Establishing rapport and maintaining rapport is a critical component of any personal trainer, client relationship. The client must feel comfortable with their trainer and be able to communicate openly with them in order for the relationship to be most productive. In regards to adaptive personal trainers working within the special needs population this emphasis on rapport is even more pronounced. Adaptive Exercise offers exercise autism therapy in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Our personal trainers focus from the point of introduction on building rapport and trust with each and every client. Rapport that will persists and continue to grow over the course of their personal training.
Working with such a niche population within the fitness industry means that we must be highly skilled and proficient in working with people with autism and other special needs. After doing this for a number of years, we have become increasingly aware of the fact that a large percentage of the clients we work with have little to no experience in structured exercise. Some of our clients have participated in unified sports, adaptive physical education or in some active leisure activities. But very few families report their child working with a personal trainer or exercising in a gym. This means our personal trainers must be aware of this and to be sensitive to their client beginning a new type of activity. Our exercise autism therapy in Worcester County was the first specialized personal training company for people with special needs in the area. So it makes sense that very few of our clients would have a lengthy history of exercise. Traditional personal trainers may not be skilled or comfortable in working with an athlete with special needs. On top of this traditional fitness centers and big box gyms are usually crowded, loud and less than ideal environments for people with autism and other special needs.
Adaptive Exercise offers our autism therapy in Worcester County to families in their own home. This is a great option for clients who may feel uncomfortable going to the gym. Clients can begin their fitness journey in a familiar and comfortable environment. Which can go a long way in contributing to rapport. If your family does not own fitness equipment or have a home gym, that is perfectly ok. Adaptive Exercise provides all the required equipment to participate in our specialized personal training. This equipment was carefully selected for safety, functionality and affordability. Our hope is that our personal training will translate into our clients living more physically active lifestyles. Because we are not using expensive fitness equipment, families can purchase the same equipment used by our trainers. Then clients can work on the same skills outside of sessions.
Rapport is important from the start of the first session, but it is important to continue to grow the relationship throughout the personal training. Over the course of an athlete working with their trainer they will learn new exercises and skills, improve their strength and exercise performance. This means that the trainer will be placing more challenging instruction over time. In order to do this effectively the trainer must have rapport with their client. Our exercise autism therapy in Worcester County, is similar to other forms of therapy where the client, therapist relationship is the focus. Whether your teaching ABA, Speech Language Pathology or adaptive personal training, you client is going to encounter pitfalls and challenges. The personal trainer must be able to encourage, show empathy and communicate with their client in these times. Adaptive personal training is often not a linear progression. Clients will progress in some areas, and regress in other areas. We must be prepared for this and not only know what to do as an exercise instructor, but as a therapist as well.
The road to establishing rapport begins before even meeting the client, during the intake interview. Our trainers learn everything from their client’s interests, to their exercise history and abilities Then when the adaptive personal trainer begins working with a client they should introduce themselves and tell their client what their role is. Our clients present a wide range of physical, cognitive and communicative abilities. So how we introduce ourselves and the language we use may look very different from one client to another. The trainer should use the clients name and try to engage with them on their interests. Conversation is not always possible, but the trainer can still talk to the client about their interest to make them feel comfortable. Before beginning any warm up or exercises the trainer should show their client the equipment they brought and explain what everything is. If the client shows particular interest in one piece of exercise equipment, the trainer should start with that piece of equipment. These small steps can go a long way in establishing rapport.
Once a personal trainer begins working with their client and developing their exercise program the trainer should be using tons of positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is a pretty broad term, but we can break it down into smaller more actionable steps. The personal trainer can use Behavior Specific Praise to provide positive reinforcement to their client when they are performing an exercise. With behavior specific praise the trainer should be using language that lets the client know exactly what they are doing correctly. Trainers can also use positive reinforcement with leisure breaks throughout an exercise session. This strategy is particularly effective with new clients who do not have a history of exercising. High fives are another great form of positive reinforcement. Your client completes an exercise, high five and praise, they struggle with the next movement, but the trainer can use behavior specific praise to point out what they did well. These strategies are not independent of one another and should be used often to establish and maintain strong rapport. Exercise can be strenuous and challenging. For people with little history of exercising this can bring on stress and discouragement. Our adaptive personal trainers must use their rapport skills to ensure the highest standards of exercise autism therapy in Worcester County.