"The Roundtable Discussion" | Brought to you by standAPARTfitness.com!

Roundtable Discussion #18

Does the type of personality a client or athlete possess influence the way you design their program or a workout? How so?

Roger White:

"Personality does not come into play when designing a program. A client's personality may influence how I would coach and correct, I try to acheive improvements based on principal's of exercise science." If a client has issues with my program, I would end our training agreement in a professional manor."

Steve Payne:

Within the scope of my business and professional acumen I do not place much emphasis on the personality traits and types of the individuals I work with when it comes to the design and implementation of their particular training regimen. I am more interested in their physical strengths and weaknesses, and in particular their goals, when I train them. their personality types may play a role in the "mode of motivation" or encouragement (or lack thereof) they receive from me, but it does not directly influence the task at hand: either their performance enhancement, weight training desires or physical appearance goals.

Rick Karboviak:

Yes, a personality certainly affects the exercises & choice of frequency I'll prescribe. Certain factors like motivation and previous dedication will dictate what I setup. Its pretty basic for me: newbies and ones with past failures with fitness get more of a simple approach, while those who are more experienced will tend to get more challenging exercises and frequencies, to match their needs. Attitude definitely affects the amount of dedication and perseverance they will show. I feel the more complicated you make things with challenging stuff, the more likely they will become disappointed. Save the tough stuff for when their attitude has changed, and they are looking for it from you.

Robert dos Remedios:

I train entire groups of athletes (teams) so I have a little different situation than most trainers. That being said, I do however have to take the general personality of the group and go from there. While I may not necessarily change my program design or the actual exercise selection process, I will take a different approach in my motivational strategies. Needless to say, it is very different motivating 80-100 football players than say 14 women's basketball players. The funny thing is that I often take totally different approaches to motivate my different female teams. The example I always give is my volleyball females vs. my softball females. My volleyball girls get after it and it is as easy to motivate them to push themselves, increase workloads, etc--as it is with football. With my softball girls, I find myself playing psychological games to get them to increase loads or push themselves that little bit further. Often times, I 'accidently' miscalculate loads in order for them to increase their set loads of specific exercises. Other times, I may find myself doing more psyching-up with these groups. I don't think one can underestimate the role of psychology in strength and conditioning.

Anthony Renna:

Absolutely, I always take the client's personality into account when I design a program. Everyone is different and they should be treated differently. I wouldn't train a soccer player the same as a golfer, or a male the same as a female, so why wouldn't I let personality influence my program design?

If a client has a hard time with motivation or is intimidated by the gym, they need to be progressed a little slower with exercises that will encourage success. Successful execution of the program always builds "gym" self esteem and will keep clients coming back.

Clients that have no fear are usually open to try new things, so progressions can be a little faster and different tools (kettlebells, stability balls, BOSU, etc.) can be introduced quicker.

Clients that have a their own ideas in their head about program design almost have to be tricked. Sometimes I have corrective exercises that I need to add to their program to develop better functional movement patterns (from the Functional Movement Screen) and those exercises have nothing to do with weight loss so these clients will resist (if that's their goal). I will "sneak in" the corrective exercises during rest periods.

For clients that hate cardio, I might do some circuit training with decreased rest periods so they get more of a cardio workout.

Although I have certain protocols that I use, and I don't want the "lunatics running the asylum," I will change programs around with personality in mind.

John Izzo:

In the past, I have been very direct to challenge adn motivate my clients - both females adn males. Usually and surprisingliy, the females alwasy responded better to "in-your-face" challeneges and feedback. From the beginning, I always try to keep my distance with clients and create a "I better not let this guy down" feeling for them.

As teh otehrs have stated, there are also times I have to sit with someone and talk about life outside the gym to get them to open up and let go of their inhibitions in the gym. I have found that most times when general population clients are scared, they "hold-back" in their training and I can't have that. So, I have to break down hesitation, doubts, and apprehension. Sometimes, this takes 1 session or 1 week or 1 month. But once its done...its Focus City, Izzoland. :)

Narina Prokosch:

I believe that consideration of a client's/athletes personality is an integral part of designing a program or a workout. In our studio we work with have both general fitness clients and those individuals who are regular participants in a sporting activity; although not at an elite level. I find that those individuals that are very active outside the gym are also those individuals that love to work hard and enjoy being pushed to their limits in their workouts. These are also the clients that enjoy and look forward to each new challenge in their program. I do think, however if you prepare a client properly and progress their training methodically and safely, almost any client will have the confidence to attempt a new exercise, a new program or any new challenge with success. And each small success can be built on as their training progresses month to month and year to year.

There are also those clients that do arrive on your doorstep with a host of medical issues, old injuries or in a deconditioned state. These are the clients that will be treated much differently than the very fit, active client. The older, deconditioned client usually does not have any exercise experience to draw on and is usually timid of beginning a strength training program. It is especially important with these clients that you do not overface them with workouts that they are unable to perform with success; let alone the risk of injury. Even these very timid, older clients can eventually become one of your confident clients that also will look forward to any challenge. The path with these clients is just a bit longer.

A good trainer will be able to assess a clients' personality very quickly and adapt not only the whole program or workout, but also their own training style in how they present themselves or the workouts to this client.

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