ACE Personal Trainer Manual

5th Edition
Chapter 3: Communication and Teaching Techniques
Lesson 3
 STAGES OF THE CLIENT–TRAINER RELATIONSHIP

• Successful personal
trainers consistently
demonstrate excellent
communication and
teaching techniques
while working closely
with their clients to
understand their
concerns, formulate
health and fitness
goals, design effective
fitness programs, and
teach exercise skills.

© 2014 ACE
 STAGES OF THE CLIENT–TRAINER RELATIONSHIP

• Four stages:
1. Rapport − a relationship marked
by mutual understanding and
trust
2. Investigation – reviewing clients’
health and fitness data, test
results, medical clearance
information, and clients’ goals
and exercise history
3. Planning – designing an exercise
program in partnership with the
client, using both listening and
teaching skills
4. Action – when clients are ready
to begin working out, and have
the ability to effectively learn
new motor skills

© 2014 ACE
 BUILDING RAPPORT

• Most people have a “gut response” when

meeting another person (first impression), so
ensuring a positive experience is critical:
 Be professional.
o Appearance is fit, neat, clean, with
appropriate attire.
 Ensure a clean environment.
 Be on time, organized, and ready.
 Be enthusiastic, interested, caring, and
focused on the client.
 Encourage questions and answer clearly.
• Personal trainers should always conduct
themselves appropriately, even when not
planning to be in the public eye, since
opportunities to meet future clients may
unexpectedly arise.

© 2014 ACE
 BUILDING RAPPORT

• Verbal communication
• Speaking professionally with clients also effectively
builds rapport:
 Speak clearly and use language that is easily
understood.
 Avoid “talking down” to clients.
 Use exercise science vocabulary, but be prepared to
define terms that may be unfamiliar to clients.
 Enhance verbal content with visual information
that illustrates concepts.
 Exercise demonstrations may accompany verbal
explanations.
• Additionally, it is important to analyze voice quality:
 A weak, hesitant, or soft voice does not inspire
client confidence.
 A loud, tense voice tends to make people nervous.
 Aim to develop a firm and confident voice to
communicate professionalism.
© 2014 ACE
 BUILDING RAPPORT

• Nonverbal
communication
• While clients hear a
personal trainer’s
words, they seek to
verify verbal content
by evaluating
appearance, facial
expressions, body
language, and tone
of voice.
What type of body position could be seen as
aggressiveness by the trainer?
© 2014 ACE
 INVESTIGATION STAGE

• Rapport continues to build during the investigation stage,

as personal trainers gather information from their clients.
• Clients who sense that the personal trainer is a professional
who has their best interests at heart are likely to be more
honest and comfortable during the investigation stage:
 Gathering information
 Demonstrating effective listening
 Responding to difficult disclosures

© 2014 ACE
 INVESTIGATION STAGE

• Gathering
information
 Personal trainers
should use the
investigation stage
not only to learn
about a client’s
current health and
fitness, but also to
understand a
client’s exercise
likes and dislikes.

© 2014 ACE
 INVESTIGATION STAGE

• Demonstrating effective listening

 Effective listening occurs when the personal
trainer listens to a client carefully,
empathetically, and with an open mind,
trying to put him- or herself in the client’s
shoes.
• When trying to listen effectively, personal
trainers should:
 Give clients their full attention
 Close communication occurs most easily in
quiet, private spaces that limit distraction
 Direct the conversation by asking clients
questions
 Maintain appropriate eye contact, use
proper body language, and take notes as
necessary

© 2014 ACE
 INVESTIGATION STAGE

•Personal trainers can also demonstrate good listening

skills by responding to clients’ answers in several ways.
 Encouraging
 Paraphrasing
 Questioning
 Reflecting
 Summarizing

© 2014 ACE
 INVESTIGATION STAGE: RESPONDING TO DIFFICULT DISCLOSURES

• Responding to difficult
questions
 Personal trainers are
sometimes unsure of
how to respond when
clients share specific
information.
 Follow the client’s lead
as to whether he or she
wants to say anything
more on a topic.

© 2014 ACE
 PLANNING STAGE

• While personal trainers move into a

more active role during this stage, they
must continue to listen to clients’
responses to their ideas and
suggestions.
• Client adherence is usually better when
clients help take responsibility for
exercise program design.
• The planning stage generally moves
through the following steps:
 Setting goals
 Generating and discussing alternatives
 Formulating a plan
 Evaluating the exercise program
© 2014 ACE
 PLANNING STAGE

• Effective goals are SMART goals

 Specific: Goals must be clear and unambiguous, stating specifically
what should be accomplished.
 Measurable: Goals must be measurable so that clients can see
whether they are making progress.
 Attainable: Goals should be realistically attainable by the individual
client.
o The achievement of attaining a goal reinforces commitment to the
program and encourages the client to continue exercising.
o Attaining goals is also a testimony to the personal trainer’s
effectiveness.
 Relevant: Goals must be relevant to the particular interests, needs,
and abilities of the individual client.
 Time-bound: Goals must contain estimated timelines for completion.
• Clients should be evaluated regularly to monitor progress toward
goals.

© 2014 ACE
 PLANNING STAGE

• The personal trainer should be sure to include process and

product goals:
 A ______________goal is something a client does, such as
completing a certain number of workouts per week.
 A ______________goal is something achieved, like weight loss
or a resistance lifted on a strength-training machine.
• The following indicators may be incorporated into SMART
goals:
 Emotional health
 Resting heart rate, or heart rate during a submaximal workload
 Muscular strength and endurance, balance, skill level, or
flexibility
 Walking test
 Medical indicators
 Body weight, body size, or body composition
© 2014 ACE
 PLANNING STAGE

• Generating and discussing alternatives

 Once goals have been clarified, the personal trainer and client
are ready to generate and discuss alternative ways of
achieving these goals.
 The ultimate goal for every client is adherence to the exercise
program.
 Ideally, the client finds the exercise program achievable and
rewarding and continues working with the personal trainer.
 When working with a client for one session or a few sessions,
the program must be simple enough that a client can perform
the program on his or her own.
 When a long-term relationship is anticipated, the program
can be more complex.
 As the relationship continues, the client should be
encouraged to take the lead in what seems realistic,
especially in terms of time commitment and scheduling.

© 2014 ACE
 PLANNING STAGE

• Personal trainers often fail to realize

how intimidating a fitness facility can
be to a newcomer.
• Some guidance on “fitting in” is
especially important:
 Write down the plan and give it to
the client; it should include all the
information that the client needs to
get started.
 Take the opportunity to help the
client feel prepared to begin an
exercise program.
 Offer advice to help the client feel
more comfortable:
o What to wear
o Where to go
o Facility etiquette or customs

© 2014 ACE
 EVALUATING THE EXERCISE PROGRAM

• Exercise program evaluation should occur

regularly:
 Review client exercise records regularly during
the session and discuss what is working and
what needs to change.
 Reassess the client periodically to measure
progress toward goals.
 Evaluate both exercise challenge and adherence.
 Modify the program as necessary to provide a
more realistic or challenging stimulus.
 If adherence is faltering, the personal trainer
and client should discuss what is causing
problems and revise the exercise program
design as necessary.

© 2014 ACE