I love gold stars. If my trainer put gold stars on my programme when I did well I would love it!

I agree with your points about praise and reinforcement - if we want someone to repeat a certain behaviour then our best way is surely to reinforce it with praise. I often hear instructors telling clients how not to perform an exercise, the last thing the client hears of the "now whatever you do dont do this...." is the "do this, followed by a demonstration of something ugly. As the client is often trying to remember lots of new exercises it shouldn't really be a surprise that they sometimes get mixed up - if we plant an image of what not to do quite often thats what gets done! The best and most simple instruction is to only teach good technique in the first place and reinforce it whan it occurs - that way it should occur more often. Criticism can be good though, but only when its constructive, i.e. pointing out what was wrong and highlighting ways to improve for next time, then positively reinforcing improvements or genuine attempts at improvements. The problem with alot of criticism (especially the kind you mention regarding the All Blacks etc) is thats its destructive and not linked in any way to helping people learn how to improve. Without constructive criticism I think our ability to learn and (I hate to sound like a new age hippy) grow is quite limited. While criticism is sometimes hard to hear, if it helps us improve what we do then we're much better for it in the long run

I agree that there is alot of criticism in this country but not sure that it is a result of being fashionable. As others raise the bars of some sports and select areas there is a widespread bar raise which is not a truely indicative one.

The media are the worst they are paid to snoop into the depths of sports teams and the like. But to be honest where does the biggest interest come from, when the ab's are thrashing everyone they are loved by all. When they lose cracks appear which those in the media find their ways into and basically give us other reasons as to why they lost. Not the truth that they were beaten by a better team.

I think the widespread issue is that with the softening of society (no smacking etc) and the disappearing act which is cursing alot of peoples back bone the issue really is that people can't deal with the criticism. Those who do learn to deal with it and progress and better themselves are those who will prosper more. I know personally that if i dont make my goals and there are people who have observed me i want to know so that next time i can approach and fix those issues and ensure i make that goal and more.

In the instance of your daughter it is all about how you word it. You need to word it in a way where the comment won't be taken negatively fullstop. It has to be a way where the person understands the negative and then finds a way in the approach which reinforces the need to correct this. The criticism that generally comes the thickest and fastest is self criticism.

I agree that postive reinforcement is good but it is a contentious thing. IT has to be managed properly in the sense that improvement can be commended but what does happen if slip ups occur things go off track. If you offer too much praise in the beginning you then create a precedence and the client will always expect this level of praise. After a while if you do something wrong they will cotton on and think the trainer hasnt said anything those last 2 exercises, hmm am i doing it wrong.

It's a toughy for sure and i think one of the biggest things in training is that you need to be able to manage these things. Criticism should be a good thing spoken in a meaningful way. It really balances on a knife edge. Praise can create positivity yes but criticism can also create determination

I guess at the end of the day its just more work we need to do, we need to suss how the client responds to these things and maybe a psychology degree

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