Show Me The Passion And Education And I'll Show You The Money

Q: I'm a personal trainer out in Arizona. I've been training people for 5 years and I'm starting to get really bored training average people and I'm considering advancing my knowledge so I can train athletes. I talked to another trainer who mentioned you and your blog/website because you are doing what I would like to do. My question is, there's several athletic facilities out where I live and many of them advocate completely different training philosophy's. Is there a way to know which one would be the best? I want to learn as much as I can and as fast as humanly possible.

A: I feel your pain. I had the same problem about four years ago. But there shouldn't be anything to consider. If you're bored and you want to train athletes then do it. Don't stand in your own way. Here's some things you must know.

First and foremost, to be great in this industry you must continue to learn, so reading a lot is paramount. This should be common sense, but to my surprise, most trainers I've come in contact with in my area don't do much of this. This tells me they don't have much passion for this industry and in my opinion, need to get out. Next, find a mentor. If you find out down the road that they aren't that knowledgeable, find another one. So if you take this job and find out it sucks, leave it. That should pretty much be a no brainer.

Another must on education is attending seminars. Last year at this time I lived in Chicago. I was an independent contractor at a gym in the downtown area. Perform Better had a 3 day seminar from Friday thru Sunday. I knew several trainers in the Chicago area and I saw none of them there. I asked a few of them why they didn't go and they told me they hadn't even heard of it. My jaw hit the floor. How in the hell could you not know one of the biggest personal training organizations in the United States.

This tax year I handed my account receipts totaling just over $25,000 on books, cd's, dvd's, and seminars. Over a third of my income. This year I'm opening my first private sports performance facility with my business partner and it's because I'm great at my job. Why? Because of passion, which equals education, which equals knowledge, which equals money. I'd like to state though that I don't do it for the money. I do it because I love it which makes the money come. If you're in it just to make money and not because you love it, you won't excel at it. Don't put the cart in front of the horse.

Here's a few things I would make sure of before hiring on to this performance facility you're looking into:

1. A structural balance assessment: If there not doing this then I'd question there education and therefore their passion. There's a lot of info out there on assessment or screening tests.
2. Collecting Data: Workouts must be progressive. Without this, the body has no reason to change since there's no adaptation required. Loading parameters must be written down and tracked to know when there no longer working. This is evident by math. If you're not getting stronger, you need to change your workout.
3. Soft tissue work and dynamic mobility drills: Bottom line, if there's any problems with fascial tissue and length tension relationships in muscles, the body won't function properly. Again, there's lots of info out there on this topic so there should be no excuses. Yet I still see people doing static stretches before lifting weights.
4. Energy System Development: Picking the right energy systems that are appropriate for the sport. For example, having a high school football player doing aerobic based training is wrong regardless of his position and you should be shot.