Personal Fitness Professional - March/April 2015 - 17

ergy levels and concentration from session
to session. Because her day can change at a
moment's notice due to intense fatigue, her
child's nursing/feeding and nap schedule and
doctors appointments, her training regiment
will need to have some ﬂuidity to it as well.
Logistically: Find the days and times that
work for the both of you, and then build in your
backup plan. "Rolling with it" is key to showing
that you understand her world and can be accommodating. Be ﬂexible with your training locations, too. She may need to train in her home
sometimes when/if her baby's nap schedule
changes. She also may need to have some of
her workouts be a traveling experience with her
child in a stroller. As long as you are ﬂexible, she
will feel understood and taken care of.

Be empathetic
Her world has transitioned is so many ways.
She will be experiencing a plethora of emotions and feelings. The moment that baby is
born, so is "mommy guilt." She often feels like
it is selﬁsh to take time for her, like her whole
existence should be about her baby. She also
may feel like she should be doing a better job
at this motherhood thing. You may hear things
like, "I should be at my pre-pregnancy weight

(or clothes) by now" or "I should be able to
have a clean house and care for my baby, too"
or "I should be able to sneeze/cough/jump/
run without peeing a little." The best message
to give her is to stop "should'ing" on herself!
She is doing her best and when she is working
on getting herself back from having a baby,
patience and persistence will be your focus
together. Show her that you are with her, by
her side, and that you believe that she can do
whatever she sets her mind to!

profoundly impact your business and the
lives of this very important client. The best
way to build your business in the mom market is to treat them like gold. Moms talk.
They talk about what they like and what they
don't like. If she has a wonderful and effective experience with you, she will tell others.
To attract and then retain these wonderful
women, be knowledgeable, be ﬂexible, be
empathetic and be empowering. Your impact can be incredible.

Be empowering
Help her to understand the incredible role
she has as a mom. When she is feeling positive, healthy, strong and conﬁdent, there will
be a ripple-effect to the children she is raising.
Take time in each of your training sessions to
lift her up, build her self-esteem and congratulate her for taking the time for herself. Help
her to understand that while she may feel
selﬁsh, she is actually doing some amazing
things for her children by being healthy and
positive for them! When she walks through
the world with strength and happiness, her
children will likely do the same.
Moms are such a unique and wonderful
population to train. Focusing on moms can

Farel B. Hruska is the National
Fitness Director for FIT4MOM.
With nearly 20 years experience as a personal trainer,
group ﬁtness instructor and
educator, Hruska manages all
ﬁtness-related programs and
initiatives for FIT4MOM, supporting thousands of
instructors and franchisees nationwide in addition to
supervising instructor certiﬁcations. Hruska is a recognized industry presenter and has been featured
by numerous press outlets for her ﬁtness expertise,
including Active.com, New York Times, WebMD,
Women's Running Magazine, SheKnows.com and
Pregnancy.com.

MARCH-APRIL 2015 | WWW.FIT-PRO.COM | 17

Personal Fitness Professional - March/April 2015

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