Creating Chaos - For Fitness & Sport Professionals

I was walking our little Jack Russell last week in the park and experienced something which inspired me to write this blog. My intention is not to pigeon-hole people into categories as motivators but simply to encourage you to deliberately decide what type of motivational message you're looking to give to your clients.

Whilst walking Jaycee (our little dog) I walked past a popular military bootcamp that has absolutely stormed in the UK over the last few years. The group of about 25-30 people were individually being invited to race the instructor up a steep set ot steps and back down again. A small number were accepting the invite only to predictably be beaten by this interesting approach to motivation. Those that didn't attempt this very worth while event had the pleasure of standing, watching and probably getting rather cold in the process, in addition to paying for the privilege through their membership.

Having personal experience of delivering outdoor group fitness sessions with our outfit model, I was both astonished and appalled by this egotistical and selfish display by the instructor. Maybe some of the group enjoyed this and found his display inspiring but I would speculate that for many, his episode was demotivating and another display that creates distance between the instructor and the consumer in an industry that many are trying to make as accessible and achievable as possible.

Whilst health, lifestyle and fitness services / products maybe sometimes seen as aspirational, I don't understand how a voyeuristic approach delivers this in a healthy fashion.

So, what type of motivator are you?

Do you lead from the front?..offer encouragement?..encourage a balanced approach?..empathise?...inspire?

or do you...

Breakdown barriers?..make the unachievable achievable?..educate? enthuse?

Many of the key lessons I've learnt have been through making the mistakes. For me this has always been the clearest way (although not always the quickest) to understand the value of and appreciate best practise. Sometimes, when a lesson is given to us, we fail to value the importance of it. That said, when it comes to peoples lives and making key decisions, providing the most effective guidance is crucial.

When it comes to motivation, using your strengths is key to performing to your best but really understanding how your clients are motivated will be much more valuable to you, after all, it's them that you're trying to motivate. In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) terms, we have profiles for many traits of our personalities referred to as meta-profiles. For motivation, the following examples are typical:

• 'Away from' motivation - "I don't want to get fat"
• 'Towards' motivation - "I'm going to run the London marathon"

People can also share more complex profiles which are away then towards or towards then away but generally, most people are either predominantly more 'away' or 'towards' motivated.

Understanding this will not only help you motivate your client better but really understand them and what makes them tick.

It is worth mentioning that 'away from' motivation can be less powerful as a force for positive intent as it generally includes the one thing that the client doesn't want. The problem here is that the mind is a powerful tool and whenever you put particular focus into something, irrespective of it being in the positive or negative, you increase the likelihood of it becoming a reality. Therefore, it stands to reason to direct the radar at things that you actually want as opposed to things that you don't want.

If you'd like more information on NLP, motivational techniques or persuasive strategies then why not look at our NLP for Fitness Professionals course.

Its been a manic week of travel this week and all very exciting.


Starting some research on kettlebells with Sheffield Hallam, we've been working with some of the GB olympic strength and conditioning coaches showing them how to use kettlebells properly and discussing the training benefits.

It's very interesting working with coaches from different backgrounds as we all have very unique and different experiences as well as expertise which can often lead to very different opinions but essentially all working towards the same single goal: what works the best!?!?

If you've been tuning into my blogs then you'll already be aware of our unique bodyweight training appraoch that we call Primal Flow. We've arranged to take it to some of the national coaches who'll be giving their feedback on it which will be fantastic.

This week Jenny, myself and two very experienced coaches took on an almighty Primal Flow circuit. James Walker, a Kettlebell Master Trainer and tutor joined in as well as Ben Hockman, an MMA and kickboxing conditioning specialist who runs Martial Arts Company Beyond Fighting. Both coaches have years of both competitive and coaching experience behind them and have a wealth of experience in having sampled many different types of fitness training. With their seasoned expertise, we were keen to get their thoughts on our sytem.

The session was simple and had two waves. Both had 4 work stations each focussing on different areas - upper, lower, core and movement. The first wave was geared towards stability & strength and had 4 layers, each progressive to the last in movement and duration. The second wave only had 3 layers but was aimed at power and anaerobic capacity. Despite the session taking just 45 minutes, it was fair to say that we were all well worked by the end.

Here's what they had to say:

James Walker "A new era of bodyweight training!, takes what you thought you knew about bodyweight training and flips it on it's head..."

Ben Hockman "Having been a martial artist for 13 years, I've done a lot of bodyweight focussed training. But this is different and you have to try it! The primal movements force you to stabilise whilst also requiring far more strength than you would for the standard push-up or squat. The constant and rapid variation between exercises also ensures a great functional conditioning workout without exhausting one particular muscle group to the extent of needing days off to recover. Great system and if you still believe in the need for equipment to get a good resistance and cardio workout, think again!!!"

Very kind words and obviously, they were both well paid for that. If you'd like to become qualified as a Primal Flow specialist then look at our next course dates and if you'd like to experience this type of training then look at your nearest class of our OutFIT sessions.