Online Training Spots Available and Simple Steps to Reach Your Goal(s)

First off, I want to let you know that I have just opened up some online training spots.  If you are interested, you can find more details HERE.

My online coaching programs are more than, “Here is your program so go follow it.”  Instead, I will question and prod to determine what steps will be most effective for you.  I feel that I am different from most coaches because I WANT YOU TO REACH YOUR GOALS AND SUSTAIN THEM.

One of the biggest impacts on me as a coach has been the material for the Precision Nutrition Certification.  Their textbook for the certification titled, The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition, has some great information.  It has opened my eyes to the importance of getting people to listen to and follow your guidance.  As I have said before, an intelligent coach may know exactly how to get you to your goal(s), but all the information in the world is not going to help unless that coach can also get you to take action and stick to the plan.

 

 

Some people will need very little guidance, but this is atypical.  Also, accountability is a huge factor and has been shown to greatly increase the likelihood of success in achieving a goal.

So if you are interested in going after and achieving a fitness or health goal and are looking for a dedicated, educated, and passionate coach then feel free to check out THIS PAGE and shoot me an email.

So, with that being said, I would like share a blog I wrote a while back.  It has great information (at least in my opinion:) )and gives you a small glimpse into how I coach my online clients.  It is mainly written around nutrition guidance, but it can be applied to exercise and lifestyle changes as well.

Hope you enjoy!

Simple Steps to Increase the Likelihood of Reaching Your Goal(s)

Today, I want to discuss a simple, yet effective strategy I took away from the Precision Nutrition (PN) text to help your clients achieve their health and fitness goals.  This strategy is to determine and eliminate the limiting factors keeping you and/or your clients from their goals.  Below, I will explain effective ways to go about doing this.

I am sure many of you have heard the saying that physiques are largely built in the kitchen.  It is also true that many health and fitness goals are largely impacted by the choices you make in the kitchen.  Therefore, you must have an effective and efficient way to teach and guide your clients in making good food choices if they are going to reach their goals.

 To help a client with their goals, it is important that you first determine what level they are at in terms of their food choices and how educated they are on these choices.  The PN text breaks down clients into three possible categories for this ranging from very little, or no understanding of good food choices (level 1) to those that make excellent choices to support their goals and are knowledgeable on the subject (level 3).  The strategies you use to help your clients will largely depend on the level they are at.

Depending on the level of the client, there may be multiple limiting factors standing in their way, but your job as a trainer/coach is to find the limiting factors that can, if eliminated, have the biggest impact on the goals and that the client is most confident he or she can change (ask them on a scale of 1-10 how confident they are that they can make the change).

This may be something as small as drinking only one coke a day, instead of three, if they are a level 1 fat-loss client.  Have them take on this new habit for a few weeks until it becomes easy and natural for them to do.  Once they have mastered that habit, then move onto a new limiting factor.

It is very important to not overwhelm the client with multiple new habits because they are less likely to stick with them.  The PN text states, “According to Babauta [author of The Power of Less], when only one habit is adopted per month, success rates can be as high as 80%.  However, when people get too ambitious and attempt to adopt two habits simultaneously, their success rates drop to below 20% for either habit” (255).

That is a HUGE difference in success rates!  I realize this is more of a long-term approach, but the effects will usually be more long-lasting.  I know this may seem like a simple idea, but remember the K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid) principle.  We often try to make things so difficult when, usually, they do not need to be.

 

So here are some actionable steps to take to help you and/or your clients achieve their goals:

 

#1) Write down limiting factors that you have control over and that are keeping you from your goals.

 

#2 ) Rank, from 0-10, how confident you are that you can eliminate or adopt a new habit that will eliminate the factors listed from #1.

 

#3) Choose one of those limiting factors that you are very confident (put a 9-10 next to) you can eliminate AND that will have a fairly big impact on your goal.  This is where it can get tricky because you may not want to choose a habit that is a 10/10 at first if it does not make a big impact on your success.  You may want to choose a habit that is only a 9/10 on confidence if it is likely to progress you much faster to your goal – this is part of the art of coaching.

 

#4)  Write out an actionable plan to eliminate this limiting factor.

 

#5) Stick with the plan for a few weeks, preferably a month, until you are confident that the limiting factor is gone and then repeat the process-adopting a new habit/eliminating another limiting factor.

 

#6) Continue these steps until you achieve your goal!

 

These steps have helped me be very successful with my clients and ensures that I do not overwhelm them.  It is great if you consistently get highly motivated people who will do whatever you say, but this is not always the case.

If anyone has other tips that have helped you and/or your clients achieve their goals, please leave them in the comments.  It is always great to hear other ideas.

 

Have a great week everyone!

 

 

References:

 

Berardi, John and Ryan Andrews.  The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition.  Precision Nutrition, Inc.  2010