Focus Strength Performance

I nervously walk to my first ever personal training appointments .

It's also the first time I'm about to lift heavy weights.

I'm scared about it hurting, I already have so many aches and pains and I don't really know where they come from.

My doctor tells me it's from living in a state of inactivity and that I'm rapidly aging.

I don't really understand how lifting weights is going to help take away my pain. And I don't understand how doing nothing becomes so painful.

I talked with the personal trainer he asked me many great queststions I hadn't thought of.

It feels like I'm being educated right away.

The trainer tells me that my body has its own unique way of moving. That's seems true as I've tried yoga classes, Pilates, and group classes at the community center.

They didn't seem like they were for me.

And he tells me that resistance training isn't about lifting heavy weights.

It's really about something called "progressive overload".

He says all we have to do is start with small challenges and continue to make small improvements.

The smaller the improvements the safer the exercise.

He says that most people get injured because they don't understand how small these improvements can be.

For example I stood on a line with my toe to my heel for 30seconds before losing my balance.

We tried a second time and I made it to 29 seconds.

Then after some brief coaching I made it to 36 seconds.

Wow instant success. Great coaching and now I feel confident to take on other small challenges.

I look forward to my next training session.

Today I was talking with a client who said "Gord you look frustrated with me"

"Yes, I am" "and it's how you should feel also"

Let me explain. "Your goal was to achieve something specific in certain time"

Client "what were my goals again?"

Me (trainer red flag)
Me "To feel better, to improve energy, to lose some weight, feel and look strong"

Client "Oh yeah I remember now" "yes that's right"

Me "You created an expectation for yourself, and I aligned my expectation with yours" "every day I show up I have my expectations aligned with your goal and a sense of urgency to match it."

"When you show up with a different level of urgency and focus. More specifically when your urgency or focus is less than what is expected the plan no longer works"

"That part is frustrating to me, and it should be equally if not more frustrating to you because it's your life."

"Are you happy with the progress you are seeing so far?"

Client "Yes. The progress, I wanted takes quite a bit more work than I have energy for right now. (Awesome realization to share) and I am seeing progress in other parts of my life I didn't necessarily expect, and I am in a much better spot than when we started. (Amazing too)"

"I am happy with the progress. (Proof of proper process)"

Me "that's great, and I am happy to adjust my expectations to match yours so that the frustration is not present in our sessions."

"To do that we are going to set some new SMART goals so that we can be on the same page regarding the urgency of our sessions and deadlines for homework. The goals we started with are more long term goals than we had originally thought. So let's extend the time frame and continue with the process that you are enjoying and is working"

This happens often, the expectations the client has for themselves were wildly overblown and the pressure placed on the trainer to execute is way too high. The reality of the situation is that the client feels uncomfortable because of the frustration of the trainer. But the client needs to be led through the process of understanding where the frustration is coming from.

It's because the client has forgotten their goals, they were too busy enjoying the process of seeing results to think about where they were going. The level of urgency changed for the client but the client didn't realize it.

They just see a frustrated trainer. Oy Vey 😮‍💨

The lesson here is figuring out how when and where to talk about goals, and create new ones constantly when things change.

With a beginner it happens often, and almost always. Sometimes daily. And their experience is very small so they haven't got a clue.

It's my job as a trainer to educate them on this and know what to do with it. Acknowledge the feelings and the attitudes as being valid as an important part in the process. Then go back to basics of goal setting using SMART goals.

Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time oriented. If this criteria bis not met it leads to massive complications and break down of communication.

If you read through this tell me what you think. How good do you think you are at setting goals of this type? How likely is it that your goals change often? Do you even share your goals with people? Do you hold yourself accountable to your goals? And in what way? Do you have friends who think you are working on a set of goals and then you talk about 20 things that have nothing to do with those goals?

Things to think on.

Happy goal setting everyone.

Often your thoughts and feelings will lead you off of the path that you want to be on. It's easy enough for this to happen especially when we are comfortable with where we are.

But...

Moving forward requires a change. That change starts with they way you think. Many of the things you think and the ways you feel about things don't matter. They really just get in your way.

Quite often what they are getting in the way of is MOVING ON and LETTING THINGS GO.

This is one of the most common thought processes I encounter with my clients.

Client "I was told reducing my carbs and calories would help me lose weight"

Me "that's correct it will, but only if you can maintain that decrease forever, and only if you are happy with achieving that one goal. You said you would like to increase your strength and gain energy, that path won't help here"

Client "but won't eating more make me gain weight?"

Me "not if we also increase your calorie expenditure, if we give your body some extra energy for your training session and recovery you will have better training sessions, better energy, maintain muscle mass and over time decrease your body fat. You'll also meet your other goals of strength and energy gain."

Client "but I want to lose weight"

Me "you are stuck on the Idea of losing weight as the immediate goal rather than focusing on it as a long term goal. (This person is emotionally tied to a feeling and it's completely normal what's abnormal is to be able to identify these thoughts and reframe the thinking pattern).

Me "Would you like to feel good? Would you like to be stronger? Would you like to reduce your body fat? Would you like to improve the efficiency of your entire body?"

Client "yes those are my goals, but I don't want to get big"
(This is a common defence mechanism, deflecting. This person is still feeling the same feelings they are just saying them differently, they are using buzz words they know to change the conversation to something more comfortable than the inevitable truth)

Me "the only thing that will happen is that you will be proud of yourself for letting those feelings go and letting go of the thoughts that stop you from attaining a very achievable goal"

Client "But..."

Me "no buts, the only butt we are going to talk about is getting yours into gear. It's time to let go of the thoughts and feelings that hold you back and start creating new ones around how you want to feel instead".

Boom that's how it's done.

Know someone who is stuck in a rut? Can't get out of their own head? Send me a message link them up with me.

It's time to get your ass in gear!