Being a fitness instructor is not just about the physical world – it’s vital you create meaningful connections and rapport with your clients, too. One of the best ways you can give your client the time and attention they deserve is by tracking their progress. The kinds of methods you employ will be completely dependent on the client’s goals and needs, so it’s important you understand their goals inside and out. There’s a plethora of ways to track client progress:
- Body measurements
This one is an obvious one for client’s who are specifically targeting goals that involve losing weight or building muscles. You can opt to measure clients around areas including the hips, waist, shoulders and arms. Depending on their specific needs, you could also weigh them or even refer them to have their body fat percentage analysed, which is a great tool for those looking to advance body composition. Regardless of which method you use, it’s important you track the results in order to analyse how their goal is progressing.
- Progress Reports
This is a great general way to track progress, and works for any type of client with any type of goal. By re-visiting goals every four to six weeks, clients will be able to see tangible change and feel motivated by the progress. You could include accomplishments, feelings, insights and suggestions for the next period.
- Communication
This is one that is so important and can really make a difference for your client. Making the effort to stay in touch with your client in between sessions can create incredible rapport and build trust. It’s also a great way to track their progress and see how they’re feeling in the middle of sessions. It also gives you the tools to assess where they are potentially losing motivation and why.