Keeping your appointment book full through the end of winter benefits you and your clients. The snow is still falling and so is your client’s enthusiasm to keep up with their personal training appointments. No need to fret! With these motivational techniques you’ll be able to boost your client’s ambition to keep up with their training all winter long!
Winter is a wonderful time of year. It’s the time of holiday gatherings, being with family, and tasty comfort foods. Unfortunately, it’s also when our client’s motivation to keep up with exercise diminishes. The short days and low temperatures tend to result in less energy and ambition to tackle their daily fitness routine. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to counteract winter blues – sometimes known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.)
Zoom Out
It is easy to lose sight of the big picture, especially when it comes to fitness. The spring and summer months seem farther away than they are, and it’s a tendency to believe there is all the time in the world. With this skewed viewpoint, fitness falls behind and the warmer months sneak up!
An easy way to get your clients back on track is to help them create a fitness calendar. Tell them to make it big, bright and place it somewhere they will see every day. Let them know this is only for their workouts and fitness goals. The calendar will make it easier to see how their short term goals will help them achieve their long term goals. This calendar can help ease winter’s never ending quality; making it easy to see that spring is just around the corner.
The Buddy System
Everything is more enjoyable with company, and exercise is no exception. If your client is finding it difficult to commit to their sessions with you, ask them to invite someone to join. This could be their significant other, a parent, a sibling or a close friend. It just needs to be someone they enjoy spending time with. Offer them a special price for their sessions if they have a workout buddy. This will boost your client’s motivation to attend their appointments because someone is working hard with them. Along with this, you could gain a new client! Small group exercise classes are another way to help those who are potentially feeling S.A.D.
Create the Intention for the Appropriate Action
A big obstacle to overcome is mindset. It is often discounted how impactful the inner dialogue can be. Once a negative thought is created, it can be difficult to counteract its influence on mood and motivation. For example, a client wakes up thinking “I would like to try and get to my session today”. This may have started as a positive thought; however, by thinking without commitment the option of not going is already in their reality.
Talk with your clients about this concept. Suggest they try active affirmations such as “I will go to my personal training session today!” I know this seems very simple, but it works well! Recommend that on days they feel unambitious to tell themselves that they will go to their session regardless. Then, by the time it comes to actually going, they are feeling more motivated because it has been their reality all day. There hasn’t been the option of flaking out because they have told themselves they will go!
Make Time not Excuses
It’s undeniably easy to forgo a workout when you have a full schedule. The excuses come with ease:
“I have that deadline at work today”
“My essay is due this weekend”
“I can’t miss my dentist appointment”
“I need to do laundry!”
With so many valid reasons, a workout can fall through the cracks. That’s why it is important for your client to create time in their busy schedule for their fitness routine. The way they schedule a doctor’s appointment is the same way they should schedule their sessions. Sit with your clients, and make their sessions with you a part of their schedule rather than something they might slip in “if” they have the time. Together you two can get a few sessions booked in advance, and it will make them more accountable. Once more time for their fitness routine has been created, there will be less space for excuses.
Something New…
Another great way to revive your client’s fitness enthusiasm is to keep things interesting! It can be tedious for the client to repeat the same exercises and workout style, especially with the challenge of winter in the mix. This means you need to make their sessions with you exciting and something they look forward to. Switch it up for a few weeks, giving them variety and new exercises they haven’t tried before.
- If the primary focus has been weight lifting, try running them through a dynamic circuit.
- If you have mainly been implementing body weight exercises, you could introduce some weights into their workout.
- If your client knows that you routinely change the workout and include new styles, it will keep them interested and coming back for more!
How do you keep your clients active in the colder months? Let us know on our Facebook Page, hearing your stories is what it’s all about!
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Learn more about staying safe when exercising outdoors during the winter
Alex has her A.S in Exercise Science and is a certified Personal Trainer with NFPT and NSCF. She recently traveled to India to gain her 200 hr yoga teacher certification where she studied the ancient practice at its origins. Alex has spent time teaching yoga in Spain while volunteering at a yoga retreat and is currently working at her local college instructing two fitness courses. Alex wants to share with her clients and students the mental, physical and emotionally healing qualities of exercise and movement. She believes everyone should have a healthy relationship with their bodies and strives to thread that concept throughout her career.
