When an Industry is Full of Crap, What Do you Do?

Just recently I have had quite a few people pop up in my network who have become self-proclaimed self-help gurus.  One of the things about my industry and the “life coaching”, “motivational speaking”, or “super duper person” industries is that you can seriously be completely full of it, and odds are that someone is going to decide to pay you because they can’t figure stuff out for themselves.  The funny thing is, knowing these people personally or having worked with them in the past, I can clearly state that the biography that they put up on the internet omits a few personal details or greatly embellishes others to the point where they look like amazing superstars who run the world.  The only problem I have with it is that these people typically are completely misrepresenting themselves, or at least the people they were before they became these amazing people (last month).

Many people don’t have the motivation to do things like exercise, and that is one of the reasons that my industry exists.  Just like we hate doing our taxes and hire accountants or hire mechanics to change our oil.  This is a cost and benefit relationship.  When people hire me for my services, I not only take the guess work out of their exercise routine, I try to make sure they are getting the most effective workout that they can for that time.  However, I’d like to think that if I then went home to my couch, ate Cheetos and never worked out at all then I would feel like a big fat hypocrite.  I’m usually pretty clear with people when they ask me if I’m qualified to teach x thing because I have either done it before to others or myself – with success.  I told a prospective client that I wasn’t sure if I could help them just last week because I wasn’t the best person qualified to do what they wanted me to do and referred them to someone else.  That’s a little thing called integrity.  I know what I’m good at, and I also know there are better people out there at doing certain things than me.  Probably lots of them.

However, as I have written before what amazes me is people who financially commit to something like a trainer, life coach or nutrition “guru” without any research.  Does your coach have proven results over time?  Have they been in an industry for long enough to have a few hundred or thousand hours of experience practicing?  There’s a reason even plumbers, welders and car mechanics have to go through years of apprenticeship and can’t just fly into business.  Unfortunately not every industry requires this, and these are the one you have to watch out for even more if you are thinking about hiring someone in them.  If you are silly enough to sign up with someone for a service just because they “have massive PMA” or “are an awesome person” then you’re probably going to get exactly what you expect – a really positive person, but does that mean they can actually help you?  I get that people have to start somewhere and need to get clients and get experience, but when they start out misrepresenting themselves right off of the starting gun then that is very telling in my opinion.  Did they start off small and work their way up, or did they suddenly declare that they are an amazing person and start talking about books and giving advice they never followed themselves until they had their epiphany?

This is called an unregulated industry.  Doctors, lawyers and other professionals have to go through extensive schooling, rigourous exams and usually a period of gaining enough experience at low level activities before they can even take their exams.  But trainers, life coaches and other health gurus don’t – and they can still fundamentally affect how you live your life and even hurt you badly.  I can direct you to a web site where after 150 multiple choice questions and paying $200 you can also become a certified personal trainer right now.  And life coaches don’t even have to do that – they just declare that’s what they are and I’m so awesome that people should pay me to organize their lives.  I have a friend who is a psychotherapist and she had to spend five YEARS underneath another therapist (after already having a Masters Degree) before she was allowed to go into private practice.  In my opinion, this should be the way the PT industry is organized as well but it never will be as long as people continue to pay good money for people in these industries who have no education or experience.

So here’s what I’m asking you to do – vet your professionals.  Carefully.  Ask for references.  Validate what they put on their web sites.  See if they practice what they preach and have for a period of time.  And don’t commit to anything long term until they have proven that they can do what they told you they can.  Make sure results are tangible and quantitative, not just smoke and mirrors like “you’re going to feel great!”.  Don’t hire someone because they are a “good person” or they “give you a good deal”.  And here’s my message to anyone starting out – come back to me in a couple of years and show me several people you have helped get to where they want to be.  That should be the minimum amount of time required investing in a new profession to start to get decent at it.  Show me education you have taken to further your credentials.  Show me that you yourself practice what you preach.  Because if you’re a personal trainer who smokes, a positivity guru who was a complete negative person until a few months ago or a life coach who can’t organize their own life then you have a lot of stuff you need to work on.

Judge Me By My Workout, Do You?

It’s obviously been a while since I have posted anything, and the funny thing is what has prompted this post was actually something I read that was published by another trainer.

Without going into specifics a fellow trainer (and I use that term loosely because this person is one of the “I won a fitness competition and now I think I’m a trainer” crowd) decided to let everyone know how hardcore they were by putting down other people in the gym around them during a workout and telling people all about how hard they need to work in order to get results.   Some other people even jumped in to give their two cents and tell everyone that if they aren’t passing out or sweating then they are obviously wasting their time and shouldn’t obviously even be taking up space on a piece of cardio equipment next to someone who is so awesome.

My first response to this is obviously a big old middle finger pointed directly at that person and their peanut gallery.  As coaches and people who are asked to hold others accountable trainers should be the last ones sitting there passing judgement on people.  It’s unprofessional and really kind of pathetic.  I hope that any prospective customer looked at that post and quickly said that they wouldn’t want to work with a person like that (or refer anyone to them) because of the judgement involved.  Maybe that “hardcore” attitude works with teenagers and young women who have low self-esteem, but that’s a pretty narrow target demographic if that’s what you’re looking at.  God forbid a woman who has had two kids and really doesn’t like her body gets into the gym for the first time in over a year and is WALKING ON A TREADMILL!?  Maybe for that person doing that IS giving 110% – you have no idea.  Maybe that person uses the gym as an escape from their job.  Maybe they want to get some time alone because they have five kids at home and a husband out of town.  Maybe they have a health condition you don’t know about.  The point is that you have no idea, so don’t pass judgement just because you think in your very closed minded way that unless someone is dying or can’t walk after exercise that they haven’t done anything to their body.  It’s ignorant.  Change in the body can be stimulated by very, very little going on.  Is it going to make the person a ripped shredded pile of muscle?  Maybe not.  How much in our particular industry is based on false reality and BS marketing anyway?  That’s another can of worms.

Just this past week I had a client who is recovering from a knee injury (caused by another trainer making her do stupid things) tell me that she managed to do three minutes on a Stairclimber.  Guess what words came out of my mouth.  “Wow that was a stupid waste of time”?  No.  It was “Good job.”  She was happy about it, and proud that she tried to do something outside of her recent comfort zone.  What makes me sad is that there might have been people in the gym like this idiot looking at her and laughing without having a clue about what her situation was.  You can look around a gym on any given night and see people doing things that might be considered stupid by some, but might actually make perfect sense to that person and what they want to accomplish.  Whether it is CrossFit, Tai Chi, yogalates or whatever there is probably somebody who looks at that exercise and says “what the hell is that person doing?”.  It doesn’t matter – that person is doing what they want to do.  A person in a gym trying to improve themselves should be supported first and judged never.

You know what?  I walk.  I’m a perfectly healthy looking person who used to run marathons and now I have to walk because I’ll pass out if I jog for more than about ten minutes.  I used to deadlift 300 pounds easily but now I can’t lift anything over about 100 pounds because now I know my heart might explode and I’d really rather not leave my family that way.  My workouts are now mostly balance and stability based, and probably look really strange to most people, just like the ones that I sometimes do with my clients.  That’s what is right for them, and my job is to actually care about them and their well-being, not tell them that they aren’t hardcore enough because they aren’t in pain, almost on the verge of passing out or they are doing what they can.  They are strong, healthy and can move properly and that’s 90% of the equation for any situation they have to get themselves into.  Real people need real movement and to stimulate positive change.  We’re not going to even get into the fact that likely if you’re a panting mess on the floor or can’t walk you just did yourself a lot more harm than good.  Exercise as a stimulant is used to heal and improve, not destroy.  Something any trainer really needs to wrap their head around.

So if I’m next to you on the Stairclimber and I’m not dying or almost passing out, just look the other way and mind your own goddamned business.  And please, pretty please get off of whatever pedestal you climbed up on because you got a shiny medal or a trophy mostly due to enhancements that are in no way natural or healthy – even though you will swear up and down and probably tell clients that you’re completely “natural” and that anyone can get that way if they just “give it 110%” like you do.  Stop calling yourself a trainer if you can’t come down to earth enough to realize that your job is to help people, not judge them for what they haven’t or aren’t doing.  So, in conclusion:

yoda

A Hard Reality to Face

It’s been a while since I have posted an entry only because I have been dealing with an issue for the past while that finally came to resolution last week and the news wasn’t great.   I’ll try to make a long story short:

About eight months ago I had an episode while swimming that caused major distress in my chest.  Basically it felt like I was going to pass out in the water and my heart rate took a long time to come back down, plus some other things.  Since then I have had some issues whenever I get my heart rate elevated, or run.  When I would lift weights after a while a jackhammer would be going off in my chest.  I could only run for about three minutes before I started to feel uncomfortable and lightheaded.  And this is from a guy who, two months prior ran a 5k in 21 minutes without any problem at all.  So off I go to the doctor.

Tests are all normal, except for the echocardiogram which showed a congenital heart situation in one of my valves (a bicuspid aortic valve), something called a dilated aortic root (which is big enough to be considered an aneurysm) and some mild regurgitation of blood back through the valve.  My doctor actually told me that I rocked the cardiac stress test at 10 minutes, not knowing that a few years ago I actually maxed it out and they just stopped it because I could have continued for a lot longer.  After doing some research into the condition, (and getting an appointment with a good cardiologist) the unfortunate conclusion basically means that if I do anything that elevates my blood pressure significantly, keeps my heart rate up high for a period of time or even puts serious pressure in my abdominal cavity I could be at risk of rupture and if that happens I’m pretty much dead.  Maybe not now, maybe ten, twenty, thirty years I could be fine – but it is always going to be hanging over my head.  And, if it continues to increase then I will need open heart surgery, a replacement valve and to be on meds for the rest of my life.  Whoopee.

So running fast speeds?  Done.  Lifting heavy weights?  Done.  High intensity sports pretty much of any kind?  Done.   Cycling sprints?  Done.  Swimming quickly?  Done.  Did I mention that I’m a personal trainer and endurance coach?  And that basically all of my personal fitness goals center around higher intensity?  After reading up on all this and looking at recommendations the only word I could think of started with an F and ended with something that rhymes with truck.

However, I also have a family to consider and my career.  I’m obviously not going to put my wife and family at risk just to complete a race.  If I can’t lift weights, I can find another way to stay strong.  I’ve just never been faced with something like this before, which is what makes it even more difficult.  Imagine if you were a baker and suddenly you were violently allergic to sugar.  Imagine if you were an auto mechanic and you couldn’t touch oil.  The one thing that runs through your mind instantly is that your life is pretty much over.

But your life is never over.  It changes day to day and week to week, and I’m the first one to tell people that it is all in how you manage it that lets you get up at the beginning of the day and keep going.  Instead of mourning the loss of something, it forces you to change how you think and apply it towards something new.  Can I still be in amazing condition while doing low intensity exercise?  Of course I can.  Can I still set goals and achieve them?  Of course I can.  Does this mean I have to stop moving forward?  Of course not.  In the grand scheme of things, this is a relatively small physical limitation.  There are many examples out there of people with far worse conditions than mine who do amazing things every day.

So I guess the lesson I’m trying to get across is that life changes – and the only way you truly die is if you don’t change with it.  You can sit at home and feel sorry for yourself (like I did for the last week) or you can suck it up and keep moving forward.  So I’m going to do another marathon next year.  I’m just going to walk it.  Maybe I’ll do a nice long bike tour and raise some money for charity at low speeds.  Maybe I’ll find something else to work towards.  But the point is to just keep working, moving and trying to do whatever it is that you want to do, even when it seems like you get something really bad thrown in front of you.

You’ll see me walking past at some point, I’m sure.  Be sure to wave.

The Story of Maureen Rampert

Something I have rarely done is talk in detail about my methods, even though for many years I have had some pretty good success with many conditions where people were frustrated and had reached the end of their rope.  The story I’m going to tell you today is about one of my people.  Her name has been changed for obvious reasons but the story is really what is important.  It is a bit long, but hopefully when you’re done you will gain a new appreciation for what proper progressed and appropriate exercise can potentially do for someone who had given up on ever improving herself physically.

Just over two years ago a woman walked into the local chain gym where I worked and asked to be set up with a trainer who had dealt with special populations.  She had decided to try exercise as a way to help her with various physical problems.  I was referred from the trainer she was initially set up with who basically told me “I have no idea how to deal with her”.  Maureen was instantly suspicious when she sat down with me because she was used to promises.  In a nutshell, her story was simple.  Thirty years ago she had been hit by a tractor trailer in her car, almost killing both her and her husband.   She had broken her back and sustained a lot of trauma to much of her body, mostly in her hips and spine.  Because of their circumstances she had never really had proper care beyond some brief physical therapy after they both got out of the hospital and had basically lived the way she was for that time.  She wasn’t overweight, she just had massive physical restrictions.  Here’s a short list of what she dealt with:

  • She walked with a constant limp in her left leg, dragging it for most steps
  • Any force on her back or hips (stepping off of a bus, for example) could cause a migraine headache and make her feel nauseous
  • She couldn’t rest her head on the head rest in her car without pain.  She couldn’t turn to check her blind spot without a problem.
  • Constant ringing in her ears that would become worse with any sharp noise
  • Since her body was so bound up, she had IBS whenever she changed anything in her diet
  • Sleeping was tough because her back was constantly sore and she would get nauseous and spasm whenever she tried to turn over

She had seen physios, chiros, osteopaths, doctors and many other professionals over the recent years because she was at the end of her rope.  She tried many practitioners and did not see any improvement.  One massage therapist actually refused to treat her and doctors tried to give her pills constantly.  She also dealt with all of this while taking care of her husband who had his own set of physical limitations.  Her life was very, very hard and she was sick and tired of it.

When I sat there with her and heard her story, I didn’t know if I could help her, but all I told her was that I was willing to try and she would be under the best of care.  I asked her to commit for six months and we would see how things went, but if things weren’t working out then she could walk away any time.  She agreed and decided to place her faith in that I was at least willing to try.  Doctors had turned her away telling her that they couldn’t do anything for her.  The saddest thing is (and she told me this only after we had worked together for a year) she was actually planning suicide if she couldn’t be helped because she was so tired of her life and how she felt every day.

Let that sink in and then imagine the massive responsibility that I carried when working with this woman.  Here’s the first few exercises we ever did together:

  • Modified squatting movement at 140 degrees of knee flexion (she could not go further than this – I used a bar behind her to guide her movement).
  • Stepping up had to be modified to only five inches of height, otherwise it caused a headache and nerve pain right away.  We focused on movement and coordination.
  • She could pull things, so we sat her down and did some one armed shoulder and back work, focusing on moving her shoulder blade properly.
  • She was unable to bend, twisting was out of the question and even simple movements with her hips caused her a problem, so traditional “core” work was out of the question.  For example, having her able to lie on her back on a mat without pain was a first accomplishment.
  • For movement her walking started at 2 miles per hour – and she could only do that for about five minutes before being exhausted and having to sit down.  And she was not overweight.

Often other trainers would wonder what I was doing and my only answer was “being careful”.  Often during a workout she would get nauseous and experience pain in various places, but this could be used to find out what movements she was capable of, and with what degree of force her body could tolerate.  An additional inch of movement or five more degrees of angle was an accomplishment.  Loads were increased incrementally workout by workout.

Six months into her regime she fell off of the bus and broke her foot.  The good news I took from that is not only did she not want to stop exercising; she was encouraged by the fact that she caught herself without falling to the ground.  We continued to work on her back and upper body.  Her headaches were lessening in frequency and movements were becoming easier.  We were able to expand ranges, add some load and introduce new patterns to her brain, which had previously guarded against them.  A year in she picked up 80 pounds (half her bodyweight) with good form.  She didn’t limp any more when she walked in.  By now I had learned what movements might trigger things and what signs to look for when she was trying to hide that she was extremely tired so that we didn’t do too much to her.

About fourteen months in she was doing quite well so we introduced mild jogging for 15 seconds.  She had not jogged for over 30 years and was ecstatic even though it was very hard for her.  She could lift things off of the floor, squat, bend and push things over her head at this point.  Twisting was still an issue for her spine (likely due to scar tissue build up) and I told her it might always be.  She could get down on the floor and get up again with minimal assistance more than once.  However, some weeks we would push things just a bit too hard and have to scale back and gently nudge things forward again carefully.  There was a constant process of progression in small increments.

Today I’m happy to report that Maureen can pick up 50 pounds several times without an issue, can squat with a (small) back load but load her front no problem, can jog for 60 seconds and can twist without nerve impingement.  She can do a full plank for 30 seconds.  She can do movement without having to anticipate a problem.   More importantly, her headaches are non-existent, she can sleep at night without pain, she doesn’t have to worry about falling off of the bus and she can check her blind spot while driving without a problem.  Just the other day she reported to me that she rolled over in bed without thinking about it and was fine – for the first time since her accident.  For some of us this is a simple thing, but for her it is huge and means she can sleep through the night without getting woken up.  She is stronger – and therefore her body is more able to deal with the forces it encounters every day and not manifest them in pain or nausea.

I use this as an example to many people about the power of proper exercise and application of force.  With a lot of work, careful application and monitoring and a big investment in time and effort her life has been completely transformed in a positive way.  It has taken two years for us to achieve these things, but if you ever talk to her, she will tell you that it has been life changing for her.  The thing is, this is possible for just about anybody because she is not the only example I have from my career of being able to do some amazing things with people given the right time, care and application.

All the time we think of exercise as a way to look better.  We can also think of exercise as a way to feel and perform better on a daily basis and carry a better quality of life forward through the years.  To me this is the most powerful thing about exercise.  It can make things possible that you previously thought weren’t possible.  Maureen invested her time and effort into getting stronger and better and trusted in the process.  If you’re looking for results over time, this is really what you need to do.  I hope that you spread this story around and let anyone in your life know that anything can be improved given the right application.  It just takes time, effort, and proper progression.  If you have any comments or questions, feel free to let me know.  I’m also happy to put you in contact with Maureen if you would like to hear her story directly.

Take care of yourself and your body and never take anything for granted.  Your life can change in an instant, but you can also make it better if you choose to.