Categoriespersonal training

Why Training In a Group Gives You Leverage

Today’s guest post comes with impeccable timing.

Since I left Cressey Sports Performance a few weeks ago and started arm wrestling tanks working with people out of a small studio space in Boston (Run Strong Studio), I’ve switched gears a bit professionally reverting back to my roots focusing on semi-private training.

CSP has used the semi-private model from its inception back in 2007, and I’m very familiar with it, but it’s been a while since I’ve attempted to utilize it in a solo fashion.

There are several large commercial gyms in the area where I live (and now work) and none – to my knowledge – offer semi-private training to a high degree. Well, a few offer some low brow “conditioning classes” which, lets be honest, is code speak for “lets see how many burpees we can do in 30 minutes before your spine tells you to go fuck yourself.”

1-2 gyms offer semi-private strength training – one trainer, several clients, glitter paint, shit gets crazy – but because people in this area have been conditioned to think one-on-one training is the only way to do things (and that it’s safer[footnote]Alwyn Cosgrove has the best response to this absurdity. People are taught how to swim and how to handle firearms in a group setting – both of which, when taught poorly, can kill someone. How, then, is it any more “dangerous” for a trainer/coach to work with 2-5 people at a time?[/footnote]), it’s a novelty that hasn’t gained much traction.

Which is unfortunate because – while a bit biased – I feel it’s one of the best ways to introduce people into fitness, serving as a metaphorical festoon to improved health and overall sense of badassery.

Why?

1. Affordability – not many people can routinely afford paying a personal trainer for one-on-one services. Of course this is contingent on where someone lives. What you pay a trainer in NYC (a metric shit load) is much less to what you pay a trainer in Des Moines, Iowa (less than a metric shit load). I forget where I saw the statistic, but something only like 6-8% of the population can afford paying for personal training. With semi-private training – where rates are often reduced as high as 25% (some more, some less) – that statistic increases by a large margin.

2. Accountability – this comes into play with one-on-one training too. It’s amazing what the threat of losing out on $70-$100 by not showing up will do to someone’s motivation to get their butt to the gym. Moreover, I’ve found that people who gravitate towards semi-private training hold themselves more accountable to their peers whom they train alongside with.

3. Culture – something amazing happens once someone is finally around other like-minded individuals who want to train hard (yet intelligently). It’s as if a switch is flipped and their inner-Wolverine (or Xena) comes out.

Moreover, speaking as a coach, I find the semi-private (group) format has it’s advantages. For starters it allows me to be more efficient and provides better leverage to monetize my time.

It’s simple math[footnote]Citation: 3rd grade[/footnote].

Second, and I’d argue most important, it keeps me fresh.

I find I’m more energized and alert as a coach when I’m managing several clients at once compared to working with someone one-on-one. While they’re few and far between, I’ve had some clients in the past where I’d rather wash my face with broken glass than listen to another minute of them whining about doing another set of Goblet squats or how their life sucks because their Lexus is in the garage again.

With the semi-private format I can just feign a little compassion then just turn up the music and coach someone else up. No two days, let alone hours are the same and I love it.

Annnnnnd, I’m getting a bit long winded. Stevan Freeborn – who wrote THIS excellent article on diet vs. habit based nutrition tactics on the site not too long ago – returns with this gem below discussing more advantages the semi-private or group training protocol.

Enjoy!

Why Training In a Group Gives You Leverage

Change is sucks!”

 -Anyone who has ever given up ice cream

Anyone who has tried to change a behavior can probably agree with the quote above. Trying to change a long standing habit that has become part of your daily routine takes a lot of discipline, concentration, and preparation.

As a trainer I see my job not about counting reps and screaming a lot (okay sometimes it is about screaming, but just a little bit), but rather my job is to help my clients in any way shape or form so that their transition to a healthier way of life is as manageable and sustainable as possible.

Sometimes this means I spend a little extra time after class talking about meal planning and food preparation. Sometimes it means I make a short video of me performing a bodyweight circuit that they can do at home. Either way the purpose is to take a bit of the work off of them.

Like this “quickie” by Neghar Fonooni from Lift Weights Faster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfG8nXTBHU4

 

Over the last couple years I have come to believe that a group of people working towards similar goals can use each other in a similar capacity. The nature of the group allows each group member to share their difficulties and challenges with the group.

This is why I think people will always have more success working in a small group atmosphere when it comes to training and trying to eat better.

I believe this is largely due to three main effects that small groups have.

I want to talk about each one a bit today in hopes of persuading you to find a gym that will allow you to create a small group of training partners.

1. Power of “Peer Pressure”

The term “peer pressure” is something we have all heard before typically in the context of a don’t-do-drugs lecture from our parents or in a public service announcement involving the shaving of a young boy’s head to demonstrate how others can push you into doing drugs.

Both scenarios provide a context where the idea of “peer pressure” is one where there’s a negative connotation; as something that should be avoided or fought at any cost.

But I think this is a flawed understanding of “peer pressure.”

I prefer to term this phenomenon social reinforcement because I think it better identifies the actually process a bit more accurately.

Simply put social reinforcement is the positive or negative regard you receive from others by performing or not performing a particular behavior or taking on a specific set of beliefs and values.

In the context discussed earlier regarding drugs this would be the sudden coolness and likability you gain in the eyes of those who do drugs when you yourself start doing drugs.

But you see social reinforcement or “peer pressure” is nothing more than that…it is reinforcement either positive or negative in relation to a behavior or cognitive process.

This means that it is not “peer pressure” or the social reinforcement that is a bad thing…it is the behavior that it is reinforcing that is negative in the context of doing drugs.

Which logically means that if we can use social reinforcement to get people to engage in rather destructive and negative behaviors we can use this same powerful force to engage people in healthy and productive behaviors.

This is one of the benefits of training in a small group of people whom you know and trust.

If this small group is all about exercise chances are you will feel the need to exercise as well in order to receive that positive regard that we humans crave so much.

Social reinforcement gives you leverage over yourself.

It means that instead of going to the gym or being trained by yourself – which is typically the same environment you find yourself quitting time and time again – you will be in a group of people who believe exercise is important and necessary, and thus more than likely you will feel the need to take on this point of view as well.

This allows the change from being sedentary to being active much easier and sustainable.

2. The Gift of Social Support

Having a small group who you train with means that this small group cannot only play the role of training partners, but also the role of support group.

These people in your group are going through or have been through the same challenges and hardships you are facing or will face.

This means they make the perfect people to share your journey with.

 They can provide you reassurance in times of doubt, motivation when feelings of despair creep up, and advice when trying to solve a problem.

This is an extremely important part of making change long lasting.

Some people get this support system from their family and friends which is great, but I have seen many clients who constantly struggle through their change process because everyone else in their life does not see their healthy lifestyle change as a priority and because of social reinforcement (which we talked about earlier) this means my client often compromise their own priorities for others around them.

But by training in a small group you ensure that this role is fulfilled and that you are going to be more likely to be successful. Plus if you get social support from both people in the gym and outside of it I will bet changing your habits feels that much easier.

People need other people.

It is that simple.

Training in a small group gives you those people who you can lean on and who can lean on you.

Having a group that both plays the role of training partners and support group gives you leverage over your elephant which would much rather drag your rider to the local ice cream pallor.

3. Being Part of an “In-Group”

If you have ever taken a class in psychology or sociology then the term “in-group” is probably familiar to you.

But for those of you wondering: an in-group refers to a group that an individual psychologically identifies with.

The idea was popularized by Henri Tajfel while developing his Theory of Social Identity.

The idea here is that by having a group of people who share the same interest and priorities as you do, allows you to find a sense of identity in training and eating well.

It in essence becomes a part of you. You join and help create a culture specific to your group that will help hold you to your change process without even thinking about it.

You will find eating well and exercising regularly less demanding and chore-like. Rather you will begin seeing it as part of your daily routine and life.

I am not trying to promote the formation of a cult or anything here (; D), but I am encouraging you to get involved with a gym that has a culture to which you can assimilate with because it will make being consistent with training and eating well so much easier.

An added benefit you’ll also find is that your training will take off when you find a great group of people to train with because their habits will rub off on you.

If they use perfect technique, lots of intensity, and smile a lot while working out then you will soon be doing the same both because you identify yourself as part of the group and also because you want the positive regard of the people around you.

The Final Say

As you can see small group training offers a great number of benefits, but most importantly it gives you better leverage over any change your are trying to make. It allows you to save energy for other things in life than trying to force yourself to get to the gym or not purchase that carton of cookies you get every week at the grocery store.

Plus there is nothing more exciting and enjoyable than sharing in the victory of others and having people excited for you when you yourself succeed!

I hope this persuades you to seek out a group of people to train alongside!

About the Author

Stevan Freeborn B.Sc. ACSM-CPT is a trainer from Joplin, MO. He trains clients both in person and online. When he isn’t, he enjoys picking up heavy things, crushing trail mix, and being a coffee snob. He would love it if you would connect with him onInstagram, Facebook, or Twitter and spend a few minutes getting inside his head at Freeborn Training Systems.

CategoriesNutrition

Diet vs. Habit Based Nutritional Coaching

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Missouri based personal trainer, Stevan Freeborn. I don’t provide nearly enough nutritional content on this site, so it’s nice whenever I have the chance to have someone with more experience on topic shed some light.

Enjoy!

Restriction, Restriction, Restriction.

That’s the name of the game for most people when it comes to eating healthier.

Just about everyone has had that experience where they have bought the latest trending diet book, threw out everything in their pantry, restocked it with whatever buzzwords the expert author used (organic, gluten free GMO free, zombie proof) or claimed was “clean” or “healthy” and then proceeded to prepare a week’s worth of “healthy” and “clean” meals that will help you lose that excess belly fat you have been carrying around for the last couple years.

Note from TG: on the topic of GMO’s, I really like THIS article via Precision Nutrition.

But what follows this experience is never what we all hope for.

Usually it consists of several days filled with frustration, self deprivation, and envy followed by a quick and swift return to your old diet and grocery store list.

So the questions we need to be asking ourselves is why does this happen?

Why do we start off so motivated and excited to start something new, yet quickly lose our dedication to the cause? Why do we keep repeating this chain of events that always ends in a crash and burn scenario?

I think the answer lies in the approach we are taking in regard to how we are taught and teaching how to make food choices. I think if we can change the way we coach people to change their diet we can dramatically improve the outcomes for those people who want to eat better, fee better, and look better.

In my mind there are two different approaches for nutritional coaching and food choices.

One is habit-based and the other is diet-based. I will spend time later in this post explaining more about each concept, but it is important to remember that both are tools that can be used effectively with or by the right person in the right situation.

SPOILER ALERT: I think you are going to find that I personally have a huge biased towards one approach over the other because of my own personal experience and logical conclusion about its practicality.

Diet-Based Nutritional Coaching

This is the approach everyone has been using for the past 20 years. The experience I initially described to you is a product of this kind of approach.

Someone teaching or practicing a diet-based nutritional approach focuses on the things they can and cannot eat.

They create list of foods that are “good” or “clean” and a list of foods that are “bad” or “dirty” and make all food decisions based on where the foods fall on these master lists.

This approach can be done on a macroscopic scale looking at whole foods or it can be done on a microscopic scale looking at the macronutrients which make up the foods. Depending on which scale or combination of the two the foods that make up the lists can be greatly varied. Good examples of this approach are the popular ancestral diets (Paleo) and the “If It Fits Your Macros” approach.

Pros

This type of nutritional approach sets very clear and defined guidelines as to what should be consumed and what shouldn’t be consumed leaving no room for interpretation or time spend worrying over what food to pick.

It allows people to make comprehensive grocery lists and meal plans that gives them peace of mind that they are making healthy choices. It provides people with a system to categorize and label foods which as we all probably know by now is something the human brain loves to do.

Cons

On the flip side this approach often creates a restriction mindset (except if you are practicing a macronutrient based version).

It tells people they can’t eat any of their old foods and requests that people change their entire way of eating overnight.

It typically is centered more about what you are not supposed to eat than what you are supposed to eat. It requires incredible levels of organization, dedication, self discipline, and motivation to stick with it long enough to have this way of eating become a way of life. It places labels on foods such as “good” or “bad” and thus creates negative connotations toward foods and subsequently negative emotions when these foods are consumed.

Habit-Based Nutritional Coaching

This is the approach I prefer and have had great success with clients.

In this type of approach we are focusing on what exactly you are eating. We aren’t concerned with the minutia of where it was grown and how it was grown. Habit-based nutrition is about using what we know about human psychology to better leverage our efforts to change.

We focus on creating a singular habit which we perceive as super duper easy to do and than practicing that habit for two weeks becoming the master of whatever this habit makes us do.

Note from TG: I LOVE The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

The habit will be different for each person depending on where they struggle more with their diet and how far off they are from a complete and nutritious diet. Once someone has successfully mastered a habit for two weeks you simply add another habit which again we perceive to be super duper easy. This process continues in piece-wise fashion until we are eating a diet that supports the person’s overall health and specific performance goals.

Pros

This approach gives people action.

It focuses on what a person can do to eat better than what they can’t do. It applies the power of less, which means that by focusing on one change instead of several the likelihood of success significantly increases.

It provides direction, but allows the person to take ownership over the specific execution of the habit. It meets the person where they are at currently with their way of eating.

It focuses on creating lasting and sustainable change. It acknowledges the fact that the action of eating is rather complexed and is preceded by a crap ton of other behaviors all of which influence the likelihood of actually eating what you are suppose too.

It acknowledges the scientifically validated concept that self-discipline is a depleting resource and can’t be used endlessly. It is scalable to the person’s level of commitment and motivation meaning the habits can be made incredibly specific or broad with a lot of room for improvisation. Most importantly to me it eliminates the self deprivation attitude towards eating better.

Cons

Honestly from a personal and professional standpoint I really see no downsides with this approach other than it won’t sell a lot of books or allow for the development of niche food brands that can profit off of someone’s dietary restrictions.

*Cough, cough, cough* Food Babe.

Like I said I am biased towards one approach over the other I acknowledged that at the beginning of this discussion as well as the fact that both approaches can be used successfully with the right people in the right situation.

We have to see these differing approaches as tools and use them for the correct job. I think we have to stop trying to use one size fits all models for trying to improve our health and rather tailor the approach based on the individuals psychology.

For example, if I had a client who was 40 years old morbidly obese, recently been diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia, prescribed several different medications to treat all these health problems, and still had a family to take care of and look after…my approach would be to use a diet based approach.

Why?

First this client is probably highly motivated. He knows that if he can lose this weight he will be able to stop taking all these expensive medications he is buying every month and that he will be able to live long enough to take care of his family and see all his children become adults. Second he really doesn’t have the rest of his life to figure all this nutritional stuff out. He needs to lose weight now and the best way to do this is to create an energy deficit which will require coaching him on specifically what foods and how much of these foods he is allowed to consume.

Conversely, if I also had a 25 year old female who was 50 pounds overweight with no medical conditions or injuries and just wants to be able to walk around in a bikini and feel like a rockstar I will more than likely try to start her on a habit based approach.

In this case for two large reasons.

First this lady is young and she needs to develop a relationship with food that will contribute to long lasting and sustainable results both in her overall health, but also in the way her body appears. Second I have found that women practicing diet based approaches often develop some serious dysfunctional eating patterns specifically, being over restrictive on food intake and/or practicing binge-purge cycles.

You see the approach has to fit the clients situation not the other way around.

These are just a couple of examples of how you could decide on which approach is better than the other. You could also look specifically at each persons level of commitment and motivation in order to select an intervention that fits where that person currently stands in both areas. You could also ask the person or yourself how much success in the past have they had with dieting.

I hope this helps you find a way of approaching nutrition that best fits your needs or the needs of your clients and leads to increased success in the long run.

About the Author

Stevan Freeborn B.Sc. ACSM-CPT is a trainer from Joplin, MO. He trains clients both in person and online. When he isn’t, he enjoys picking up heavy things, crushing trail mix, and being a coffee snob. He would love it if you would connect with him on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and spend a few minutes getting inside his head at Freeborn Training Systems.