Frugal Finance: Keeping Personal Training Clients Motivated

Question:
Frugal Fitness, I'm also a personal trainer and I've had trouble keeping my clients motivated and on schedule due to snowstorms and sickness. What is your advice to keep them disciplined and on track?

Frugal Fitness Answer:
I've had a little trouble as well with rescheduling (plus I missed my exercise class I was supposed to teach from an awful icy drive) but I just try and stay on top of rescheduling sick/snow days as quickly as possible. It is tough if they aren't doing things on their own that they should be (workouts, cardio, stretching, diet, etc), I sometimes just firmly remind them that if they don't do what they're supposed to on non-appointment days, that we'll have to schedule more frequent appointments or they won't get to where they want to be. I don't think there's any perfect answer to that, that's why personal training, or teaching in general, is sometimes a frustrating profession. You could also beat them up a little bit more on your training days (without risking injury of course) and remind them it would be easier or you wouldn't have to work them so hard if they did the workouts on their own like they were supposed to. Just gotta try your best to keep morale high. Stay on top of schedules, be understanding but strict, it will help them more in the end and they will thank you later.