When The Road Calls 

Keeping Your Clients in Line 
When They're Miles From Home

 by Phil Kaplan

Dan was an attorney.  A high profile attorney who had to travel a great deal.  Dan had spent twenty years building his high profile position at the expense of his body.  Late nights, alcohol, intense stress, heavy caseloads, speaking engagements, trial preparation, etc. can take, over time, a cumulative toll.  At 51 Dan thought he was having a heart attack.  Thankfully the ER doctors assured him it was only a scare.  A constriction in his esophagus was causing him chest pain.  Despite the relief Dan felt, that scare was enough to motivate Dan to pick up the phone and call me.

 At the time, I was running much more of a conventional personal training business than I do now.  I'd travel to people's homes, take them through their workouts, suggest some modifications in their lifestyles, and eagerly head over to my next appointment.  I worked with Dan four days a week, and he started to make some progress.  There was one obstacle.  The road!

After any given two weeks of commitment, it was inevitable that Dan would wind up sitting on an airplane heading somewhere.  I made it a point to always give Dan the phone number of a gym that was in the area he was traveling to.  I even called ahead, found out rates, equipment, and guest policies, and in some cases managed to arrange for a guest pass to be waiting at the front desk.  No matter how much planning I did, Dan's "next session," the one scheduled upon his return home, would always be cancelled. 

Dan paid me for missed sessions.  I had already made enough mistakes to implement the "commit-to-pay-me-since-I-am-a-professional" procedure, but I wasn't in this field to take money from people without delivering a result.  I realized that on each and every trip, Dan was abandoning his fitness effort because external forces were siphoning his motivation.  It wasn't his fault.  At home he developed a ritual.  He knew I was showing up at his home Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, but on the road, rather than me showing up, some business associate would show up with an opportunity for a fancy dinner and some cocktails.  Was Dan weak?  No.  He was in fact a highly driven and determined individual.  It was just that the habits developed by years of routine were not about to change without a Personal Trainer knocking on his door.  By the time Dan would return home, he'd feel guilty, he'd feel as if he'd "blown it," and it always took one or two sessions to get him back in the groove.  I decided it was time to get creative.

I stopped in the Sporting goods store and picked up some tubing.  One of those "home gym" offerings that was nothing more than some heavy rubber with a bit of give and some built in resistance.  I thought by asking Dan to do something that he could do right in his very own room, I'd make life simpler.  I showed him how to do a few exercises and gave him the tubing to pack in his suitcase.  Did it work?  Sorry.  It wasn't that easy.  It took some careful thought, some careful evaluation of how I could take the stimulus he had at home and send it with him without having to buy the seat next to him on the airplane.

I'm sure most of you have been there.  If you train business people, or individuals who have amassed affluence, trips are certainly not rare, and I'm sure you've tried to figure out the dilemma of keeping them committed when they are hundreds of miles away.

Should you align yourself with other trainers in other cities?  At first I considered it, but after careful evaluation I realized that part of my goal was to empower people.  I didn't want them to feel as if they needed a babysitter.  I wanted them to hold me, at some level, responsible for the power they were developing to follow through for ongoing improvement.  The "other trainer" option would blur the path to that goal.

Should you call your client just prior to his or her normal session and be the motivational voice on the phone?  No.  On-the-road schedules are erratic and if your client is busy, involved, or distracted, you become that "pain-in-the-___" phone call stirring up feelings of guilt and regret.

Should you just accept the fact that they're going to stumble on the road and pick up the pieces when they return?  I found that difficult, simply because when there was a sense of "I blew it," their motivation levels plummeted.  OK.  Let's get back to Dan.  It was a story with a happy ending, and one that I believe we can all learn from.

I came to several realizations.  Firstly, Dan was working out regularly with me because after the first few sessions, it became "routine."  Whipping rubber tubing out of a suitcase is anything but routine . . . unless I familiarize him with the process . . . turn it into routine!  That was a huge eye opener for me.  A realization that seems so simple, in hindsight but had previously been the elusive missing piece.

I designed a routine for Dan and alternated Dan's usual weight training workouts with the rubber resistance.  When he was at home, growing comfortable in his exercise routine, I incorporated the exact and specific "on-the-road" workout so it would become a ritual.  At first he looked at the apparatus and thought it seemed absurd . . . . he called it the Richard Simmons thing, but in time he came to grow comfortable with the tubing and was amazed that he was really feeling some muscle challenge.  We used supersets, super-slow movements, and a variety of techniques that brought in core stabilizer muscles and brought a sense of "this really works."  I mixed in some pushups and crunches and ingrained this routine into Dan as a new habit.  This time I wasn't taking chances.  I wanted to get all the pieces of the puzzle in place.  I wasn't certain the comfort level with the routine was going to be enough.  Sure, he would do it while I was there, but would he do it on the road?  I wanted to make sure.  There was still a missing element.  My direct influence.  I knew the phone call might be a disturbance . . . but if I could show up . . . when he was ready for me . . . without having to get on an airplane . . . !!!!!

I set up my video camera in my home and led Dan (without him being there) through a workout using elastic tubing and creativity.  The session lasted 30 minutes.  My goal was not to turn Dan into an Olympic athlete, but simply to help him develop the habit of exercising wherever he was.  I would take the liberty of finding out what hotel Dan was staying in when he traveled, and I called to make certain he'd have a VCR in the room.  It was never a problem.

So, my frustration in opening doors and not having Dan walk through them (calling gyms and not being able to get him to show up) led me to the point that I came to realize, at a higher level, my true value to my clients.  They would come to depend on me exactly as your clients depend on your.  For direction, for motivation, and . . . to assist them in modifying their lifestyles.  With some $19 elastic tubing and a $5 videotape, you can bring your influence to the road and keep your clients' progress ongoing!

Let's take a look at some additional points ideas that can make travel less of a threat to the fitness of your clients and customers.

Important Point #1: You don't want your clients to be dependent upon you, but you do want them to depend on you.  That's why it's vital to see your role as an educator and influencer with a sense of power to pass along knowledge that provides some independence.  That doesn't mean you lose your value.  Remember, they depend on you for more than counting their reps. They depend on you for motivation, for providing new information when it becomes necessary, for offering clarity in a field where confusion reigns, and for being the spark that helps them find the physical destiny they seek.  It's OK to loosen up the least a bit and let your clients free.  If you hold on to a clear mission involving empowerment, they'll remain loyal and committed.  Prepare clients to be able to survive without you and you'll be surprised at how the client:trainer bond is strengthened.

Important Point #2: You have to get inside of their heads and find their motivational triggers.  Don't assume all of your clients will respond to the same things.  I have had some clients who were happy to attend gyms I mapped out for them in their travels.  It's important to understand not only your clients' physical needs, but their mental and motivational triggers as well.  With that understanding, a bit of creativity, and a touch of trial and error, you can keep any client motivated regardless of the number of frequent flyer miles they accrue.

Important Point #3: If you meet with your clients regularly and assist them in developing "routines," the very nature of the word signifies a comfort with the familiar.  You can only make "the road workouts" feel familiar by asking your clients to experience those precise routines in your usual meeting forum.

I want to note that every step I take becomes a learning experience, and the revelations I stumbled upon with Dan led me to ultimately develop my programs on video, audio, and in written form.  Initial consultations were followed by product sales which kept my clients "in touch" with me, but allowed me the freedom to consult with greater numbers of people.  As long as you remember that every challenge is simply an obstacle to be overcome, and obstacle that brings with it a lesson to be learned, you'll develop your own ongoing growth on a path to mastery in a field where it is greatly needed! 

Tools of the Trade

Aside from the elastic tubing, now available in many arenas through many different manufacturers, there are some other tricks and tools I've used to get my clients to summon up some stick-to-it-iveness when the road calls.

Water bells - there are some commercial products where the poundage can be increased by adding water, or you can teach your clients to simply use water bottles available in any convenience store!

A video - you can come up with a series of videos, or simply perform a session using the floor, a chair, and some calisthenics type exercise for the video camera.  Since you'll be spending the time it takes for a complete workout, if the video is individualized, I believe you should be compensated the regular session fee for the video.

The Internet - this has opened massive doors to communicate with your clients on the road.  I've learned to put my complete programs out there in cyberspace.  They can be accessed by any of my paying clients at any time.

Running shoes - running shoes, a hallway, and maybe a staircase make aerobic exercise doable in a bind.

5 pound dumbbells and the power to pretend - I've taught many of my clients to "act as if."  I teach them how, using very light dumbbells, they can activate the Mind:Muscle connection by pretending those little weights weigh 100 pounds each.  At first it seems a bit ridiculous, but if they're willing to tote an additional 10 pounds in their luggage, they really can get a very complete workout, with the advance direction of a qualified fitness professional.

Hotel fitness centers - most 3, 4, and 5 star hotels today have a fitness facility or access to one.  This has certainly made "fitness on the road" simpler to adhere to.  Keep in mind, however, some of your clients might be intimidated in a busy gym environment if they are used to one-on-one sessions.  Even if the hotels have facilities, some clients might prefer the in-room exercise you recommend.

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