What personal trainers don't need and sometimes do

It's absurd... but that is life... at some point we have haters.

A lot of people I know tend to make up their mind about you even before they have met you. Perhaps because of something they've heard or read about you directly or through a third party. Often times people who are acquainted with us may take something we say or do out of context... whatever it is, what I do know is that people become critical for many reasons.

In my opinion most of the time it happens because You Have What They Don't Have... Let's face it: people become haters because you have money, you look pretty, you are athletic, popular, successful, because you look and live a happy life, or because they've made an assumption about you as to being irresponsible or not trust worthy; and sometimes its just because you are an ass and you deserve it.

Maybe hate is too strong of a word, then again haters are haters... they try to criticize who you are and what you stand for.

Two clear realities: You can't please everyone and surely not all the time. Second you are not perfect and are bound to make mistakes from time to time.

Personally I live by that reality. This is why I don't get rattle up when people criticize me. There are critics of whom some are friends, clients and business minded people who are out to help you grow financially, mentally and physically and I for one, try to surround myself as much as possible with these type of people. On the hand we have critics who are plain haters and try to bash your rep just because.

To be honest I don't spend too much time thinking on this, yet I find it amusing at times... and there's a reason why I'm addressing it today in my post.

It's sad when fitness professionals trying to pull a marketing stunt turn to bashing others. The length of things I've seen them try and the things some of my clients tell me they've done is ridiculous. Around my location there are a few gyms and personal trainers trying to make it just like any other business. But in this profession I'm surprised (at least with the majority surrounding me), that as professionals they choose not to reach out, to network, and perhaps work together, learning from one another and helping each business.

Just like the medical and legal field no two trainers are alike. And for the most part we have different specialization. The problem with a few I've noticed is that they don't specialized and instead try to be everything to everyone... That's not possible and instead of helping the folks who reach out to us we are hurting their bodies and making them dumb in the process.

I've heard some crazy stories about boot camps, crossfit, nutritionist, yoga, gyms running themselves out of business and personal trainers doing crazy and dangerous workouts with their clients just because it looks cool and they want to impress their clientele.

My take is very simple if there is a problem, almost always it's not the training concept or the style, rather it comes down to bad coaching.... hence the trainer who is training you. Listen I've gone on Youtube and seen some ridiculous training videos, then again it takes me 30 seconds of watching real pros do it the right way to figure out that most videos online don't do justice to proper training modalities.

As a professional I don't need to go out and bash what others are doing. That's not what I'm all about. I find my time better spent learning more and concentrating on program design for me and my clients. I enjoy learning from other professionals in this industry as a ways for me to excel professionally. That is why I every year I make sure I invest in seminars, workshops, continuing educational courses, and I subscribe myself to some newsletters and podcast among other things. My regret is that I don't get to do it more often. Those training concepts, techniques and business resources I learn I incorporate them into my style of training and pass it on to my clients and fellow trainers.

What I don't do is get caught up talking about what others are doing. I prefer to concentrate my attention on my business and my clients who need my coaching.

As for having haters, I take it as a sign that I've been noticed, that I'm on target and that I have a solid following who think I'm doing a great job training them.

As a trainer I believe us as professionals we need to:

• improve our training resources
• learn from other professionals and continue that growth
• communicate better - especially with our clients and people who often reach out to us
• don't be afraid of other trainers especially if they are mentoring you. Your clients like you already and if you focus on them while doing a great job, nothing will distract them from following you.
• understand that not every client is meant to be by your side forever. We train them, we educate them and we let them go.
• don't be a hater of other trainers. Focus on yourself... focus on being better than yesterday and inspire your clients to do the same
• lastly: STEP UP AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR YOUR CLIENTS

To my fellow readers and clients, the fact that you are still reading this.... means you take your fitness performance seriously.This is my advice:

• make smart decisions choosing your training program
• communicate better with your coach, don't hold back and let them help you be better. If you'd seek their advice don't think your smarter... if you actually are, then you're in the wrong place
• understand your limitations
• the above being said: STEP UP AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE YOURSELF

March Madness Referral Contest

DON'T LOOSE MOMENTUM ON YOUR 2012 COMMITMENT 

TO BETTER HEALTH & FITNESS

Spring is just around the corner, so let's leave winter behind and set yourself up for some MARCH MADNESS baby!!

THE DEAL: 

During March 1, 2012 to March 31, 2012 simply refer 3 of your friends, colleagues and/or family member. For EVERY 3 that you refer you will receive a $20 training credit; which can be used for boot camp or personal training.

If at least one person signs up for ANY of my training packages (personal training, boot camp or youth sports conditioning). You will receive another $20 training credit. 

There is no limit to referrals so for every extra 3 referrals you send our way you will continue to get $20 training credit. For example: if you refer 6 people that's a $40 training credit towards any training package.  Imagine if you refer 9 or 12 people that would be $80 - $100 in training credit!!!! 

MARCH MADNESS INDEED!!!

THE CONTEST:

Refer the most during the month of March and you will receive the following 

(on top of the above credits):

- $150 Training credit to redeem as one full month of boot camp training or 3 personal training sessions

- 1 FITLORENZO training shirt

There is no obligation to participate. However I do ask that if possible you do refer people like yourself, serious about their health and fitness. 

Your trust and support in our training programs means the world to us; as it's been a contributing factor to our growth and success, while allowing us to help many different people in the process. 

FITLORENZO is on a mission to grow our business and reach more people. We need your help, and that is why we want to reward you for it!!!

Feel free to contact us at 941-729-5217 and/or write to us to info@fitlorenzo.com. Make sure the people you refer to us mention your name or if you prefer we reach out to them, just let us know.

Gasparilla 5K Experience

It happened this past weekend. Saturday March 3, 2012. Everything was in place for the first time for team FITLORENZO to run at the Gasparilla Distance Classic 5K race and we did.

It is surprising that in my case to this point I have played competitive basketball, baseball, track and field, and some other sports. However I have never ran in an official distance race. Of course those who know me well enough know by now that I don't really like running for distances more than 1.25 miles.

Don't get me wrong, I have ran 3 to 5 miles many times (though I really hated it), but never officially 3.1 miles in a competition race like the one we participated in last Saturday for the Gasparilla 5K.

As team FITLORENZO we had a blast. We had fun, joked around, ate some good food and chilled during the mid morning to early afternoon. I was very proud especially of Tracy who's never ran neither in a race, and was so nervous, but finished well and her husband (a firefighter even saved a life so to say). Lisa despite her aching back ran it and did good to.

I'm moved by Jen Kellman leadership during the event, and prior during training, leading practice runs and keeping us on board with our documents, registration and overall race preparations.

However, when it comes to me individually my performance sucked. My best time running so far has been 20:38 or so. Which is very good considering I don't run that much.

But on race day things didn't go according to plan. My goal was to finish this race in a record time for me of under 20 minutes. That would mean that in order for me to finish in that time I would have to run every mile in about 6:20 minutes or so.

I started out my first mile at 6:21.. So I was like YEAH!!! I got this BABY! But then I got greedy and thought I could further improve that time in the following 2.1 miles.

So I followed the crowd that started running through the median, trying to avoid some of the people in the way. Big mistake cause first of all it was like trail running and I wasn't ready for it, second when I realized I was hurting my time came off the median I bumped into someone and landed badly in my right knee which was already recovering from an injury. I had my headphones on, so I didn't hear all the !@$!@%!%!56$#&* I screamed out loud from the pain I experienced, very likely those around me did.

I knew I was down, but not out... never out! After that I tried running but I had to unfortunately run/walk the rest of the way. On top of that for some reason I drank like 2 full cups of water (everyone knows you can't gulp down that much while your running cause it will have a bad effect and it did). Then I underestimated the heat. The day started out nice, breezy and cool; but it quickly went to over 80 with a heat index close to 90.

I didn't think of all these things and kept committing mistake after mistake. I ended up way over my desire goal and way above my regular time.

I can't deny I'm disappointed with my overall performance. As an athlete this is something that stays with you for a while and hurts your pride.

I've dealt with injuries before and this one though painful at the moment was more of a scare than something very serious. I'll proceed with caution these next several days getting back into my training program and trying to avoid anything that would aggravate me even more.

This experience made me reflect on my clients. Many of whom have some minor injuries and/or physical limitations, yet they still show up every day and do their best. It is not an easy task but they endure and as a result they are getting better as time goes by. I always put myself in my client shoes and try to understand to the best of my ability their circumstances, but this particular experience as an athlete and being so competitive I could understand the frustration that goes through my clients mind.

That being said there is nothing wrong with having to modify a particular exercise or your training program to meet your current needs. Especially if the purpose is to help you get better, more mobile, stronger and ready for the next stage. Sure there is something to be said about training hard, and training intensity, but it has to be done in a SMART way.

From my experience it is more of a mindset thing than physical. Once you overcome that obstacle, you will find yourself getting leaner, stronger and better.

As for me, I'll admit I'm still disappointed with my overall performance. I now have a chip on my shoulder and I'll need to run again to get over this. I know I'll have another chance in the next several weeks, so I'm cool.

Today it is my pride that hurts more than my knee.