Training the Type-B

A while back, I wrote about training the Type-A personality (August, 2012).  I get how their minds operate and how they are motivated/unmotivated, and it is easy to anticipate their needs.

Training the Type B, however, is much more challenging to me.  Below is the definition:

Type B personality,

n a form of behavior associated with people who appear free of hostility and aggression and who lack a compulsion to meet deadlines, are not highly competitive at work or play, and have a lower risk of heart attack.

Mosby's Dental Dictionary, 2nd edition. © 2008 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.

Because this is vastly different from the way I operate, I have had to develop strategies for motivating this personality type.  Sometimes I have to motivate them to complete a set, even though it is painful, and sometimes I have to motivate them to even show up for a workout.  Here's how I tend to do it:

1.) Find out what they perceive to be their motivation for exercise, and further, working with a trainer.

2.) Repeat these motivators back to them when they lack the compulsion to complete their task.

3.) Find out what they gravitate toward as rewards, and provide these rewards (if possible, or tell them to reward themselves) during or between workouts.

4.) Remind them that I am committed to them and their own goals, even if we may not see eye-to-eye.