In 2013 my career as a personal trainer seemed to be taking off. My schedule was booked full of amazing clients, I had a large readership on my blog, and I had just won a prestigious award, being named “Canada’s Top Fitness Professional” by CanFitPro. However, I didn’t feel like much of a success. In fact, my passion for fitness had been dying for some time.
When I became a personal trainer in 2001 I thought I had found my dream job. I personally loved exercising and aiming for new fitness goals, so the idea that I could make a career from helping others do the same sounded perfect. I was enthusiastic and knew that I was going to change people’s lives through fitness!
Over the course of several years however, my eyes were opened to the realities of being a personal trainer. The amazing results I thought I was going to provide to my clients weren’t materializing. No matter how hard they worked, and no matter how much guidance I offered, “life-changing” results remained elusive.
I began to doubt the value of the services I was providing.
Maybe I just wasn’t a very good personal trainer?
I also had a difficult time being honest with my clients
How can I sell personal training services to someone when I know she isn’t going to see the changes she wants?
I didn’t have much confidence in my expertise and felt very much like a fraud. In fact, there were many times when I considered a career change, one that would take me away from fitness altogether.
I’m happy to say that I didn’t give up on my career at that low point. Instead, I began looking for answers outside of the fitness community. My wife, a clinical counsellor, became one of the most important coaches I could have asked for. She taught me about the psychology of behavior change and helped me understand how to use these concepts in my work. I consulted with other counselling and psychology experts and began to redefine my beliefs about how fitness can be done successfully.
As I learned more about the psychological component of getting in shape (and staying in shape), and as I began applying these ideas, my clients began experiencing better results. For the first time in years I didn’t feel like a helpless personal trainer who was just hoping for the best. My excitement surrounding fitness began to return.
It took time to redevelop my approach to personal training, but I did find a formula that provides my clients with fantastic results. It is based in self-reflection, honesty, planning, teamwork, and accountability. It’s simple but also requires some hard work.
Are you interested?
This book is broken into three sections and each offers unique value. Part 1 dives much deeper into my failures as a personal trainer, what I learned from these failures, and how the entire experience led me to a better approach to fitness. It’s my story.
Part 2 is all about you. In this section I will help you discover what you really want and what you’re willing to do to achieve it. You will begin to set your expectations and will start preparing for the process of changing your lifestyle.
Then in Part 3 you will learn the specifics of the program that I now use with my clients. While there is nothing magical about this program, it is structured differently than many others.
You won’t have to eat strange foods, buy any products from me, or follow some crazy exercise routine. The “bare truth” of the program actually comes from its focus on simple strategies that make behavior change more doable and sustainable.
I would love to hear from you as you adopt the plan you’re about learn. Feel free to ask questions, talk about your challenges, and share your successes. I look forward to hearing your story,
