Quite soon I'm opening up my business that I've been working on since October. Any day now I will be receiving my business license to commence my venture and give me the ability to help people on their fitness journey. To say I'm a bit nervous is a slight understatement, but as I have faith in my acquired knowledge and my potential to learn quickly and efficiently to a point that my clients will receive the very best i have to offer. I expect great results of myself, and have, for the most part, achieved them, so I will expect similar work ethic and results for the clients I will be taking under my wing in starting, redirecting, or furthering their fitness journey.
I have seen what a majority of the coaches in the industry do to help their clients "succeed" and quite frankly, in most cases, I find it appalling. I mirror those coaches willing to grow with their clients, learn from their mistakes, and create the best possible results the healthiest possible way. On the business side of things, I feel sure I will make mistakes, but nothing I can't fix; meanwhile, on the fitness side of things, I feel very secure in my knowledge and ever growing library of information I gather for my own edification. The industry is full to the brim with personal trainers either corrupt by the money or completely clueless and willingly ignorant to the truths of their "passion".
While some sell their clients supplements and work outs that they know will do little, it keeps their client in an endless loop of trust in a "professional", when in reality, the only change is a draining of the bank account. It makes me angry that, although I am relatively new to the community, I have seen this rampant across all levels of the fitness world (individual PTs, entire companies, and the most influential names in the business). I do not believe that people like that really love what they do, otherwise they would have more respect for how they conduct themselves and they would help their client grow throughout their journey as opposed to keeping them "in the dark" to extend the financial leeching's longevity.
Meanwhile, there are ignorant coaches that simply don't know what is correct (in other words, "healthily optimal"). These coaches can be even worse than the scum that know they are screwing their clients, though; because they think they are doing well, they put more of themselves into doing things wrong (and I realize some of you may think, "well, who are you to say they are absolutely wrong?" - when it comes to fitness, there is only "optimal", "sub-optimal", and "horrible/unhealthy". Telling a person to avoid certain foods, doing an exercise poorly, or anything of the like, can lead to a client getting injured, sometimes for a long duration of time. Where to turn? One word, science. Is that always possible? No. Some people aren't educated or able to read scientific literature (it took me quite some time to be able to read it, thank you Statistics and Research Methods in higher education!) which seems to put them in a bad spot, but there are still certain people in the industry that stand as a beacon of hope (I feel like I'm writing some LoTR references, but I'm not, I assure you) within our community (Lyle McDonald, Eric Cressey, Bret Conteras, Alan.. etc, to name a few) with which a person can be relatively safe reading articles from, or just learn to read scientific literature.
The point is, I don't want to be one of those two breeds of coaches. I want to be one of the best in application. As much as the science interests me, I do not want to revolve myself around gathering research, but I would love to base everything I discuss with clients to be based on the scientific literature available. Keep up to date, essentially. I also believe that a coach should understand the psychology of a client, as well (big surprise there! <sarcasm>). If you can understand, sympathize, empathize with a client you will be able to get through, communicate, and have a more effective relationship - to which goal setting and goal success is not only a physical achievement, but an emotional/mental growth for the both of you.
So, with that in mind, I'm excited to help people, because a lot, and I mean a lot of people ask me for advice on their fitness journeys. As much as I love helping them (the main reason for starting this business venture), it is extremely annoying to pour hours of work into writing up prescription and nutrition break downs to have it used for a day or two before the person gives up on their dream and goes back to chugging beers or whatever their release might be. I expect that the ratio of serious clients to drop out clients will be, at least partially, more proportionally set when financial payment comes into consideration; at least, I can naively hope this is the case - if not, I'll keep trying my best.
I am done standing by and watching the industry wreck itself, but actually step on the side of the few standing up for science, health, and love of our passion. Just a few more days and it all begins for me.
Listening to: Rage Against the Machine.
No comments:
Post a Comment