written by: Matt Pack
Impack Total Fitness
First of all I am by no means trying to change you. I am honestly not trying to help you at all and want you to stay exactly as you are. In fact I would rather you don’t even read anymore after this sentence. Put in the trash can! You are my competition and I think I forgot that when I decided to write this. So that being said, if you think I’m an asshole or I’m full of shit after reading this it’s fine with me. You know I hope you do, and everything I’ve said goes in one ear and out the other. That’s just more money for me! So if you’re happy where your at than disregard everything in this email but if your broke and don’t know why than I suggest you listen up, I didn’t mean that.
Look there is allot of things I don’t believe in like: Cow’s milk( low fat, 2%) it’s all nasty, high rep abdominal training, too much aerobics, spinning, low fat diets and The Loch Ness but something I do passionately believe in is continuing education. I use continuing education not only to learn new, faster, efficient and effective ways to get results but more often to find out what I’m doing may be a waste of time or even worse flat out WRONG.
I do come down hard on trainers in the industry who are either too lazy or too egotistical to pursue higher knowledge daily as a means of becoming the best professional they can be. I’m not saying that you have to start throwing kettlebells around or push trucks around the block. I’m saying that exercise science is just that, a science. You can’t get around that. The Science changes all the time and you have to stay up on that! I also don’t believe you can get the “science” off the magazine shelf or even your certification study guides. You have to search for it either on the internet, certs, workshops, seminars, school or finding a credible mentor in the industry who you relate to who gets RESULTS. I loved a quote by Charles Poliquin that said, ” don’t be surprised if you hear or read something I’ve said in the past that I don’t do or believe in anymore, I either did away with it because it didn’t work anymore or I found a better way of doing it.”
I’m sorry but I am constantly looking for a better faster way to get my clients results. The faster they get them the better I look. Hey and guess what? What worked for Jane may not work for Sally and the same goes for Tom and Jerry. Increasing your knowledge will increase the size of your “toolbox”. This will give you anything you need to deal with any client(geriatric, athlete, pre/post natal, adolescents or weekend warrior)you encounter. Knowledge makes you more marketable. Marketability makes you more money. In this industry if you’re not staying up on Nutrition, Strength and conditioning, Pre-hab/Re-hab, Stress management and Recovery methods you’re missing the boat and probably won’t last. To have a grasp of these things are imperative not only to the health of are clients but the results of them as well.
Come on people! It’s embarrassing! This profession is a joke! Anybody can do what we do. Go online and get that Certification. You don’t need a degree. There’s no regulation on the industry all you need is that weekend cert or be a bodybuilder to be considered an authority. I for one am embarrassed to call myself a personal trainer and as a matter of fact feel belittled and disgraced when put in the same sentence. Call me whatever you man but don’t call me a personal trainer.
I guess what I’m saying is if this is you’re profession and livelihood and you want to be successful in this industry and you want to help people at the same time you have to increase your knowledge. Get your CEC’s, read a book a month, travel to an internship once a year, attend a seminar. I’ve read that if you read an hour a day on a specific subject for 3 years you can be considered an expert in your field. So what do want to be? An expert or just another personal trainer with that weekend certification?