I’ve been asking myself this question: Why did I ever stop personal training? Especially since there are so many things I love about it. I love helping people. I love exercising. I love seeing great changes in people. So why did I stop? Was it just life getting in the way and losing myself in being a wife and Mom or is there more to it? I think I’ve figured it out now that I’ve been at school for almost 5 months and have been back at it. What I had been trained to do and how I was doing it did not match up with my beliefs. You can only go on that way for so long before you either quit or change your beliefs. And it sure is easy to let “life get in the way” if you don’t feel totally comfortable with how you’re doing something. Now, none of this was a conscious thing. It’s just now in hindsight that I can say this. But how am I going to do this differently now?
As I build my business my focus will be different. I’m not going to market my practice as a way for people to lose weight, look better or focus on what they look like although I can help people with those things. Rather, the focus will be on wellness inside and out, getting stronger, healthier and learning proper techniques and individualized nutrition and exercise plans. So many times before I had everyone “doing” the same thing for the most part. This just doesn’t work long term and I didn’t ever believe it really did. That’s a big part of why I left.
No one way of eating works for everyone. No one way of exercising works for everyone. People are individuals and their eating and exercise along with life practices needs to reflect this in order for them to be successful.
An example of this is the Spring Challenge I’ve got going on right now. The Challenge exercises themselves are pretty basic and the number of reps are the same for everyone but I’ve had to tweak that system for quite a few people due to old and current injuries, strength levels and stamina. I’ve never done that when I’ve worked for a gym. The Challenge was set and that was it. You either did it or didn’t. That is just setting people up to fail and not try another Challenge or class in my eyes. You are always going to get people who sign up and don’t follow through. But you will have many that need just a little push with a little modification to get to the next level on their own. They can do it with just a little nudge in the right direction. And the ones that don’t follow through see that happening for the others in their group and it can push them to start again.
If the focus is truly on health and not what someone looks like I think the results will be longer lasting and actually more substantial and in the end they’ll find they like the way they are changing and look great and more accepting of themselves. I guess I’ll know more at the end of this Challenge based on people’s numbers of inches lost but I can already see the changes in my members when I see them.
I ran into a Challenge member yesterday who was joking that she’s sure she hasn’t lost any inches. Her face looks totally different. She has a glow and is stressed at work but taking it in stride and doesn’t seem run-down like I had seen her in the past. She’s got a spring in her step and her hair is thicker. I just nodded and said, “We’ll see on measurements day” but I know that I’m right. People are so used to jumping on some weight loss quick fix and losing a bunch of pounds which probably isn’t really fat loss and fitting into a smaller size for a couple of weeks. Then it’s back to where they were and nothing has really changed. And I’ve helped lots of people do that. I was “doing my job”….but I wasn’t happy about it. And I didn’t leave the person any healthier really. Well, that’s over.
This Challenge I’ve been running is over May 31st and I’m so excited to see people’s results. I can say through my cardio strength classes that I’ve seen a tremendous change in members with their abilities. One example would be with their push-ups. Some starting with only being able to do them on the wall and now they have moved on to either 30 modified or even full. This is a huge accomplishment. Especially for people who told me they have never been able to do a push-up and never will. Or the planks. Going from 20 seconds and really struggling to 80 seconds. Come on! That’s really great. I didn’t even realize how much it’s effected me until I had to move 2 pallets of sand the other day. They are 50 pound bags and there were 100 of them. The first pallet of 50 bags I moved in 25 minutes. What?! That’s nuts and my back was totally fine. There is just no way I could have done that before the Challenge. No way. I moved the other pallet in a little more time but still no problems. That’s 5,000 pounds of sand….ouch. The 4 simple daily exercises of the Challenge did that for me.
So with renewed focus on what lies ahead I started thinking about what happened to wake me up. There were 3 people who especially helped me get there and they didn’t even know it. My friend Jessie Matson kept bugging me and bugging me a few years ago to go to a Zumba class with her. I didn’t want to go. I was worried I would suck and that my ankle would really bother me. But I finally relented after months of her patiently asking. It was at those classes with Jessie that I remembered my love for group exercise. I also didn’t totally suck and my ankle was fine. Thank you, Jessie. My friend Patti Murby contacted me and said she needed my help. She has had issues with her lower back and needs that strong for the work that she does and she’s always had problems at gyms and with other trainers except me. I was really surprised she contacted me. I told her of course and we started working on strengthening her back. She is so much stronger now and is able to work without being laid up for days after. She can go out and do yard work and not worry. I’m really proud of her. Thank you Patti. If you hadn’t contacted me I wouldn’t have gotten serious about school when I did or renew certifications and get the ball rolling and this Challenge would not have happened. I’m sure she doesn’t realize what an impact that one little call had on me and I’m sure Jessie doesn’t realize it about the zumba either. Another friend, Karla Putney, is someone I’ve wanted to help for some time. She’s had pain due to neck and back issues. She was really nervous and hesitant to become a Challenge member this Spring. She is one of those people that has made those little changes and stuck with the Challenge, letting me modify it, and even going above and beyond on her own. Just witnessing that growth in 7 weeks has bolstered my commitment to a career in health and wellness. Thank you Karla. You’ve been fun to watch grow and change. And really, we are only here a short time with one body. We should be loving that body and having fun. These 3 women reminded me of that.
I’d like to help remind people like Jessie, Patti and Karla reminded me. As a certified Health Coach and certified Personal Trainer it is my goal to help others get healthy and happy. And I’m going to do it differently this time. Time to focus on health and wellness.
Catch you on the next bounce,
Mandi
Mandi Elmore, Holistic Health Coach 