THE IMPACT OF
EMOTIONAL FITNESS
ON CLIENT RESULTS
By By Heidi Di Santo
D
espite your best efforts, if your
clients aren’t achieving their health
and wellness goals, chances are
they may need an emotional tune up.
Heidi Di Santo explains.
Have your clients ever stopped to ask themselves why they
work out? They may respond with something like ‘so I can be
leaner or stronger’. But maybe they should consider asking
themself a further question: ‘What will being leaner or stronger
(or whatever your answer was) actually provide?’ If their
answer is ‘so I can look in the mirror and like what I see’ or ‘so I
can be more attractive’, then essentially what they are saying
is that they don’t particularly like who they are right now, and
that they need to change in order to be more acceptable (or
lovable).
comfort zone. People would come to me for all sorts of advice
about changing their body and, in hindsight, I am sorry that
I never told them that they were perfect just the way they
were. I realise now that I should have told them that I can
help them become fitter, but if they are doing it because they
don’t like who they are now, then they need to see a different
type of professional, who can help them to realise that they
are beautiful exactly as they are, and that they don’t need to
change anything for this to be the truth. But, instead, I fed their
‘perfection obsession’, just as I was feeding mine.
From my experience, people who start from this place,
generally don’t achieve their long term goals because they
lack self-love and self-respect, and will have parts within
themselves, ‘at war’ with each other. It’s kind of like building a
house on a shaky foundation; the house can never be strong
and robust.
When it comes to exercise, what is your client’s intention?
When I worked part time in the fitness industry, as an instructor
and personal trainer, I had an image to uphold (or so I
thought). I used to believe that I had to be the leanest, the
strongest and the fittest, so I pushed my body beyond my
26
When I worked in the fitness industry, my physical appearance
came at the expense of my emotional health, because I didn’t
listen to those parts within me that were uncomfortable with
the fitness bullying that I put myself through.
I’d push myself to exercise when parts of me were screaming
out for me to take a break. I’d deny myself treat food because
I believed it was fattening and unhealthy, and I became a
social leper by judging and criticising what everyone else ate
WHAT’S NEW IN FITNESS - SUMMER 2014