“I don’t want to tell people what to do (e.g. join a gym, don’t eat takeaways), but I do want them to be healthier… how do I do it?” asked Kim Leadbeater MP at #ActiveUprising last week.
This was the best question in a whole lot of brilliant speeches, panels, pitches, and discussions at the ukactive annual conference. Kim has a passion for health and fitness, and is a force for change in the work she does.
We love her “Healthy Britain – A new approach to health and wellbeing policy” paper from March 2023, and also enjoyed listening to her talk at the Why Sports conference last year.
Kim's speech and subsequent panel debate at Active Uprising really talked to the need for more of a coaching approach in health and fitness, rather than the traditional prescription or programming methods we are used to.
Simply put, if people choose their own pathways, they are much more likely to follow them, and succeed, than if they are told what to do.
This applies equally to health as fitness; a GP telling a patient to take a prescription, a physio giving a sheet of stretches for rehab, or an instructor writing a programme for a gym member. Admittedly there are limitations and stresses on a 10-minute GP appointment, but this is where health coaching can help people looking to make positive changes.
Choose your exercise programme
In a health club, a great programme review (or initial workout on an induction) is where the instructor asks the member what they’d like to do. By giving them the choice of equipment, or asking how their friends exercise, the member is much more likely to complete their workout on their terms and in their timeframe. Some members will look to the instructor as the expert, and ask their advice, which is fine. But in these situations, the coach should make some suggestions and ask the member to choose from them. This way, the member is not being told what to do, but is choosing what to do.
Choice (n) – the act of choosing between two (or more) possibilities.
Also Choice (adj) – of good quality.
The fitness industry’s workforce: instructors, personal trainers, coaches, health team members, etc. are well positioned to deliver health interventions. We need to upskill some staff with understanding behaviour change, building empathy, and other coaching soft skills, which is where the Health Seeker Coaching course we developed with Future Fit for Business helps.
By talking about health as well as fitness, we make our facilities more appealing to the 85%. And if we can help signpost people to other wellbeing services, rather than just the gym, classes, and pool, we can move towards and beyond 20% of the population visiting our centres. Visit for a health check and some coaching, then take your exercise elsewhere, or specialist advice, for nutrition, sleep and so on. Its about choice, either supporting people with their own choices, or offering a range of options for them to choose from.
Most people don’t want to work out, but most people do want to be healthier. As Kim says, we can’t tell people what to do, but we can offer them choices, and support them with changing to healthier behaviours.
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