Hope Begins In The Dark

As a strength coach you wake up in the dark. The silence of morning echoes all around you as you get ready for the day. Some days you are tired, but something tugs on you to keep on. That something cannot be money because you will quit and your clients will eventually see through the façade. That something cannot be fame because who really wants to be on the cover of a DVD. That something tugging at you to get in your car. To open up the steel doors of your gym and to greet someone with a smile, is doing the right thing. Authentically helping another human being.

And you cannot fully do right by your clients without evaluating where they are (physiologically, structurally, and psychologically), where they are going, and where they want to go. The future in the fitness world is to stop guessing or at least guess less and individualize a whole lot more. It is to be able to see, hear, listen, and identify obstacles that are keeping your clients from their goals. Effort is pivotal, but this isn’t about trying harder, it is about integration and a place at the table with all the other professions that are held in such high esteem by our society.

Earn that place.

Be more.

Voraciously learn and apply all that you can. What you do is not ancillary to any other profession. Done well, it is the main event. Create a network of professionals so you know what is in your wheelhouse and what you may need to refer out. Then return to your white board and analyze what worked and what didn’t and why.

And then be less too. And teach other professionals how to be less.

How to really serve others. How to count reps and hold others accountable. How to have a client that you meet with twice a week for a decade. How to get outside your mind and just pick up some damn weight.

This retreat is about being more but also being less.

It won’t be at some grand resort with suits and ties. It will be on a beach in a room full of windows and people who care.

This retreat will not be an end. It will be about constantly living at the beginning.

See you there and if you can or can’t make it here is a link to my talk on Sex and Stress from earlier this year. Completely free. No strings attached. Thank you!