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Keep 'em coming back for more

American Fitness, July-August, 2004 by Theresa Dwyre Young

You've just started working with a new client who hasn't exercised in a long time. Actually, she's never been able to stick with an exercise regimen. Over the years, she's started, stopped and started again. For a while, she biked with a neighbor twice a week. For almost six months, she attended a group exercise class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. However, she always gets too busy, tired or unmotivated. This time, she tells yon, it's for real. This time, she's going to achieve those fitness goals she's dreamed of for years and wants your help. What's your plan?

Understanding the Challenges

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The first thing you need to realize is there is a 50/50 chance a new client will stick with his or her exercise program for more than six months. This grim fact is confirmed by over 20 years of research. However, these two decades spent studying exercise dropout have also yielded a plethora of intervention methods fitness professionals can use to improve these odds. Using the tools outlined in this article, you can help new clients meet their goals and, in the process, keep your new business coming back.

Wait for Anticipation to Wear Off

Chances are, your new client has come to the first meeting riled up and raring to go. Your client may even have unrealistic expectations about how often he or she will work out or how much progress he or she can make in a given amount of time. Although it's tempting to match his or her enthusiasm, trainers should refrain from encouraging this unnatural state of excitement, suggests James Annesi, Ph.D., director of wellness advancement at the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta and a premiere authority on exercise adherence. "When they're in that high, the best thing you can do is wait for it to come down," says Annesi. "It comes down rather quickly. The worst thing you can do is try to leverage it." Although you don't want to be negative, you don't want to encourage an unrealistic level of anticipation either. The ultimate goal is to help your client find a way to make exercise a routine. If you try to keep an unrealistic momentum going, you increase the likelihood of burnout.

Prepare for Occasional Relapses

In order to help clients develop realistic habits, trainers must prepare them for missed workouts. "It's a high likelihood that there is going to be some relapse," states Annesi. As soon as your client has returned to a normal state of expectation about exercise, have a serious conversation about the realities of fitting workouts into his or her schedule for a lifetime, not only a month or year. Don't shield your clients from difficult truths. They can understand the pitfalls of letting exercise fall to the wayside. After all, they've probably experienced the exercise or diet seesaw.

The concept of preparing for missed workouts grew out of drug and alcohol behavior studies. "It's called relapse prevention, but it's preparing for when a relapse occurs as well," Annesi explains. He advises surveying the possible stimuli that can cause relapse. Talk to your client about what has prevented him or her from exercising in the past and discuss how he or she can avoid letting it sabotage his or her exercise routine in the future. Then, devise a plan for your client to handle these obstacles. Help your client understand that feelings of failure and dejection are normal. Explain you are discussing these feelings not to discourage, but prepare him or her for the possibility that past exercise obstacles may cause him or her to stumble in the future. You want your client to have the tools needed to get back up and keep going.

Research supports the idea that preparing for relapse helps overcome the likelihood of returning to an undesirable behavior, such as a sedentary lifestyle. A study published last year in the European Journal of Sport Science showed when members received behavioral interventions that included relapse-prevention training, attendance and retention at health clubs significantly improved. Studies conducted at leading universities in the late '80s and early '90s consistently found improved exercise-program adherence when relapse-prevention training was implemented. Although research shows relapse preparation should take place early, it should also be ongoing. Do not get too comfortable if training sessions have gone smoothly for the first few months. Relapse often occurs three to six months after starting a new exercise regimen. If you're ready for it, you and your client can overcome any relapse together.

From Initiation to Routine: Setting Goals

You can start making plans for a lasting exercise routine right away, even when your client is still in a hyperexcited pre-exercise phase. Annesi suggests conducting a goal-setting session during your second meeting with a new client. Goal-setting has consistently proven to be an effective means of changing behavior. A recent study of members of an Italian fitness center showed that those who set goals were more than twice as likely to stay with their exercise programs than those who didn't set goals. But, remember the golden rules of goal-setting: make the goals specific, measurable, realistic and time-sensitive.

Keep 'em coming back for more

American Fitness, July-August, 2004 by Theresa Dwyre Young

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