By Michael Krueger
I walked into a corporate gym the other day and there was a person sitting on a recumbent bike slowly pedaling away while reading a magazine. By the time he left the gym he hadn’t broken a sweat, but I’m sure that if he filled out a survey that asked if he exercises he would enthusiastically respond “yes.” Since I don’t know this person’s goal, I guess perhaps he is right on track for success; but I doubt it.
Your training is greatly affected by your goals, but your history with exercise, your experience with sports, and your personality have a lot of influence as well.
The Usual Suspects
Whenever I’m in a public or corporate gym, I can’t help but watch people working out, and much of what I see makes me cringe. The amount of wasted effort, drama, and anxiety on display makes me shake my head and sigh. Let’s take a look at some of what I’ve found, and perhaps you will see yourself in one of the examples.
If a person seems to be approachable and I have a spare moment, I will strike up a conversation with him, simply to find out where he came from, trainingwise, and where he thinks he is headed. What I usually find out is that he might have some idea where he came from but little idea as to where he is headed.
A fairly large group of people I meet are those who have participated in a formal sports program at some point in their life, and they train the same way they did when they were playing. It doesn’t matter whether that involvement was in high school or college, and it doesn’t matter how many years ago it might have been. They work out the way Coach “insert name here” taught them.
These folks still train as if they are going to be playing linebacker, shortstop, or midfielder on Saturday afternoon. They don’t know how to train any other way and since it worked back in the day, it must still work now. It doesn’t even enter their mind that they are 10, 15, or 20 years removed from competition and that their lifestyle, bodies, and goals are now completely different.
These people are a lot of fun to talk to because, despite their outdated training regimens, they do still train, and they come loaded with many war stories that they are always willing to share. They understand the value of hard work and, if they are willing to make some changes to what they are doing to more accurately reflect their current lifestyle, they tend to do pretty well.
Of course, getting them to change can be a struggle, since their self-image is still wrapped up in the athlete that they used to be. Often, with a little questioning on my part and a few reality checks on theirs, they do see the light and ask what they might change to be more successful. Once that happens, I sometimes end up with a new client (though that isn’t my primary goal), and these people begin addressing their real life issues of aging, work stress, time management, parenthood, weight gain, muscle and bone loss, and any number of other factors that they didn’t need to concern themselves with back in the day when they “played sports.”
Then there are the muscle magazine devotees. These folks buy and consume at least one muscle magazine per month. They want to be like the people in the magazines. This group used to be pretty much the exclusive domain of men, but now it contains both men and women.
The men want big shoulders; a big chest; and, more than anything, big biceps. They do all the specialized advanced techniques highlighted on the front cover that promise 18-inch biceps. For the most part, these guys haven’t a clue as to what it would take to look even remotely like the men between these pages. They don’t understand the nutrition; the training; the dedication; or, in many cases, the pharmaceutical help that these guys indulge in.
Even on the most basic level, they don’t understand what it takes to build muscle. You need to eat a lot of good food and train like a crazy person, and then eat a lot more good food to slab on lean mass. Just like fat, to create a pound of muscle requires that you consume about 3,500 excess calories. Unlike fat, the calories need to come primarily from lean proteins and the growth needs to be triggered by targeted stress–i.e., intense workouts.
Most of the guys I see in this group who hang out in an average gym are fat, soft, and only moderately strong when applying a weight/strength ratio. They spend too much time talking about what they’ve read and how their heroes train and not enough time training themselves. Predictably, they are by far the least receptive to advice, particularly from someone who’s “just a personal trainer.”
I’m not a big guy, and I have no desire to be big. Because of this, they assume I’m not particularly strong, and since I’m not a world-class athlete or bodybuilding champion, that I don’t know what I am talking about. Often they will sarcastically refer to my certification as nothing more than “letters after your name.” Occasionally, I will put on an impromptu clinic for these muscle heads and show them what a “little guy” can accomplish with targeted and effective training and nutrition. I always feel a little bad after showing them up on the bench press, overhead press, or chin-ups, but I get over it.
Women are also reading the fitness magazines targeted at them. They fall prey to the same grandiose promises, false claims, and outright lies that men do and then, to make matters worse, think it’s their fault when they fail. Fitness models on the cover portray the same, mostly unattainable, ideal that the men’s muscle magazines do. Half of the articles say that you’re fine just how you are, and the other half tell you how to change.
Hard work on a realistic plan will always trump trendy diets and fad workouts; of course, that message doesn’t sell many magazines.
This next group contains the people who have never played sports, barely passed Phys Ed, and still carry the emotional scars. In the gym, they are unsure of what to do or how to do it. They watch others using machines and copy them, not understanding that the person they’re watching doesn’t have a clue either. Of course they pick up all the bad habits and poor techniques of those they watch and begin to add in a few new ones of their own.
These people are the hardest for me to watch because it’s so obvious that no matter their age they are still experiencing the humiliation they felt in middle school gym class. They’re also not very receptive when it comes to unsolicited advice. They are so self-conscious that any attention, no matter how well intentioned, makes them want to put a towel over their head and crawl to the locker room. I always try to help these people; since they never got the chance to succeed, they might just make it if they are gently shown what, why, and how to train.
Finally, there are the trainees who can explain exactly what their goals are, how far they have progressed (eagerly showing me their logbook), and why they are doing the program they are on; they will also expound greatly on how much they are enjoying it despite working their butts off.
These people are always willing to help those who ask. They don’t waste their time or anyone else’s with idle chatter, though once they are done working out they are happy to chat about fitness, sports, work, or life in general.
They are generally fit and healthy, with a good attitude and a smile for anyone who looks their way. They believe in the importance of fitness and understand that by dedicating a few hours per week to themselves they are better people, parents, and co-workers. They have goals and a plan to achieve those goals. These are some very happy people.
It’s All About You
So which group do you fit in with? Are you arrogant, confused, afraid, or living in the past or are you confident, successful, happy, and helpful? Are you still learning, progressing, and perhaps even teaching and inspiring others? If you are honest in your assessment, you’ll have nowhere to go but forward.
It’s all up to you. Cut the useless ties to the past, learn what you need to know, put your ego aside, take charge of your life, work hard, and hang on tight … it’s going to be a wild ride.
Michael Krueger is an NSCA-certified personal trainer. He got his start in fitness training while serving in the United States Coast Guard. He works with firefighters and others in and around Madison, Wisconsin. He is available to fire departments, civic organizations, and athletic teams for training, consulting, and speaking engagements. He has published numerous articles on fitness, health, and the mind-body connection and was a featured speaker at the IAFC’s FRI 2009 Health Day in Dallas, Texas. E-mail him at MKPTLLC@gmail.com.
