What I learned from crappy trainers

Started listening to books on tape (I just realized how old “books on tape” makes me sound. I meant to say “audiobook”.) since I fall dead asleep if I try to read in the evening.  Best sleeping pill ever.  So I set myself up with an Audible account; because I want to learn stuff.  Listening to the book “Outliers” while I do my back squats.  Great book so far! 

Anyhow, Malcolm Gladwell talks a lot about the “Primacy of Talent”, basically the idea of being born with talent as a barometer for success in life.  He argues that this is largely a fallacy.  I don’t know if that’s true or not, I’m only on chapter two; but what I can talk about is my personal experiences.  In my career, I’ve gotten to manage trainers as well as clients.  Like any other job, some were great, some were bad, some were very bad.  Funny how we remember the exceptions best.  I specifically remember the excellent as well as the bad ones more clearly.  

I remember a couple of specific trainers that weren’t particularly good at training.  They didn’t quite grasp providing service to another competently.  Nice enough people; terrible trainers.  They sucked at it, and as their manager, I ended up dealing with the dissatisfied clientele.  That in and of itself wasn’t weird, or even uncommon.  But what was uncommon was the fact that despite this, they were pretty successful trainers business-wise.  They always met their sales goals despite constantly having to reload clients.  Why?  They were consistent in their practices.  They constantly did their emails and phone calls and were always hustling on the gym floor; like they were running for office or something. 

You might not feel like you’re particularly talented athletically.  You might not know what hypertrophy means (I know a guy who can help you with that), and you may not know where to start.  Here’s what you do.  You show up.  You come back.  You come back again.  You don’t skip.  You get help.  Do what a crappy-good trainer does, you become successful by faking it until you make it.  You’ll get better at your lifts, you’ll get better at cardio, and you’ll get better at getting a sweaty sports bra off without dislocating your shoulder (I heard that’s a thing).

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