Back when I was in University some friends and I founded the first intercollegiate powerlifting club in Canada.
We used to invade UWO’s student community centre to train.
Not only was I fat back then, but I had long hair which I always tied back in a pony tail. Not a good look, believe me.
Anyway, before our workout we used to draw a large, circular chalk outline on the floor around where our planned workout would be. We’d call it our “circle of rage”, and if anyone had the misfortune of stepping inside the chalk outline we’d say, “careful, circle of rage here…we’ve got a rager of a workout going, you might want to watch out.”
After re-reading the above, it’s suddenly become painfully obvious to me why I didn’t have a girlfriend back then. : )
It was all in good fun of course. The point is, this type of play helped us to quickly adopt the aggressive mindset we needed to complete our heavy training sessions.
One of the confidence building tips I often share in my seminars is based on the concept of “act as if” or “fake it ’til you make it.”
Always act and speak in the direction of the things you want to achieve.
Your power to accomplish anything is equal to the quality of your language. If you want a different outcome, try a different conversation.
No matter what you say, there’s always somebody listening, namely, you. If your speech patterns and behavior patterns run counter to your intention of what you want, you’ve got a problem.
When I was fat I’d say things like “why can’t I lose weight?” Bad question. Why? Because your mind will work to come up with an answer!
The irony is that a lot of people ask me that question now.
I’ll often get my trainees to practice “singing a different tune” whenever they feel challenged by something. If they say, “I’ll try”, I get them to say, “not only am I going to do it, but it’s going to be easy, and I’m going to enjoy the process,” or more simply, “losing weight is easy.”
To say “I’ll try” means you’re not really going to do it, and you’re giving me your excuse up front.
A word of warning: changing your language is going to feel very uncomfortable at first, mostly because you may not believe your own words. Stick with it. Say it often. Remember, you are always listening.
I started saying things like, “losing fat is easy”. I’d even look for opportunities to say it in casual conversation. I’d act like I really believed it, even if I didn’t.
One of the fastest ways to change an emotion is to change your physical state. Have you ever tried forcing yourself to smile, smile, smile? You eventually start feeling happy!
When you want to implant a new habit of speech and thus a new belief, put your whole physiology behind the words. Hold your head high, project your voice, and smile.
A belief is nothing more than a thought which has been repeated often.
You’ll find that if you speak the words “losing weight is easy” enough times with conviction (even if it’s fake conviction), you’ll eventually start to believe that it’s true.
Skeptical? Try it.
If nothing else, you’ll entertain yourself, and you won’t have lost anything. But if you are successful in implanting the new belief, you’re that much closer to what you want. I guarantee you it’s easier to take positive action on your weight loss goal when you believe it’s easy to succeed. Thinking it’s hard, on the other hand, can be a great excuse to procrastinate.
From now on, use a little bravado. Get into the spirit of a prize fighter before a big fight. “I’m going to win.” Act as if achieving your goals and desires is a foregone conclusion. It’s automatic…guaranteed, in fact.
Fake confidence long enough and you will become confident.
To Your Success,
Conor Kelly
The truth about personal training in Toronto
Have you ever had an epiphany?
By “epiphany” I mean a realization so powerful that it felt like you were thrust from the darkness of night into the clear light of day.
It was a moment in which everything you’d been missing became really obvious — all of a sudden.
That’s what I experienced in 2007.
I was working for Extreme Fitness near Yonge and Sheppard.
On this day, the gym was a zoo. It took me two hours to do a forty five minute workout. Don’t you just hate that? I spent most of the workout looking for weights, because even though there’s plenty of rack space, 80% of the weights were lying on the floor. Yargh!
Anyway, as I looked around, it was like I was seeing the whole scene for the first time…
“Is this a gym, or a singles bar?”
Many of the women were in full makeup, trying very hard NOT to break a sweat, actually. Their ultra-tight workout gear leaves little to the imagination, and serves as a beacon — beep, beep, beep — to the balding business men who approach them, “can I help you with that miss?”
There’s a ridiculously tan guy in a wife beater flirting with one of the girls on treadmill. In fact, it’s after work so you can’t get a treadmill to save your life!
Everybody’s lined up to the “cardio confessional”. Most of them never lose any weight, but they’ll feel a bit less guilty about the couple of beers they had at lunch!
The gym floor looks like a meat market. There are people everywhere, except in a small radius around the guy who smells like he hasn’t bathed since Mulroney was Prime Minister.
The only mat I’ve found to stretch on has a huge sweat circle from the back of someone’s head. Gross.
To my left, one of the fitness consultants is asking a forty-five year old woman who looks like she’s never worked out to do exercises on a stability ball.
“Your stabilizers are weak,” he says.
Give – me – a – break!
That’s how they do it, you see. They book all new members an appointment for a fitness consultation. They claim it’s for “insurance purposes”. The consultation itself is not based on matching you with the right program for your goals, it’s designed to make you feel embarrassed, so you’ll commit to a long term personal training contract.
It was at that moment that I knew I couldn’t be a part of this dog and pony show any more.
By February of 2008 I had resigned from Extreme and founded Evolution Fitness. I had a vision of creating a space where the average person would feel comfortable and have every chance to succeed with their fitness program.
I made a conscious decision to do things differently, to focus on what was best for my customer as opposed to whatever would make the cash register ring most often.
I recently had lunch with an old client of mine from Extreme. During our conversation, a lot of facts about the industry came up. Here are a few I’d like to share with you:
1. Most gyms pay their trainers a fraction of what you pay for the session. When I started at Extreme, I had several years experience, yet they paid me $15 an hour. While I did eventually and very slowly (ugh!) move up to a higher pay scale, the low wages are one reason big gyms have a hard time retaining talent. If the trainer is good, and can sustain his/her own schedule, they’ll leave.
There are some great trainers in commercial health clubs, but many of them are either rookies or they’re not serious about doing personal training as a profession. It’s a part-time gig while they study law or chiropractic, or whatever. At Extreme they’d often approach members to become trainers! “You look good, wanna be a trainer?”
Hiring a personal trainer in a gym is a bit of a crapshoot. The good ones are usually full.
2. There are tons of personal trainers, some are good. I’ve interviewed many trainers over the years, whether it was working in management for gyms, or in looking for new team members at Evolution Fitness. One thing I’ve learned is that while experience helps, it doesn’t guarantee quality. I’ve met trainers with 10 years experience that I didn’t think were any good.
Education doesn’t count for much either. A lot of Kinesiology grads are lousy. They know a lot of facts about the body, but not how to work with it. Also, it’s not that difficult to become certified as a trainer. The course is usually pretty basic, and the testing is not that rigorous. Phil Kaplan is famous for getting his cat certified as a personal trainer through a correspondance course!
3. Most trainers fail to get their clients results. It’s nothing against them, I believe they’re well intentioned. It’s just that no one’s taught them how to get results for their clients. They’re taught all about the body, and how not to injure someone basically.
So much more goes into helping someone change their lives than simply understanding the science. A person is so much more than just a body, they are a dynamic bundle of beliefs, habits, dreams, and fears.
It’s the ability to build a successful coaching relationship (and to know how to push the right buttons) that makes all the difference.
Please do not get me wrong. I’m not down on this industry. I’m passionate about it. My vision is to elevate personal training to new levels of respect. Why do you think my business is called Evolution? The old ways will soon be extinct.
We have so much power as personal trainers to make an impact. It’s a power I believe we’re beginning to acknowledge. You heard it here first: we will soon be the go-to guys and gals of modern preventive medecine, an esteemed position which we’ll earn through demonstrating our capacity to heal. I am working on some projects this year that will change the fitness industry forever.
In the meantime, if you need help, where should you turn? Call us first. If, for whatever reason that doesn’t work for you, here are a couple of things you should consider before hiring a trainer.
First, don’t be afraid to ask for credentials. Is the person into professional development (reading, going to conferences)? Usually a good sign.
Second, don’t be afraid to ask for references. Can you talk to some of their clients to find out what kind of results they’ve had?
Finally, what’s the vibe? Do you like this person, or are they annoying? Can you listen to them? Are they confident? Are they enthusiatic? And another great one to consider, do they look the part?
Start there, and trust your instincts. If something doesn’t smell right, get the heck out of dodge!
To Your Success,
Conor Kelly
P.S. I’d love to hear about any past experiences you may have had with a personal trainer, especially if it’s funny! Please leave a comment below. If I get some interest, I might tell you some funny stories.