Question for personal trainers

[lcobb2]

I have a client who is morbidly obese. I have her moving from cardio on the treadmill (7-9.0 incline, 1.5-2.0 speed) walking to stepping off the treadmill and doing squats with a ball as support, and very easy abs (on the ball)/minimal lifting (light dumbbelss, etc.), but she's having a hard time keeping her energy during the workout (and her breath in check). What do you do with your clients like this? I'm interested in knowing how you structure your workouts.

She's 5'4" and 238 lbs.

Thanks in advance.

 

[teddy16410]

I have a client who is morbidly obese. I have her moving from cardio on the treadmill (7-9.0 incline, 1.5-2.0 speed) walking to stepping off the treadmill and doing squats with a ball as support, and very easy abs (on the ball)/minimal lifting (light dumbbelss, etc.), but she's having a hard time keeping her energy during the workout (and her breath in check). What do you do with your clients like this? I'm interested in knowing how you structure your workouts.

She's 5'4" and 238 lbs.

Thanks in advance.

I have two 20+ year old clients w/ similar stats...I have them doing Full Body Circuits - 2x per week... We do 30-90 seconds of heart raising cardio (no step until they lose some pounds) then we go to 2 upper parts w/ weights. I tend to use "time" vs reps for my obese clients...That way they can take mini breaks as they need and get back into it to finish the time. This way they feel like they are accomplishing something in every segment.
HTH ~ I'd like to hear from other PTs as well!!!

 

[amyg]

How much time do you spend with her? Is she perhaps not eating a little something to keep her going? I've found when people start telling me they're getting tired midstream they haven't eaten enough within the 2 hours before we start.

I go for time rather than reps, too, like Traci. That way I can tell if next time I need to cut the 60 seconds to 45 or 50 to keep them succeeding.

 

[LauraMax]

Do you have a pool available? I've never trained someone like that but I have a friend who did, I was incredibly impressed b/c it looked so scary--she weighed 450 if she weighed an ounce, she seriously had fat rolls over her ankles, which I'd never seen before. I'd have been afraid of a heart attack while she was on my watch.

Anyway, he did a lot of water aerobics w/her. He gave her a choice of the machines or the pool & she chose the pool. She lost 40 lbs her first month.

BTW, not only was I impressed by him, I was also impressed by HER. The courage & effort it must've taken her to get to a gym...............kudos to your client for making the effort.

 

[icumom]

I've had them feel more encouraged with no incline and interval training...and at that weight that meant 3.5 for 30 seconds, to 2.0 for 2 minutes...that kind of thing, at first so it was not overwhelmingly sickening, but do-able, and then after 2 or three, make them crank it to 4 -4.5 slow jog for 20 seconds , rest, 30 seconds...for a total of maybe 6 intervals...total only 20 minutes...then a steady state brisk walk for 10 minutes...followed by total body conditioning for 20, only light weights in the beginning as they get turned off by injury and even muscle aches (which maniacs like us LOVE to have!) ......and a long 10-20 stretch with breathing - that is a trick to calm and lower heart rate, lowers stress response and tempers emotional eating by inducing calmness...
That's worked for a lady I knew who went 230 to 150 - and then was doing turbokick class and lost another 10!!! She was my size, 5'5 - I only subbed trained her but that kind of program worked for the group she joined with...and they've sustained it and have confidence to try new things!

You sound like a wonderful trainer to care so much.....she's lucky to have you!

 

[macska7]

I'd do treadmill with maybe a little less incline, wall push ups, ball squats standing abs, standing core exercises, anything to not move to the ground yet.
I've found that getting up and down from the floor is very difficult. I had a lot of luck w/ standing body weight exercises and treadmill/bike intervals.
Good luck to you, you'll need it!

 

[NRG Woman]

I am with the others. Time works well for me with very out of shape clients (I have also had good luck with water workouts). I would also decrease the incline. I can see that she may be demotivated by how difficult the incline is and how out of breath she is. In the beginning I always am trying to build that sense of accomplishment while giving them a solid exercise base.

Good luck.

Shayne

 

[NRG Woman]

I wanted to add one more thing from my experience. When I started as a trainer my boss/mentor was used to training athletes, and really believed that for a person to get their "money's worth" from a training session they needed to work HARD, and get the sum of my knowledge even in their first few sessions. He would look over and approve all of my programs before I met with my clients. Well, I found for the average out of shape population it just didn't work. At first I couldn't figure it out, I only saw each of my clients once and I never saw them at the club again. The point was driven home after I had been seeing a client for several weeks and was taking her through what was a tough workout for her. During the workout she started crying and left. Hmmm. She said she wanted results, said she was willing to work hard, and I knew in my heart she could finish the workout. What I hadn't counted on was she was so demotivated by not feeling successful at the workout that she wouldn't stick to it long enough to see results. So I took down the intensity of the workouts for my new clients and no longer tried to kill them. All of the sudden I had client retention and was able to get them to their goals because they felt capable of finishing the workouts and had that feeling of success. It is frustrating because during the interview everyone knows what they are "supposed" to say; I am willing to work hard, they all want results, and they all want it now. But in reality most of them perceive the breathlessness and muscle fatigue as a personal deficit. They don't have the experience to know that those signs mean they are being successful, they perceive them as being a failure. As they become more sophisticated exercisers you can bring the intensity level up to what you know they can complete and they will ultimately be motivated by this, but it takes a while to get there.

Hang in there, it takes a while to find your own personal training style and the training sweet spot where your clients will continue and still get results.

Shayne

 

[lcobb2]

Thanks so much!

Hi all,

Thanks for your feedback. I don't have a pool handy so that's out. My client can handle the incline--in fact she loves it. I will consider going for time with her. I think that's a great idea and a better tactic. I have 60 minutes to work with her, but she usually comes late, so it turns into 45-50 minutes, which is plenty for her. I'm thinking of shortening it even more by extending the stretch segment and maybe doing circuit style training for 30 minutes only. Thoughts????

I am open to hearing anything else...so please keep it coming!

 

[teddy16410]

Hi all,

Thanks for your feedback. I don't have a pool handy so that's out. My client can handle the incline--in fact she loves it. I will consider going for time with her. I think that's a great idea and a better tactic. I have 60 minutes to work with her, but she usually comes late, so it turns into 45-50 minutes, which is plenty for her. I'm thinking of shortening it even more by extending the stretch segment and maybe doing circuit style training for 30 minutes only. Thoughts????

I am open to hearing anything else...so please keep it coming!

Great conversation everyone!

Oh I think the thought about shorter sessions works wonderfully! I have 1 client that just cant grasp the 60 minutes mentally~ We do 3x 45 minutes each week now (sometimes just 2)...She loves it. I think that we warriors forget the time in our lives that we couldnt mentally/physically even consider 30 minutes! Theres a huge segment of the population that considers 30 minutes PLENTY!!! I don't know if thats just the human attention span kicking in or if it has to do with the programming of "30 minutes a day" cardio is all you need thats been publicized so much in last couple of years.

I think its great to see that we are all listening to our clients, taking it one step further and changing things up. I wish I had access to a pool too! I'm getting great ideas & feel even more inspired after reading all the ideas & thoughts. Makes me want to start a Personal Trainers Club over in Social Groups! Sometimes its lonely out here in the business (when you dont work out of a gym).

 

[lcobb2]

Great conversation everyone!

Oh I think the thought about shorter sessions works wonderfully! I have 1 client that just cant grasp the 60 minutes mentally~ We do 3x 45 minutes each week now (sometimes just 2)...She loves it. I think that we warriors forget the time in our lives that we couldnt mentally/physically even consider 30 minutes! Theres a huge segment of the population that considers 30 minutes PLENTY!!! I don't know if thats just the human attention span kicking in or if it has to do with the programming of "30 minutes a day" cardio is all you need thats been publicized so much in last couple of years.

I think its great to see that we are all listening to our clients, taking it one step further and changing things up. I wish I had access to a pool too! I'm getting great ideas & feel even more inspired after reading all the ideas & thoughts. Makes me want to start a Personal Trainers Club over in Social Groups! Sometimes its lonely out here in the business (when you dont work out of a gym).

The social group: I'll join!!! I'll join!!!

You are right, I'm LOVING this thread. Also, you are right--I cannot fathom a workout for myself lasting less than an hour. When I do that, I break it up into two different hours/45 min sessions (like today), or use it as a "rest" day.

 

[teddy16410]

Personal Trainers Social Group

The social group: I'll join!!! I'll join!!!

You are right, I'm LOVING this thread. Also, you are right--I cannot fathom a workout for myself lasting less than an hour. When I do that, I break it up into two different hours/45 min sessions (like today), or use it as a "rest" day.

ROF! Oh Laura- See what you started!!!! Lets get it together....Do you want to create it this morning (we can post the link) or I can in a bit.

Theres alot of us out here in Cathe-land. I think it will be so helpful!

 

[lcobb2]

ROF! Oh Laura- See what you started!!!! Lets get it together....Do you want to create it this morning (we can post the link) or I can in a bit.

Theres alot of us out here in Cathe-land. I think it will be so helpful!

Great! I just did it. I hope it's okay. I'm open to changing the description--it's just what came into my head.

 

[icumom]

The shorter workouts likely will make her MORE compliant....truthfully, it works fine....before I was a wife and working mom, I was 1-2 hours a day and then went to 1/2 hour when I had my first...now I"m 30min-one hour 4 days a week, and it works for weight and muscle....all the uber trainers find that too...anything more is because you're loving it....

Intervals some days, fast paced steady state on others - steady state is finding its way back in to training, and intervals that make you want to hurl are fading out - simply because of the dread factor....and after years of Cathe, which is intense but doesn't make you sick, we know it works...

If she loves the incline, cool, have her pick up the pace for 20 seconds then bring it down for a minute or two...make it DO-ABLE, not so intense she dreads coming - I agree with that previous post....


Above ALL is the DIET! OBesity makes EVERYTHING in life harder....the cleaner diet will make her feel so much better too.