Getting on the Path to 100%
We need our trainers as healthy as their clients.
I’ve been thinking of this for some time now, though I’ve never been able to quite articulate it the way I’d like. There’s a problem in our fitness industry. There’s a problem staring us right in the face and we’re still not seeing it and definitely not doing anything about it.
The fact is, no matter what club you train for, what kind of training you swear by, whether you’re focused on nutrition, weight loss, or helping your clients build muscle, every one of us in the fitness industry share one common goal: we want our clients to be healthy.
Take away all other aspects of our business — our titles, our clubs — and what’s left is our need to help people be their best selves physically and show how these physical changes manifests in other parts of their lives.
But within this goal of getting our clients healthy, we are missing one crucial aspect: We trainers need to be healthy, as well. And not just physically healthy — most of us have a grasp on that part — we need to do a much better job of considering our own mental health.
As a fitness professional, our lives are frenzied. We train clients at all hours of the morning or night, work viciously to meet monthly performance goals, and often sacrifice our personal lives and health to ensure our clients get to maintain their own.
While some of this is admirable, it’s clear that it is not sustainable. I can tell you many stories of trainers burning out or suffering silently with their own problems because they want to get ahead or simply because they feel there’s no other choice.
There has to be a better way and there is a better way. When I say “On the Path to 100%,” I mean the path to getting 100% of our trainers mentally stable and productive in all facets of their lives. We need to create outlets in which trainers can diffuse outside of the regular fitness setting. We need to create spaces for them to communicate among peers without their words being held against them. Not making those moves will simply continue to breed trainers who have no framework for managing their capacity.
What’s important for fitness professionals to realize is that creating these spaces will actually improve their performance. Taking the time to recharge, refuel, share your experiences and clear your mind puts you in a much healthier position to take on your clients.
This is not a guess anymore. There are confirmed studies that many industries and businesses are already implementing. Why is our industry, an industry that is all about health, not leading the way to ensuring that our own colleagues are healthy?
How can we be instructing people on how they should eat, when and how they should workout, and how much rest they should be getting, when we aren’t following any of those rules, ourselves? It’s time we change that.
My suggestion is that we come together. That we unite all of our individual knowledge in a safe space where everyone is allowed to freely discuss their perspective. People outside the fitness industry don’t know how mentally draining our jobs can be. The impact of this career on the mental health for many of us can be dramatic. Trust me when I say I’ve seen this and continue to see this first hand on a regular basis. I’m sure most of you encounter the same circumstances.
With this in mind, creating a space for fellowship becomes necessary. We’re all in this together. We all go through different variations of the same shit. We all have so much more to learn from each other than we do from competing. And just as importantly, by coming together, we have a real chance at helping 100% of fitness professionals understand what it means to live well-rounded lives.
I’m excited to see what comes from those moments that aren’t on your day planner, or sent to you in an email, or part of your syllabus. Let’s see what happens when we just talk as equals sharing our experiences and expertise without worrying about winning or losing a client.
If we are truly committed to helping others, then let’s help ourselves. If we want to be the ones people go to when they need reliable health and fitness advice and instruction, then let’s be genuine in our approach and get this done.
With that said, I will be holding a function on June 3rd called The Path to 100%. I am inviting all of you to come out and share, debate, question, criticize, and laugh with one another. This is a safe-zone, away from work, away from the pressure of our jobs. I will be providing more details as we get close to the date, but feel free to message me for more info.
#LeadWithStrength
