I was interested to read The Telegraph’s recent article stating that personal training will be offered to thousands of overweight people on the NHS in a bid to combat diabetes.
While I applaud this decision, we need to ensure the PTs linking with the NHS have the right skills. Dealing with those who have never exercised before may be seemingly common, but this is a different group of people compared to new exercisers electing to join a club.
The personal trainers will need to have strong rapport-building skills, be empathetic and have a range of tools to be able to shape the thinking of the client and optimise their commitment. These are skills that are easily trained but, make no mistake, these are techniques that need training and practising – they aren’t intuitive.
ukactive’s Research Institute has published clear evidence of the power of physical activity counselling delivered within health club and leisure centre settings. This powerful approach moves us away from merely prescribing exercise. It effectively empowers the client to make a positive commitment based on, and with a full understanding of, why they want to be active. If widely adopted, it would transform our ability to attract and retain more people even beyond this NHS link.
In adopting this approach, our industry will offer a language and a protocol that aligns with health. It requires a little investment and a sustained transition to embed a new way of working, but the benefits could be significant for operators, our staff and those millions in need of greater support to start and stay active.