Training husband and wife at the same time - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[lindaloo]

I have a couple in their early 60's that I have been training individually. They want to start training together. I was thinking about setting up their routine where they are going for 30 seconds for each exercise instead of counting reps so they can stay within their own pace. Just wondering if anyone had any other suggestions. I don't want them to get mad at each other which may happen.

Thanks.

[kyates00]

There are pros and cons to making this change. For the past year I've trained a husband and wife together which was more time effective for them and myself but along with that came some distractions.

During exercise sessions they would start discussing work issues and what they needed to do with the kids and a bunch of other things that would distract them from the exercises they were doing.

They weren't reaping the full benefits of the exercise program and we needed to change that.

It just became more and more difficult to get them to focus. So, I sat with them and we decided it would be best if I trained them individually.

So, I would just suggest to make a list of pros and cons of making this move and if you find the list of pros outweighs the cons it might be a good move.

[dpasseto]

This is a good point. The dynamic of training a husband and wife together can be interesting to say the least.
If they supportive of one another, it can be a very positive thing. However, if they are competitive or tend to be distracted in eachother's presence, it may be better to recommend that they train separately.
The most effective way I've found to train couples is to put them through circuits for a set time period at each station, without necessarily assigning a rep goal. This accomplishes two things - it keeps their attention off of one another, and it keeps the intensity level high enough that they are forced to stay focused on their own movements.