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Understanding Overweight Prospects’ Needs
What to say and do (and not say and do)
to encourage people with weight issues. BY MARCO GIRGENTI
“Hey, this guy’s really overweight. He’ll buy 100 sessions for sure.” Yet, more than half the time that wasn’t the case. Why? Having lost over 150 pounds and
I
now into a decade of maintenance, I can tell you that most gyms don’t know how to properly address or con- sult with an overweight prospect. Many overweight people are ter-
rified of walking into a gym. I spent nearly three weeks pulling in and out of a gym parking lot and not going in. To overweight people, gyms aren’t in- viting. Too many mirrors remind us of what we want to forget, and we feel that the eyes of everyone in the place are on us. This presents a unique challenge
for fitness professionals because over- weight people are a demographic you can’t afford to alienate.
No, actually you don’t understand After an overweight person finally
finds the courage to walk in the door and commit to a trial membership, there’s the consultation. The fitness consultant, whose total body weight might equal that of the prospect’s leg, sits across a desk and utters the most
n my days as a fitness consultant, there were many instances when my manager would call me over during an assessment and say:
ridiculous words ever heard by an overweight person: “I understand.” You understand? How can you pos-
sibly understand? Would you sit in a room with recovering alcoholics, nev- er having taken so much as a sip of a fruity vodka spritzer and tell them that you understand? The second-most ridiculous thing a
consultant can say is, “So I see you’re here to lose weight.” What that sound- ed like to me, 150 pounds ago, was, “Wow, are you ever fat!” Face it fit dude, you’ll never truly be
able to relate to an overweight person. But not all hope is lost.
Be vulnerable and real To narrow the gap, even if just
slightly, offer something about your- self that you have struggled with. For example, you could say, “I remember how tough it was to pass that course... win that race. It seemed like I would never be able to do it.” It’s vital to es- tablish some level of common ground to develop a rapport and create trust or at least an honest exchange.
It’s all in the delivery As for the weigh-in and body com-
position assessment, I likened it to walking to my execution. “Do you know that you’re 40% body fat and that at age 30 you have the body of a 70-year-old? How do you feel about that body fat percentage?” The obvious answer: “I feel awful.” Congratulations on spending all
this time telling me what I already know – that I’m out of shape. A more effective approach might
play out like this: “Marco, here’s what to expect today. I’m going to take some baseline measurements and statis- tics and have a look at how you’re eat- ing. Then we’ll hit the gym floor, have some fun and you’ll learn lots along the way. Feel free to ask as many ques- tions as you like. That’s why I’m here.”
60 Fitness Business Canada September/October 2011
On the gym floor When it came time for exercise, my
super-trainer took me out on the gym floor and tried to dazzle me with his exercise knowledge. What he didn’t know was that I nearly threw up on the way back to the locker room. Take my advice. Do not under any
circumstance, do any of the following with overweight clients: 1. Don’t have me do a plank. My gut
will be on the floor, I’ll fail within sec- onds in plain view of everyone and feel hopeless. 2. Don’t waste your time teaching
me crunches. All I’ll be thinking about is how I look like a beached whale. 3. Don’t ask me to bend over to
touch my toes, especially with my rear facing other people. 4. Don’t pound me into the floor
with loaded squats, followed by lung- es then plyometric bounding across the gym floor. I’ll feel sick and have to vomit, and you’ll embarrass me. Worst of all, you’ll strip me of motivation and lose my business and my referral. Any hack trainer can crush someone with a gruelling workout, but it takes a real pro to challenge and motivate.
Don’t tell me I need help If you think I need a trainer, don’t
tell me this – show me. When we’re out on the floor, I’ll begin to ask you how to do things. Then you can level with me and honestly say, “Marco, I wish I could teach you everything you need to know to lose those 100 pounds in this session, but that would be like you trying to teach me everything about your job in an hour. It’s just not realis- tic, right?” This works because you’ve created
some rapport and overcome a poten- tial objection by including a compli- ment about my profession. A properly trained fitness consultant can disman- tle an objection before it’s ever raised, but this must be practiced and be sin- cere and not come across as selling. FBC
Marco Girgenti lost 150 pounds and became an award-winning fitness consultant. He is the owner of
www.getfitfaster.ca, a company that helps gyms educate members on the value of personal training and coaching, and is the au- thor of Starving to be Fat.
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