Sometimes my profession does get to me. I have had clients tell me they can’t continue training when they still had weight to lose, battling diabetes, and on blood pressure medication. It gets me frustrated and discouraged. What changed from when that person started? Why did they give up?
We try to educate each and every client on the importance of Strength Training and all the benefits that come along with it, as well as the negatives it prevents. Believe me; it is not going to get any easier as we get older. If it’s hard now, imagine how hard it will be 10-20 years from now!
Ever go through a time in your life when you never saved money? Then when you had an emergency and needed $2,000 or more – you were screwed. Then you decide to put away just a little bit each week without thinking about it. $20 here, $50 there, and next time you needed money for a vacation or another emergency – you had it. I bet you were glad you had the discipline to make that a habit?
Why isn’t your health treated the same? If you made exercise and healthy eating a habit you would be taking the same precautionary measures with your health as you did with your finances.
Remember that feeling of needing money and not having it? Imagine waking up at 50, 60 or 70 and needing to lose 30-50 lbs., or lower your cholesterol and/or blood pressure, or facing diabetes – would you wish you started a long time ago? It is going to be a lot harder once you start having issues than it would be beforehand. Unlike with finances, you can’t go and apply for a “health loan” to solve the problem.
What really triggered me this week is 2 former clients, whose health actually concerns me, chose to “unsubscribe” from our DTC newsletter. Anytime a client chooses to “unsubscribe” from our newsletter –
I receive a notification. It is amazing to me that someone would refuse free information that they would benefit from. I can’t grasp that concept. Even if you no longer are a client here, you are still receiving educational material on how to live longer and healthier! That is something you will always be able to use. Yet, I still get people “unsubscribing” from our free information.
It doesn’t matter if that person is 100lbs overweight, or is the epitome of health – continuing education is something everyone needs. I have been doing this for 22 years and I still do research and read as much now as I did when I first started to better educate myself, my staff, and our clients. So when I see people who I know are not making smart food choices, not exercising, and still have a ways to go before they are considered healthy – “unsubscribing”- it frustrates me.
If I offered you a pill that could improve your health, longevity and quality of life – for free! Would you take it?
Trainers who have a passion for their craft, like us at DTC, actually care about getting and/or keeping our clients healthy. It isn’t a job; it is a profession, a career – because we love it. It gives us great joy whether we help someone lose 100 lbs, run faster, rehab a knee, get off blood pressure medication, prevent diabetes, increase bone density, lower cholesterol, or just plain age gracefully with no illness or injury!
That is what we do. In this day and age of obesity and diabetes becoming an epidemic and leading cause for death among Americans – we feel it is our obligation to help as many people as we can. It is a FACT that the leading cause of “Preventable Deaths” in America is dietary ignorance and lack of exercise (sedentary behavior)! That is #1! Including smoking!
Ignoring the multitude of benefits you get from proper diet and exercise, is equivalent to refusing to get a vaccination for chicken pox. Yes, you may never get it – but odds are you will someday, so why not prevent it!?
DTC’s mission is to educate the masses. That’s why I write these articles, why Laura is always researching for motivational and educational information to put on the sign. Even if you’re not a client, we hope we can teach you something every time you drive by, that will hopefully make you a healthier person.
I can’t help but get frustrated when clients give up. Those who do quit are always the ones who never really committed 100%., whether it was with their training, or their diet. Being inconsistent with their appointments and canceling will not get you results. Eating well during the week only to be bad on the weekends will keep you stalling as well.
We never said this was easy. It’s not. You wouldn’t drop out of High School just because you didn’t get straight “A’s” would you? You knew that you were still getting an education and a benefit from continuing to go. Exercise is the same thing. You don’t have to be perfect. You can workout for 6 months or a year, and not drop any weight and still consider yourself a success.
You have to remember, this isn’t about just the superficial. It is about the domino effect that Strength Training provides – hormonal balance, improvements in blood pressure, lower cholesterol, injury prevention, lowering of cancer and stroke risks, relief of stress – not just weight loss (not to mention that it is the number one way to lose fat ).
Don’t let the scale be the only indicator for success because it is the least important.
So, am I fighting an up-hill battle? Yes, I am, but this is what I signed up for 22 years ago when I became a trainer. This is why I started Dexter Training Concepts. We will not give up. We will continue to educate as many as we can. We will make living a healthy lifestyle something not only everyone believes they can do but actually succeed at!
