Do You Have the Motivation to Change?
Motivation is the balance between wanting to change and being psychologically ready to change. Personal trainers can generally tell in the early stages of someone’s transformation journey what type of result they will achieve due to their motivation. Successful transformation clients have a strong mindset and desire to do well, they believe in themselves, they create solutions to any problems that may occur, they don’t look for a way out or give themselves a chance to fail. But that’s certainly not to say if you are not of that mindset that you wont ever be.
I was introduced to the popular theory “The 5 stages of change” by Dan Smith of M10 personal training (m10fitness.co.uk). Dans approach is to identify the stage he believes the individual is at and programme training and nutrition accordingly. For example if somebody is ready to take action then we can be stricter on the nutrition and expect better adherence than somebody who is only at contemplation stage.
The 5 stages of change are as follows
“Pre contemplation”
No intent on changing, cannot see a problem or could be deemed as “in denial”. Just because you do exercise it doesn’t mean you are not at this stage. Its not uncommon for people that exercise not to make progress. How many people do you see in the gym regularly but not changing the way they look?
“Contemplation”
This is where an individual is thinking about making a change, maybe weighing up reasons for and against. “Is the effort worth it? Can I actually make a change and stick to it?”. If you are here, we can help you find your “Anchor” or your “Why?”. You need to believe change will have a more positive impact on your life than if you were to stay as you are. We as trainers can support you from this stage.
“Preparation”
Nearly “Go time”. This is where we feel we can really start mapping out your game plan. An individual at this stage is quite inquisitive, not sat on the fence here but gathering information and educating themselves on the upcoming journey. This is where a lot of individuals start seeking out personal training.
“Action”
This is where the magic happens. When you are at this stage is when we can really push for a result. We can aim for complete adherence with nutrition, consistently training hard and ticking all the other lifestyle boxes required. This is where individuals are of the mindset “I can do this, I can achieve my goals”. People do not stay in this state of mind forever. We can extend this stage by setting out short term goals that can be realistically achieved in a short time frame. For clients whose goals may take a year or more to achieve, you can expect to be in and out of this stage.
“Maintenance”
By this stage an individuals motivation will have faded or there may be a reshuffle of priorities. By now hopefully habits of old will no longer be present. If we can have a client bouncing between “action” and “maintenance” then long term goals are attainable. A maintenance phase should not be an excuse to get complacent.
It takes a strong mindset to change what is sometimes lifelong habits and to create new sustainable ones. If you are contemplating making a change and feel personal training could be for you then book in a free consultation