As an online personal trainer, I find it very important to test out new and innovative ways to track client progress and keep them motivated to complete their scheduled workouts.  One issue that an online trainer might be faced with on a regular basis is to keep clients logging in the online personal training software, such as your Trainerize site, to record their workouts.  A frequent response/excuse I hear for this is “I wasn’t near my computer to track my workout, but don’t worry I still did it!” or “it takes too long”.  Although that could be true and you do want to trust that your clients are telling the truth, this makes it very difficult as an online trainer to track how your client’s are doing in their workouts. It’s understandable that some people just aren’t technology savvy; however, if they are signing up for online personal training, I think it’s safe to assume they probably have access to a computer or a smart phone on a daily basis.  This means they should have no excuse to not log in at some point throughout the day to track their workouts, but it seems their is always some kind of excuse.

Here are 2 Tips to Get your Clients Logging in on a Regular Basis:

1. Help clients see the value

In email conversations with client’s who are not logging their workouts, try sincerely asking them questions about why they are finding this difficult to do?  Is the program to confusing to use? Does it take too much time?  Perhaps offer a short tutorial session to go through it again with them and make sure they know how easy it is to use, we just need to get them in the habit.

Try saying something along these lines:

“I really think tracking your workouts will help get you to your goals faster and this also helps me see how well you are doing and let’s me know when it’s time to switch up your workouts to avoid plateau.  I really want to make sure you are getting everything out of my online training program, how about we schedule a quick Skype session to go over the program again to ensure you know how easy it is to use”.

2. Reward client progress

Offer rewards to clients when tracking their workouts for 1 week, 2 weeks, or even a month straight (whichever you choose).  This comes down to bribery and positive reinforcement like when dealing with children or animals, but if it works then why not?  If you have to motivate clients by offering a prize or reward then go for it.

I have found that even in my own personal training business some people just need even a little bit of a rewards program to get them to complete their workouts.  Part of our job as a personal trainer is to find the right form of motivation for each client, because everyone is different.  Some people will be motivated by constantly displaying strength gains in the gym, being able to run further/faster, dreaming on that chocolate chip cookie or glass of wine they are earning on their cheat day, or in this case to win a prize.  An idea might be to offer 20% off the cost of their next month of training if they track every workout for the month.  This might cost you a little bit of money for that month, but that’s how long it will take to form a habit. Looking at the big picture, once you have that client in the habit of tracking workouts you hopefully wont have to worry about it for the next month.  This means they will keep up with their workouts (hopefully without the bribe this time) and in turn, remain clients for a longer period of time because they will be making progress making you more money in the long run.

Their are many ways to try and motivate clients to log in to your online program and track their workouts, these are just two ways that I have found to be successful.  Do you have other techniques that you have found to work? Let me know and I will share those techniques with everyone else in my next blog post.