As fitness trainers, we love to display on social media the strength and fitness that we have worked so hard to obtain. It might be the latest yoga pose or the intense kettlebell workout that we crushed. My own Instagram and Facebook feed is a rolling reel of amazing feats of strength and fitness and I love it. I love to watch it and to then test my own fitness by emulating them. It is a wonderful world of fitness professionals showing off their skills and competing against each other. Except this continual comparison distracts fitness trainers from their real message. We have this passion for health and fitness and we want to share that with others by supporting, training and coaching them to achieve their own fitness goals.
Is This The Best Way to Support Our Clients?
When we post these curated videos, we are only showing one side of the process. The missed attempts at that exercise or pose or the imperfect diet or the times we did not want to workout are real and so valuable for the people who look to us for guidance. It shows our human side and our clients can then better relate to that struggle. It shows that fitness when it’s boiled down to it takes simple, consistent hard work. There’s no gimmicks or gadgets. Trainers tend to have this innate fire in their bellies that is intensified during tough workouts. It is the challenge and drive that allows them to reshape their bodies. That same passion is what allows great fitness trainers to support and coach their clients to their own health and fitness goals.
No Product, Exercise or Nutrition Bar
Often times the general population will become bamboozled by the glitzy advertising of the health and fitness industry especially by the products that it is trying to sell. We know that no product, exercise or nutrition bar will solely get them to obtain their fitness goals. Fitness trainers would be the best customers if that was the case.
Advocate for Our Clients
As the fitness professional that works with clients in the trenches, we should be the biggest advocate for clearing out all that nonsense. By showing the actual hard work and consistency that are required to achieve most fitness goals. That means showing Instagram videos of our entire process that got us to where we are. The final pose or killer workout is not where we started. The less than stellar workout, or the baby steps that got our body so muscular are the key ingredients that we need to relate to people. Show them that we are here to help and guide them.
Attainable Steps
We can guide them by posting videos on social media that they can actually do at home or at their gym. Let’s break these videos down to easily attainable steps for our clients to use to achieve their fitness goals. Where are the workout videos that shows a stay at home parent how to exercise without fancy gym equipment? Or the video that shows a client how to use a mobility ball to clear out those cranky knees so they can stay active?
We are all imperfect humans, so I challenge all the trainers out there to post their mess ups, their slips and their failed attempts. Let’s use social media to support our clients by displaying the entire process and the human side of our own struggle. Once our clients are able to relate to the consistent hard work that was involved in our process they can use our passion to fuel their own.
