Articulating The Goal

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Building off of last week's post--"What's The Goal?"--I think the importance of being able to articulate that goal to your client (if you are a personal trainer) needs to be discussed.

After you get it in your head exactly what you are trying to get out of that rep/set/exercise/day, having the ability to effectively communicate your thoughts can be the difference between a client feeling like they accomplished exactly what that session was intended for and them feeling like they put forth effort but they weren't really sure what they were supposed to get out of it.

I use this a lot when describing the exertion level I want a client to work at.  I've used a subjective 5-point scale before--for example, "I want you to end this set when you reach a 3."--and have had different sensation-based indicators for each level.  This has worked really well with some, and yet others still find it to be too subjective for them.

In these cases I have began telling them exactly how I want them to feel when they end the set.  Now, I by no means think I know the exact sensations my clients are experiencing at any given moment, but having experimented with and experienced the exercises myself, I can usually present a fairly good description that seems to calm their concerns of subjectivity.

I have also had clients request that I tell them the exact percentage of maximal effort I would like them to stop at, and this seems to work better for them than the 1 to 5 scale.

Whatever system you use, just make sure you are effectively communicating your message and desired outcome as clearly as possible.  Knowing exactly what you want your clients to get out of what you are having them do is the first step towards reaching that end point, and figuring out different ways of being able to articulate that to your clients will only help to ensure that the desired end point is reached.

Your body. Your training.

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