Energy Crashed?

Fitness Professionals & Burn Out

Over the years it has been rather common for many a PT, especially the newer ones to the industry, to join in on every training session/class, etc the run and grind themselves into the ground.

Admittedly this attitude fades with the more experience you gain in fitness, unless your specific niche is to run ‘follow along classes’ that is. 

The main issue with adopting the attitude of involvement is that it does you no favours.

It compromises overall recovery, stalls any potential training progress that can be made elsewhere due to there not being enough physical resources for your body to draw upon and sends stress levels through the roof. 

Now you’d think doing all the training would have each and ever fitness progressional being a lean mean fitness machine, when in reality it has the opposite effect. 

Many end up piling on excess body fat, losing muscle, strength and suffer a steep decline in performance because of overdoing it. 

Yet even with this knowledge many will answer with something along these lines.

“I feel like I should be doing something, I can’t just stand around and tell people what to do.”

While their attitude is understandable, it’s not a useful one. 

Couple that with poor nutrition, minimal sleep and the general stress that comes with life and you’er got a potent recipe for disaster from a health & fitness sense. 

Sadly though you can warn people of this until you’re blue in the face because they won’t listen. 

Many need to experience it before they will accept it as a reality and take things down a notch.

It’s worth remembering that as a trainer you don’t need to get involved with every thing you do. 

Not if you expect longevity in the fitness industry.

Enjoy,
Ross 

What would happen if….

You stopped making excuses and started making an effort?

Sit with this question and comment with your answer.

The Surprising Similarities Between Binge-Watching Netflix Series and Training for a Marathon

Binge-watching Netflix series and training for a marathon may seem like two completely unrelated activities, but upon closer examination, you’ll find that they share some surprising similarities.

Both require commitment, discipline, endurance, and a strong will to succeed, ironically.

Here’s why your potential hazardous habit of binge watching can be transformed into a healthy one.

1. Goal-Oriented Approach:

Both binge-watching a series and training for a marathon require a clear goal.

In the case of Netflix, it is completing a specific series within a certain time frame. Similarly, marathon training involves setting a target distance and working towards completing it within a specific time.

Both endeavors demand determination and a focus on achieving the end goal.

2. Consistency and Discipline:

Binge-watching a Netflix series can be an addictive experience, requiring self-discipline to maintain balance.

Training for a marathon necessitates a consistent training schedule, adhering to a well-structured plan. Both activities require dedication and the ability to resist distractions or temptations.

3. Long-Term Commitment:

Binge-watching a Netflix series often involves investing hours of time, sometimes even days, to complete an entire season or series.

Training for a marathon is a long-term commitment that requires months of preparation and dedication.

In both cases, the journey is not completed overnight, and success is achieved through perseverance and patience.

4. Mental and Physical Endurance:

While binge-watching may seem like a sedentary activity, it can still be mentally demanding.

Engaging in multiple episodes or seasons consecutively requires concentration and the ability to absorb and process information.

Marathon training challenges both the mind and body, pushing individuals to their limits physically and mentally. Both endeavors require endurance and the ability to push through fatigue and discomfort.

5. Setting Milestones:

In binge-watching a Netflix series, each episode can be seen as a milestone towards completing the entire series.

Marathon training involves setting smaller milestones, such as completing a certain distance or achieving a specific time goal during training runs.

By breaking down the larger goal into smaller, achievable milestones, progress can be measured and motivation can be maintained.

6. Support and Community:

Binge-watching Netflix series can be a social experience, often shared with friends or discussed online with fellow viewers.

Funnily enough marathon training often involves joining a running group or seeking support from fellow runners.

Both activities provide opportunities for connecting with others who share similar interests and goals, fostering a sense of community and support.

So, while binge-watching Netflix series and training for a marathon may seem like unrelated activities, but they share several commonalities.

The key difference is one may lead to excessive fat gain and a decline in your physical capabilities while the other may enhance them.

That being said, both require commitment, discipline, endurance, and a goal-oriented approach.

They demand consistency, long-term commitment, and the ability to push through physical and mental challenges.

Furthermore, both activities provide opportunities for setting milestones and connecting with others who share similar interests – people love sharing their race training and time trials on social media.

So, whether you find yourself engrossed in the latest Netflix series or lacing up your running shoes for marathon training, remember that there are more similarities than you may have thought.

Ross

Most PT’s are Square, so be different.

Being a triangular peg in a round hole

These days most personal trainers are much of a muchness I’m sorry to say. 

Please take 5minutes of your time and do the following three things:

1 – Survey your gym and take a head count of all the trainers, now look at what training they are doing with their clients, how similar is it?

2 – Walk over to the PT profile board, does any one profile stand out or are they all pretty much the same?

3 – Look at what each PT offers and make a note of how many offer the exact same things.

Once you’ve done this and made some notes on your findings it’s time to breakdown what everyone is doing so that you can go incompletely the opposite direction.

In a world of Zig’s dare to be the one that Zag’s.

Okay, so looking at the average PT profile you’ll find something along these lines:

Hi, my name is……
I specialise in weight loss, muscle gain, strength, endurance, nutrition, basically everything
Here is some more info about me
And a little more
Now you know how awesome I am, buy my stuff
Finally just one more thing about me because, ME! 

While this is obviously laden with satire and some sarcasm, there’s not that much. 

A lot of PT’s will talk at their potential clients about themselves, instead of talking to/with their clients about their needs, don’t be one of these PT’s.

A key step you can take to truly being different in your fitness business is to not try to sell yourself the exact same way everyone else does. 

Be this on your website, PT profile or social media platform, you don’t need to follow the herd and say the same things, perform the same poses because as nice as you ass might be it may not gain you enough clients to form a sustainable income/living from because a lot of people are already trying to grab that piece of the pie. 

Nor do you need to set up your business in the same way everyone else that has come and gone before you. 

When it comes to writing a profile on you, here are three key tips to consider:

1 – Is the information that offered is relevant to your ideal clients or just about you? 

2 – People are interested in how you helped people like them (testimonials).

3 – Why would people pick you over every other trainer there, what’s your USP?

Now don’t get me wrong, sharing your own story can make you relatable, however rather than that being the first thing you lead with it may be more conducive to long term success to wait until someone asks you, this is because it means they now have a vested interest, if they don’t ask then sadly I have to tell you they don’t want to know, so let that go and focus on being different. 

The three points above work well when applied to explaining who you are. 

One of the most effective ways to have people know you is by sharing the stories of those you helped, however not through your own words, through theirs and this is done by asking for testimonials (written or recorded) so that an honest and sincere message is shared. 

This will also allow your clients to share why they chose you, your qualities they admire, how you helped them when things got tough and most importantly why they picked you over everyone else at the start. 

The first step to being different is – Have other people talk about you on your behalf

This applies to any form of marketing that is about your business, don’t make it about you, make it about the people you’ve helped and have them tell the world why they chose you, why they stated with you, and why the person reagin should also choose you.

Moving on from this because I deliberately repeated the key term a couple of times (let others do the talking, word of mouth is priceless), we shall now look at the next level of becoming truly different in the wonderful world of fitness. 

Above the term USP is mentioned. 

That stands for Unique Selling Point, this is the one thing that you do better than everyone else, it’s your specialist field, the lightning round on Double Jeopardy or MasterMind, this is your thing. 

While you may find people claim to have multiple specialist fields, and they may indeed have a few or even several fields they do very well in and have a versed knowledge of, you’ll find there is still just one that is their ace in the hole. 

Circling back to the PT profile exercise, how many ‘specialises in’ (on average) items are listed on the average profile in your gym?

In the gyms I visit teaching and training in the average was 9. 

9……. 

That is a lot of areas to specialise in, given you will have Dr’s who spend a literal lifetime (20+ years) to become a specialist in surgery on one part of the body it’s amazing how the average PT can amass such a knowledge to be able to command dominion on 9 realms of fitness, truly impressive.

You will find some areas are interlinked, for example, if you’re going to specialise in Fat Loss, then a sub-category might be Nutrition & Habit Change because to lose fat those are two very useful tools that are interlinked to achieving that goal. 

This is what ends up happening, people list every element of their specialist field, making it look like they’ve got multiple, whereas in truth they have one thing they’re very good at that is comprised of multiple elements which end up getting listed.

Chances are the average 9 areas are all actually a part of one area the average PT focuses on, so if anything it’s more semantics and a little miscommunication than anything else. 

Keeping this in mind though, it gives you the perfect opportunity to truly stand out. 

Say someone asks what it is you do, this is now your chance to explain your one thing that you do so well no one else can hold a candle to you when compared. 

Does this mean you may lose a client or two, yep, however that again is something that makes you different and stand out. The willingness to refer a person to someone better suited to dealing with them takes a lot of humility to do, doing this though will have you held in a high regard by people because they will understand that rather than simply take their money for the sake of it, you care enough about them and their goal to point hem in the direction of someone with all the tools to help them far better than you can. 

In the future this pays a massive return in the way of referrals, from both your colleagues and also those clients you passed on because they know you’re in it to help people, not just make profit. 

Being able to do this gains you a great amount of respect from people. 

Knowing what it is that we do better than anyone else can take time to find out, however once you know and then stay in your lane you will fid you business improves because of it, this is due to being able to charge a premium for your service, simply out of being the only person able to do that particular thing. 

The second step to being different is – Do one thing & do it better than anyone else can 

One question relating to the above that comes up is knowing where to start, in response to this I will often direct people toward the wonderful book by Gary Keller – The One Thing.

Give that book a read and you’ll further gain some perspective on the Pareto Principle, which is a topic well worth delving into.

As this article draws to a close you might be feeling a little lost as to how to be different. 

The simple answer is this; just be different. 

However like a lot of answers like it, while true it’s not a good or useful answer, as such there are a few things you can do that will help you in discovering what makes you different.

What make you different is that you are you. 

Yep, there is no one else who is you, pretty neat right? 

This is where looking back to what we touched on earlier, everyone these days champions being an individual and yet they dress the same as everyone else, pose the same as everyone else, sell the same products as everyone else, you can see where this is going. 

Don’t think this means you should forgo things that are linked in to popular culture, however it does mean you don’t need to copy someone you admire, by all means use their information, pay homage to them where you can, however add those elements that are distinctly unique to you. 

Personally I feel Bruce Lee said it best when he was talking about what JKD was:

“Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is uniquely your own.” 

How powerful.

To me and how I read that many many years ago as a younger martial artist it didn’t really sink in, as the years went by this is how their interpretation evolved and applied to not only fitness, business, training and nutrition, also life as well. 

Absorb what is useful – Learn from the past, see the patterns of success and what worked, use this as a solid foundational base to further your own knowledge. Seeking to question what you know, why you think, feel and act as you do will help you progress for many years to some. 

Reject what is useless – Understand that just because you’re bias towards a particular tool, method of way of thinking that doesn’t mean it’s the one you need right now. Willing letting go of such things will have them return in time when they are needed, whereas holding on to antiquated thoughts will keep you chained to the past unable to grow. 

Add what is uniquely your own – This is what makes you you. Your essence based on deep routed values, principles, morals and beliefs, yet understand that these may, and potentially will change over time as you mature and that’s okay because to truly be different you must learn to not hold on to an identity that is not longer who you are, embrace the change you go through in life and you’ll be well on your way to being unique.

Take some time to reread the above.

As tempting as it is to copy other people, reaching our own conclusion and having a solid sense of self is what truly makes you a unique individual.

It’s okay if you don’t get it the first time, I didn’t either, however once you do you’ll find your business and appeal to clients suddenly changes overnight because you’re no longer concerned with fitting in or impressing all the people/peers in your life, instead you’ll be able to smile because you’ve found that one thing that everyone wants. 

Inner peace. 

The third step to being different is – Don’t try to be anyone else because you’re, you

Know that you are enough, right now, this second. While you will become better tomorrow than you are today, that’s tomorrow and for today you’re the best version of you that you can be, be proud of that.

Final Thoughts – Dare to be that triangular peg in the round hole

Being different in the Fitness Industry can seem like an insurmountable task, especially when there seems to be someone new popping up everyday, however just remember that most of them follow a formula that was given to them by someone else, so that they’re not actually all that different in the end. 

Allow yourself to share different points of view, hold an opinion that isn’t safe or expected by the fitness folk just for the sake of fitting in, be brave, be real and most importantly be you. 

If you have any questions prompted by the above please fire them across and I will be happy to answer them, until next time. 

Enjoy,

Ross 

Does the going to gym scare you?

Gym Anxiety, Let’s Crush It 

Fear of being watched in the gym can be a common source of anxiety for many individuals. 

The feeling that others are observing and judging your every move can be overwhelming, making it difficult to focus on your workout and achieve your fitness goals. However, there are strategies that can help you overcome this fear and regain confidence in the gym.

Here’s our top suggestions for you. 

The first effective way to beat the anxiety of being watched is to shift your focus inward. 

Instead of worrying about what others may be thinking about you, concentrate on your own workout. 

Remind yourself that you are at the gym to improve your health and mental well-being, and that everyone else is there for the same reason (chances are they may even feel as anxious as you do). 

By redirecting your attention to your own goals and progress, you can diminish the fear of being watched.

Our next helpful strategy is to familiarise yourself with the gym environment. 

Take the time to either explore the different areas and equipment yourself or book a gym induction with a PT, this will aid in allowing yourself to become comfortable with the surroundings. 

Knowing where everything is and how to use it can boost your confidence and make you feel more at ease. 

Additionally, consider attending group fitness classes or hiring the PT that did your induction. 

A forgotten consideration is to remind yourself that everyone has their own insecurities and concerns about the gym. 

While you may feel self-conscious, chances are that others in the gym are too focused on their own workouts to pay much attention to you. 

Remember that you are not alone in feeling anxious and that everyone is on their own fitness journey. 

Finally, consider adopting relaxation techniques to manage anxiety. 

Deep breathing exercises, meditation, or listening to calming music can help calm your nerves before and during your gym sessions. 

By learning to relax your mind and body, you can reduce the fear of being watched and enjoy your workouts more fully.

Fear of being watched in the gym is a common, but don’t let it deter your progress towards fitness goals. 

Focus inward, learn the layout of the gym environment, seek support from PT’s or even by attending group classes to make some new friends.  

Remember, the gym is a place for self-improvement, and everyone is there to focus on bettering themselves just like you.

If you can do one Pull/Chin up you can do this protocol

You’ll be able to build massive amount of volume using this.

It’s also possible to gain a decent amount of strength from it as well.

Perform 1 rep every min for 10min
To progress take off 5 seconds each session until you’re down at 10 seconds per single rep ☯️

When looking to progress further you may find adding a session rep useful.

Do this by adding only 1 rep each session once you’re hitting the single reps every 10 seconds, eventually ending with 2 reps every 10 seconds.

There is a possibility of using 3 reps per 10 seconds but this is best only with ballistic movements.

Enjoy,
Ross