1. ACE Personal Trainer Manual 5th Edition
Chapter 3: Communication and Teaching Techniques
Lesson 3

2. STAGES OF THE CLIENT–TRAINER RELATIONSHIP
Successful personal trainers consistently demonstrate excellent communication and teaching techniques while working closely with their clients to understand their concerns, formulate health and fitness goals, design effective fitness programs, and teach exercise skills.
Health and fitness professionals who excel in exercise science and understand the intricacies of training principles will still lack effectiveness if they cannot establish positive and productive working relationships with their clients. These relationships are based on good communication and teaching techniques.
It is important to remember that while these stages describe the traditional progression of the client–trainer relationship, they often overlap and recur.

3. STAGES OF THE CLIENT–TRAINER RELATIONSHIP
Four stages:
Rapport − a relationship marked by mutual understanding and trust
Investigation – reviewing clients’ health and fitness data, test results, medical clearance information, and clients’ goals and exercise history
Planning – designing an exercise program in partnership with the client, using both listening and teaching skills
Action – when clients are ready to begin working out, and have the ability to effectively learn new motor skills
The ACE Personal Trainer Certification program was developed to assess candidate competency in making safe and effective exercise program decisions for apparently healthy clients.
The purpose of any certification program is the set a passing score that must be achieved to prove minimum compentcy.

4. BUILDING RAPPORT
Most people have a “gut response” when meeting another person (first impression), so ensuring a positive experience is critical:
Be professional.
Appearance is fit, neat, clean, with appropriate attire.
Ensure a clean environment.
Be on time, organized, and ready.
Be enthusiastic, interested, caring, and focused on the client.
Encourage questions and answer clearly.
Personal trainers should always conduct themselves appropriately, even when not planning to be in the public eye, since opportunities to meet future clients may unexpectedly arise.
When people are asked to recall both negative and positive experiences with healthcare providers, allied health professionals, and/or health and fitness professionals, many common themes emerge.
Negative experiences are marked by rudeness, indifference, ineptitude, neglect, and even malpractice. When describing negative experiences, people often report being left waiting a long time in environments that are dirty, disorganized, or dull. Personal trainers are described as appearing bored, uninterested in the client, uncaring, or distracted. Communications with personal trainers are perceived as unclear, with clients saying they did not understand the information or the reasons for the recommendations. Questions are not encouraged or answered clearly.
Personal trainers should be sure that clients know about their education, training, certifications, qualifications, and work experience. In emerging professions, such as personal training, where credentialing is not always required or well-understood by the public, it is especially important to establish one’s professional credibility.
Refer to Table 3-1

5. BUILDING RAPPORT Verbal communication
Speaking professionally with clients also effectively builds rapport:
Speak clearly and use language that is easily understood.
Avoid “talking down” to clients.
Use exercise science vocabulary, but be prepared to define terms that may be unfamiliar to clients.
Enhance verbal content with visual information that illustrates concepts.
Exercise demonstrations may accompany verbal explanations.
Additionally, it is important to analyze voice quality:
A weak, hesitant, or soft voice does not inspire client confidence.
A loud, tense voice tends to make people nervous.
Aim to develop a firm and confident voice to communicate professionalism.

6. BUILDING RAPPORT Nonverbal communication
While clients hear a personal trainer’s words, they seek to verify verbal content by evaluating appearance, facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice.
Nonverbal communication includes the following:
Eye contact:
Use direct, friendly eye contact when listening or talking, as it shows clients they are the center of attention.
Facial expressions:
Aim to convey sincere emotion.
Portray a genuine display of positive regard for clients.
Continue to display concern, thoughtfulness, and/or enjoyment.
Hand gestures:
Use relaxed, fluid hand gestures when speaking.
A personal trainer’s hands should be quiet when listening.
Body position:
An open, well-balanced, erect body position communicates confidence.
Good posture serves as a symbol of professional expertise.
When seated in discussion, lean slightly forward with arms uncrossed.
Many other behaviors serve as forms of communication:
Being late communicates a lack of respect to the client.
Avoid interruptions (i.e., phone calls or other tasks), as this communicates a lack of professionalism and attentiveness.
If someone’s words (“I am glad to meet you”) and body language (lack of eye contact, disinterested facial expression, body turned away, low energy) do not match, people generally trust body language over verbal content.
What type of body position could be seen as aggressiveness by the trainer?

7. INVESTIGATION STAGE
Rapport continues to build during the investigation stage, as personal trainers gather information from their clients.
Clients who sense that the personal trainer is a professional who has their best interests at heart are likely to be more honest and comfortable during the investigation stage:
Gathering information
Demonstrating effective listening
Responding to difficult disclosures
Being professional is critical, as clients may be embarrassed and uneasy discussing very personal information, including body weight and medical concerns with someone they have just met.

8. Gathering information
INVESTIGATION STAGE
Gathering information
Personal trainers should use the investigation stage not only to learn about a client’s current health and fitness, but also to understand a client’s exercise likes and dislikes.
Personal trainers should use the investigation stage not only to learn about a client’s current health and fitness, but also to understand a client’s exercise likes and dislikes:
Take time to review health-history and lifestyle questionnaires forms with clients to help clarify questions and elicit more information.
Ask about previous physical activity experiences to uncover factors and personal preferences that furthered or disrupted exercise adherence:
Exercising alone or with a friend
In the morning or at the end of the day
Moderate or vigorous intensities
What worked (or did not work) in previous exercise programs may work (or not work) again
Careful attention can help personal trainers read between the lines of fitness forms, while good listening skills help their understanding of the emotions behind the stories that clients tell.

9. INVESTIGATION STAGE Demonstrating effective listening
Effective listening occurs when the personal trainer listens to a client carefully, empathetically, and with an open mind, trying to put him- or herself in the client’s shoes.
When trying to listen effectively, personal trainers should:
Give clients their full attention
Close communication occurs most easily in quiet, private spaces that limit distraction
Direct the conversation by asking clients questions
Maintain appropriate eye contact, use proper body language, and take notes as necessary
Effective listening takes a great deal of attention and energy, so people do not tend to listen carefully to each other most of the time. People sometimes pretend to listen, but do not pay careful attention. They may pretend to listen so as not to appear rude, but may only hear part of what the speaker says, tuning out parts they find uninteresting, offensive, or hard to understand. Instead of listening carefully, the listener is often busy formulating arguments, forming judgments about the speaker, or thinking about what to say next. Sometimes the listener is simply daydreaming and thinking about other things.
Listeners are often preoccupied with themselves and their own thoughts, perhaps distracted by their own problems. Even when people try to listen, they miss much of what the speaker is trying to say. Listeners often reconstruct messages in accordance with their own beliefs or needs. The listener may have prejudices about the speaker and look for confirmation of these feelings in the speaker’s words. Listeners may project their own feelings onto the speaker, or only hear what they expect to hear.

10. INVESTIGATION STAGE
Personal trainers can also demonstrate good listening skills by responding to clients’ answers in several ways.
Encouraging
Paraphrasing
Questioning
Reflecting
Summarizing
Encouraging:
Use short words or phrases such as “I see,” “Yes,” and “I know what you mean,” that encourage the client to continue speaking when there is a natural pause.
Nodding and smiling indicate that a person is listening and encourages the speaker to continue.
Paraphrasing:
Restate the essence of what the client has been saying in a clear and concise way.
Paraphrasing may also extend the meaning of the client’s answers.
If the paraphrase is not accurate, the speaker then has a chance to correct an erroneous impression.
Reflecting:
Try to restate the main points and feelings in the client’s communication in order to demonstrate understanding or seek clarification.
For example, “It sounds like you have been most successful exercising in the past when you exercise with a friend.”
The listener can correct this conclusion if it is wrong, or explore this reflection in more depth if it is correct.
Reflections should help to move the conversation forward.
Summarizing:
Summarizing gives an opportunity to direct a conversation that is wandering too far off topic or keep an appointment on track in terms of time.
Aim to summarize key points that have a bearing on exercise program design.
Allow clients to comment on the summary to confirm its accuracy.

11. INVESTIGATION STAGE: RESPONDING TO DIFFICULT DISCLOSURES
Responding to difficult questions
Personal trainers are sometimes unsure of how to respond when clients share specific information.
Follow the client’s lead as to whether he or she wants to say anything more on a topic.
With the disclosure of something very sad, such as a client’s serious illness, or the illness or death of someone close to the client, a short response may be all that is appropriate, such as:
“I’m so sorry.”
“That must have been very hard.”
“I can’t even imagine how difficult that must have been for you and your family.”
If a situation affects the exercise program design, turn the conversation back to the practical details:
For example, “Now that your mother has moved in with you and your family, what is the best time for you to get to the fitness center?”
If new medical information of concern is disclosed, refer the client to their healthcare provider for medical clearance.
If a new medical condition places a client outside of the personal trainer’s scope of practice and expertise, the client should be referred out.
Sometimes personal trainers hear information that worries or even alarms them, such as depression, an eating disorder, or another serious health problem.
In such cases, follow referral procedures that encourage the client to seek professional help.
Additionally, personal trainers may also wish to share their concerns (while maintaining the confidentiality of the client) with their supervisors or a colleague to confirm their referral plan.

12. PLANNING STAGE
While personal trainers move into a more active role during this stage, they must continue to listen to clients’ responses to their ideas and suggestions.
Client adherence is usually better when clients help take responsibility for exercise program design.
The planning stage generally moves through the following steps:
Setting goals
Generating and discussing alternatives
Formulating a plan
Evaluating the exercise program

13. PLANNING STAGE Effective goals are SMART goals
Specific: Goals must be clear and unambiguous, stating specifically what should be accomplished.
Measurable: Goals must be measurable so that clients can see whether they are making progress.
Attainable: Goals should be realistically attainable by the individual client.
The achievement of attaining a goal reinforces commitment to the program and encourages the client to continue exercising.
Attaining goals is also a testimony to the personal trainer’s effectiveness.
Relevant: Goals must be relevant to the particular interests, needs, and abilities of the individual client.
Time-bound: Goals must contain estimated timelines for completion.
Clients should be evaluated regularly to monitor progress toward goals.
Clients often express fairly general personal-training goals, such as wanting to “tone up” or “lose some weight.” The personal trainer should help clients define goals in more specific and measurable terms so that progress can be evaluated. Always err on the conservative side of goal setting. Lofty goals feel good and sound inspirational, but clients are soon disappointed when progress is slow.
Refer to Apply What You Know – Goal-Generating Questions for Clients (page 52) for additional ideas.

14. PLANNING STAGE
The personal trainer should be sure to include process and product goals:
A ______________goal is something a client does, such as completing a certain number of workouts per week.
A ______________goal is something achieved, like weight loss or a resistance lifted on a strength-training machine.
The following indicators may be incorporated into SMART goals:
Emotional health
Resting heart rate, or heart rate during a submaximal workload
Muscular strength and endurance, balance, skill level, or flexibility
Walking test
Medical indicators
Body weight, body size, or body composition
Table 3-2 Clients often reach process goals before noticeable changes occur in terms of weight loss or improved performance, and should be reminded of the importance of these successes.
Table 3-3 includes additional suggestions for setting goals that will motivate clients for long-term adherence.

15. PLANNING STAGE Generating and discussing alternatives
Once goals have been clarified, the personal trainer and client are ready to generate and discuss alternative ways of achieving these goals.
The ultimate goal for every client is adherence to the exercise program.
Ideally, the client finds the exercise program achievable and rewarding and continues working with the personal trainer.
When working with a client for one session or a few sessions, the program must be simple enough that a client can perform the program on his or her own.
When a long-term relationship is anticipated, the program can be more complex.
As the relationship continues, the client should be encouraged to take the lead in what seems realistic, especially in terms of time commitment and scheduling.

16. PLANNING STAGE
Personal trainers often fail to realize how intimidating a fitness facility can be to a newcomer.
Some guidance on “fitting in” is especially important:
Write down the plan and give it to the client; it should include all the information that the client needs to get started.
Take the opportunity to help the client feel prepared to begin an exercise program.
Offer advice to help the client feel more comfortable:
What to wear
Where to go
Facility etiquette or customs

17. EVALUATING THE EXERCISE PROGRAM
Exercise program evaluation should occur regularly:
Review client exercise records regularly during the session and discuss what is working and what needs to change.
Reassess the client periodically to measure progress toward goals.
Evaluate both exercise challenge and adherence.
Modify the program as necessary to provide a more realistic or challenging stimulus.
If adherence is faltering, the personal trainer and client should discuss what is causing problems and revise the exercise program design as necessary.

18. MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING TECHNIQUES
Unless a client has made a decision to change, his or her exercise attempts are likely to fail.
Motivational interviewing:
Refers to a method of speaking with people in a way that motivates them to make a decision to change their behavior
Is designed to show supportive concern while challenging a client’s current behavior
May help clients feel the need to become more active and make a decision to start exercising
Is used by a personal trainer to create awareness in clients that a sedentary lifestyle will likely cause health problems
What stage of the process is this used in?
Occasionally, personal trainers may find themselves working with clients who are not ready to commit to an exercise program. They may have been pushed into trying a personal-training session by a friend or family member, or they may know they should exercise but be unwilling to exert the effort required to become more active. While it is tempting to forge ahead and tell these clients what they should be doing, the personal trainer’s advice may be wasted on clients who have not yet made a commitment to exercise.

19. MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING TECHNIQUES
Using direct questions, the personal trainer can make clients realize that good health is important, and that a sedentary lifestyle is actually dangerous to their health and well-being.
Personal trainers who use motivational interviewing will be most successful if they:
Ask probing questions
Listen effectively
Provide educational information
Keep the conversation friendly
Build self-confidence
Encourage clients to generate ideas
A personal trainer should monitor clients’ responses to motivational interviewing attempts. If the personal trainer senses that the client has stopped listening, it is time to stop talking. Instead, the personal trainer can ask clients what they are thinking about or if they have any questions. A motivational interview can feel somewhat uncomfortable for personal trainers who tend to avoid conflict, but mild discomfort may help clients feel the need to change. The personal trainer’s job in a motivational interview is to be supportive of the client (he or she is okay), but to challenge sedentary behavior (the behavior is not okay, and could be harmful to his or her health).

20. ENHANCING CLIENT SUCCESS
Once the client is ready to begin exercising, the personal trainer can enhance client success in many ways:
Setting up self-monitoring systems
Using individualized teaching techniques
Allowing clients the opportunity for focused practice

21. ENHANCING CLIENT SUCCESS
One of the most effective ways to support behavioral change is by self-monitoring.
A personal trainer can support self-monitoring by:
Offering the client a system for recording supervised and unsupervised exercise sessions, such as a workout card or electronic system
Recording the exercise, resistance, repetitions, and sets of a workout, and/or the time, intensity, or heart rate
Self-monitoring also:
Gives clients a more objective view of their behaviors and increases self-awareness
Enhances client–trainer communication as the personal trainer reviews the workout record and asks questions about what is or is not working .

22. ENHANCING CLIENT SUCCESS
Understanding how people learn most effectively can help personal trainers provide sound instruction to diverse groups of clients.
Trainers should provide individualized teaching techniques:
Auditory learners may like a lot of explanation or ask several questions.
Visual learners learn by watching and appreciate longer demonstrations with less talking.
Kinesthetic learners learn by doing and needing to feel the movement before catching on.
Once a trainer learns what works best for each client, he or she should emphasize the preferred learning style.
Additionally, teaching pace should also be modified for each client. While some catch on to new skills quickly, others do so more slowly and require more patience and support on the part of the personal trainer. .

23. ENHANCING CLIENT SUCCESS

24. ENHANCING CLIENT SUCCESS
Tell me and I’ll forget
Show me and I may remember
Involve me and I’ll understand
--Chinese Proverb
Tell, show, do approach
Motor skills will be taught most effectively if the following points are kept in mind:
Remind beginners that it takes time and practice to improve motor skills
Introduce new skills slowly and clearly:
Keep explanations short and clear.
Briefly demonstrate the skill and allow clients time to watch.
Allow clients the opportunity for focused practice:
Once the personal trainer has “told and shown,” the client is ready to “do,” or perform the motor skill.
This proverb should be understood by all personal trainers as they teach exercises to clients.
Motor learning is the process of acquiring and improving motor skills. Many adult clients are quite self-conscious in the motor-skill domain, especially if they have had little experience with sports and physical activity. Personal trainers with a strong background in physical education and sport are often surprised at the lack of motor ability they see in many adult clients.
Many clients new to exercise feel self-conscious participating in a personal-training session. They may feel out of place, awkward, and clumsy. The personal trainer must help new clients feel at home in the exercise environment, and reassure clients learning new skills that it is okay to be a beginner, and that with practice they will eventually feel comfortable and competent.
A personal trainer may often combine the telling and showing phases of skill introduction, demonstrating while explaining the skill. When describing certain movements, the personal trainer should focus on explaining the goal of the movement rather than giving distracting details.

25. “TELL, SHOW, DO”
By using the “tell, show, do” method, teach a friend, family member, or client an exercise he or she has never performed before.
Ask the client for feedback on the experience and brainstorm ways to improve this aspect of your training sessions.

26. GIVING APPROPRIATE FEEDBACK
Once a client has tried the skill, the personal trainer should respond by giving helpful feedback.
The feedback should do three things:
Reinforce what was done well
Correct errors
Motivate clients to continue practicing and improving
When providing feedback, keep these points in mind:
Correcting the more “negative” points should be sandwiched between reinforcement and motivation.
Limit feedback to a few simple points and avoid information overload.
Correct the most important errors first:
Those involving safety
Those that occur earliest in the movement sequence
Those that are fundamental to the exercise
Phrase feedback positively; tell clients what to do instead of what not to do:
“Keep breathing” rather than “Don’t hold your breath”
Use tactile (touch) feedback with permission as appropriate or necessary.

27. EFFECTIVE MODELING STRATEGIES
Personal trainers should model the same healthful lifestyle advice they are giving to their clients:
Enhances credibility of the trainer and promotes the notion that physical fitness will deliver benefits that are worth the cost
Promotes the attitude that physical activity can feel good, reduce stress, and build confidence
Emphasizes exercise as a means for improving health rather than as punishment
Emphasizes improvement in the quality of life, rather than exercise being something painful one must do to lose weight or look better
Emphasizes self-acceptance along with self-discipline
Promotes a healthy attitude when working with younger and often impressionable clients

28. Contracts can also be problematic:
BEHAVORIAL CONTRACTS
Behavior-change contracts may be motivational for some clients and typically spell out the behavior the client is expected to perform:
Contracts that offer extrinsic motivation, such as a reward, are helpful to get clients started.
Contracts with process goals work better than those with product goals.
Contracts can also be problematic:
May instill a sense of frustration when high expectations are not met

29. STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Cultural competence can be defined as the ability to communicate and work effectively with people from different cultures.
Personal trainers:
May find it takes more effort to build trust with people who differ from themselves in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, size, socioeconomic status, educational background, ability, and fitness level
Can develop cultural competence by taking time to learn about clients’ beliefs, attitudes, and lifestyles
Can improve their rapport-building ability by learning as much as possible about each client, and by trying to understand clients different from themselves

30. STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Building rapport with some clients may require extra effort:
Those reluctant to begin exercising
Clients who are afraid of getting injured
Those who are depressed or anxious about their health
Clients with negative experiences, prejudices against athletes or physical educators
Some clients may have less trust in young people, old people, women, people who appear to be overweight, or people of a different ethnicity
Nevertheless, personal trainers who behave professionally and try to understand their clients often win the hearts and trust of even the most reluctant clients.
Personal trainers should mention their certifications, credentials, various training programs, and other continuing education opportunities they pursue or have completed.

31. STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Empathy and rapport evolve over time from good communication between the personal trainer and client.
Personal trainers develop empathy with a client when they put themselves in the client’s position:
Willingness to try to understand is usually appreciated by the client
An attempt to understand is conveyed through:
Effective listening with an open, non-judgmental mind
Asking questions
Paraphrasing, reflecting, and summarizing what was heard

32. STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Understanding empathy and professional boundaries
Empathy:
Occurs when a trainer demonstrates understanding and acceptance toward the client
Can be demonstrated without leaving one’s role as a professional
Personal Involvement:
Occurs when a trainer becomes friends or enters into a romantic relationship with the client
Causes difficulty in maintaining a client–trainer relationship
The professional effectiveness of a personal trainer is undermined when he or she becomes too personally involved.
The client–trainer relationship should cease immediately if a romantic relationship has developed.
Over time, personal trainers develop certain boundaries that allow them to behave professionally and express empathy without becoming best friends with clients.
When personal trainers and clients work together for an extended period of time, it is normal for each to experience a feeling of friendliness toward the other. What is appropriate professional behavior for one trainer may not feel right to another.
For example, should a personal trainer attend a party given by a client?
Most personal trainers could participate professionally in such a situation, while others might feel uncomfortable, or at least unable to really enjoy the party. In general, personal trainers should express empathy for situations and information pertaining to the client–trainer relationship.
When clients start chatting about intimate issues, trainers can keep their distance and not feel compelled to show understanding or even a strong interest, especially if a client is particularly talkative.

33. STAGES OF LEARNING
Personal trainers must learn to provide helpful direction to clients through the three stages of learning:
______________________ stage of learning:
Occurs most frequently in the early stages of the client–trainer relationship
Clients are trying to understand the new skill
Movements are often uncoordinated or jerky
Be careful to not overwhelm clients by teaching too many new skills
Use the “tell, show, do” teaching technique
Associative stage of learning:
Clients begin to master the basics and are ready for specific feedback to help refine the skill
Balance giving an appropriate amount of feedback
_______________________ stage of learning:
Clients are performing motor skills effectively and naturally
Teach less and monitor more

34. CONTINUED CLIENT INTERACTIONS
Personal trainers must continue to build productive relationships with clients throughout all of their daily interactions by using the following techniques:
Periodically reinforce credentials to help clients perceive personal trainers as educated and competent.
Prepare for each session by cultivating a mindful focus:
Review the materials on upcoming clients and set goals.
Allow for effective listening and fresh energy with each client.
Ask clients for feedback.
Use electronic communication channels with discretion:
Give clear directions for contact.
Maintain all social media sites or pages in a professional manner.
Ensure training sessions are fun and enjoyable, though playfulness should never “cross the line” or detract from the exercise plan.