Network Magazine autumn 2016 | Page 11

The 30-second article • ‘Traditional’ weights room workouts can be intimidating for those new to exercise • Sandbells offer a more fun, less intimidating way to train new clients, and the challenge of unpredictability for other clients • A sandbell workout can have clients squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling, rotating, hingeing and working their core without even realising it • The benefit of creating a safe training environment, both physically and emotionally, for your clients is an increase in trust, which will help build your relationship. many fitness facilities is part of why only about 14 per cent of our population ever joins a gym. Let’s change that imaginary scenario: it’s time for your first session, you’re super nervous and your trainer starts you in an area with a bit of free space. He then hands you a wetsuit material bag filled with sand. You love the beach. The thing starts moulding to your fingers, you can grab it, squeeze it, and did the trainer just say throw it? Awesome! Actually, you’ve had a pretty frustrating day, so slamming this thing into the ground feels great. Your heart rate is going up, but this is actually fun! Now you’re catching it and then getting tricky by catching it with alternating hands. You have some control of your range of motion and you’re squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling, rotating, hingeing and ‘working your core’, all without knowing it, and without being told that you’re doing it ‘wrong’. This is where this sand-filled bag – the sandbell – co