I was interviewed recently by a chiropractor friend who was curious about how we go about sharing what we do--and why--with new or prospective clients. He is a client of ours, and really believes in it, but was having trouble formulating 'sound bites' that he could use to talk to his patients about our training.
I realized that he was facing the very same challenge that we run into in trying to bridge the conceptual gap for our 'flock' (which is how we like to think of our clients...) between fitness/training that truly elevates their life experience, and the 'performative fitness' trends that most of us are used to finding when we go look for a fitness coach/trainer.
It's such a dense, murky topic, and Hannah and I definitely approach it from multiple angles.
The key is that everyone will come in the door with their own ideas about fitness based on their unique history, biases, beliefs, etc., and so their personal why is as individual as their finger print. That said, I identified 5 'reasons' that I often employ when engaging with prospective or new clients seem to resonate with folx from all backgrounds and rest on a solid scientific basis.
Take a gander, and let me know which ones speak to you!
Movement is how our bodies maintain themselves This is probably the single most important point, especially during shelter-in-place times. If people are stuck thinking of exercise as just for losing weight, or improving performance, this can be a good way to remind them that exercise and training are much more fundamental than any "fitness-y" goals. For people dealing with pain, the movements may need to be a little more specific, but we love engaging people in learning how to navigate these restrictions.
When it comes to fitness, consistency is MUCH more important than intensity So much fitness marketing is aimed at maximizing intensity (for a whole slew of competing reasons), but that often means: a.) exercise has a higher incidence of actually causing injury (rather than mitigating injury), b.) people stay away from exercise at all ("If I can't do it intensely, I might as well NOT do it."). Instead, if consistency--actually building a movement practice--can be the focus, people can better conceptualize moving more!
Cells love to be loaded (AND it's literally how we can communicate to our tissues) This is for the more nerdy/analytical thinkers in the crowd, but can be a real "aha!" for people. Rather than framing training as merely about learning how to squat or do push-ups better, this point really helps folks connect with what's going on at the micro-level (ie in the cells). It also can be a way to describe the kind of training we do: "TFA will help you actually communicate to your tissue, turning on the stuff that's 'asleep', and helping the over-active stuff learn how to relax."
The key to a happy relationship with exercise is finding ways of moving that you enjoy Many, many people (in our experience) have been burned by their exercise/fitness experiences, thru injury, weird social interactions/expectations, or just plain burn-out. Letting them know that we are here to help them enjoy and live their lives better can be really reassuring when they're looking into getting started with training.
Healthy, resilient joints are a requirement for any movement tasks Sometimes, folks don't quite make the connection that any and all human movement happens at their joints (I sure didn't have this realization before FRC!). So, if their joints are compromised in any way (by pain, limited range of motion, etc), their movement will be constrained. But that also means that if they can improve the function of their joints, ALL of their movement using that joint gets better.
We always love talking with folx individually about if this kind of training might be a good fit, and how to get started. Seriously, just let us know and one of us will actually respond (gasp!).
Happy moving this weekend! Coach Will