This study examines the effectiveness of interpersonal communication between personal trainers and members in cultivating healthy lifestyle motivation at Fitness Solution Bung Tomo Samarinda through George Herbert Mead’s Symbolic Interactionism and Joseph DeVito’s humanistic perspective. A qualitative descriptive method was applied with four purposively selected informants, namely two personal trainers and two members. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, non-participant observation, and documentation, analyzed using the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña, and validated through triangulation, member checking, and peer debriefing. DeVito’s five humanistic dimensions operate synergistically, both within training sessions and beyond them through WhatsApp. The meaning of a healthy lifestyle is constructed through the verbal symbols “nabung otot” (saving muscle) and “self-investment,” which generate intrinsic motivation, while the looking-glass self mechanism explains members’ self-concept transformation. Out-of-session WhatsApp communication functions as a digital behavioral reinforcer. Continuous humanistic interpersonal communication effectively cultivates motivation and discipline in healthy living.
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