Hey all,
Its been another mental week for me in my PT career. I presented a talk on injury prevention for marathon running last saturday - which went really well. I started my own new training project BBHR which is going amazingly well and i have managed to fit in 45 PT sessions in the past 7 days! mental hours by any standard... but im still smiling, just.
One of my last blogs was on quotes (and how to make them real) and ever since i have been reeling qoutes off to anyone who will listen. Ive even been making my own up! Here is my latest:
"Beware of those who talk, Walk with those who walk... and Learn from those who do both"
So here is my story...
A young man (lets call him Nathan) arrives in Singapore in April, bouyed by the fact that he knows a lot of stuff and arrives in his new location ready to be an instant success...
Ive learnt a lot of stuff over the past decade about training, but sometime late in 2010 i decided to stop applying that knowledge to myself and my training. I still carried on doing the good work i was doing (relying on my TALK). When i got in my new gym (for reasons that i have explained in previous blogs) I was atl east 25lbs overweight. Without realising it i was now ALL talk. I had the same knowledge but i was not living it, i was not wearing my expertise as a badge, as a billboard for my product.
I started to train well. But (without making to much noise about it) i was in serious pain. My knees hurt, my back was hurting, to be totally honest - i felt like shit. The WALK had turned into a crawl, and a painful one. On top of this i was struggling to enjoy my work, i was complaining about my long hours, the long working week and i was stressing about everything. It was hard to convince gym members of my skills as a trainer when i didnt project any image of it. Business slowed down as did my evening walks home - i was at the edge of my sanity.
The walks home through Geylang were getting weird!
On to September and i was about to hit Day 1 of the newest, baddest training plan i had written to get me back into shape (deadlifts, heavy, sets of 5) but i felt awful. I stopped after 1 set and decided to fix my body.
I wrote about this in my blog on Yoga:
After some internet fitness debating with fellow trainers in the UK and Australia i realized that over the past 5 years i had completely neglected my 'fitness'; this is where my new focus would lie. i began to cycle/row/sprint and most instantly i started to have more energy, my diet cleaned up (future blog on IM fasting) and i was regaining a swagger (WALK). My interest was back and i started to create some really cool programs for people, my TALK was now in full swing.
Sometime in October, i met a new gym member called Thomas (a guy who WALKS and TALKS) , who i knew i wanted to learn from and train with. Fortunately, my knowledge and new-found enthusiasm meant that he felt the same and now we meet daily to really push our limits on the gym floor. Now i can say that my training (WALK) is really back on.
Whooooooooooooooo!
While this has been going on, my clients have suddenly picked up their sessions, some guys/girls are now hitting 3 x week and claiming they feel great from the fresh approaches ive introduced. They see the changes in me and i definately see the changes in them. Evening clients are now scrambling for morning slots (which are fully booked) - 1 client offered to buy a slot off another client (his workmate) for $10! Training is good and Business is good.
The main thing i have taken from the past 3 months is that being positive creates positive situations... and the opposite is definately true. Smiling and saying 'hello' to gym members is leading me to PT leads. Being visibly back in shape has helped me attract interest and my January new client interest is currently about 5 - if you consider i now have 25 active clients, its pretty significant for business. Who knew? Smiling and talking could help me earn more money? Try it out. Im pretty sure it would improve almost anyone's fortunes.
Final thoughts
I arrived in Singapore full of talk, no action.
"Beware of those who talk"
I found a trainer partner that i knew would make me 'step up' and challenge my physically.
"Walk with those who walk"
Getting back in shape and being more positive and open to others has increased interest from gym members in my training and PT product.
"Learn from those who do both"
If you fall into any of the above categories then there is a sure-fire pathway to resolve it in my story. Smile and enjoy what you do, talk to people you normally ignore and be surprised at where it will lead.
More shorter blogs coming soon! Please leave comments/abuse, share with FB friends :)
More shorter blogs coming soon! Please leave comments/abuse, share with FB friends :)
