15 Lessons from 15 years in the Fitness Industry Part 1
The world of health and fitness has exploded since the time I decided to become a trainer. When I was in college the fitness industry was just beginning to gain momentum. Social media was in it’s infancy (I had a myspace account and Facebook was still just for college students), and the iPhone didn’t exist.
Back in 2011 when I got my first job as a coach, conventional wisdom was cardio was the main tool to lose weight, seniors and women shouldn’t lift heavy, and carbs were the devil. A lot has changed with new research and more information available than ever before.
Here are 15 lessons I’ve learned since becoming a coach!
Have fun!
Many are scared of entering a gym for fear of being bullied or judged. This stops many people who need it from ever starting. During my time as a coach, the number one thing I’ve strived to do has been to keep the gym fun.
Most of us go through life without receiving praise. We have our daily routines that can get stale. As a coach I have the opportunity to provide a space people can go to feel good in body and mind. Seeing progress towards a goal also boosts motivation. I use high fives, jokes, smiles, and enthusiasm to keep people coming back.
Exercise can be uncomfortable especially for those unfamiliar with the gym space. Learning new ways to move can be frustrating or embarrassing. By taking an empathetic approach, I’ve had success keeping many people who never set foot in a gym coming back for years at a time.
If you’re someone who’s been nervous about getting a gym membership or hiring a trainer, know that the majority of people there are just like you. One of the best things you could do is hire a competent coach. They will show you the basics of exercise and serve as a buffer to ease into the new environment.
2. Be Consistent
If you’re looking for “the secret” to achieving any goal you have, this is it! When we look at those with the highest levels of achievement, the key lies in showing up day after day despite how you feel. This will mean some days are better than others, but you show up anyway. High achievers do this for years, balancing hard work with rest. It’s not about hacks or fads like cold plunges and red light therapy, it's about doing the mundane things that work such as a caloric deficit and progressive training.
Contrast this with how we think it should work and you get short bursts of highly motivated efforts, followed by burnout, injury, and regression. Think of how someone diets. They go all in on new year's day. They buy all the right foods, read the right books, but a few weeks later they're back to square one (or worse).
For more on this, I highly recommend following Brad Stulberg on Instagram or reading his books that expand on how high achievers operate.
3. Small steps
Baby steps to big dreams! If you have a busy life, overhauling your diet and exercise routine overnight won’t work. Motivation is fleeting. The process of building sustainable habits is how you make lasting change.
Instead of making it a goal to go to the gym five days a week, start with once or twice. If you need to increase your veggie intake, add one serving per day. This may seem like a slow approach. It is. However, if you build habits you can stick to, it’s faster.
Take the “slow” approach and a year later you will be much closer to your goal than if you went fast and quit several times over. Evidence of this is shown with yo-yo dieting. People who do this gradually gain weight over the years. Don’t become another statistic.
4. We’re not over fat, we’re under muscled
Dr. Gabrielle Lyon wrote about this in her book “Forever Strong” (a book I highly recommend). Obesity and being overweight dramatically increases your chances of developing chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Excess body fat presents problems, but low muscle mass is beginning to look like the larger issue.
With lower muscle comes a lack of storage for blood glucose, increased inflammation, and weaker joints. When you contract your muscles, they release myokines. Myokines are anti-inflammatory, and help to fight diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's.
Exercise is medicine. The more research that comes out, the more evidence there is that it transforms your body and mind. Since the 70’s, the focus has been on aerobic fitness and how it can lower your risk of heart disease. This is still accurate, but now research is finding how powerful lifting weights is for much more than looking buff.
Increasing muscle doesn’t just give you a more toned look, it can save you big hospital bills and suffering.
5. Lift weights for muscle tone
What is toning muscle? Losing some body fat and building some muscle.This gives you a more “defined” look. For as long as I’ve been in this industry I’ve had people tell me “I don’t want to lift heavy. I just want to tone. I don't want to look like Arnold.” This fear of getting bulky from lifting weights is grossly overblown. Unless you’re ready to lift five or more days per week, eat 7-8 meals per day, and start taking steroids, you’ll never look anything like any pro bodybuilder.
Traditionally muscle building comes from performing moderate to heavy weights for moderate to high repetitions. This would consist of doing 2-5 sets of 8-12 reps three days a week or more. However, now we know pretty much all rep ranges build or “tone” muscle. Note that classes such as Bodypump appear to be weight training, but they are actually cardio classes that use weights. You won’t tone your body doing bicep curls for three minutes straight.
In order for your muscles to grow or tone, they need to be stressed and then recover. As your body gets used to the stress you place on it (weights, reps etc.) you will need to increase the stress to get more results. This means over time, your workouts need to get more challenging.
The real formula for toning your body:
Moderate to heavy weights
5-15 reps
2-5 sets
1-3 minutes rest
Target all muscle groups 2-3 days per week
Use compound and isolation exercises
Stay tuned for part 2!
