Five Ways Personal Trainers Can Help New Exercisers Succeed
Personal Trainers are often the first point of contact for new exercisers and can significantly influence their perceptions of fitness spaces. To be effective, Trainers must consider their approach to this unique group to help them achieve success and, ultimately, exercise adherence.
Why You Need to Celebrate the Imperfect Participation of Your Members
Perfect form. Perfect attendance. Perfect bodies. The culture surrounding fitness makes many people feel that they must engage perfectly in order to participate in exercise settings. This creates a barrier for new and returning exercisers and requires fitness professionals to examine how we can create room for imperfect participation. When we allow for and celebrate imperfect exercise participation, we can reduce feelings of gymtimidation and increase self-efficacy and overall feelings of belonging, thus helping all exercisers to experience more wellness.
Stop Taking and Posting Selfies in the Locker Room
A mirror selfie in the gym locker room: The obligatory demonstration that you are about to begin a workout or in celebration of finishing one. While this action might feel innocuous to the subject, it can create harm to other participants, present and future. So, next time you’re feeling the lighting, do not take that locker room photo. Here’s why:
Six Ways to Create a Safe and Welcoming Fitness Experience for New Exercisers
A safe and welcoming exercise environment is a foundational element in a quality member experience. For new exercisers especially, it can help ease their anxiety around participating in a fitness facility and be the first step in facilitating their belonging. By focusing more on the culture we create in our facilities, we can provide care to our members and create more successful exercise experiences.
The Key to Retention: A Member Experience Rooted in Care
Care is the core of our work as fitness professionals: we provide care through education, community connection, healthy experiences, motivation, etc. Care can look like the inclusive language you use in your classes, the personal relationships you develop with your members, the personalized programming for your clients, or the grace you show a participant when they are having a tough day. When considering retention for our business, we can also inject care into our operations and communication plans. The care you provide your members directly correlates to their experience and, thus, their adherence to physical activity and your retention.
Three Ways Fitness & Wellness Pros Can Take Better Care of Themselves
The knowledge and skills we have do not always translate to our own behavior change. We are not immune to the challenges of motivation, stress, sleep, hydration, etc. Knowing what to do and doing it are two different things. It’s easy to forget that we also need additional support, just like our clients. Here are three ways to give yourself more care:
The Key Elements that Create a Successful Experience for New Exercisers
An exceptional member experience is more than providing excellent customer service, high-quality facilities, and programs. What’s most important for the experience of a new exerciser is how you make them feel about themselves. We often ask new exercisers to step outside their comfort zone and enter an operation designed for experienced exercisers. But what if we were more intentional about the experiences we created for this vulnerable group? Not only can one bad experience affect their adherence and future participation with activity, but it also greatly affects your business.
Dear Fitness Professionals, We Need to Take Care of Ourselves
We are in the business of educating, guiding, motivating, inspiring, and providing care for others. We leave our emotions at the door of each session or class to show up for those who need us. It’s extremely rewarding work. But it can also be mentally, emotionally, and physically demanding. Giving care can wear on us and cause burnout or a lack of our own comprehensive wellness behaviors. This is a reminder that it is crucial that you come first.