Today I’m going to write about what we, personal trainers, experience on a daily basis. Don’t worry, nothing graphic or anything like that hah. We get to see the ups and down in people. Before work, after work, happy, sad, angry, the list goes on what mood people are going to be in. As trainers, we’re with our client for a hour and most times we see him/her twice or three times a week, if not more. There’s a lot of conversing that goes on with our job, whether its talking about our work, dating life, shows we’re watching, kids, hobbies, etc. I look at some of my clients and I spend more time with them than I do with my parents (don’t worry, I’m a momma’s boy). So you can only imagine how much we get to know our clients on a personal level. We get to see the ups and down that come with life and people come to us to take that stress off. Exercising is a great way to de-stress and channeling your anger/frustration. Whether it’s from work, kids, significant other, or just life, things come up and we just have to deal with it. I like to call it the “real” side, hah.
Only because I feel that stress is part of life and how you cope with it tests your character. To me, it shows a lot about who you are. Now, I don’t expect everyone to have the same opinion as me, it’s just the way I see it. You don’t get tested when you’re happy, it’s when you’re stressed/frustrated. As Sylvester Stallone’s famous word goes, “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” I like listening to this particular quote, as it motivates me to persevere to work hard.
As a personal trainer, it’s all about taking care of the client. Reading people is what we do on a daily basis. There have been times where clients have taken out their frustration on me and the way I combated that situation is to remind them that communicating is a great way to express the stress and it’s a good thing. I usually give them a harder exercise to piss them off more because I like to test people; yes I know I’m mean but when people are angry, they work harder than usual from my experience. Or I just make them box because let’s be honest, hitting something feels good…..just as long as you’re not hitting me hah. In a sense, we’re like a shrink listening to your problems and frustrations. Maybe it’s the fact that you’re working out and releasing endorphins, but we get to see who people really are. That guard may not be all the way down, but we get to see a glimpse of that “real” person with our work. So that’s my take on the word “personal” in personal trainer. Hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for more next week……………………………Kei