It’s a people field. Understanding human psychology is far more important than lunge variations.
“In Year 1, it’s easy to get excited about your clients workout/your social media post.
Are you jacked out of your mind to get up at 5am in Year 7 to be a sounding board for your clients?
No?
That’s why people dont make it to Year 7.
They don’t understand it’s a people field.”
-Ray Zingler on X
“You own a gym and train clients ever day? And then just workout in your spare time? Must be nice!”
“What protein do you recommend?”
“Do you have any meal prepping favorites?”
1) No.
2) Animals.
3) I eat the same thing every day.
While I joke, (my answers are serious) most people have a very misconstrued idea of what it’s actually like.
They perceive it to be about lulu lemon, gymshark, protein shakes, healthy fruits and vegetables, iPad’s to track clients progress, trendy videos on social media, and this “omg like, totally healthy fitchick, lifestyle, girl!”
And while you can try to make it about that initially and fake it for a year or so, you’re not going to make it last, competing to keep up with the outsiders perceived image of you.
It’s a lot less of “try my new work out” and a lot more of it being 5am in the dead of winter and your client having a mental breakdown about the divorce she’s going through and feeling defeated as her wayward son is showing no sign of reeling it back in between the buoy’s.
You can call yourself whatever you want, a strength coach, a performance trainer, a fitness instructor, hell I don’t care, and neither does the industry.
You’re a PERSONAL SOUNDING BOARD is what you are.
Sure, you can try to be a robot and disallow personal communication and focus solely on “professionalism” and sets and reps, but guess what happens if you do that?
You spend your time on indeed looking for a new job.
I don’t care how good you are at exercise, sets, or reps.
If you don’t understand this is a PERSONAL field and people are making PERSONAL investments in YOU as a coach/trainer/instructor/whatever the f*ck, the floor is theirs.
They have purchased your time.
And when people purchase your time, with their money, they have every right to make it about them.
And guess what? If you can’t handle that, you’re not fit for the industry.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it forever, this is a people/service based field and if you’re not prepared to listen, love, and serve people, personally, success in this field will forever be beyond you.
