Thanks. I was lucky in that after the exchange, she (amazingly) performed all remaining exercises perfectly (and with proper levels of effort). I knew it wasn’t that she didn’t know what to do, just that it was easier for her to slip into her old habits (you know the drill – “My old trainer did such and such this way…”).

If she’d continued to be disobedient I would have fired her, no question. I’ve walked out on sessions with non-compliant clients before.

It galls me that there are so many other trainers out there that just let their clients do whatever.

Thanks again for the concern and the advice.

I would tell her you want her to do things a certain way because they are the most effective, safest and efficient way to accomplish her stated goals, and if she wants to do something different she’ll have to do it with a different trainer because you won’t compromise the quality of service you provide or knowingly allow someone to train in an unsafe manner.

More than 99% of the other trainers out there are complete incompetents who wouldn’t know any better and would probably be happy to oblige her and put their own asses on the line. Let her be their problem, not yours.