Tug o’ War

I’m torn. There’s two sides to me and my business. In case you hadn’t noticed, my business is training. The two sides are at odds with each other and I struggle everyday someone talks to me about training or nutrition with which side should respond.

Heads and Tails, Ying and Yang,. . .

So here’s the daily tug of war that goes on in my head:

1. The Great Trainer. This part of me wants to give a detailed answer and share all of my opinions, knowledge, and experience. I want to bring that to bear on the person I’m talking with so they can reach their highest possible level of achievement. I know if I do less than that, they’re not going to go very far.

2. The Fitness Enthusiast This side of me wants to reach as many people as possible. Like most folks in “helping” professions I feel there’s a lot of people that need the help and advise of a qualified, experienced personal trainer. I see problems everywhere and want o fix them. This isn’t a Messiah complex or anything. It’s just part of the passion that goes along with being a personal trainer who really cares about people and what happens to them.

Now these two drives play themselves out, for me, in two ways:

Exercise

1. When it comes to exercise The Great Trainer in me wants to give people a detailed answer to their question, “How do I get in shape?” I want to tell them about cardio, and resistance training, and nutrition. More than just point then to some program, I want to show then the NECESSITY of program progression and how the body adapts and gets used to whatever they’re doing.

I want them to understand that good training means that we implement a good program based on their goals. Then after they’ve executed the program we assess how the programs effected them and make an informed adjustment to progress their program.

2. Now the General Fitness Enthusiast recognizes that very few people have the internal drive to go through all that The Great Trainer part of my personality wants for them. I want them to succeed and the high standard of success and all the hard work involved almost guarantees they’ll experience discouragement. They may even quit. I’d rather see some progress than none.

The second part of my personality wants to WAGE WAR on the obesity/inactivity epidemic. So rather then getting them lost in all the details of Good Training I reduce it down to . . . “Just get you fat biscuits moving.”

and Nutrition

1. The Great Trainer does reading and research on new and old trends, practices, and observes and listens to the experiences of his clients. “Research” by the way, means that I’ve read robust discussions and scientific studies on BOTH SIDES of the discussion. I haven’t just read one book BY the promoter who claims that all of his research is conclusive.

I want to find out what people are eating and educate them on what we know about digestion. This is the stuff that nobody disputes scientifically because we’ve observed it for centuries. People don’t know this stuff. Yet, they buy into the details of some new diet while not practicing good old fashioned common sense nutrition.

2. The Fitness Enthusiast really gets into difficult places when it comes to nutrition. Like exercise we’re in an epidemic. Unlike exercise, people are over and mis-educated on the subject. So appealing to the masses on this issue is nearly impossible.

Sometimes even just appealing to common sense of what we know of
*nutrition,
*practicing moderation, and
*living active lives
only shows that many people THINK they know about all of these things but clearly do not. The most headway that can be made is by asking them how people UNDERSTOOD and APPLIED those three things 50 years ago and compare that to whatever nonsense their believing in now.

So what’s a poor boy to do?

Like I said at the beginning. I’m torn. No one can do both at the same time with everybody. So here’s how it plays out:

1. The Great Trainer gets to be all he wants to be with clients. When people ask me to write a for them I give them all I’ve got. We’ve got the time and they’ve got the commitment to work through the hard answers and difficult times it will take for them to get to their goals.

2. The Fitness Enthusiast has an important job that can be summed up in three words:
* Network,
* NETWORK,
* NETWORK.
Network at local business networking events. Network with social media like and . Network at the gym and anywhere else someone asks, “So what is it you do for work?”

So when it comes to questions or comments on social media sites like I stick with The Fitness Enthusiast model that just wants to see people lead active life styles and eat sensibly .

If people want a more detailed answer I recommend they either message me at Facebook, Twitter, or email me at tim@fittrue.com. Those are the forums for more detailed answers on specific nutrition programs and exercise trends.

I’m think of writing a more punchy and direct article about some particular programs and what The Great Trainer really thinks about them, but I want to know there’s a general interest before I open up a can of worms that will probably offend MANY. What say you?. . . in the comments below.

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