SMS Tips for Fitness Professionals and Personal Trainers
January is notorious for being the month when Americans make the most concerted effort to work out more and lose weight. Unfortunately, February is often when the novelty of a New Year’s resolution starts wearing off and once-determined dieters and gym rats return to their old ways. If you are a personal trainer or manage a gym, you may find motivating your New Year’s clients more and more of a challenge. And while the old-school “fire-and-brimstone” approach to motivation is always a favorite, using your clients’ cell phones might be easier.
The challenge of using group SMS for fitness professionals and personal trainers is that many rely on one-on-one interaction with their clients for the best results. But you can simulate that one-on-one dynamic with a little organization and extra groups. If, for example, you have one group of clients who see you on Mondays and Wednesdays and another set for Tuesdays and Thursday, create two different groups for those “blocks.” Create as many blocks as necessary. You still won’t be able to refer to your clients by name, but this separation is very important.
Do you assign your clients homework? If not, use group SMS to start. As you know, real physical fitness requires a daily commitment. So use your group SMS service to send goals or little activities to clients on days they don’t get to meet with you face-to-face. Sometimes a text message on “off days” is just the nudge needed to keep your clients active and your sessions with them much more productive.
If you run a class, use group SMS to create polls that allow your students a little extra participation. Whether it’s to determine what kind of music you’ll play or the pacing of a certain class, never underestimate the ability of a democratic vote to bring more motivated students to your fitness studio.
Of course, no weight loss effort is complete without dieting guidance. If you partner with a dietician or if you’re a dietician yourself, group SMS is a great platform for recipe and dining pointers. There are a million different substitutions, brands, ingredients, and restaurants that can help (or hinder) a diet. Periodically inform your SMS group of a few to be that helping hand between sessions.
Finally, if you’re at a loss for useful content to send your clients, here is a website of 400 motivational weight loss quotes, the majority of which fit within the 160-character limit. If you’ve gone a while without contacting your group, use these quotes to fill in the gaps. Yes, you’ve probably heard them all before. But a simple mantra your clients can repeat to themselves will promote mental focus during the dog days of their big fitness year.
Your clients probably started January 1st with the definite proclamation that “THIS will be the year.” Their enthusiasm might be waning now, but you have the ability to help them keep their promise. No need to nag, be aggressive, or SPAM. But a value-added SMS service can ultimately spell business success for you and the much-coveted fitness success for your clients.
Interested in learning more about SMS for fitness professionals and personal trainers? Call us at 800-696-1393 or email tmsales@textmarks.com.
