Mandy Webb

Making fitness goals effective and achievable

Alyssa Dearborn

As businesses of all kinds begin to fully reopen after the pandemic, Mandy Webb and KW Fitness of Fayetteville are welcoming back clients. For Webb and the other personal trainers, encouraging healthy living has never been better.

“We fortunately have a business model where it’s always been private or semi-private, so our personal training sessions are by appointment only.” Mandy replied when asked about how her business had to adapt to the past year.

“We didn’t know how people would take to virtual training. We heard a lot of really great feedback from our clients that it gave them some sense of normalcy, that they had an appointment to look forward to, but now everyone’s glad to be back in person. We still have a handful of people who are virtual because one client, for example, has cancer and she can’t really be around people. So that has helped us having virtual training because we never would have been able to accommodate her with her cancer.”

Many clients at KW Fitness are happy to be working with their trainers again in person, though, since Webb’s work fills an overlooked need in the fitness industry. With about 80 percent of her cliental being women over the age of 50, many feel that KW Fitness caters to their unique needs.

“I think the biggest thing is KW Fitness is really great for people who are intimidated by going to a gym. They go in and they look at equipment and they don’t know what to do. That’s why people have gym memberships but don’t use them. It’s a comfortable atmosphere. Everyone’s starting the same way. We have some people who come to us because they like to exercise but just want to be challenged and pushed a little, but we have a lot of people who come to us because they don’t know what they’re supposed to do. They need guidance and want to be safe.”

Webb wants people to know that the environment provided at KW Fitness is not just for seasoned athletes who are training for a big event. The programs are applicable to anyone of any body type.

“A lot of people think a personal trainer is for someone who wants to be a bodybuilder or do a physical competition.” Webb said, “But most of the people who come here are people who just want to have a better quality of life. They want to be stronger, have less pain, better mobility, better balance, also to lose weight, and to just have more independence in their later years. We have clients in their eighties that come to us and they are strong and they’re able to be independent.”

“One of our clients,” she explained, “she turns 80 in October, and she went to a high school reunion last year or the year before and it scared her because two of her friends were on oxygen and another needed a walker. And she’s like, ‘I don’t want to be that person. I want to be keep doing this as long as I can.’ And she’s not, you know, lifting heavy, crazy weights. She’s just moving. It’s really changing her life.”

A major part of KW Fitness’s brand is teaching their clients how to set goals and more importantly, how to re-evaluate those goals. Some of these goals, she explains, go far beyond the surface goal of weight loss.

“We’ll have people who sit down and first come to us and say, ‘I want to lose this much weight.’ But having just that one surface goal isn’t enough to keep people going. So we often dig deeper with them, ask them why it’s important. We ask, you know, ‘Why do you want to lose 20 pounds?’ Is it because your doctor said so? Because you’re not going to be motivated to do that. What is your underlying reason? And when they dig deep and get emotional about it, it’s a lot more exciting to stay on track.”

“We have a lot of people who have grandkids and they say, ‘I want to be able to be around when they graduate’ or ‘I want to be able to be on the floor and play with the grandkids and get up without hurting myself.’ Those types of things are more exciting to work toward a goal than just that surface level goal.”

When clients discover their underlying goals, they discover to look beyond the numbers on the scale. Webb and the other trainers at the company teach

clients to take their goals one week at a time, helping them form heathier habits.

“We help them focus on nonscale victories too because the scale will move eventually.” Webb explained, “But if they focus on, ‘oh, I’m sleeping better,’ or ‘my clothes are a little bit looser,’ those are things that keep people motivated long after that initial excitement.”

Webb used the example of a particular client to exhibit how effective goal-making can really change someone’s life.

“I actually just talked to a client in regard to her initial goal. She thought she wanted to lose weight, but she really was motivated about being pain-free with her golf swing. She was very excited that she’s able to walk even 18 holes of golf without being out of breath and without using a cane. So it’s good to revisit, re-evaluate because things change. It’s never going to be the same goal.”

Making goals that better one’s life is not only effective for short-term motivation, it also helps Webb’s clients make better long-term habits. When asked about forming healthy, longterm habits, Webb discussed how KW Fitness helps.

“The biggest thing is looking for sensible, long-term habits versus a quick fix.” she replied, “We get a lot of people who come to us who’ve tried everything. They’ve done keto and Weight Watchers and all of those things where you might get immediate results but then you’re back at square one when you stop those things. I always tell our clients that if you’re on a diet that makes you miserable, then you’re doing the wrong thing. You should never feel like you’re depriving yourself or starving yourself, like you can’t eat the things that you like. That’s not sustainable long-term.”

Part of that long-term plan for every client—and also one of KW Fitness’s core values— is accountability. As Webb explains, accountability is a real factor in whether clients achieve their goals or not. It is also one of the main reasons so many stick to the program.

“Everyone knows what they need to do when it comes to exercising and dieting, but really, accountability is what is the difference-maker for a lot of people. Having someone that they can count on that’s waiting for them. They set an appointment, it’s just like when someone makes a hair appointment or a doctor’s appointment. They’re going to show up because it’s in their calendar. So accountability is number one. It helps people with their goals, even if they fall off track. Our trainers make our clients feel comfortable, they don’t yell at them, they just help them to get back on the right foot. It’s about long-term and realizing it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.” SWM