Starting An Exercise Program
1. How would you help an individual that wants to start an exercise program through the five different stages of change (pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance)? Be specific, be creative, and be compassionate and supportive.
CONTEMPLATION
This person wants to start an exercise program, making this person past the pre-contemplation stage and in the contemplation stage. If he is asking about starting an exercise program he may be exploring the effort, time, or cost of changing. To help, I would explain the benefits of starting an exercise program and the procedure of getting started (small, do-able changes over a period of time so I don’t scare him off!) I would also offer reading material, info on different …show more content…
I would also recommend physicians who can give the individual clearance to start an exercise program, numbers/prices to gyms, schedules of exercise classes, descriptions of exercise classes, meeting times of support groups/sports groups, and maybe sign him up for a gym membership. And of course support through any questions or feelings!
ACTION
Once in the action stage I will keep contact with the individual to reinforce the positive behaviors and offer support if any obstacles rise. I will also help the person in reassessing their goals and exercise program to keep him interested and motivated.
MAINTENANCE
Once in the maintenance stage I would slowly distance my reinforcement behaviors, leading the person to become self-sufficient. This stage may also need reassessing of goals and exercise programs periodically to keep the individual from becoming bored or discontented.
2. You are working with a client who gets up late for work, skips breakfast and stops at Dunkin Donuts for coffee and donuts on the way to work. How would you help him to break that behavioral …show more content…
Babies fall a lot when learning to walk, but we keep encouraging them. We don’t tell them “forget it—you will never walk”. A second metaphor is using football to demonstrate relapses. In football the team’s long-term goal is to win. But the team also has a short-term goal of gaining yardage. Even though the team may not gain any yardage they don’t give up the game; they keep playing working towards the long-term goal of winning. I will tell the client to think of the other times he has relapsed, and think how he still came back, and how much he has gained in that period of time. My favorite metaphor from the internet is: saying “oh I’ve already ruined my good eating today I’ll just eat crap” is like saying “oh I dropped my phone on the floor I’ll just smash it till it
CONTEMPLATION
This person wants to start an exercise program, making this person past the pre-contemplation stage and in the contemplation stage. If he is asking about starting an exercise program he may be exploring the effort, time, or cost of changing. To help, I would explain the benefits of starting an exercise program and the procedure of getting started (small, do-able changes over a period of time so I don’t scare him off!) I would also offer reading material, info on different …show more content…
I would also recommend physicians who can give the individual clearance to start an exercise program, numbers/prices to gyms, schedules of exercise classes, descriptions of exercise classes, meeting times of support groups/sports groups, and maybe sign him up for a gym membership. And of course support through any questions or feelings!
ACTION
Once in the action stage I will keep contact with the individual to reinforce the positive behaviors and offer support if any obstacles rise. I will also help the person in reassessing their goals and exercise program to keep him interested and motivated.
MAINTENANCE
Once in the maintenance stage I would slowly distance my reinforcement behaviors, leading the person to become self-sufficient. This stage may also need reassessing of goals and exercise programs periodically to keep the individual from becoming bored or discontented.
2. You are working with a client who gets up late for work, skips breakfast and stops at Dunkin Donuts for coffee and donuts on the way to work. How would you help him to break that behavioral …show more content…
Babies fall a lot when learning to walk, but we keep encouraging them. We don’t tell them “forget it—you will never walk”. A second metaphor is using football to demonstrate relapses. In football the team’s long-term goal is to win. But the team also has a short-term goal of gaining yardage. Even though the team may not gain any yardage they don’t give up the game; they keep playing working towards the long-term goal of winning. I will tell the client to think of the other times he has relapsed, and think how he still came back, and how much he has gained in that period of time. My favorite metaphor from the internet is: saying “oh I’ve already ruined my good eating today I’ll just eat crap” is like saying “oh I dropped my phone on the floor I’ll just smash it till it