Case Study

One of your clients, Mark, is a 45-year-old whose goal is to lose 3% of his body far in 6 weeks. He is a picker at a warehouse working 8-hour shifts that change weekly. He lives alone in a 2-bedroom house and he will never do burpees.
In his first session you noticed that he had the incorrect technique for a number of exercises but, when you offered advice, he really did not like being told he was doing something wrong. In his second session he was finding the weighted squats you gave him really hard and he failed a squat with 30kg on the barbell. He is now quite unmotivated.
- Mark is likely to train at different times each week, how can you motivate him to train even when he is tired from his shift?
- How would you handle correcting Marks technique on numerous exercises?
- How can you approach it to keep him motivated?
- How would you make sure he is okay unsupervised?
- Do you need to assess exercise intensity?
- What options are there to adapt the exercise he is finding hard?
- How can we re-motivate Mark to make sure he doesn’t ‘fall off the wagon’?
- We know he is doing weighted squats but what other exercises could you look at?
- Can you adapt a programme for him to do away from you and the gym?
It is rare that there is just one way to respond to a scenario or situation, so do not consider that the responses you have to the above scenario will be judged as right or wrong. Share your scenario with a work colleague or friend and ask them to tell you whether they think you have responded appropriately. Ask them to challenge your response if necessary. You do not need to submit this task for assessment unless asked to do so by your assessor.