How I Help My Clients Have Fun And Meet their Goals
What do you value more in the Gym, fun or results?
Do you even have to decide between the two?
Many people come for the results
better physique
less body fat
more muscle
I did.
If they stay you can often hear effects, such as…
more energy
better focus
better sleep
better mood
higher life quality
higher life expectancy
I do.
These are a few reasons I have been lifting for 23 years.
Some find pleasure in the actual act of exercising, so they become more independent of discipline.
You know this feeling when you forget everything around you.
Do you?
You are present, you don`t think about yesterday or what you must do in an hour.
It happens to me when I hop on a skateboard.
I become one with the moment.
Priceless.
Strength training is a mixture to me, a combination of fun and something I know is very beneficial.
When you come and stay for the results your thoughts work along the lines of
“I need to do this because it is great for my health.”
While you don`t enjoy your workout.
I`m not here to judge.
Both approaches can work and they may change from one day to another.
I recently had a chat with my client after a session that I thought he would enjoy.
I was wrong.
“I hated today`s session”
My 39-year old client was unhappy.
“Duuuude, I hated today`s session”
Every health coach’s worst nightmare. At first, I was wracking my brain
What happened?
What changed?
It's not like we went from Weights to Pilates?
“Sorry to hear that buddy, what’s wrong?”, I asked.
“I can’t do these weird one-legged squat things, man”
“My knees and back are on fire”
And then it hit me - It’s a new routine. He’s not used to it yet.
I mean, I didn’t wanna hurt the guy.
But also - there was a reason I had included these.
The discomfort he was feeling, was all part of the plan.
When we Started Together
See when Wren first came to me, he was an absolute mess - (his words, not mine).
That’s why we started with an initial assessment.
We had to confirm exactly-
What his biggest challenges were
Why he hadn’t gotten to them yet
How we could make some changes
Once we were done, we had identified - He struggled with junk food & snacks
He hadn’t exercised for over 6 months
He worked behind a laptop for 10 hours a day
He didn’t get more than 5 hours of sleep a night
Needless to say, he was ready for a change.
And I knew exactly how to help him.
The First Month Together
Thankfully for me, Wren is a different kind of beast.
His energy is unmatched.
When he’s in, he’s 100% in.
I gave him 3 tasks for his 1st week, and he crushed them all.
Tracking his food - check
Logging his workouts - check
Weighing himself & a weekly check in - double check
And the best part?
He loved the workout schedule I made for him.
Monday & Thursday - Upper Body
Tuesday & Friday - Lower Body
And then he would run a 5km on the weekends, maybe another on Wednesdays.
“No problem coach. You say it, I do it"
The kid is an animal.
But at first, he still had some challenges.
Mainly - The dynamic stretching exercises, before each of his workouts.
“Uuuuhm….I feel a bit like a balarina in the Gym, dude”.
But 3 weeks later-
“I’m the freaking stretching KING, my man!”
“Before, I couldn’t even tie my shoes, without sitting down”
“Now I feel like gawd damn Spiderman"
By week 6, we really started to ramp shit up.
An entire new set of exercises, consisting of-
- Face-Pulls
- Step-Ups
- Hip Thrusts
- Bulgarian Split Squats
- Mountain Climbers
“He’s probably going to love these”, I thought.
Boy, was I was wrong.
“Sorry man, but yeah, today`s session was….preeeetty shit”
The Coming Months
Thankfully for me, Wren is a super nice guy.
He went on to explain
“Slow, but easy exercises where I can rather focus on pushing heavier weights, is more my speed, man”
I don’t dig these kinda weird, challenging, do it on one leg kind of exercises.”
“I’m a big guy, and I just can’t bend like that”
At first, I wanted to tell him “Bullshit, my guy!”
Because that just wasn’t true.
Sure, he was big. Almost 100 kilos.
But he was feeling this way, because - he hadn’t worked out properly for over 3 years.
His back, his core, his joints - they just weren’t practiced enough.
But I didn’t tell him any of that-
“Alright buddy, I got you”
See, I wanted Wren to get healthy & strong, but - I also didn’t want to hurt the guy.
He should have as much fun as possible doing this routine.
So I redesigned the program to have all the exercises he likes, except-
I included a few to help him develop those problem areas.
The Bad Back? -> Pull-Ups
The Weak Core? -> Plank Variations
The Aching Joints? -> Mobility exercises
And as I had hoped, his response?
“I fucking love these coach. I’ll do whatever you say”
And that’s a health coaches ultimate dream.
That your client understands.
That they WANT to do the work.
And already, I can see the results are showing.
Wren hit 3x new personal bests that week.
He just told me yesterday-
“Coach, I will never go back to who I was before.
I feel stronger. Feel healthier. Feel like a better me”
And that’s what I want for all my clients.
It`s what I want for you too.
Enjoy your exercise sessions enough to stick to them long enough to see results.