Nosy!

I ask my clients all kinds of nosy questions when we start working together (not that I necessarily stop after that, but eventually they get used to me…), but I do it to help me figure out how to make their workouts better for them.  In the spirit of DIY, here are a few of those questions and why I ask them so others can play along at home.

 

1.     What do you do now for exercise?  This gives me an idea of what the person in front of me likes to do and where we are starting from.  If they run marathons for fun and climb mountains every Thursday, I will design a very different workout than I will for someone who tells me they walk to the kitchen from the couch during commercials.  It also gives me a hint or two about where they might need to be encouraged—someone who lifts weights every day but never ever stretches might need a little help with flexibility.

2.     What have you done in the past?  This question allows people to remember that back in the day they really loved rollerblading or basketball or flamenco.  That can spark some interest.  It also lets me know what their bodies remember doing, which helps me know what skills I can build on.

3.     What do you like to do?  Notice that this is not the first question.  When I ask it first, I generally hear, “Nothing.”  The other benefits of this question are pretty obvious:  I want to design workouts that my clients don’t hate and sneak in the stuff that they don’t love but need to do anyway.  And even if they answer me with totally non-fitness-related stuff, I know what is important to them, which helps me know how to motivate them.

 

It is rare that the answers I get from asking these questions stick to the topic.  I usually get a lot more information about what they really hate, how many kids or grandkids they have, when the busy times of day or week or month are for them, how they broke their arm in third grade, and all kinds of other stuff.  This is important work.  I don’t work out with bodies; I work out with humans who have needs to meet, tastes to consider, and hearts to make happy.