Warming Up

This article was written as part of a series for FitPro magazine and was first published in 2001.

A number of years ago I got curious about why it was that some clients who were exercising regularly and eating less (and more healthily) would simply ‘fail’ to meet their weight-loss goals. Were they secretly eating more than they were letting on? Did they just need to work harder? Did we need to do more CV / less resistance or vice verse? And on it went…..Most of these clients had a history of ‘failing’ and had spent a fortune on gym memberships which they had never exploited; now they were working with me, and …..’failing’ – worse still, others dropped out completely. For some clients the annual fitness quest had become part of a pattern that wasn’t getting them the results they wanted - and I didn’t have the answers.

It was then that I discovered that I had been asking the wrong questions. I was introduced to NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) by my professional supervisor. She explained that both my work with clients and my questions, were concerned only with the client’s behaviour, that is, with what the client was doing, or not doing. At no point was I intervening , or was I able to intervene, at a higher level and work with the client’s thoughts and feelings in order to facilitate the process of change. The behavioural approach which I had adopted, as practised throughout the Fitness Industry, was severely limited; it simply did not allow for who my clients perceived themselves to be, and the values and beliefs they held.

Realising that I was in fact poorly equipped to be working with what is essentially change management I made the decision to train in NLP. I now understand that the ‘doing everything right / getting nowhere fast’ phenomenon can be simply explained – if a client ‘sees’ themselves as being an overweight person and they have difficulty believing that they can ever be anybody other than an overweight person – their attempts will almost certainly fall short of what they could achieve. It really is a question of mind over matter - or not - as the case may be. What NLP offers are effective techniques which address and resolve deeper issues making that change possible - and if clients got more of what it is they want….results .. the industry as a whole would see unprecedented expansion. Certainly if the industry’s managers believe that they can increase profitability by enhancing the service we provide they would do well to consider offering a more integrated, mind-body approach as a way forward.

On a more personal level, I believe we are enormously privileged in our position as Fitness Professionals – on a daily basis we meet the challenge of and are given the opportunity to help people effect real and lasting change in their lives. That is an honour, I would suggest, that we might strive to fulfil to the best of our ability.

So what exactly is NLP?

NLP is about how we learn everything, from excellent performance to bad habits. It helps people understand, at a practical level, how they and others make sense of the world. It enables people to detect their own learned patterns of thought and behaviour, and where desirable it has the tools to change, or reprogramme, negative patterns with more positive ones. Understanding and using NLP enables people to enhance their confidence and effectiveness in both their personal and professional lives. People become clear about what they want, solve ‘problems’ creatively, use time more effectively and achieve their goals. As such, NLP is used widely and with outstanding results in a diverse range of fields from advertising and marketing, to communications and therapy.