How To Give Fitness Advice to Friends
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How do you give advice to your friends about health and wellness? It’s super tricky. When people get into a healthy lifestyle, you’re going to want to talk about it with friends and family. It could be a variety of topics; it’s normal to want to share these things. There is nothing wrong with sharing your new passion, but be careful on how you approach fitness advice. Sometimes, in the process of giving advice you can alienate or offend people.
First, try to avoid giving fitness advice unless it is pertinent or asked for. What does that mean? If someone shares an issue that they have, then maybe you can suggest going to the gym from a place of humility. Try to avoid calling out the person on their issues and come from a gentle place of suggestion. If they ask for specific advice, then by all means share what worked for you! Try not to volunteer a lot of health advice; some people have a tendency to get offended. But, if someone asks for your help or input you should definitely share your experience!
Secondly, empathize with that person. We can easily forget where we’ve come from after we drop pounds, lift weights, and start to feel good. Try to be empathetic to the situation and person, try to truly understand and listen to what they are saying and need from you. Once you start listening, you can try to offer advice from a place of empathy. When we say we understand their pain and sorrow and then suggest healthy habits, the person is more likely to be receptive.
Finally, encourage good habits before addressing bad habits. You are what you do daily and breaking bad habits can be difficult. Instead of berating the person, offer advice from a place of empathy or try to suggest good habits than to change the bad ones. I’m not saying to ignore the bad habits, but telling someone that they’re wrong or they need to change can cause that person to shut down. If you encourage healthy habits, that person may start to change their bad habits. Sometimes improving one thing at a time will cause ‘habit stacking’ and they will start to focus on other items after focusing.
Hopefully these tips and tricks will help you navigate the new healthy lifestyle that you want to share with your friends and family.
Yo! I’m not a licensed therapist or Doctor, I just talk about real shit that’s happened to my clients and me.
Do you have a fitness story you want to share? Contact me directly: TotalBodyTrainingTX@gmail.com.