Why I Decided to be a Personal Trainer

“Why do you want to be a Personal Trainer??”

I often heard that question after I announced I would pursue this career path.

To some, my switch posed a stunning surprise and a quick turn-of-events. On the surface, it seemed like I had job-search schizophrenia.

Maybe it’s because I was an extremely skinny kid until twenty-two. Maybe it’s because I earned a degree in Economics. Maybe it’s because the “highlight” of my athletic background was Team Captain of my high school’s Varsity Golf team. Or maybe it’s because, from graduation to about July 2011, I publicly focused only on finding financial work.

But not to me.

You see, behind the scenes, I knew what I wanted to do. Unbeknownst to some, I quietly developed the knowledge – years before – that I would later need. I merely waited for the right time to act.

– Behind The Scenes –

I read StrongLifts – one of the world’s most-popular strength training websites – religiously by late-2009. Although I read articles intermittently beforehand, I committed much more time after I moved to South Korea – as an public-school English teacher, I had plenty of free-time to utilize. I burned hours and hours every week learning about heavy lifts (squat, deadlift, press, bench press, and barbell row), mobility work, soft-tissue therapy, and the mental aspect of training.

I found Nate Green‘s blog, The Nate Green Experience, back in its infancy and had his book, “Built for Show”, shipped to Incheon, South Korea (not cheap).

I discovered Testosterone Nation and studied the site with a hunger. I analyzed a wealth of information, busied myself with energy and endocrine systems, and learned about muscle imbalances and anterior pelvic tilt. I studied the dangers of tight psoas and how my peroneals caused knee pain. I didn’t talk about P90X, and I didn’t train to failure on bicep curls – I tried Bulgarian split-squats and feet-elevated inverted rows.

At the gym, I used to make an ass of myself (and probably still do) rolling on the ground on a tennis ball, writhing in pain. People frequently looked confused when I performed leg swings, lateral squats, and shoulder dislocations during my warm-up. And when winter came, I happily trudged through the snow to lift.

I closely studied the works of T-Nation contributors Eric Cressey, Mark Rippetoe, and Joe DeFranco by early-2010. I vividly recall sitting at my desk, headphones on, watching every YouTube video they produced (nothing woke me up quite like DeFranco’s Training montage!) during breaks.

Soon, the branches expanded. Nate Green led to Craig Weller and John Romaniello. T-Nation led to Chad Waterbury and Dave Tate. Eric Cressey led to Tony Gentilcore and Mike Robertson. StrongLifts to Andy Bolton and Glenn Pendlay. More names became familiar. More videos consumed. By mid-2010, I easily had more strength/conditioning educators than all of the professors who taught me in university.

By late-2010, I formulated a plan to produce an e-book to help skinny people gain muscle mass and take control of their lives.

Even at university, I constantly expanded my comfort zone. Intrinsically motivated, I tried a unique approach to improve my soft skills:

Everyday I would converse with at least one stranger. At the day’s end, I would write their name, a fact I learned about them, what we talked about, and most importantly, the atmosphere – did they seem tense? Relaxed? Shy? Friendly?

I did this everyday for three months.

[Five days ago, I learned former-President Bill Clinton did the same thing while studying at Oxford University.]

In Taipei, I trained at a small, basement gym because no other gym in the city owned a power rack. There, one Taiwanese employee actually competed internationally in weightlifting and incidentally traveled to Australia for an event. We had a great arrangement – I picked his brain about the Olympic lifts, and he got a free English lesson.

In Australia, I watched videos of the Chinese Weightlifting Team to keep my language skills sharp. I trained at the local PCYC and helped patrons who asked about my technique. And I even made trips to different universities just to see their gyms.

After returning to the States, my branches expanded even more. Once I committed to becoming a Personal Trainer full-time – exactly why I sought a finance job for so long is quite complicated and deserves another post – my days were spent preparing for the examination and reading as much information I could find about being successful in the industry.

The “tip of the iceberg” is an old idiom, but it’s so true. There’s always more than meets the eye. In truth, this switch was a long time coming.

– Putting It All Together –

Someone recently replied, “personal training is hard.” Well honestly, is there anything in life worth doing that isn’t hard?

I never said I have clients. I never said I am a Personal Trainer – my exam awaits. What I am saying is that I desire to become one. That I know with certainty what I want to be. That I’m dedicated to putting in the work to improve. That I will always seek to learn and learn from the best. And that I possess a passion which blazed for years, ready to burst.

So why do I want to be a Personal Trainer?

Hmm… how much time do you have?

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