How to Work with Difficult Personal Training Clients

A personal training business exposes you to both the best and the worst in people. You revel in the triumphs of their accomplishments, but you suffer when they do not take well to training. Here are a few types of difficult clients and how you can deal with them.

1. Whiners

Some clients will have good intentions. They will have the desire to lose weight or gain muscle mass, but they do not like feeling uncomfortable in any way. Consequently, they complain every time they think they might break a sweat, flex a muscle or feel a pang of hunger. It is easy to get these people started, but difficult to keep them going. They drop out of the exercise before it has time to do them any good. Besides that, they are very annoying.

Work Out

There is something you can do. You can explain to them that personal training is a choice they have made. Since discomfort is a part of the process, you expect your clients to accept being a little uncomfortable if they want to work with you. Gently make it clear that you will not work with clients who do not follow the program. If you end up terminating their personal training package, they might request a refund; but in all likelihood, they will change their attitude for the better and stay with you.

2. Once a Week Exercisers

There are some clients who want to have one personal training session per week, and then not exercise in between the sessions. You will recognize them by a lack of progress and by frequent exercise-related injuries. These clients do not improve your business image, because they present a picture of stagnant physical condition. They are also a liability risk.

Fitness Workouts

The way to deal with these once a week exercise fanatics is to demand that they have more sessions with you. That way you will know that they are getting several weekly exercise periods every week at the least. If the client cannot afford more than one full weekly session, split his session up into a few shorter ones. It is better to work out for less time on several days than to only get exercise once a week.

3. Depressed Clients

Depressed clients can be difficult to work with because they tend to bring down the mood of your entire day of personal training if you are not careful. They work out half-heartedly and slowly. The best solution for these people is to stay positive and to remind them that exercise is a natural antidepressant. If they want to feel better, exercise can help them. All these difficult personal training clients can be helped if you handle them correctly.