Helping Your Clients Finish Strong
Mike Whitfield, CTT
Co-author of Hardcore Finishers
Http://georgettepann.com/hardcorefinishers
We have all been there. You walk into the gym, you do your warm-up, then you proceed to mosey on over to the dumbbells and begin your strength workout. You do the basics, like the squat, the DB row, maybe some pushups and between sets, you check Facebook.
You’re just going through the motions. You just want to put a check mark next to “workout” on your to-do list. Honestly? I’ve even put the words “write a to-do list” on my to-do list, just so I can cross it off and feel productive. You can totally steal that one, and you’re welcome.
Anyway, unfortunately, your clients can and will go through the same thing. They will find themselves in a rut where they are just not mentally into it. They could be distracted by family problems, a tough day at their job, broken relationships and more.
Sometimes, by offering a new twist to your clients’ workouts, you can break them free of what is holding them back. All of a sudden, you find them engaged with their workouts, and getting in better shape and losing fat ends up being just a by-product. It’s what happens to them mentally is so invigorating.
You help them find a way set life to the side, forget all their so-called problems, and set them in quotations. WHOA. I thought that was amazing, but to be honest, John Mayer is playing in the background and I totally stole that from him. Dang… I was hoping I was creative.
The truth is that your clients come to you to get in better shape, sure. But they want to give 30-60 minutes to themselves. They want to unleash their frustrations, tensions and be themselves. No matter our personality, I truly believe we all have what I call “an inner beast”.
Our inner beast needs more than some pushups and some bodyweight squats. We need unconventional methods to relieve the stress in our lives, and we as trainers, can separate ourselves from the rest of the pack by supplying them an outlet to unleash what has built up inside of them throughout the day.
Yeah, But How?
I asked my friend and strength coach, Travis Stoetzel, about that. His methods are unconventional for sure. He has his clients slam hammers on a big tractor tire, push a sled for 30 yards and some crazy exercises with kettlebells. He said something that has influenced me to this day, which was, “These days there’s way too many people walking around that are “soft” mentally. We’ve grown weak and the only way to get ourselves out of this rut is to train ourselves to push past of mental limits.” This quote of his still resonates with me to this day. I’ve even gone over this “mantra” before my workouts recently, and my workouts have improved dramatically.
Sure, your clients’ workouts need progressions and the basics to improve themselves (like I said before…squats, rows, etc.).
But if you let your clients finish their workouts in a way where they can leave nothing on the table, release every last drop of the day’s events, you can literally change their entire day in just a few minutes.
This is where the fun begins – they have already performed their main strength session. It’s time to cut loose and let everything out – all the aggression, the anger, the tension, and more. This is when you give them a hardcore finisher.
It’s the perfect time for them to use the “Kitchen Sink” Workout Finisher…
Finisher #27 from the Hardcore Finishers Manual – “The Kitchen Sink”
Do the following circuit one time
1A) Prowler / Sled Sprints x 50 yards down and back
1B) Kettlebell Swings x 10
1C) Overhead Sandbag Squats x 15
1D) Spider Climbs x 20 / leg
1E) Box Jumps x 25
1F) Push Ups x 30
1H) Battling Ropes x 1 MIN
The sweat was poured, the mentality was improved and the extra credit was that your clients’ conditioning improved, and they were able to burn more calories with some fun tools.
This can make a total difference in your client’s day. It’s not how you start the day, it’s how you finish it. The same goes for the workouts – perhaps your client didn’t have the best workout because of their inner battles. With a hardcore finisher, you allow them to hit the reset button, recompose themselves and unleash the fury built up inside.
The mental transformation begins, and the fat and conditioning ends up just being a by-product of their hard work. It trickles down to everything they do, including their work and day-to-day activities. Imagine being able to help your clients get up and down the stairs with no problem – that’s a life-changer, and that is what it’s all about.
That’s why I got with Travis Stoetzel on the Hardcore Finishers project. His insight has helped me mentally and using his techniques with finishers had a better effect than I imagined. It was a joy seeing the results of the everyday Joes and even athletes improve their performance in and out of the gym.
It’s not what the Hardcore Finishers accomplishes in just the few minutes it takes to complete them, it’s the other 23 hours and 50 minutes that’s affected even more with our clients.
Mike Whitfield, CTT
Co-author of Hardcore Finishers
Get 31 Hardcore Finishers by clicking here
Http://georgettepann.com/hardcorefinishers