One of our key roles as personal trainers is learning how to motivate personal training clients to stay focused on their long-term fitness goals. It’s key to helping people achieve the desired results (whether it’s to lose weight, feel healthier or improve their mental health). 

But, no matter how motivated clients are, there will inevitably be a point where they’ll feel discouraged or pessimistic and need that extra push to stay on track. To help you get fresh inspiration, we’ve rounded up 7 ways to motivate your personal training clients to help them stay engaged and moving towards their goals. 

1. Inspire clients on social media

Social media is a great way to boost client motivation. And, as a personal trainer, your clients are likely already following you. So, leverage that to the fullest to help them stay on track.

Some great ways to help your clients stay motivated through social media are to post motivational videos or quotes to get them inspired. One way to do this is by posting a quick video or reel highlighting a client’s transformation. Another is to share words of wisdom about your journey and a time you struggled to feel motivated but managed to push forward anyway. Doing so will help your clients relate and feel inspired to persevere when their motivation is low.

2. Build a community

Building an online community is another great way to motivate your PT clients. We highly recommend growing a community of followers who want to be inspired by you. It creates a sense of collectivism and accountability to others in the group which is a great way to motivate people to work towards their goals. In no time, you’ll see group members praise each other’s success and challenge each other to stay on track. Online communities are a great way to motivate clients to work harder, push further and feel inspired by others. 

3. Set up fitness challenges

Fitness challenges are a great way to hold clients accountable and celebrate their progress along their fitness journey. Being rewarded for hard work helps clients feel motivated and, in turn, gets them working even harder. 

Fitness challenges are also fun and help get PT clients involved and excited. If you have a gym, you can set up small tangible rewards like a free smoothie or gift card when they hit a certain milestone. You can also motivate clients with badges for hitting certain fitness goals directly in Trainerize. Either way, rewards help people feel accomplished and successful in their long term fitness journey

4. Use a management software app

A management software app like Trainerize lets you interact with PT clients in a way you can’t inside the gym. It allows clients to connect with you outside the gym and gives them access to extra materials like nutrition plans to help them stay excited, motivated and on track towards their goals. 

Clients easily forget how far they’ve come when working towards long-term fitness goals. On bad days, an app is a great way for clients to look back on their progress to get that extra boost of motivation and inspire them to stay physically active and moving towards their goals.

5. Be positive

A simple but guaranteed way to keep your clients motivated is to maintain an upbeat A simple but guaranteed way to keep your clients motivated is to maintain an upbeat attitude yourself. As a fitness professional, you want to be that positive chip on your clients’ shoulders, encouraging them with praise and celebrating their small wins and progress. Doing so helps clients stay motivated to keep pushing towards their goals. It also helps people believe in themselves.

6. Help clients set attainable goals

Setting attainable goals helps you motivate your clients by breaking down their long-term goals into manageable goals and targets. For example,. If someone wants to lose 100 pounds, that’s a big goal. Helping them see the change in their eating patterns and the accomplishment of losing 5 then 10 pounds etc., will help them stay motivated. Rather than thinking, “oh, I only lost five, I still have 95 to go…”

The key to setting attainable goals is to find their motivation and help them keep that top of mind as they work through the challenges and hurdles to get there. 

TZ tip: try motivating clients with time-driven goals. Maybe someone who can barely plank has a goal to hold a plank for a whole minute. Set a goal to achieve this in 6 weeks, track their progress, and celebrate when they can hold it for 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds etc. It’ll motivate them to see their progress and success. 

7. Track your clients’ progress

Finally, tracking your clients’ progress will help motivate them to reach their goals. People can get so focused on their long-term goals that they start to feel discouraged or like they’ll never achieve them. 

Trainerize helps by tracking clients’ workouts, targets, meals and progress. The progress photo feature, in particular, greatly boosts motivation on those days when working out feels impossible. 

Trainerize also allows you to customize workouts, track meals and macros, skype with clients and send personal messages. All important ways to keep your clients on track and motivated toward their goals. 

Ready to take your motivation game to the next level? Download your free 30 day trial and help your clients stay motivated and see their progress any time of the day!!