How to Be a Good Client
A positive trainer/client relationship is a huge factor when it comes to making progress towards your fitness goals. When hiring a personal trainer, you expect them to give 100% effort to helping you accomplish your goals. However, have you ever stopped to think about whether or not you’re willing to give 100% effort into being a good client? In order for your trainer to help you most effectively, you must make it a point to be the best client that you can be. Are you a good client? Read the article to find out!
It really doesn’t take much to be a good client. It doesn’t matter how old you are, how in shape or out of shape you are, and it doesn’t matter what sort of limitations you may have. There are three simple things that must be mastered to be a good client. Those things are consistency, attitude, and effort. Whether you’re a fit high school athlete or you’re 50 years old and have never worked out a day in your life, as long as you check the boxes of consistency, attitude, and effort, you will be an excellent client. Let’s dive a little deeper into each of these.
Consistency:
Showing up to every session is probably the most important aspect of making progress. It is very easy as a trainer to help a client make progress when they show up to all of their sessions. If you are consistently missing one or more sessions per week, it will be very hard for your trainer to help you reach your goals. If you make an appointment with your trainer, stick to it. If something comes up and you aren’t able to make it at your originally scheduled time, make sure you reschedule it for a different time the same day or the next day. Commit to your training. View it as a part of your life. It’s like brushing your teeth. You never skip brushing your teeth because you’re too busy, right? Treat your training the same way. It needs to be part of your routine. Your trainer’s job will be very easy if you just show up.
Attitude:
Having a positive attitude goes a long way in being a good client. Exercise isn’t always fun… Even us trainers get that. If everyone absolutely loved exercise and was motivated to do it on their own, we wouldn’t have jobs. We don’t expect you to be jumping for joy when we tell you to push the sled or lift a heavy weight. However, you won’t make anything better by rolling your eyes or thinking/talking negatively. All we ask is that you do what you’re asked and keep any complaining to a minimum. Your attitude and effort are intertwined and both can affect your results. If you view your workouts in a negative way, you’re probably not going to put all of your effort into your workouts which means you won’t get the results you want. If you have a positive attitude about your workouts, you’re more likely to give the effort that you need to get the results you want.
Effort:
If you want to accomplish your goals, you are going to have to do some hard work. If losing weight, building muscle, and getting stronger were easy, everyone would have 6-pack abs and our country wouldn’t have a 40% obesity rate. I’ve said it in past blogs but I’ll say it again. Easy doesn’t work. There’s no way to accomplish your goals by doing easy things in the gym. Your workouts are going to be challenging and you’re going to break a sweat. You’re going to get sore, and your trainer is going to push you out of your comfort zone. No matter the experience level, the best clients are the ones who give the most effort.
Conclusion:
If you’re serious about reaching your goals, make a commitment to yourself and to your trainer to be the best client that you can be. Show up to every single one of your sessions, bring a positive attitude, and put in the effort. The results will follow.