Establishing Boundaries

Establishing boundaries that are clear cut and concise – I have learned, through the years, that it’s not just the Exercise Fitness Trainer’s responsibility to set guidelines and boundaries.

The student too, must understand what constitutes a clear cut boundary, and must abide by it. It becomes, therefore, not just the trainer’s responsibility, but the student’s as well.

It behoove the trainer, thus, to help his/her student to increase their own awareness of what constitutes a healthy boundary.

How does the Exercise Fitness trainer do this?

By making sure that the student understands that there are boundaries, and those boundaries need to be respected and utilized.

Many students must be made aware that they have the right to speak up if they don’t enjoy a trainer’s way of adjusting their positions.

Of course, that adjustment is paramount and important as much to the student as it is to the trainer. The student must not allow the trainer to make him/her uncomfortable.

The student must set his/her own clear-cut guidelines on just how far an exercise fitness trainer may go in helping a student with the exercise.

Thus, if a trainer asks a student for permission to touch his/her body in any way, the trainer is making it known that it is within the student’s parameters to deny or reject a trainer’s touching him/her in sensitive places.

The exercise fitness trainer is also alerting other students to this reality. The trainer is making it known that he may or may not touch a student’s body where it is not welcome.

Thus, other students pick up on this factor, and learn to set their own parameters or boundaries – it’s all about respecting an individual’s proclivities.