Categoriespersonal training

Laying the Foundation: What to Expect As a First-Year Personal Trainer

Being a personal trainer can be a very rewarding career.

The first step to “success” in this industry, however, is understanding that there’s a difference between it being a hobby and you taking the necessary steps to make it a career.

The second step to success is expectation management:

  • You will not work with professional athletes or celebrities right away (or ever).
  • You will not be earning a six-figure salary right away (or ever).
  • You will not be working remotely from a beach in Hawaii while sipping a smoothie made from strawberries fertilized with unicorn tears and free-range protein powder grown in Wakanda right away (or ever).
  • You will be wearing sweatpants to work everyday. Score!

Year one is a challenging year. But if you prepare yourself well and are proactive in certain facets, you’ll easily separate yourself from the masses sooner than later. Read below for more tips via Virginia based personal trainer (with 20+ years of experience), Detric Smith.

Copyright: dolgachov

Congratulations, You’re Now a Certified Personal Trainer

You may have worked hard to get here either going through college or working through a personal trainer certification.  You may feel that you have learned a lot, but the learning has only just begun. When I first started on the gym floor freshly armed with my personal training cert and big biceps, I thought clients would be falling on my feet.

How wrong I was.

My first year as a trainer was difficult, no doubt. Lots of mistakes were made and now you’ll benefit from this.  Here are a few challenges, opportunities, and advice to help you survive and thrive in your first year on the gym floor.  

Let’s dive in.

What To Expect In Your First Year

 It will be fun, exciting, scary and you will be tired.

Those early mornings are great but that’s why you got into it right? To drink lots of coffee, wear tracksuit pants, and coach people up.

Personal trainer instructing trainee

Quick Tip: Don’t “coach” your clients like this. Creep.

Plus, the days will be long as you try to build up your clientele. You’ll be training people in the early mornings and early evenings with plenty of free time in between. This is the perfect opportunity to watch other trainers at work, read everything you can get your hands on, and ask plenty of specific questions.

When everything is new, every day will present new challenges and you will be nervous and apprehensive. Every day will feel different as you interact with people who may end up teaching you more than you teach them. This is why we have two ears and one mouth as listening is a skill that needs to be developed during your first year as a trainer.

Because there is a trap during your first year where you think you know everything, and nobody can teach you anything.

Don’t be like that. Keep an open mind on everything.

I remember overthinking everything 20 years ago.

I took hours to write a workout or two trying to write the perfect program when the perfect program didn’t exist. This was a rookie mistake. The trick here is not to be discouraged when making rookie mistakes or when things take longer than they should. 

Remember everything is a learning experience. Store it in the memory bank and move on.

Overall, it’s a great atmosphere being surrounded by people trying to make a positive change in their life. The people that actually make it to the gym would rather be there than work. For the most part, gym-goers are great. Stay away from those who are not. 

Money Will Be Tight

It can be a challenge financially until you start to develop your skills and build your clientele. And you might need to have multiple fitness jobs at the same time, or it might be a part-time job outside of the fitness industry. In this industry, most trainers have to work at two different places to make enough money. 

Concept of finance and economy with piggy bank

You will be discouraged about the lack of zeros on your paycheck and there is a tendency to equate your worth to your paycheck. Please don’t do that because you’re in the process of changing lives and getting your name out there. Not every success is measured with cash, and it helps to remember this if you’re struggling financially.

Other Challenges Beside Money

Time – to get your reps you might have to ignore the advice from the online training guru selling you the 4-hour workweek lifestyle. Most of us had to do those 5 am sessions, and long days at first. Train anyone at first, so you can pick and choose later. 

Job opportunities – you will be faced with tons of opportunities- some good, some not so good. And it is hard to know the difference. There are positives and negatives to all of the different types of places you can work with. This leads me to my next point.

Places to work – Just about every trainer prefers to start working at a studio or small chain, getting paid high dollars. Or at an exclusive high-paying big gym but the truth is most of us have to start with big-box chain gyms to get hours. And yes, some of those hours might be the dreaded floor hours where you clean and walk around and talk to members. This is all part of the learning process 

Impatience – it helps to have realistic expectations because you don’t have the experience to train the superstar athlete or the high profile celebrity. Keep getting your reps in and showing up every day is key.   

There is a business coach under every rock- there is nothing wrong with selling the dream, but I am here to give you realistic expectations. If you remember nothing about this article, remember this.

 “There Is no such thing as overnight success.”

I hate to see people leave the industry before they even get started because some “guru” gave them unrealistic expectations for success.  You can accomplish anything, but it takes time, patience, and lots of hard work. So, if a guru who knows nothing about your background tells you to train online and make 6 figures in year one…. Run.  

Here’s What You Should Focus On In Your First year

Now you have realistic expectations of your first-year experience, the long hours and money being tight, here are a few things to focus on for you to get better.  

Experience over money – this is not to say money isn’t important because you need to eat. But placing yourself in learning situations and extending yourself out of your comfort zone will pay off in the long run.

Networking – going to fitness expos, and local community events will help you meet like-minded people and potential clients. This is not only important in your first year but every year you’re a trainer.  

Find mentors – the path has been walked before by others before you. If you want to shorten your learning curve and set yourself up for a long career, it helps to have someone in your corner who has done it before.

Get better at your craft- a no-brainer really. Nobody wants to hire you if you cannot get results, but exercise and programming are only small parts of your job. Getting better at the soft skills and getting people to do the work when the going gets tough for them is important too.

Wrapping Up

Starting a new profession coaching humans is tough and there are a lot of pitfalls to navigate. Lack of money, long hours, and business coaches praying on your vulnerabilities just to name a few. But when you focus on getting better at your craft and putting yourself in learning situations to make you better, the rewards will come.

Remember you are laying the foundation for hopefully a long career of helping people be better. And you’ll be getting better together.

About the Author

Detric Smith, CSCS, ACSM EP-C, PN-1  is the owner of Results Performance Training in Williamsburg, Virginia. He has over two decades of experience as a personal trainer and sports performance coach. 

He develops personal trainers through his site DetricSmith.com, and serves as a mentor through various fitness organizations. 

Follow Detric on FB and IG

CategoriesCorrective Exercise Program Design Rehab/Prehab

What Would I Say to Someone Starting Out?

Being human means being enamored by a litany of things in the health/wellness/physical preparation realm. Some people are easily swooned by fancy watches and elaborate looking exercises

Others by cryochambers and Paleo recipes that taste like sawdust.

I am not here to play judgement police. For the most part, everything has a time and place1 and everyone responds differently to different things.

What works for me may not work for you (and vice versa). It’s all good.

Back in 2009-2010, while at Cressey Sports Performance, I was introduced to PRI (Postural Restoration Institute). As a collective, we adopted some of their principles & protocols (specifically positional breathing) and applied them to our athletes’ and clients’ programming, I’d say with a high degree of success.

In the years since, PRI has grown in popularity and is still something I “subscribe” to. However, the key term I want to highlight here is “some.”

I’ve adopted some of their principles.

The thing about PRI (for better or worse) is that it has an uncanny ability to suck people in and plop them into a never-ending rabbit hole of mystery and multi-verses.

Today’s guest post is via Boston-based physical therapist, Mike DeMille, and offers a needed perspective on this phenomenon.

(PS: I’d encourage anyone interested with PRI to check out Mike’s course/mentorship below).

Copyright: yanik88

What Would I Say to Someone Starting Out?

In a world of biomechanics, neurology, complex chronic pain, and a desire to create resilience, it can be difficult to decide as a Physical Therapist or movement specialist what continuing education courses to take and why.

Personally, I have been a PRC (Postural Restoration Certified) Physical Therapist for five years, and anyone familiar with the Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) knows how easy it can be to go down the “rabbit hole”

Note From TG: I wrote a bit about this “rabbit hole” a number of years ago when PRI was first gaining steam in the S&C side of the spectrum. You can check it out HERE.2

After taking different courses, it can be very difficult to sift through the information and add principles to your practice (or programming), while leaving behind minutiae that ultimately won’t contribute to the further results of your clients.

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What is that minutia you ask?

What are those techniques, exercises, prehab/rehab protocol, cues, sick hip-hop rhymes that probably do not need to come along for the ride as you build out your systems as a coach?

That is exactly why we are here today.

After working in a cash-based Physical Therapy and Personal Training setting over the last four years and starting my own clinic (just outside Boston,. MA) I’ve developed rules (or tenets) of information to hold on to and which ones to leave behind.

Let’s dive in.

Think Practitioner/Coach, Speak Client

Your clients do not care what things are called, and neither should you.

Exhale, eccentrically orient, compress, early-mid-late stance, inhaling from an exhaled skeleton expansion, these terms can get complicated, if not bordering on someone speaking Elvish.

via MEME

A general rule of thumb would be if you cannot explain a concept in very simple terms to your client, then you likely shouldn’t spend a ton of time thinking about it yourself.

I like to think of this as writing a letter with a big bold sharpie instead of a small fine pencil that is difficult to see and read.

For example, if you have a client who you feel like is in a position of lumbar extension and they need to learn how to exhale to help get them out of pain, then you can leave the messaging at just that.

 

You will create the buy-in from spinning a simple story and allowing your client to feel the difference when undergoing your program. You do not need to explain all of the varying “compensatory strategies” to them in an effort to create belief in your program.

This will more likely than not lead to confusion, in addition to increasing the urge they’ll want to punch you in the face.

Nothing Is New; It Just Has a Fancier Name

Remember that these principles existed long before the most recent course that you took. One of the biggest problems that I see mentees and fresh PTs and movement professionals face is shiny object syndrome.

Understandably, when you go to a course and watch someone’s shoulder flexion increase from 140 degrees to 8000 after a fancy breathing exercise, you want to give everyone that fancy breathing exercise.

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Remember, there is a difference between a new technique that creates transient changes, and principles that create long lasting repeatable results.

Examples of a few principles that could make sense in a movement practice geared towards clients with pain:

  • Sound communication (avoiding nocebo).
  • Axial skeleton position that creates pressure underneath load bearing joints.
  • Progressive overload.

Does it feel less exciting to not be blowing all of your clients minds?

Sure it does.

But will these principles give you a sustainable business where you can more accurately sell results to potential clients?

Definitely.

Closing Thoughts

There is nothing wrong with taking new courses, finding helpful information, and creating buy-in with prospective clients, as well as appreciating the nuances of Physical Therapy and Strength and Conditioning.

But let’s not forget: the name of the game is being able to tie your name to something that can produce consistent results, and that is why we decided to take on this profession in the first place.

PRI Pique Your Interest?

Does this message resonate with you? Are you a Physical Therapist or movement professional looking to sift through the information and take the relevant principles into your practice?

Tyler Tanaka and I have created a community where we take individuals that are looking to finally apply the information that they have learned and effectively communicate with their ideal clients to build the business that they have always wanted.

This is your chance to learn the system of two PRC PTs and ask any and every question that you have ever had. In the 10 week Solidify Program you will undergo a detailed curriculum as well as take part in one on one Refinement calls to get your questions answered about those difficult patients that are the ”non-responders” as well as big picture questions about your practice and business.

Click HERE for more information.

Solidify begins June 6th and the spots are limited.

CategoriesProgram Design Rehab/Prehab

I Jacked My Low Back, Now What? Workout

Back tweaks are an inevitability.

They happen to people who lifts weights regularly, and those who just look at weights. They happen when doing something as inane as bending over to tie your shoes, as well as when you’re doing some less inane, like, fighting crime at night.

They happen on a Wednesday.

There’s no way to predict when they’ll happen, they just will. Especially if you’re someone who’s had the unfortunate misfortune of it happening once or twice (or many times) in the past.

What can you do when this happens?

Copyright: remains

I Jacked My Low Back, Now What(?) Workout

This happened to me several months ago.

The culprit wasn’t anything “cool” like a 1-rep max, or, I don’t know, wrestling a lumberjack.

Nope. Not even close.

This time it came about doing nothing more than bending over to perform my last set of Landmine Rows. As soon as I grabbed the handle I felt that slight zappy “zzzzzzzzzzz” feeling in my lower back and it seized up.

I was hoping to persevere and follow suite with my normal coaching schedule with clients, but it became apparent I was going to be uncomfortable the rest of the day. I went home a little early, stayed horizontal with a heating pad, caught up on all the episodes of Atlanta I hadn’t watched yet (season 3 has been spectacular if you ask me), and woke up the following morning feeling marginally better.

I skipped my scheduled training session that day, but didn’t skip it altogether. Instead I elected to follow my own advice and went into #findyourtrainablemenu mode.

I.e., focusing on what I COULD do rather that what I COULDN’T.

I came up with a brief, albeit BALLER circuit that made my back feel infinitely better. And, in the months since, whenever someone reached out to me asking for advice (or if a client happened to tweak their back1) I’d often revert back to the circuit I laid out for myself and encourage them to follow it as well.

I had been meaning to share the circuit before now, but life has had an uncanny ability of late to get in the way of me doing any writing.

And by that I mean “I’ve been binge watching waaaay too much tv.”

It just so happens, however, that my wife had a bit of a low-back niggle during her training session the other day and I ended up forwarding her my “super secret” workout to tide her over for a few days

She loved it.

In fact, she sent me a text saying something to the effect of…

…”OMG, babe, this back circuit is the best. I am so grateful. In fact, I am so grateful that you never have to empty the dishwasher ever again. And we can watch WWII documentaries whenever you want. Also, let’s make out.”

(just a slight exaggeration there).2

Long story, short…below is the workout. There’s a degree of predictability and a host of exercises that won’t surprise anyone.

But who cares?!?

What works, works.

That said, there’s also a few that should be relatively new.

Shut Up Tony and Show Us the Workout For the LOVE OF GOD

Deadbug

 

This falls into the “no big surprise” category, but it’s a drill that, when perfected, is an outstanding anterior core exercise (as well as one that helps to dissociate hip movement from LUMBAR movement).

Perform 8-10 repetition per side

90/90 Hip Switches w/ End Range IR

 

This drill works both hip internal and external rotation simultaneously. Be sure to maintain a braced core throughout the set and really focus on moving through the hips and ramping up tension on the IR hold with each repetition.

Perform 4-5 repetitions per side (one rep = 3-5s IR hold)

Side Mermaid

 

This is a drill I borrowed from my guy Vernon Griffith. I don’t know how else to explain it other than it feels AWESOME once you’re done.

I mean, it sucks while you’re doing (but feels great afterward).

Here I’m focusing on pressing my bottom knee into the ground (not foot) while also keeping my (bottom) hip off the ground. Also, try to keep your top leg straight throughout the set pushing your heel through the wall. This will really get that glute firing on all cylinders.

1 rep = 5-10s hold.

Perform 3-4 repetitions per side

Glute ISO Hold

 

Another doozy I got from Vernon and does a superb job of isolating the glutes and learning to “own” spinal position and full-body tension.

Make a fist with one hand out to your side and then lift your OPPOSITE foot (also off to the side) off the ground making sure to maintain a braced core and to NOT move through the lower back. Hold for a 5-10s count each rep.

You should feel this in your glutes, abs, soul, eyeballs, everywhere.

Perform 3-4 repetitions per leg.

Barrel Roll

 

Nothing fancy, but the idea here is to think about locking your ribcage to your pelvis and rotating the entire body side-to-side as one unit. This can be regressed to performing from the knees if performing them from a full plank is too challenging.

Perform 8-10 repetitions per side.

Tall Kneel to Stand

 

Press your hands together to engage your core and to increase full-body tension. This will help to posteriorly tilt the pelvis encouraging more of a “canister” position where the pelvis is stacked underneath the ribcage.

Focus on maintaining a neutral spine and moving through your HIPS as you transition from the tall kneeling position to standing (and vice versa).

Do not rush this drill; perform it with intent.

Perform 4-5 repetitions per leg.

Birddog Band Press

 

Regular Birddogs will work wonders here. Just make sure you’re doing them correctly.

But lets up the ante.

The idea here is to lock in a neutral spine and move through your extremities only. There should be very limited motion through the lower back (I like to tell people there’s a glass of water on the lower back and they don’t want it to spill).

Perform 8-10 repetitions per side.

In-Place Chaos March

 

I like to think of of these as a “side plank that doesn’t make you want to toss your face into a brick wall.” I think we can all agree the side plank is boring, right?

I mean, it’s a fantastic exercise when done correctly and I’d highly encourage most people to start there. However, we’re on some Liam Neeson “I have a particular set of skills, I will find you, and I will kill you” type of shit right here.

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Think about locking your ribcage to your pelvis and keeping your pelvis steady throughout the set; you want to limit any “teeter-tottering.”

Another way to think about it is to pretend as if your hips are on train tracks. They should remain level the entire time.

You also want to keep the “kettlebell quiet.” It shouldn’t be bouncing around while marching in place. Slow and controlled. No rushing!

Perform 8-10 steps/per leg/side

And That’s It

And that’s it.

I typically recommend performing all the exercises above in circuit fashion resting as needed between each one. All told I’d also recommend performing the entire circuit 2-4 times 1-2x per day for several days (or until symptoms subside and you feel you’re able to begin sprinkling in your normal routine again).

Categoriesmindset Motivational

Quitters Are Winners: When Is It Okay to Give Up?

Hello, hello!

I know. It’s not lost on me that I’ve been an abject failure on the “writing new content” side of things. If it’s any consolation I’ve also been lackluster on a few fronts:

  • Calling my mom.
  • Avoiding pizza.
  • Not (not) being jacked.
  • Hugs.

My free time has been monopolized by what can only be described as entrepreneurial shenanigans. That being said, this afternoon I have a few hours of free time and will be working on a new T-Nation article! That’s something, right?

RIGHT?

Nevertheless, thankfully I have a few people willing to pinch-write for me of late and to provide some excellent content for this site.

Today is another gem on “goal setting” via Paul Levitin I think will resonate with many of you reading.

Copyright: chupakabrajk

Quitters Are Winners: When It It Okay to Give Up?

“Quitters never win, and winners never quit”

It’s the motivational cliche to end all motivational cliches.

You’ve heard it before, hell, I’ve said it before.

There’s a lot of truth in that statement. It’s true most of the time. It’s true, except for when it’s not.

The unfortunate reality is, the only fundamental truth of life is that nothing is set in stone. The one rule that will always hold true, is that there are exceptions to every rule.

Woah, how’s that for a mind fuck?

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I do agree with the sentiment behind the “never quit, never give up” mentality. I love me a good David Goggins or Andy Frisella rant as much as the next guy.

It gets me going!

I mean, it’s just the truth.

Gonna be pretty hard for you to win a race, if you stop running before the finish line. It’s going to be pretty hard for you to be the past person standing in the battle, if you give up and sit down.

If you don’t quit, eventually, you will find success. “Consistency is key,” is a law that supersedes fitness, finance, relationships, and all life success in general.

But what about when it doesn’t?

If there are exceptions to every rule, that means that there are times where quitting is necessary. Not only is it not simply something you should avoid, but in reality, when the time calls for it, quitting is the only logical choice, and to keep pushing forward with a plan of action that ISN’T working, actually can be detrimental. You end up spending time, energy, possibly money and other resources, on something that even if “successful,” doesn’t get you the desired result.

That’s no bueno.

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In reality, it’s not “never quit! Quitters never win!” but more “Most of the time, quitters never win, and winners seldom quit. Except when they do, which isn’t as often, but it definitely happens, and is certainly worth mentioning.”

The latter just doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as nicely.

So never quit, except when you should. Giving up is bad, except for the times when it’s the smartest thing you can do.

The question is, how can you tell the difference?

Here are three key questions to ask yourself to know if you should soldier on, or give it up and move on to your next pursuit:

1. Is It Impossible, or Improbable? 

Often, we confuse one for the other, but they certainly are not the same. Improbable can FEEL like impossible, but that doesn’t make it so. However, some things just are impossible, and no amount of wanting it not to be so, can make it that way.

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For example, if I want to play basketball at a high level (not professionally, just becoming a good player), that would be hard. It would mean me, at the age of 32, picking up a sport I’ve never played, learning skills, building athleticism. Those are challenges, but if I am dedicated enough, and I put in the time, energy, and effort necessary, I invest, I get the coaching, I could see it happening.

It would probably take years, but it exists in the realm of possibility. 

If however, I wanted to become a 6’7” jacked brick-house black man, and rename myself LeBron Levitin, I might be in for some disappointment. Even if I have been training for years already, fighting for an impossible goal doesn’t make it any more likely.

This is known as a “sunk cost”. (listen to me talk about sunk costs here)

2. Is It a Bad Goal, or Is It Just Hard?

Sometimes when you set out for a goal, you don’t realize just how hard it’s going to be. Often you can’t, it takes diving in with both feet to really get the full magnitude of the experience. What comes next is usually a feeling of regret.

“Oh shit, what did I sign myself up for?”

“This is dumb, I can’t do this!”.

These feelings are natural, and the harder the endeavor, the faster they’ll come on, and the more intense they will be.

You don’t want to do hard things. No one does. Even if consciously you do, at a subconscious level, all living things have bred into one key desire: survival. At a purely biological level, anything that is hard for us to do, that makes us struggle, or really in any way uncomfortable, sets off alarms in our brain and body.

These alarms say “STOP THAT! Get to safety, quick.”

Stop sign

When you feel the desire to quit then, you have to be able to discern: am I wanting to quit because this goal is actually not ideal for me, or is it just hard?

The latter is your biological defenses coming in, and need to be disregarded in most circumstances.

  • Some goals though, just don’t work out.
  • Some projects that you start aren’t worth finishing.

That’s ok, as long as you are sure that you’re stopping because it’s actually going to benefit you in the long run, not because it’s hard or scary or uncomfortable.

3. Have I Given It Enough Time?

Time heals all wounds. Time is our most precious resource. I have father time tattooed on my forearm, because time is an infinitely interesting concept to me. We don’t want to waste time on things that aren’t beneficial, however it also takes time for things to play out, and for the trees of our labor to produce fruit.

If you’re thinking about quitting something, you need to be honest with yourself and ask: is this really not working, or have I simply not given it enough time.

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If you’ve been doing a workout program for three weeks and not seeing your ripped abs yet, then chances are you just haven’t given it it’s fair shot, and you need to stick it out a little longer (shiny object syndrome anyone?).

If however you’ve been working on the same program for eight months with no results, and are thinking “maybe month nine is when the gains kick in!,” then it might be time for you to reevaluate.

Unfortunately, there is not one rule for how much time to give.

It matters what the goal is, and in what area of life.

If it’s a fitness goal, a few months is usually enough time to judge. But if it’s business, or a relationship, sometimes it can be years or more.

Refer to questions one and two and decide if it’s something worth sticking it out for. If it’s an impossible goal, or a goal that isn’t worth reaching even if you get there, then move on. If it’s just really freaking hard, like frustratingly hard, but you still think the goal is worth working for, then stick it out.

This is a good time to recenter yourself with your why (Find your “why” here).

Final Thoughts

My point today is simple: you are not broken for wanting to give up or quit.

It’s human nature, and 100% of the time, it’s going to happen.

You can persevere, you can do hard things.

Sometimes though, the answer is to move on, and explore other opportunities. You don’t have to feel bad about it, and you definitely don’t have to just stick to things because “quitting is for losers!” Be honest with yourself, and be open to exploring the deeper questions of why you’re wanting to quit and move on, and I’m quite sure you’ll know what the right answer truly is. 

About the Author

Paul Levitin spent a decade as a personal trainer & strength and conditioning coach, becoming the number one trainer in his entire company, while collecting over 30 certificates (CES, CSCS, PRI, PN1, FRC, & many more).

Wanting to better serve his training clients, he began to study behavior change, and eventually became a Board Licensed Health & Wellness Coach (NBHWC). This led him to create his education and mindset coaching company “The Healthy Happy Human Academy,” where he now helps clients deal with things like self-sabotage and perfectionism, to allow them to build a healthy, happy life.

He seeks to bridge the gap between the worlds of fitness and nutrition, and the frustrated, overwhelmed masses who just want to move more, feel better, and live a little longer.

https://www.instagram.com/paullevitin/
The Healthy Happy Human Podcast
The Healthy Happy Human Academy FREE Facebook Group

 

Categoriesbusiness coaching

The 4 Steps to Never Ending Growth

My good friend and colleague, Gavin McHale, is back with another excellent guest post today. He’s been on a tear of late writing some stellar content for this site.

We’re all our own worst enemy, and for many, stepping outside our comfort zones and taking risks (calculated or not) in an attempt to grow our fitness business can be a daunting (if not sphincter clenching) task.

Gavin provides some sage advice how how to NOT let this happen moving forward.

Enjoy!

Copyright: olegdudko

The 4 Steps to Never Ending Growth

It was the summer of 2014 when I first read a blog article alluding to the “laptop lifestyle.” 

I was immediately hooked.

Not because I was hoping to sip mai tai’s on the beach while my clients worked their asses off to a shitty, templated training program like the article seemed to suggest would be the case, though.

While I had some thoughts of grandeur that my life would drastically change, I was mostly aware that this lifestyle the blogger spoke of wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies.

So I did what any 27-year-old personal trainer with zero business or marketing experience would do. I paid someone too much money to build me a (shitty) website and started an Instagram page for my business. I had no plan or idea what I was doing, but I knew this was part of the path to laptop lifestyle freedom.

It had to be, right?

I’ll throw a few blogs up on the website and make some educational posts on Instagram and they’ll be flinging their credit cards my way, salivating to buy my yet-to-be-figured-out online training programs.

I’m sure you already know that didn’t happen.

For the weeks and months following, I got crickets.

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So, like any savvy business person would do when no one is buying the high-priced 1-on-1 online training option, I lowered my prices. In fact, I went all the way from offering $1000 training services to $29 e-books.

Guess how many of those I sold.

And even though this little story is quite fun in hindsight, neither of those decisions were where I truly went wrong, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

As my online business continued to flounder and take up more and more of my time and energy, I began to become soured to the whole process. 

My in-person training business was still ticking along as it had been for several years now. 

  • 6:30AM-12:30PM – chalk full semi-private sessions
  • 3:30PM-6:30PM – mostly full private and semi-private sessions

Evening hockey practice to make some extra cash, toiling away in a freezing cold rink once a week all winter.

Rinse, repeat.

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The issue wasn’t even really the money at the time.

I was making enough to pay the bills and live comfortably.

I could pay the mortgage and put food on the table, but it was the way in which I was making it that wasn’t working for me.

I now realized my potential income was choked out by the amount of hours and energy I had, and that if I ever wanted a different lifestyle that included things like seeing my spouse or having a family, things would need to be different.

And as I continued to grind for 60 hours a week, while trying unsuccessfully to build a more sustainable business online during every single non-gym-floor hour, my ego led me to believe this wasn’t for me anymore.

What had started off as such a promising option 18 months before had become a stupid idea that “wasn’t for me.” 

I told myself I was an in-person coach (and I was a good one) and that online coaching was stupid and only for those who couldn’t make it in person.

I thought I was taking the righteous road.

I told myself this was the path and stood strong in that belief.

Except I kept seeing other good coaches, whom I respected, rapidly building online businesses. They were leveraging their skills into something that kept the quality while also being scalable. Some got to the point they were so busy they had to give up their in-person clients so they could focus on working from anywhere, at any time while raking in the cash.

Seriously… what the actual fuck?

Let’s get back to what went wrong here. I was caught in the Vicious Cycle of Imposter Syndrome.

Let me explain the steps of this cycle.

1. Feel Fear

Evil forest: Fear from the dark
Hey, Tony here. I attempted to look for an “inspirational” fear image to put here, but opted for this one instead. Excuse me while I go destroy the back of my pants.

It was scary to do something I wasn’t good at.

I had always been good at everything I tried – school, hockey, in-person training –  and when I wasn’t very good at marketing or using social media, I quit (because I was scared).

2. Make Excuses

The excuses comin’ out of me were so fast and believable, that I became an expert in them.

  • I was too good in-person.
  • I wasn’t built to work with people online; I’d rather be in person.
  • The market was saturated.
  • No one knew the guy from little old Winnipeg, Canada (as if location had anything to do with working online…).

I made such compelling arguments that even I started to believe them.

I see this in the trainers I speak to regularly. They have become so entrenched in this set of false truths that it’s hard to pull them out of it.

3. Don’t Take Action

Take action

Like I said earlier, I did take action originally. I started a social media page and made a website. I tried to sell training and e-books.

When none of it worked the way I expected it should, I stopped taking the actions required to build an online business. 

At the very least, I half-assed them, telling myself they wouldn’t work before I even hit publish or post.

I stonewalled my success before it even had a chance.

When that action proved to be more trouble than it was worth (fulfilling my prophecy), I gave up on it before it had a chance to succeed. 

And as you’ll see in the virtuous cycle of growth below, I missed one crucial step on the path to success, bringing it all crumbling down.

4. Expect Different Results

Through all of this, even though I was quickly spiraling and not seeing any results with the actions I was taking, I continued to hope for someone to fall through the cracks. 

I continued to make the same type of boring, educational, poorly written posts, expecting for more likes or thinking “this one will go viral”.

And what’s worse than going all in on something and failing is half-assing it, hoping it will work out but deep down knowing what you’re doing is not working and will never work.

Because I didn’t look for another way, I just kept ramming a square peg into a round hole, while it kept trying to tell me to do something different.

I allowed a lack of results to strengthen the resolve that I wasn’t good enough.

Does that pattern sound vaguely familiar?

I know this pattern too well, not only because I repeated it over and over for 18 months (and still fall into it sometimes), but because I see and hear trainers – really good trainers – saying the exact same things to me on a weekly basis.

So the goal of my program is now to flip the script from the vicious cycle of imposter syndrome to the virtuous cycle of growth.

Virtuous Cycle of Growth

1. Feel Fear

Evil forest: Fear from the dark
Yup, still creepy AF

Notice how this step is the same in both the vicious and virtuous cycle? 

You’re never going to outrun fear. Fear will always be present. Your job is to feel it, harness it, and act anyway.

Fear and the parts of you that bring it to the surface are just doing their job. They’re just trying to keep you safe. 

It’s an evolutionary trait that has kept humans alive and evolving for thousands of years.

But being afraid of getting attacked by a lion in the desert is a lot different than being scared to ask someone if they need help with their training.

One results in possible (probable) death.

The other results in a hit to the fragile ego.

Very different.

2. Take Messy Action (Knowing It Will Be Incomplete Or Wrong)

Action is a funny thing, because it’s often the thing that’s scariest, but also the thing that will help you see that it’s not as scary as you think.

I’ve noticed that we’re all very good fiction writers in our own brains. We pen tragic and imaginative stories about what will happen when we ask the person out, how our clients will react to a price increase and what all our friends will say behind our backs when we make that vulnerable post.

And the only way to know that’s not the case, is to take the fucking action.

  • Ask them out.
  • Raise your prices (more than you think).
  • Make the post.

The messier, the better. 

Because I never learned anything from an A+ on a test. But, if you handed me back a D, I’d sure as shit study harder next time.

3. Seek Feedback

Here’s the super important step I missed in my first attempt at building an online business.

I felt the fear and took action anyway. Maybe I was so naive that the fear didn’t even register, but I can give myself that.

What I missed was asking for feedback, or even looking for feedback. The pure lack of engagement on my social media content was trying to give me feedback. The lack of clicks and website visits after the initial surge from family and friends was trying to give me feedback.

The overall lack of any measurable results was trying to give me feedback.

Customer feedback and satisfaction conceptual image

But I was too proud to see it.

See, I always thought the only feedback came from parents or coaches or people who otherwise knew better than me.

I thought I had to ask, but in this case I had no one to ask.

And while a coach or mentor is absolutely valuable as an outside observer, feedback can be found after every single intentional action you take.

Did it produce the results I hoped for? Why or why not?

Keep asking questions and you’ll get the feedback you need to either change course or double down on what you’re doing.

I look at feedback as the final number in those annoying high school combination locks. You can do everything else – take messy action in the face of fear, but without feedback, you’re left running around like an idiot doing everything for everyone and never knowing what’s worked.

4. Recalibrate and Take More Messy Action

Here’s where the virtuous cycle really takes off.

Once you take an action (any action, really) and seek feedback, your next action is even more calibrated. The more you can repeat this process, the more calibrated and purpose-driven your actions will become.

In this scenario, there is no way you can lose.

You will either hit it out of the park, or you’ll learn, tinker and keep iterating until you hit it out of the park. 

Closing Thoughts

So, if you’re anything like I was back in my laptop lifestyle chasing days, things are probably going pretty well for you.

I will leave you with one final piece of advice before signing off, because the drive to take action on a blog post can be low when things are going pretty well.

The question you must ask is, “Is this what I want to be doing in 10 years?”

Is this my version of my “best life”?

If it is, GREAT! 

Use that as feedback and double the fuck down.

If it’s not, then it’s time you take some action, no matter how scared you are, towards the lifestyle and business you truly want. 

And believe me, it is possible.

After several coaches and tens of thousands of dollars invested, I built a hybrid business that paid me 6-figures a year and allowed me to travel for 3 weeks at a time while my clients still got great results and were waiting for me when I came back.

If I can do this, so can you.

About the Author

As a Kinesiology graduate, Gavin McHale quickly realized that following the traditional business model would lead to trading more time for more money.

Over the course of 8 years, Gavin built a 6-figure hybrid training business before founding the Maverick Coaching Academy in 2019.

Since then, Gavin has left the gym and gone all in helping other strength coaches build their businesses. He has made it his mission to fix the broken fitness industry and connect other amazing humans to the highest version of themselves.

Check out his FREE course for trainers, coaches and therapists that will kickstart your path to a more sustainable business.

The Coach’s Playground Podcast

MaverickCoachingAcademy.ca

IG – @gavinmchale1