Six Distilled Pieces of Personal Training Advice
After working with fitness clients for about a year, I wanted to share the essential lessons that I’ve learned that repeatedly come up in conversation. These concepts are foundational to building momentum and making the most impact in health and wellness.
I consider two patterns to our fitness journey: tactics and strategy. I try to make myself obsolete as a personal trainer as quickly as possible by providing tools which compound, then teaching the how and why for each tool so that clients build autonomy. I want everyone to feel empowered to see a vision for their health and fitness, then to execute on the right steps to get them towards that vision. I’d rather do this without holding anyone’s hand (because we’re all busy people), nor do I think hand-holding is effective in the long-term. To succeed in fitness, one has to take charge of their own journey, but it’s essential to do so without getting overwhelmed and to know where to start.
Strategy
Articulate a “perfect vision” for your health. This is the direction of the compass on which you should base some, then most, then ideally all of your decisions. If you consider, “what would perfectly-fit me do in this scenario?” and begin to apply that regularly, you’re off to a good start. Perfectly-fit me doesn’t drink soda with meals. Perfectly-fit me hits the gym six times per week. It’s unrealistic to think that you’d start off by being “perfectly fit” or “perfectly healthy,” however—you ought to just consider which actions correlate to the results of that ideal scenario and apply them piecemeal. Doing those actions once, then increasing the frequency, means that you’re aligned with your compass.
Build fitness identity. If you’re out of the habit of being in the gym, don’t tell yourself “oh, I’m not the type of person who lifts.” You can start with affirmations and then do actions which contribute to your identity. Tell yourself, “I like doing pushups,” or “I regularly choose healthy meal options.” When you cast a vote into that identity by following-up with an action which aligns with the statement, you’re reshaping your identity (ideally towards your compass). Just remember: you can make identity statements before you even perform the actions related to that identity.
Learn to find the right tools for the job. You’re absolutely capable of researching and learning what you should do to certain adaptation. It always helps to have someone with prior experience guide you, but I believe that autonomy on your fitness journey is key, and you’ll only build autonomy if you’re comfortable experimenting with new tools. You’ll learn to expand your toolset over time, but beginning with research, knowledge-building and skills-building is the first step.
Tactics
Reduce friction to align with your compass/identity. It’s always harder to perform a chain of actions than it is to perform a single action. Break down your commitment into steps—if you want to exercise, but you don’t have any gym clothes, nor do you have a gym established, it’ll be much harder to get started. Break things down and make it easy on yourself; I chose a gym close to my home so I can walk there rather than add 20 minutes of friction (driving). I set my gym shoes or climbing shoes out by my door so I never have to add a step (dig through my closet) before I exercise.
Avoid sharp changes in your routine. If you’re not in the habit of doing pushups, you probably won’t start hitting the bench press 3x/week. Find the minimal change set that aligns with your identity and start there, but continue to push the needle over time. I never like to change someone’s workout at a 90 degree angle—if someone does primarily calisthenics, we can begin to pepper in some weightlifting with kettlebells or something simple. If running is your exercise of choice, beginning to add a small amount of bodyweight squatting or pushups will prime you for weightlifting.
Use tools like habits and routine, tracking, and baseline fitness principles. Understanding that you’re not going to be consistent until you’ve established “going to the gym” as a habit without thinking is essential. You can make this easier by tracking—writing down your wins of “went to the gym” or “didn’t consume added sugar” is a great way to keep your motivation high. In terms of fitness principles, it’s essential to understand concepts like the SAID principle to get the adaptations that you desire—I think people spin wheels trying to do more cardio if they actually want to have a muscular or lean body. I’m a firm believer that doing heavy weightlifting with the right amount of volume and repetitions is the appropriate tool for fat loss and muscle gain.
A few questions for you:
Are there goals that you’re working towards lately?
How’s your level of consistency?
Have you taken the time to articulate a “perfect vision” for yourself? How can you break down that vision?
Thanks for reading,
—Kevin
