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Online Training
Many people in the world of training are making the transition to Online Training.
So let's go over some best practices.
There can be a lot of concerns for some when the idea of online training comes up. Anxiety about how progress will be tracked, communicating effectively, training efficiently and building a connection with your client. But while this may be a place some are still a little worried about - just remember no one likes change at first.
How to respond to this resistance?
To your clients: emphasize how you can provide them the same quality training schedule, but at their own flexibility. This is a huge win for those who want to train more frequently with you but simply can't commit to another hour each week. It also gives them some great insight into how they've progressed through different movements as they can now visualize their progress from status charts. Tools that include internal communication systems are great as they allow you both to share messages, videos and cues.
To yourself: while it may seem overwhelming to digitize and be available for communication more frequently - don't let these worries take over. Online training has many benefits, even if that just means having a remote training option.
Online training tools like Bridge provide trainers with a plethora of options to more efficiently train more athletes. We put a large emphasis on educating your clients on how and why to do a movement. Lack of knowledge can be a worry for clients when hearing the words, online training as they don't yet have the confidence or the skill to do their exercises on their own.
However, leveraging a tool with exercise videos and cues will instruct your clients even if they're miles away. Using Bridge or other technology to digitize your process will give you access to all the data you need to evaluate your clients in one unified place. Meaning, this technology can save you time, while also bringing you more clients and more business than ever before.
After finding the correct technology for your training style, you need to then use that technology correctly. When done well, implementing software into your structure will be a way to streamline all training plans, clients, videos, communication, data, progress and more. When done incorrectly it takes up the time you are hoping to gain back.
What you are using should be helpful for you and for your client. Here's something to think about:
Mitigate the middle man.
Meaning, try avoid using outside 3rd parties that will force your client to leave the workout you have programmed for them to find other information, such as a video associated with their exercise. Needing to search in other places will slow down their workflow and potentially lead to a frustrating experience for them or have them skip the information and risk getting injured doing the movement wrong. Equipping them with everything at once allows them then to begin remote training with the same confidence they have when with you on the floor.
Establish Office Hours
As we mentioned before, communication is vital to a positive workout experience that helps you better retain clients. Setting up online check ins and scheduling your availability via email during certain hours each day is a way to both manage your time while communicating well.
Create a forum
While you can be a sense of encouragement and support for your clients - your clients can be that support group for each other as well. Allowing a space for them to communicate can be vital for aiding their growth when you can't.
Implement a Structure for Goal Setting
Create both long term and short term goals with your client. The long term goals may be what you discuss when they come into the training center and what they are aiming to accomplish months down the line. Short term goal setting can be done to avoid disengagement and keep the energy level high.
This can be an exercise you do together where you break down the different type of goals they want to set for themselves and then decide the duration they have to reach each targeted goal. Then, once they accomplish one of the short term goals, they will still feel motivated and closer to their end goal. Goal setting can be process based goals, performance based goals, or outcome based goals.
Download our PDF for guidelines on each of these different goal types.
Do you still feel like your clients are getting easily discouraged when they aren't seeing quick results?
Remind them of why they started.
The long term goal they have set for themselves, is long term for a reason. Show them all the progress they have made since starting. Because to them, the progress may not seem as significant since it is incremental growth.
However, from an outside perspective you have a better idea of how far they have improved, so remind them of that. Change doesn't happen overnight.
And even if there is no obvious physical change, they are mentally stronger and have created a routine for themselves.
BridgeAthletic
At Bridge, we are all athletes and coaches first. As athletes, our team has experienced everything from riding the pine on JV, to winning NCAA championships, to competing in the Olympic Games. As coaches, we have helped countless athletes reach their full potential, winning everything from age group section championships to Olympic Gold Medals.
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