Wellness Coaching in Virginia Beach

Coaching individuals to cultivate themselves, beyond the physical, is an undervalued aspect of personal training. Attention to mental cultivation is just one of the tremendously beneficial skills delivered uniquely by the world’s coaches. “Coach,” by definition, is someone who provides individualized guidance to an athlete or learner. Only a coach boasts the ability to recognize someone’s strengths and limitations and match or leverage those strengths for the benefit of the whole. In the case of a personal trainer, who also considers themselves a wellness coach, this translates to seeing the body/person as the “whole” and teaching/honing skills or strengths for the benefit of the whole person.
 
Brian, as a lifestyle coach, is realistic and encouraging. He shares your love for a occasional cheeseburger or stiff drink and does not care to rob you of life’s joys. This is a rare quality among a sea of idealistic and judgmental wellness folk. Brian believes that this experience of working with a personal trainer should benefit you in all ways. Therefore, he seeks to avoid condemning or shaming commentary when it comes to a client’s lifestyle choice.
 
How does a coach generate change without condemning or forcing? Brian has a unique way of seeing your goodness and using it to your advantage. Are you open minded about certain change and not others? That’s fine, he will pick up on that and use it. Brian’s clients frequently and enthusiastically express their love for indulgent habits and he will encourage them taking this stance; if you show up to train, you’ve won, anything else is extra points. In taking this accepting and encouraging stance, Brian’s clients thrive. When they make decisions to workout more frequently, more intensively, or make dietary change, its because they feel so good and want to continue to do so, not because they’ve been shamed into change.
 
What Is a Wellness Coach and why is Brian equipped with these skills? At Cavanaugh Fitness, we discovered that the best way to help our clients meet their fitness goals was to motivate them based in their values and THEN provide the tools for change. The tools without the motivation will do very little in regards to generating lasting change. Weight loss, habit change, dietary and stress reduction goals respond especially nicely to wellness coaching methods. The topic areas listed here are those most often expressed or desired by our clients.
 
In addition to the tools taught through personal training, wellness coaching will assist clients in making better general choices and support use of new tools towards their individual health goals. As you can imagine, new workout tools without generally better lifestyle choices, will hinder progress and motivation. Unlike a nutritionist or physical therapist, who makes specific diet and exercise suggestions, a wellness coach will help you make better general choices that fit your lifestyle.
 
Since incorporating wellness coaching into our personal training, we have seen many unintended but amazing benefits within our clients. The motivation garnered from our wellness coaching has translated to more momentum in the careers of our clients. Our clients were able to generalize the talents and aptitudes they learned in physical therapy and apply them in all areas of their lives. We found that our clients become more conclusive and fast with big life decisions, as their confidence in their own decision making improved through working with a trainer. Once clients begin to enhance their fitness/health and see the benefits to this, their work/life balance improves in a very significant way. Speaking of work/life balance, one of the many benefits of working with Brian Cavanaugh is the personal training with child care benefit. All Brian’s training happens exclusively out of OneLife Fitness in the Princess Anne section of Virginia Beach. This gym comes with the added benefit of child care for children up to age 13. This child care benefit, makes after and before work training sessions more feasible for our clients. 

How does wellness coaching fit in to our personal training sessions? Pretty seamlessly. Brian will begin settling in to his coaching role quickly, as he gets a sense of your specifically fitness goals. He does not make the assumption that all clients have the same “get stronger” fitness goal. Some clients are clear up front: “my goal is to be able to run with my kids around the yard, without feeling winded.” There are other clients who need that initial support in clarifying why they landed at Cavanaugh fitness and what they hope to work on. Brian will work through a series of questions to get to the crux of your desire. Then, you will make a plan to accomplish this. This plan always entails some form of personal training (individual, group or both) and usually also explores your capacity for independent workouts and what times you feel comfortable doing alone. He may recommend adding a specific type of workout or scaling back on some fitness exercise you’re already engaged in. When Brian makes his recommendations, their couched as options which helps generate a collaborative stance for meeting your goals.  
 
You may be wondering how a fitness professional can be a personal trainer without being a “coach” and, believe us, we wonder the same. However, its not infrequent that training professionals will provide you with the tools without first assessing your motivation or prior education in the subject matter. This commitment to YOU AS AN INDIVIDUAL and highest respect for your goals and values is what puts Cavanaugh Fitness above your typical free few session gym-assigned trainer or “coaches” at group training facilities. 

​CALL TO ACTION
We want to you to talk our ear off about your goals and challenges. We want to be your coach!  Call us today for a free consultation or complete our inquiry form on the sidebar.