When we started using CAT Testing as our intake vehicle for Personal Training clients, we told the newbies that we were trying to find both their weakest link AND something at which they were already good.
Intuitively (for once!) we realized that giving someone a bonus - a touchstone exercise at which they excelled - would keep them coming in more regularly. Teach a woman to do double-unders? She'll show up for every workout where you incorporate skipping techniques, because she's already good at it. Got a tall guy in OnRamp? Let him pull a decent weight before he starts CrossFit. Whenever a deadlift comes up, he'll show, because that's "his thing."
Sounds like we were onto something. Two studies quoted in Switch talk about the benefit of giving people a 'head start' - or making them aware that they're "gifted" before they get rolling.
In one, researchers quizzed hotel room cleaners about their daily exercise levels. Despite their high work output daily - they're moving quickly through hotel rooms, with a time limit, for 8 hours per day, with gear - most described themselves as a "non-exerciser" because they weren't members of a gym. Their work output, though, was quadruple the typical half-hour on a treadmill. CrossFit? No, but much tougher than the workout of most gym-goers. Here's the beautiful part: when researchers made the results known to the cleaners, they dropped an average of 1.8lbs in the next month, without changing anything else. They didn't join gyms; they didn't eat better; but they worked harder, because they were exercising. 1.8lbs doesn't sound like much, but in a huge sample, it's significant, especially when food and other variables are controlled.
In the second, patrons of a car wash were given a new punch-card to earn free cleanings. One group was given a 8-punch card; after they'd accumulated 8 punches, they got a free wash. The other group was given a 10-punch card, with two punches already tallied. They, too, had to earn 8 more punches before they could get a free wash.
After three months, the second group was twice as likely - 36% to 18% - to have filled their cards. There were no other differences between the groups, other than the 20% bonus.
If you're trying to keep someone at your Box longer, why not exploit their strengths? Even better, brag 'em up in public! We use a 'like' board at our Affiliate to trumpet achievements by members, but pulling them into the middle of the circle during skill work is also great......
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