"The things you take for granted, someone else is praying for"

The other day I had a client approach me at the end of our group class session and ask me point blank - "Why do we do this to ourselves?". Now I understood by the tone of his voice and the smirk on his face along with the fact that he was drenched in sweat that he was ofcourse just kidding around, however the question is one that I've often wondered to myself on many occasions. I mean seriously, why do we do this to ourselves? Who in their right mind takes time out of their day to go to a place where they are forced beyond their limits to pure exhaustion both mentally and physically? Working out can be painful, tiring and even quite repetitive at times. So why do it?

I've always found it fascinating how as a society we have become so obsessed with using the scale when it comes to evaluating whether or not we are making progress with our training in the gym. Granted the scale can be a useful tool when used in a correct manner but I just don't understand how one little number can dictate a person's results with their own physique when there are so many other contributing factors that need to be taken into consideration. And yet, I continue to see the same people weigh themselves on a daily basis. I wonder what they are expecting to see. I mean can your body weight really fluctuate that much in one day? And if it does go up or down by 2-3 pounds what does that exactly mean? Let's find out!

I would have to say without a doubt that one of the hardest things about living a healthy and active lifestyle is the commitment and the consistency that's required to constantly stay focused and motivated to look and feel better on a regular basis. I've worked with hundreds of clients over the years, all of whom have started at different fitness levels and have had different training goals. While many of our clients have achieved their goals, others have not.

When I first got started in the Fitness Industry I would blame myself if one of my clients were to not reach his or her training goals and not achieve the results they desired. As a Personal Trainer / Online Training Coach I felt as if I had failed the client. If for some reason a client did not rebook with me I would take it personal and would become discouraged with the career path I had chosen to pursue. Even though I never had a single client specifically blame me for not helping them achieve the physique of their dreams, I always felt like I was partially responsible. There were many times that I thought about giving up personal training and entering a different field. And then one day all of a sudden my thought process completely changed. I was not the person to blame for my clients lack of results. Nor was I the person to take credit for my clients who achieved their results. What I realized was that whether or not my clients achieved success was not up to me, it was up to my clients.

As most of our clients know I don't believe in generic training programs or diet plans. In fact, I find Canada's Health Food Guidelines to be completely outdated and the BMI to be fairly useless. I believe as individuals we should be treated as such and therefore it's important to create a fitness formula that is customized to fit each person's specific training goals and designed the lifestyle in which they live. With that said I do understand that there are some general guidelines to be followed when it comes to diet and nutrition as well as training for weight loss or hypertrophy. However when a client decides to work with me I usually throw the majority of these "guidelines" out the window and start from scratch.