New Year & New Exercisers: Creating Successful Experiences for New Exercisers

By: Christin Everson, MS

The new year is a fun and energetic time in our industry! We welcome many new faces, hoping to succeed with new physical activity habits. At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s our job to create spaces that facilitate and support their behavior change, and one of the foundational elements of behavior change for new exercisers is having a successful experience each time they participate.

The traditional gym experience does not make it easy for new exercisers to succeed. Folks who are new or returning to exercise and looking to succeed in a routine may feel nervous, unsure, anxious, embarrassed, or a host of other feelings. We cannot ask our participants to simply get over their concerns about being in fitness spaces. We need to be more intentional about the experience we create for them in order to better facilitate behavior change.

Here are five ways you can provide a successful experience to new exercisers engaging with you this new year:

1. Require Your Existing Community to be Welcoming

You are in charge of the culture of your facility, and part of what makes up that culture is the behavior of your membership community. Communicate your expectation that they welcome new participants. That they make space for them and lend support when available. This new year, utilize communication strategies such as email, social media, and printed signage for your existing membership, requesting and requiring the support of new folks in the building. Wellness should not be gatekept by those further along in the behavior change process. 

2. Let ‘em Learn

Be patient, kind, and intentional about how you teach new exercisers. They are likely in the cognitive stage of learning, meaning they spend a lot of time thinking through how to perform the movements correctly. Provide the basic amount of cues necessary for them to practice movements, and don’t overwhelm them with too many cues or instructions. It can also be beneficial to the learning process to reduce or remove additional load from exercises. Fit pros should work to remember how uncomfortable it can feel to ask your body to do movements it’s never done before, and provide time and space for learning. (Numbers 3 and 4 apply here as well).

3. Focus on Attendance Instead of Intensity

What’s most important about a participant’s experience is that they show up, not how hard they work while there. Suggest and give permission for new exercisers to do all movements at a low intensity. New exercisers often fear coming in because it will hurt and require a lot of effort to “get through” the workout. Instead of what they “achieve” during the workout, focus on their attendance. This can be done in your marketing copy, helping you attract more new exercisers to your facility and in the programs they are participating in.

4. Celebrate the Imperfections

The fitness industry already has a reputation of requiring participants to demonstrate perfection: attendance, form, attire, body, etc. It’s a lot of pressure for new exercisers to feel they must be perfect. It doesn’t matter how many times they have attempted to adhere to movement habits in the past; if they are in front of you today, it’s a win. Celebrate their imperfect attendance and their imperfect form. The more we reduce expectations that members are required to be perfect to participate, the safer folks will feel to keep trying. The only caveat is: Is their imperfect form at risk of causing acute injury to themselves, other participants, or the facility/equipment? If not, let it be imperfect!

5. Skip Body Composition Testing

It’s as simple as this: Body composition testing does not benefit program design. It produces more feelings of shame, embarrassment, and disappointment than it does motivation. Especially for gyms that provide BIA testing for all new members and don’t utilize the rapport of a trusted Personal Trainer to deliver the results. If we want folks new to exercise to continue, we must reduce feelings of shame, embarrassment, and disappointment. Period. 

Want more on this topic? Check out my article Why you Should Skip the Traditional Fitness Assessment with your Personal Training Clients.

Let’s ensure we intentionally create experiences that facilitate feelings of success for our new and returning exercisers. For more ways to support new exercisers, check out my article: The Key Elements that Create a Successful Experience for New Exercisers.

REFERENCES:

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-Efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman.

For more information on this topic and CECs, check out my ACE, ACSM and NASM CEC-approved course, 10 Ways to Support the Adherence of New and Returning Exercisers.

Want to know if the clients are feeling successful in their sessions? Use my Personal Training Survey: This survey provides a comprehensive series of questions to gather quantitative and qualitative data about your client's experience working with a Personal Trainer.

Fitness Managers: Need support hiring and training Personal Trainers? Check out the Fitness Managers Guide: Personal Trainer Readiness Curriculum.