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Failing to reach your weight loss goals?
This article was first published in BODYLIFE magazine. Why the majority of gym users fail to meet their fitness goals is perhaps the most fundamental question facing the Fitness Industry today. Pam Rigden BSc (Hons) Sports Sciences, MA, YMCA Personal Trainer, NLP Master Practitioner, Coach and Trainer addresses the issue from an NLP perspective
It is not difficult to see that the annual fitness quest for many gym users has become part of a pattern that doesn’t get them the results they want. But what if we could provide our customers with results, real results, and not just facilities – wouldn’t the industry as a whole see unprecedented expansion? Certainly, if we believe that we can increase profitability by enhancing the service we offer we need first to understand why we are failing to deliver.
An understanding of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) however opens up the debate and offers new insights into why the incongruity exists between what we believe we offer the customer and what people actually get out of the service. If we consider the service we currently offer using Robert Dilts’ Neurological Levels model (1) where we are going wrong becomes rapidly obvious
Identity – Sense of Self
Beliefs and Values – the beliefs and values we hold about ourselves, others and what we do
Capability – How we do it
Behaviour – What we do
Environment – Where we do it Currently we are concerned only with the client’s Behaviour and Capabilities, that is, with what they are doing, or not doing (as the case may be), and how they do it. We recommend that they take more exercise (Behavior), teach them how to use the gym (Capability) and provide wonderful spaces (Environment) for them to exercise in. At no point do staff on the gym floor intervene, or understand how to intervene, at a higher level (Identity and Beliefs and Values). As such the behavioural approach , as practised throughout the Industry, is severely limited in that it fails to consider the mind-body connection. In order to ensure success we need to work with the client’s thoughts and feelings, we need to allow for who clients’ perceive themselves to be, and the values and beliefs they hold, in order to successfully facilitate the process of change. What NLP offers is a more intergrated approach to helping clients manage change and effective techniques which address and resolve deeper issues. Most gym users fall at the first hurdle in terms of how likely they are to succeed – the vast majority of people turning up at the gym being motivated by wanting to move Away From their current state rather than moving Toward their goal. This is seldom as successful as it doesn’t allow for change at a neurological level, the client remaining focussed on what it is they don’t want rather than what they do. Our first concern then is to identify what exactly motivates individual gym users and if they are desparate to escape where are now we can help them shift their thinking. Once trained in NLP gym floor staff will have the skills necessary to work in this way; they know how to achieve a greater degree of rapport with their clients and notice what is going on for that client in a more sophisticated way. Encouraged to use powerful coaching questions during the induction process an NLP trained Personal Trainer for example will be able to gather information more effectively, identify what motivates their client and select the appropriate techniques to support that client This would include assisting the client in setting a positive outcome and using techniques such as the Fit, Healthy Future Time Line . This will help the client shift their thinking toward their goal rather than dwelling on their current state. They might select a Habit Breaking technique such as The Swish Pattern ; this technique is successful because it installs new neurological choices for a new behaviour rather than just removing old habits. The technique uses the existing trigger of the bad habit to create the movement and momentum Towards a new behaviour guaranteeing success. Alternatively they might choose the Removing Unwanted Behaviour Pattern which replaces an unwanted behaviour with three more user friendly alternatives. which will both satisfy the positive intention of the original behaviour and serve the client better. Having worked with a client using the above techniques, it is useful to reinforce the new behaviour with a technique called The New Behaviour Generator. This pattern allows the client to mentally rehearse the new behaviours before actually trying them out, making it easier for them to adopt.
I now understand that the ‘doing everything right / getting nowhere fast’ phenomenon can be simply explained – if a client ‘sees’ themselves as being an overweight person and they have difficulty believing that they can ever be anybody other than an overweight person – their attempts will almost certainly fall short of what they could achieve. It really is a question of mind over matter - or not - as the case may be.
On a more personal level, I believe we are enormously privileged in our position as Fitness Professionals – on a daily basis we are given the opportunity to help people effect real and lasting change in their lives. That is a challenge that we might strive to fulfil to the best of our ability.
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This intel was contributed by Pam Rigden
Pam Rigden
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May, 2012
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