Should you be friends with your client? Managing boundaries and multiple relationships
Building a rapport is critical in maintaining long-term work with a personal training client. Generally, the first step to working with a new client is to create a supportive environment where they can trust you and open up to their experiences with exercise and eating healthy, which can be sensitive and personal. A strong rapport with a client can result in greater communication, feedback, and mutual respect, leading to you offering more effective programs and the client continuing to work with you long-term.
However, there is a difference between a professional relationship with a client and being friends with a client. Unfortunately, the line can blur. Unlike mental health professionals, trainers and fitness instructors have no clear code of conduct to follow or management to implement for their employees.
Issues with being friends with a client
Having a client as a friend can lead to issues with expectations and an awkward situation if the trainer or client wants to end the friendship or working relationship. Favouritism is a common problem. Trainers may offer deals, not respect training times, or create exceptions regarding rescheduling or cancellations of sessions for one client but not others. Conflicts of interest can arise if you're selling packages and products to the client, as the client may feel pressured to buy to avoid losing a friendship. Reviews made by the client can be biased. Trainers may overlook certain shortcomings, refrain from giving feedback, and make biased decisions when making and delivering programs or giving advice.
It is essential to be objective and focus on giving clients the right program, advice, and helpful feedback so that they succeed in their fitness and health goals. To establish and maintain a positive professional relationship, be sure to:
Establish boundaries and expectations at the start: Explain the cancellation and payment policy clearly. Create a boundary on how the client can contact you outside training times, for example, when they can message or email and when to expect a response.
Practice confidentially, especially when a client shares medical and personal information. Inform the client that you will keep the information private.
Share personal experiences or ask personal questions only when necessary. It is good to know the client's personality and the barriers that prevent them from sticking to a program, but make sure that what you discuss is relevant to their health and fitness goals.
If your client is overly friendly or views the relationship as more than professional, speak openly to your client about why maintaining a working relationship is critical to ensuring effective coaching and is best for the client's interest.
What if you are training a friend or family member?
First-time trainers and instructors are encouraged to train friends and family to gain work experience before venturing out to strangers. But how do you maintain a professional relationship? Especially if your clients pay you, try your best to be professional. Explain that this will be helpful practice before working with strangers. However, training friends and family has benefits; you'll likely feel more comfortable trying new things, and your clients may also feel comfortable giving honest feedback. There are pros and cons to training friends/family, and some will work better for you than others. It would help if you established that they are your clients first and friends/family second during the session, which leads to a higher quality service.
Overall, maintaining professional boundaries with clients takes a lot of work. The general view of trainers is that they are friendly, trustworthy, and relatable but can continue to be professional and objective. Thoughts on what is acceptable when interacting with clients during and outside training sessions will differ among trainers, so having a dialogue among each other to learn more about the ethics of personal training is needed.
What are your thoughts and experiences with training a friend or family member?
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