Many people believe that Coach Lombardi was one of the greatest motivators that ever lived. Many more believe that he may have been the greatest football coach that ever lived.

I believe that you as a fitness professional can learn volumes from a man like Vince Lombardi. Your career success will be determined on your ability to both motivate and coach your clients to achieve their maximum potential.

In order to illustrate this thought, I want to use a “real – life” example. Last year I wrote a Fit Bits column on the benefits of High-Intensity Training Programs. One of the programs that I went into some detail on was “Super Slow Training.” [Super Slow Training is basically 1 set of 4 – 6 reps, taking 10 seconds on the concentric contraction and 4 seconds on the eccentric contraction]. I will not mention any names in this article, because names are irrelevant. What is relevant however, is the fact that more than one trainer contacted me and the gist of those conversations were that the clients were getting great results from “super slow,” but because of how hard and painful the exercises were, the clients were reluctant to stay on the program. The dilemma, as the trainers described the situation, was that Super Slow provided greater size and strength increases than any other program they had ever used, but the clients did not want to work that hard.

What do you think Vince Lombardi would have done? If you want to see the complete speech by Vince Lombardi click here, but you can assume that he would have used his motivational skill to drive his clients to their maximum potential. Is that what you should do? My advice to you is to use your judgment, hopefully derived from common sense.

Personally I love Super Slow Training. I can get a killer workout in a short period of time and get on with life. But I began competing as an athlete at 9 years old and while I still love the “burns,” I DO NOT push myself like I used to when I competed. I don’t push myself 100%, I don’t work-out to exhaustion and I don’t hurt after a workout.

If your client is not a competitive athlete, then you to must find a manageable level of intensity and the only way to accomplish that goal is through effective communication. Talk to your client and determine how hard they want to work and how hard they want you to push. This is the only way you will find out if they want you to be Vince Lombardi or Mr. Rogers or something in between.

Before I close, I want you to consider motivation on another level – YOURS! The title of Vince Lombardi’s speech is “What is Takes to be Number One.” Are you doing everything you can do to be the best, to be number one in your chosen profession? If you are not, why not? It is going to be difficult to motivate others to be their best, if you can’t motivate yourself to be your best.

My advice to you is: (1) read the speech, (2) study the speech, (3) make a plan, and (4) execute the plan. And on those occasions when your motivation runs low: repeat 1-4.

I hope 2004 is your best year ever.

Sincerely,

James T. Bell M.S., IFPA President