COACHING IN GENERAL 

The coaching process facilitates the exploration of needs, motivations, desires, skills and thought processes to assist the individual in making real, lasting change.

In the past the term “coaching” often referred to performance training for remedial purposes.   Today coaching is embraced by both the high achiever and those individuals who feel stuck and want to grow beyond their current limitations and reach their objectives within a short-time frame.

As there seems to be no end to the paths, methods and protocols to personal achievement, coaching provides a dedicated and trained professional to act as a facilitator for growth and achievement. Coaching sessions are generally between 20 and 40 minutes in length, and clients speak with their coaches on a weekly basis.
The client will be the one to determine the goals that need to be accomplished.

The coach observes, gives objective feedback, teaches, helps to develop a plan and holds the client accountable for taking action.  The coach helps the client clarify and address issues that may be holding them back. The coach uses creative tools and techniques, personal experience, expertise and encouragement to assist in bringing their behavioral changes about.

Coaching has similarities to consulting. However, the distinction is that coaching uses questioning techniques to facilitate the client’s own thought processes in order to identify solutions and actions in a consistent on going relationship, helping implement change, develop new skills, and reach goals.   The focus is on assisting them to discover the solutions on their own.  Consulting is usually a wholly directive approach often dispensing advice and telling people what they should do in a given set of circumstances.

Coaching is not therapy. Therapy typically is used to help clients resolve the issues of the past that still affect the client in the present. However, coaching is focused on the future, achieving personal growth by setting goals and changing self-defeating or non- productive behaviors. If it becomes apparent that a client is wrestling with issues that are more appropriate for a therapist, we will make a referral to a qualified professional.

Depending on the goal of the client, a coach may also recommend and administer an assessment at the start of a coaching relationship. There are several types of assessments that help clients identify their own behavioral styles, preferences, goals, strengths and challenges.

LIFESTYLE FITNESS COACHING / FITNESS INTEGRATION

Lifestyle Fitness Coaching , or Fitness Integration relies on a protocol of dialog and  to help the client discover what they hope to achieve, the resources they are willing to invest, and the paths they are likely to commit to in order to reach their goals.

We no longer have the luxury of leaving physical activity to the athlete or the laborer.  Society is becoming more and more sedentary.  The generic goals of “losing weight” or “getting fit” are losing ground without either intervention or collaboration with a mentor or guide.  The key is accountability.

The Personal Trainer is of the intervention model.  I train very few people personally anymore.  It can be very effective when the personalities are matched well and goals are clear and reasonable.  It is an authoritarian model though and generally does not bode well with my natural, more collaborative teaching style.

As a LF Coach, I help bring out the true aspirations of the individual.  The “why” is just as important as the “what”.  In fact the “why” may very well determine the definition and application of the “what”.  Do you work out alone as opposed to with a partner or a group?  Why?  Is it better to steer a client who is shy and subdued into an animated group class, rather in a one on one with a trainer?  Is it more productive to steer a loud and boisterous client to a quiet yoga or Tai Chi class rather that a noisy hard core gym?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  That’s why dialog and the collaboration are so important.

There is more to an active lifestyle than shedding bad habits and developing constructive ones.  Depending on the activities one may engage in, there are mental and emotional processes, engaging unfamiliar muscle groups, building new musculature where it may be lacking, develop new central nervous system responses to unfamiliar stimuli, et al.  It can overwhelm a strategy strictly based on habit reformation.

The key goals are core changes in physical, mental, social and maybe even spiritual well being.  A head above a flatter belly or bigger biceps.

In any fitness coaching or training program, the PAR-Q (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire) must be completed by all clients prior to engaging in any other assessment.  Regular physical activity is fun, invigorating and healthy, and more people are choosing to become more active every day. Being more active is relatively safe for most people. However, some individuals should check with their doctor before they start becoming much more physically active.

If you are between the ages of 15 and 69, the PAR-Q will tell you if you should check with your doctor before you start. If you are over 69 years of age, and you are not used to being very active, check with your doctor first. 

People face tremendous pressure today as they try to juggle career or business and family issues.  Many times the well being, nutrition and physical conditioning of the individual is subordinated to the immediate demand.  Over time this breaks down the core energy that we all need to function and thrive.  As your coach I will work with you to find the best path and passion for strength, agility, endurance and especially energy.

Individual Fitness Integration Coaching packages are designed for one on one regular coaching with clients and include at least two assessments. Individual coaching greatly increase the chances of a successful transition from the point of frustration or desire to fulfillment of the goal, dream or lifestyle. Typically, this type of coaching is utilized for a minimum of six months.

Group Coaching Programs employ a combination of one on one coaching, group webinars or teleconferences, and an individual assessment. We offer both ongoing public sessions, where individuals can learn from each others experiences, and closed enrollment, company specific programs. In open enrollment programs participants are free to disclose their name and company or not, whatever is their preference.

Subscription Coaching - This is designed to provide additional tools and resources on an as needed, ad hoc, basis.   Subscription Coaching is administered on a quarterly or annual basis.  Once the goal has been achieved or the desired progress has been made using the Individual Coaching or the Group Coaching sessions, those finding a need for continued support will find this an excellent solution. The focus of this coaching is on development of the new found potentials and skill building.

For more information on any of these programs, please contact us for a no-obligation needs assessment and consultation. 

david@trihardfitness.com

Most people treat fitness like diets.  A month, 6 weeks, 12 weeks and then back to the old habits.

What truly works is conscious, deliberate change of lifestyle.

The yoyo effects of dieting work the same for fitness. 

There are reasons that this happens. Reasons that can be overcome. 

A lifestyle of joyful, exuberant health, strength and fitness is very attainable, barring illness or injury.  

Age doesn’t prevent it (85 year old triathlete).  Neither does gender (16 year old female powerlifter).  Nor does race, genetics or socioeconomic status.  

There are 2 things that can impede our progress however.  

·          Lack of knowledge

·          Lack of desire – which can also be a lack of discomfort with the status quo.   

Without knowing exactly what we want, why we want it, how to get it, how to keep it, and what we are willing to do to get it, we aren’t likely to be successful.

Knowledge is simply relevant information – absorbed.  Information can be had.  In fact there is an overwhelming amount of information available.   

My role as a coach, in part, is to sort through the giant mass of information and glean it down to a few logical choices for my clients, according to their needs.

 If we know everything there is to know, but do not have either the burning desire to achieve or are disturbed enough with the current situation, we aren’t likely to make progress.

The  great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar was asked “Does motivation last?”  He replied  ”No.  Motivation doesn’t last.  But neither does bathing.  That doesn’t mean I discourage it.  In fact I highly encourage it!”

Motivation is great.  It can be highly useful.  I believe it to be overrated.  Here is a question posed by Charles Staley in his latest article: “Do you think that motivation is a fundamental issue when it comes to successful exercise or athletic training programs?”  He doesn’t think so.  And neither do I.  Motivation is an outside influence.  While it can be a powerful influence, it doesn’t stand a chance in the face of desire or discomfort.  Those are internal motivators.  

I’ve been taught that there are 3 primary motivating factors in human beings.  

·          The instinctual or subjective motivators – physical elements and reaction, survival and safety

·          The emotional or objective motivators – comfort, community, anger, desire, fear, outside influences…

·          The logical or rational motivators – Rationalizing and synthesizing the instinctual and emotional drives

In my rudimentary understanding, most of the time the logical mind is merely rationalizing default choices which are based on whichever subjective or objective choices are most compelling at the moment.

In a nutshell, we make decisions based on:

• That’s the way we’ve always done it.  We’re safe.  - Instinctual
• An outside influence has provided an experience that is either pleasant or objectionable.  - Emotional
• A synthesis of the two above factors. – Logical

If we become aware of these tendencies, then we can actually make different choices.  That awareness is the secret weapon of those who are innovators, artists and theoreticians.  Usually they are unconscious of that awareness.  They think that everyone else sees the world as they do and often can’t figure out why the rest of us don’t “get it”.

So my challenge to you is to become more aware of your choices.  If you choose the default, fine.  It IS your choice.  Just be AWARE of it.

If you choose to grasp the opportunity to make positive change, you now have the most powerful tool available  to help you.  Awareness.

If that positive change involves lifestyle changes to incorporate a more exertive physical element and would like some guidance, enter your name and email address in the field above.  

I am pretty disturbed at the image that the popular media and society in general has been painting of us.  “Us” meaning people over 50. Bone loss, erectile dysfunction, memory loss, “Senior Communities” (by the way, those only exist in the U.S.), mobility scooters, the “Clapper”, adjustable beds, “Depends”, “Ensure” …

Holy crap!  When did the meaning of ‘older’ turn into infirm, doddering, incontinent, and stupid?

Don’t buy into that crap!

Maybe it’s just where I live, but I see people in their 80’s in triathlons, 65 year old “retirees” starting new ventures, grey haired men and women getting black belts and college degrees.

Who say’s you have to buy a Buick and move into a 55+ community?  SCREW THAT!

Anyone who has ever studied Personal Development of any brand or discipline will tell you that you are heavily influenced by who you surround yourself with.  So before you write that check for the lease on the mobile home park, you should take a good hard look at your neighbors first.  You’d best like what you see.  It’s likely you’ll resemble them after a while. 

I’m sure that Sally Field, Bob Dole and Betty White, among others, believe they’re doing a good deed.  I’m sure they’re compensated well also.  But in my opinion, it’s sending the wrong message. There is a huge volume of evidence that many of the symptoms of advancing age are lifestyle disease oriented and can be successfully subverted. 

There is no justification of the stereotype of those of us (aren’t we all?) advancing in years.  That stereotype may have fit 30 years ago.  Maybe even 20.   But no more. 

Advancing in years and actually aging are two very different things.

Apologies to the the Borg, resistance is decidedly NOT futile.

Even simple denial works to a degree.  You see surf bums and their ilk living well into their 80’s and 90’s despite the abuse they have wrought on their bodies, simply by refusing to accept that they were too old to live life on their terms.  On the other hand there are those who submit to lifestyle diseases in their 50’s and 60’s and just accept the inevitability of it. I’m not just talking diseases like heart disease and diabetes.  I’m talking about Buicks, 55+ duplexes with red cinder rock yards and plastic change purses.

I DON’T THINK SO!

Move your body – Eat well – Stretch your mind.

Live long and well and spend your children’s inheritance.

Ha! I’m going surfing!