Untrained, Uninspired, or Unwilling?
Untrained, Uninspired, or Unwilling?
I coach a lot of new trainees. When I say new, I mean that they haven’t seen a gym since high school, or possibly ever, and have little to no understanding of the function of their own body, let alone how strength training and performance improvement works. The demographic of clients I work with ranges in age, lifestyle, athletic experience, injury history, and comorbidities. In my opinion, to be an effective coach, understanding variability in training and adaptation to the trainee is one of the biggest priorities in helping new lifters succeed. Typically, one constant I find in new training populations is goal setting and enthusiasm to achieve their goals. After all, if someone has taken the initiative to enter a training facility, pay the fee, have a series of conversations, and go through a full assessment of strength, and mobility, the motivation factor is usually covered. Or so you would think.
Over the last ten or so years I’ve been working with people in the gym, the consideration of motivation and commitment has been tested more than any other variable by a significant level. In English, people typically think they know what they want until they get to the part where the work comes in. I’ll elaborate so that statement doesn’t sound so absolute. If a new trainee is enthusiastic about learning, understanding, and improving, I can ride that enthusiasm for the first four to six weeks without interruption. Remember that most of the excitement in the first couple of weeks comes from the excitement and promise that a new experience brings, not necessarily the actual promise of achievement. New lifters typically like the idea of being stronger, leaner, bigger, or whatever the purpose of their journey is based on. The idea is the motivator. The promise of results is the instigator to the motivator, and the perception of reward for success is a little added benefit tucked in the brain’s pleasure center.
What I’ve found that usually interrupts this process is the actual work to get there. While this thought isn’t profound by any means, I have been fortunate to explore it below the surface. In addition to the motivator, instigator, and reward, there’s another variable that coaches need to consider when working with new trainees. Do they stop learning too quickly? In the earliest phases of a training program, many untrained lifters are equally excited to learn something new. Learning is fulfilling, rewarding, and something that feeds the ego a little bit. I mean, who doesn’t like showing off that thing they learned to loved ones and friends? Knowing something others don’t brings potential interest. I have seen the learning light taper from the trainees’ eyes in as little as a four-week training block or once it becomes “training.”
Historically, training for new or beginner lifters is simplistic, easily repeatable, and progresses linearly, and even the description I just wrote makes it sound boring. Anecdotally, the attrition rate for new lifters increases exponentially in the timeframe when the excitement of the new gym experience transitions to regularly scheduled weekly training. So how does a coach keep the trainee engaged while running a beginner or foundational programming scheme? How do coaches keep new lifters lifting? The answer is short and in two parts.
First, be a coach, not a programmer. Coaches support, encourage, and build teams. In the world of smartphone apps, anyone with a little bit of gray matter can likely figure out how to do a training program that would yield some positive physical results. For an untrained lifter, building some gym success doesn’t necessarily require much effort. Offering programming alone doesn’t engage the client or inspire long-term behavior. Numbers are boring, and coaches need to mind the environment the trainee is surrounded by more than the progression of analytical data. If you pay attention to the lifter’s work logs, you’ll know if they progress. If you pay attention to the lifters, you’ll see if it means something.
Second, create a motivating environment. While coaches cannot control what takes place outside the gym or what happens inside a lifter’s head, we can control the type of environment in which we nurture our training success. Let's build a stable of motivated individuals that work in the same space as one another and encourage them to interact and communicate. We’ll create an inspiring, enthusiastic room that will nurture positive outcomes through community support and encouragement. The environment may even build a competitive landscape with additional benefits for trainees seeking such results. If you create an inspiring and inclusive environment to work in, the motivation will come from the air the lifters breathe in and will not need to be something forced.
To summarize this article, I want to touch on one more aspect of new trainees that should be considered when determining if the client is a long-term lifter or someone who likes the idea of the gym. Some people are just unwilling to waiver in their belief systems. As a coach, you will not ever change that fact. Several years ago, I had two trainees that started together. Both were women in their late 30s, with similar goals to improve their health and lose weight. Our gym’s focus is derived from strength as the catalyst for all things, and our logic is that if a trainee gets stronger, they’ll build more muscle. If someone builds muscle, they’ll likely expend more energy in both the gym and during times of rest. Because energy expenditure and consumption directly correlate to body composition and body mass, appropriate changes to the physique will occur with some nutritional considerations.
Trainee A had recently undergone gastric bypass surgery and had plateaued out of her weight loss. Trainee B had taken a longer, slower approach to her weight loss via diet and self-prescribed discipline. As you can guess, Trainee A didn’t last long because the work she needed to put in to progress toward her goals was hard and wasn’t instantly gratifying. It hurt, took time, and was the opposite of what she believed working out should be. On the other hand, Trainee B gained a ton of strength, continued to lose weight, and progressed nicely into a committed lifter who saw her training as part of her life. The bottom line is that some people are just plain unwilling to do what it takes, and lifters who don’t work out shouldn’t be considered a measurement of a coach's capabilities as long as most of your clients do.