health expectations of them from your trainings. Are they nervous to commit to eating healthier? Do they worry about working out on days when they are tired? Let them talk it out before offering solutions. Help them think of solutions that will work for their specific life situation.
- Realistic Expectations: Learn about what works and doesn't work with your clients by asking them about what they have tried before. Don't assume you know what they need. Ask, what they like, what they don't like. Prepare a training solution that fits their needs for long term change and not try to get to an end goal too quickly, which could result in burn out or feeling let down. Don’t let the client make you feel like they need to see results faster than you think is healthy. This can result in them feeling disappointed in themselves in the long run.
3. Positive talk: Many people who want to get in shape are used to years of telling themselves that they are fat, ugly, bad at fitness, and bad at life because of it, or whatever other negative statements people think of that stick throughout the years. Help your clients develop a new way of motivating themselves, which has the potential for long lasting results, through positive talk. How? Pay attention to the successes and strengths of your clients as you train them, not the negative parts. Point out where the form is correct and where it can be improved, not where it is wrong. Train yourself to speak in a positive, constructive manner so it comes naturally as you see the baby steps your client makes each time. As soon as your client hears your positive words enough times, they start to mirror this way for their own self talk.
4. Honesty: Be straight with your clients, while always maintaining a respectful and positive approach. Don’t give feedback that isn’t true and don’t pump up a client for something that they aren’t good at. They will know you are bluffing and question other things you say or expect of them. If you are setting client centered, smaller goals along the way, that your client has to work hard for, but can succeed at, then you will have more than enough to speak honestly and positively about!
5. Do not be afraid to bring up mental health with your clients or refer them to a mental health professional. Be proud to see them as a whole person with lots af different important parts!
Have fun with your clients while you train! Remember that getting healthy and staying in shape is a lifestyle, not just an hour or two a week. Help your clients develop even a spark of the love you have for fitness and why you are here to help others change their lives for the fitter, better and happier!
I love hearing from you! Please comment, give feedback and connect up.
Get in touch with Danielle Salber, MSW, PT
She meets clients, both individually and in groups for therapy, fitness sessions or Krav Maga/boxing in her Jerusalem and modiin offices as well as internationally on Zoom/Skype.