One of the “success philosophies” we have in our facility is:
Get clients fit, but at the same time, educate them on what they can be doing outside of the gym to help with that process.
Sometimes that second part gets lost in warm-ups, membership info, catching up on social life and new exercises, but ultimately many times it proves to be the most important part of the process. Our success is in large part determined by what a client does when they walk out our door.
We sometimes have 30min to an hour with someone…and then they have 23 more hours in the day to either help improve reach their goals, or undo everything you just did to help get them fit. Whether that’s sitting at their desk for the next 8 hours without stretching, sleeping on their stomach with their low back hyperextended and their neck cranked to the side or eating an inflammatory diet, the decisions they make effect both of you.
One of the keys we’ve found with educating and informing clients is that, WITH PROPER INSTRUCTION and information, a client can be trained to not only help with in-gym programming, but also with their programming outside of the gym.
But you must educate them on what they should and shouldn’t be doing, and it’s important to give specific instructions and then document these instructions. There’s a lot of room for error and you want these clients coming back to you saying “thank you” not, “why am I worse?” or “what am I supposed to be doing again?”.
There are a few ways to help accomplish this:
Self-Myofascial Release Offers Something For Everyone…
We are big on foam rolling to help increase mobility and gain the flexibility needed for hard workouts and recovery. It’s also a great activity they can do ON THEIR OWN. We even have foam rolling classes so clients can really get good at SMR.
At a later time I can fill you in on how to make those classes successful. If you want to get more progressive, you can utilize items like:
The Vyper by HyperIce which is great for your more active population.
For some less active, less mobile patients, or even for anyone who just doesn’t want to get down on the ground, we like to use a self-myofascial release device called the “Doc N Roll”. It allows patients that do not have the ability to get on and off the floor easily, to foam roll standing. There are great protocols for even your best athlete with this device.
Give clients instructions they can understand
When it comes to SMR or other exercises or stretches, no matter whether you recommenda lacrosse ball or tennis ball, personalized instruction is the key.
If you hand out old, dated photocopies of your recommendations, there may be a lot that gets lost in translation.
Try using WebExercises online database to email your clients any exercise/stretch you could ever hope to recommend…they can also pull your specific routine for them up on their tablet or phone and do the program at home with easy to understand video demos and high-def pics. It makes client engagement easy…and it’s also a great way to market to new clients, that you’re going to get them a work out on their phone.
Keep it simple
Last but not least…and most importantly, make it easy and progress slowly. Every client is different, but you’ll have more success if you progress at a rate they can keep up with, rather than throwing everything at them all at once.
Have them work on one stretch or one health tip at a time and see how they do. Then follow up with more if they can easily demonstrate during their next visit they’ve got it and understand.
For more info on any products or specials mentioned in this article, please contact your Elivate Account Manager. If you don’t know who your Account Manager is, please call us and find out: 800.472.4221
DOC N' ROLL Deep Tissue Stand-up Massager 
HYPERICE Vyper 
WEBEXERCISES Software Subscription