7 Habits That Can Help Clients Improve Their Fitness

When it comes to fitness, a lot of people eagerly look for ways out because they feel working out is too much concerning their busy schedules. This is one of the main reasons why people give up working out early on.

These kinds of decisions care issues for both the trainers and the clients. Trainers lose valuable clients and see a decline in their revenue. On the other hand, clients don’t stick to a healthy diet or work out regularly. 

A good way to combat this is by treating workouts as a healthy habit and helping your clients develop such habits. This way, clients are more likely to stick to their exercise routine, and as a fitness trainer, you won’t have to worry about losing clients.

Here are a few habits you can help your clients learn for better health and fitness.

If you need to switch to a more holistic approach, check out our health coaching certification.

The Mechanism Of Developing A Habit

All habits start as new behaviors that become automated in our subconsciousness over time. This mainly happens due to repetition. But it’s not as simple as that. For a person to keep repeating something, they must like or enjoy it to a certain extent so that the movement or pattern gets etched into the brain’s neural pathways.

Once that happens, our bodies become accustomed to it, and when the time comes, we automatically start performing the task. While all of this sounds pretty straightforward, it isn’t as easy. That’s because our brain dislikes change and getting out of the comfort zone, and to develop a habit; you have to do both.

This is why whichever habit you want to develop must be something the brain or body enjoys or it offers some benefits in the long run. If you can do that, you can easily develop habits.

Habits For Fitness

Rest On Rest Days

Rest days are just as important as workout days. When people are resting, their bodies develop new muscles and tissue fibers while also conditioning and strengthening the muscles. However, plenty of people believe that if they rest, they’ll lose all the progress they’ve made.

So as a trainer, it’s your responsibility to help clients develop the habit of resting. The easiest way to do this is by tracking their progress and showing them how much they’ve improved with the current workout plus rest routine.

Get Plenty Of Sleep

Sleep helps our body relax and re-energize. A poor sleep schedule leads to many problems, like lack of energy, poor concentration, and tiredness. In the long run, these issues can lead to memory problems, muscle pains, and a loss of stamina.

Trainers should help clients develop healthy sleep habits that allow them to get at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. You should also help people take power naps to energize their bodies before a workout or any important event so they aren’t exhausted.

Stay Hydrated

This is probably the most important habit anyone can have. It’s not just important for fitness, but for our everyday health. Usually, a lot of clients have the ‘keep pushing’ mindset where they want to do as many reps as possible before they take a break or drink water.

This is quite detrimental to their health as the body needs proper hydration to regulate the heat, heart rate, and the body’s energy. Without it, people would end up dehydrated, and this has long-term effects on their health. Besides that, trainers should help people develop habits that compel them to carry a water bottle each time they go out so they can stay hydrated.

Small Workouts

Continuing on the importance of rest days, your clients should make a habit of doing small workouts, usually 5 to 10 minutes on rest days, to keep the body moving. This will speed up the recovery process, improve blood flow, increase oxygen consumption, and improve the heart rate. All of these things play an important role in expediting the recovery process and conditioning the muscles, so there’s less chance of muscle fatigue.

Set Realistic Fitness Goals

It’s one thing to be ambitious, but setting unrealistic fitness goals will do more harm to the body than help achieve your client’s fitness goals. As a trainer, you can guide clients to create realistic goals so they can see the progress they make instead of constantly dealing with muscle pains and cramps.

The best way to do this is by breaking the goals into smaller ones. That way, your client is more likely to experience burnout, and it’ll be easier for them to develop exercise habits.

Don’t Forget To Stretch

There’s no doubt that a person can’t complete a workout routine unless they stretch beforehand to condition their muscles. But stretching isn’t only for pre-workouts.

Even if your clients are on rest days, they should still stretch. This helps improve blood flow in the body and helps condition the muscles. As a result, they’re less likely to experience muscle fatigue or cramps after working out.

Moreover, stretching helps keep the body in motion even if the client doesn’t work out. So if someone stops working out for any reason, their body wouldn’t revert to its formal level quickly. Moreover, stretching should be a lifelong habit as it helps prevent plenty of muscle and nerve-related issues.

Eat Healthily

This might seem a bit absurd because people who work out also indulge in healthy eating. But this isn’t always true. Generally, trainers focus on specific diets that help clients achieve their fitness goals faster. They don’t account for regular eating or snacking that people do throughout the day.

When you’re trying to help clients develop healthy eating habits, you’ll have to focus on all the meals they want during the day and not just the standard three times a day. This means that you have to give them healthy alternatives for snacking and help them stop binge eating.

Join W.I.T.S And Get Your Fitness Certifications Today!

W.I.T.S Education is a fitness training institute offering practical skills to trainers looking to enter the fitness industry. Our programs include a certified personal trainer program, senior fitness program, health coaching program, and medical fitness program.

Our programs are delivered by 5-star instructors online, while the practical lessons are conducted in state-of-the-art labs. These labs are located all over North America. Not just that, but W.I.T S Education also has the largest network of schools and colleges in the country. We are accredited by the American Council on Education and the NCCA. This allows us to offer course credits to students toward their degrees.

Explore our courses and start your fitness training career with W.I.T.S. today!