Motivation

Focus:  Increase the likelihood that people will adhere to a program once they have started  No “magic pill” for motivation  Once personal trainers become proficient at motivation they will understand the impact they have in changing lives

FACTORS INFLUENCING EXERCISE PARTICIPATION AND ADHERENCE  Personal attributes  Demographic variables  Education, income, age, gender  Low levels of activity have been associated with increase in age, fewer years of education and low income  Men demonstrate higher, more consistent adherence rates than women  Biomedical status  Refers to health conditions  No consistent relationship between health condition and adherence

FACTORS INFLUENCING EXERCISE PARTICIPATION AND ADHERENCE  Activity history  Most important and influential personal attribute variable  Past program participation is the most reliable predictor of current participation  Important to gather this information before you start program design  Psychological traits  Tendencies that people have in their personality or psychological makeup  Ex: self-motivation trait has been shown to have a positive relationship with physical activity adherence

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS  Access to facilities  Time  Social support

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FACTORS  Intensity  Dropout rate for vigorous intensity exercise programs is almost twice as high as in moderate intensity  Higher adherence if they are able to choose their exercise  Can be measured by heart rate reserve or RPE  Injury:  Injuries that occur during program participation is directly related to program drop out

UNDERSTANDING MOVITIVATION  Can be many different things. Can come from within a person, from people’s guidance and support, from things, ideas and events.  Common approaches for evaluating motivations:  Intrinsic motivation: motivation that comes from internal states, such as enjoyment or personal satisfaction  They are physically active because they truly enjoy it  Extrinsic motivation: motivation that comes from external rewards, such as material or social rewards  Most fall under this category, can have feelings of tension, guilt or pressure

UNDERSTANDING MOVITIVATION  The best thing a personal trainer can do is to help empower the client with the perception of control of their own participation and then to give client of control  Self-Efficacy: the belief in one’s own capabilities to successfully engage in physical activity program  Helps with motivation/adherence/positive thinking/reaching goals

UNDERSTANDING MOVITIVATION  Personal trainers should try to enhance the feelings of enjoyment and accomplishment that come with program participation by providing:  Feedback  Including the client in aspects of program design  Creating a workout environment that is aesthetically pleasing  Includes verbal and nonverbal information  Can be intrinsic (their own sensory systems, what they feel, see or hear) or extrinsic (error corrections, encouragement)  Provides a guide to clients of how they are doing:  Knowledge of results: the motivation impact of feedback provided to a person learning a new task or behavior indicating the outcomes of the performance

LEADERSHIP QUALITIES: an art and science  Successfully influences the way their clients think, feel and behave  A “coach” working together with client to achieve goals  Professionalism, appearance clean and non threatening, should not look like you just got finished working out  Credibility: Practice what you preach  Trustworthy: do not break clients trust  Listener  Caring and interested, goal setting, teach relapse (the return of an original problem after many lapses have occurred) prevention techniques, take clients opinion into consideration  Show empathy

THE PERSONAL TRAINER’S ROLE IN BUILDING ADHERENCE  Program design: with regard to each client’s preferences, schedule, experience, apprehensions and constraints  Role clarity: clearly defined expectations, define each parties responsibilities, what does each person need to do to hold up their end of the deal, write them down  Goal setting: SMART goals (ch.3), avoid setting:  too many goals  negative goals  DO set short and long term goals  revisit goals on a regular basis  Contracts/agreements: behavior contracts

STRATEGIES TO MAINTAIN CLIENT MOTVIATION  Relapse is common and should be expected. Plan ahead and be prepared  Can occur because of:  Time  Finances  Prioritizing  Scheduling  Support issues  Dislike or dissatisfaction with the program  Both personal trainer and client need to be aware or relapse and recognize it early

Motivation cards:  Split up the motivation cards equally at your table  Use your understanding motivation notes to come up with a solution to your partners problem  Example problem of client:  I don’t think I can do that exercise