Many of you know that I have been working on a second book. That book has now finished it’s final edit and will be released within the next 3-4 months. The topic may surprise you. I’m veering away from fitness.

In my next book I explain the theory behind why people share material via social media. It doesn’t matter what software they use. Facebook will change and companies like Pintrest may not be around in a year. What matters is understanding the conscious and unconscious reasons why people hit a share button (whatever button that will be).

It’s becoming increasingly common for companies to blog, use Facebook, set up Twitter accounts and attempt atrocious social media platforms. It’s amazing to me how few of them are doing even an adequate job. It’s not hard but takes some thought. What I will tell you is that there is no perfect way to optimize a page or blog — so stop buying crap that tells you there is. 

I wanted to share with you the back cover blurb and hear your comments and feedback on it. Please let me know if this would get you excited about the topic at hand or if there is anything you would like to see included or omitted.

-Jon

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We’re entering an age of information overload.

Advertisements are ignored, TV commercials are skipped, and Search Engines as you know them are a dying breed. People don’t have time to listen to a message unless they’re given a reason to care. Content has taken a back seat to context. You could have the most powerful message in the World — it won’t spread unless you package it properly and give others a reason to care.

The race to the bottom has been won, you can’t win on price. Yet you have an idea, a service, or a product; one powerful enough to make a difference – if only you could get others to listen.

The feed is everything and you need to be at the top. It is becoming adept at figuring out what and who you want to listen to. Everything in it is a recommendation, and a powerful one. Never before has the process of getting referrals been so scaleable and advertising so cheap. Social media has evened the corporate playing field.

Whether you’re a real estate agent, a CEO, a neighbourhood shopkeeper, or a fitness gym owner, this little book will teach you why people hit the share button – and how you can make them want to hit it more often with you in mind. Follow it and your business will quickly become the go-to in your neighbourhood, your city, or even the World.

Facebook will adapt, Twitter may not be around in 5 years, and blogs change daily. This book will not tell you how to optimize your Facebook page or what the best WordPress plugins are — none of those matters. They are tools to project a message and, if you want to succeed in the next stage of human beings evolution, you must learn the theory behind them.

The race to the bottom has been won. You have to win the race to the top.

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If you’re interested in getting an example of the theory I published an extremely watered down version last week as a test. The response was overwhelming. Please note that “Facebook Marketing for Fitness Pros” is specific to the fitness industry and Facebook whereby “Race to the Top” spans any industry and company big or small and social media as a whole. To download “Facebook Marketing for Fitness Pros” click this link.

I look forward to hearing your feedback. Also, if we’re not already Facebook friends make sure to add me.

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I’ve been called a hater of motivational quotes. This isn’t true. In fact I gain inspiration from them. In the insanely popular article entitled “Why You’re Failing to Make a Difference” I get deeper into the reason people spread these messages. Unfortunately spreading quotes is big business. I want to make sure I only spread the ones that have had a profound influence on my life.

Enjoy and I hope you gain inspiration and direction from them the same way that I have.

“I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids.

With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest. I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy.

Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.” – Og Mendino

“Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weakminds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one,he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.” - Thomas Jefferson

“It took me a long time to figure out why I was so happy to be checking my e-mail in the middle of the night. It had to do with passion. Other than sleeping, there was nothing I’d rather have been doing in that moment – because I’m lucky enough to have a job where I get to make change happen. Even though i don’t have many people working for me, I’m in the business of leading people, taking them somewhere we want to go.” - Seth Godin

Love what you do and find purpose in every action

‘Till next time,

-Jon

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I never excelled in school and I’m terrible at sports. It always seemed that ‘stuff’ came much more naturally to others.

What I did have was the insatiable desire to improve.  Kaizen (continuous improvement or change for the better) is my mantra. Competition never interested me, self-improvement for sake of personal fulfillment did.

Perhaps this is what makes me unique. I also see it as my greatest strength. Instead of bothering what others do and emulating them I follow my intuition. The result is innovation — sometimes for the better and sometimes for worse.

I also believe that no idea is a bad one. Creativity stems from having 100x more ideas than you ever use and every theory starts with a crazy idea. That crazy idea could just be the most powerful thing you ever dreamt up.

Maybe other people need a competition to push them. I just never saw the point. In my eyes I was put on this planet to become the best I could ever be, not to live out my days battling others.

What many also don’t know is that I consider myself to be an introvert and, to be honest, if I had my way I would spend my days reading on a beach by myself. I love my close friends and family but have a hard time feeling comfortable in large social gatherings.

The gym has given me purpose. It’s a place where I’m comfortable. It’s changed my life.

Since the first day I became a trainer I’ve been honoured to be helping my clients make the changes both physically and mentally that I made. I want them to be comfortable within themselves and the gym.

Now my job has mostly switched to helping and empowering trainers to grow. It’s a young industry that unfortunately harvests a lot of misguidance. Writing Ignite the Fire was a huge undertaking. 2.5 years of long nights, endless research, and a painful editorial process all produced the first ever book that teaches trainers how to take their hobby and turn it into a career.

I knew that personal trainers needed some guidance, I just didn’t know the best way to help. It became clear that a start to finish resource needed to be created that taught trainers the day-to-day tools they need. I’d leave exercise prescription to others. This was my idea and it was born in a state of reverie or daydreaming back in December of 2009 on my parents red couch.

Words cannot describe just how proud I am of the finished product.

I know I am not an author. I don’t consider myself an expert when it comes to formulating my thoughts into a polished. I spent 6 months finding an editor refusing to settle on lacklustre quality.

Then it hit me. 98% of self-published books are poor quality. It’s easier and easier to publish a book and quality control is non-existent. As such I’ll inevitably be grouped together with them until word has time to spread. This is fine. I’m confident in both the content and professionalism of the book. It won’t sell 1000′s of copies in the first week but, as more and more testimonials surface, the book will spread.

I’m excited for trainers around the World to read and grow from Ignite the Fire. I wrote it not to make a million dollars (although I wouldn’t complain) but because I felt the resource needed to exist.

The fitness World has given me so much. I’ve gone from a shy and unconfident 15 year old to an adult who loves every minute of every day. This book is my gift but it won’t be my last.

If you do decide to buy the book either on Amazon or Kindle please write a brief review on the Amazon page. Also feel free to send me an email at jonathan@theptdc.com if you ever have any questions of want to say hi.

Here’s what a couple others have already said about the book:

========>Buy it Here<==========

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I never considered myself human. Maybe it’s a positive quality — I’m not sure.

What I do know is that I’ve been pretty damn blessed when it comes to my physical well-being. Other than the fact that I’m the second shortest fitness blogger on the web (thanks Mark Young) I’m pretty lucky. I was born to an amazingly loving and supportive family with all my parts in place and still have a full head of hair. As a baby I was affectionately called “sumo” so I guess I was fed well.

Note: I also called firetrucks “firefucks” for my formative years. Unrelated but still funny.

I loved to be active when I was young and got knocked around but never seriously injured myself. The worst injuries were two fractured fingers missing a fly ball in a baseball game and a fractured ankle blocking a hockey shot.

To me fitness has always been a game within myself. The focus has been on the challenge both physical and mental. I look at new techniques and methods with different curiosity than most. It’s never been about beating anybody else, winning the race, intimidating the other dudes at the bar, being the most jacked guy at the pool or even to get laid. All of these things are extrinsic motivators.

Working out has always been something I could personally excel at. Sports don’t interest me because even in beer league the focus is on beating others. I want to beat myself.

Perhaps this is why I’ve always been fearless. When there isn’t an end in site, a competition, a show, a vacation, or a wedding there’s always that desire to push on and get better.

Periodizing workouts never made sense to me. I’ve never been interested in peaking or undulating (even though I have tried it). Periodizing means that there are periods where the effort isn’t 100%. This isn’t a concept I could ever grasp.

Even with this approach to weight lifting I’ve never gotten seriously hurt.

Because of that I never considered myself human.

Goal Making

Goals have never been my forte. I suck at making and keeping them. A goal signifies an end to a journey and I’m in this for life. A goal means that a plan must be set and anybody who knows me knows that I also suck at planning.

I don’t keep lists, I forget important dates, and I’m driven by passion. I find it hard to consider the consequences of my actions. Intuition is my best friend and it will always determine my actions.

Maybe this is why I’ve been able to have the successes I’ve enjoyed thus far in my young life? If I’d really considered the cost and effort writing and publishing a book takes I probably would have never started. That’s why it was never a goal. I never planned on it. It just was — and an insatiable intrinsic passion kept me going.

Goals are a tool for most to organize their lives. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that those who truly wish to set themselves apart in this world must veer off of the common path and find their own way. So maybe goals aren’t so SMART after all?

Human beings are told to make goals. Apparently they also worry about what the future may bring. Because of that I never considered myself human.

Diet

I eat what I want. If I feel like a beer I drink it. If I feel like a carbury cream egg I eat it being careful to savor all of the sugary goo on the inside.

When I was in the Philippines I managed a steady diet of mangoes and mango juice.

At the chocolate hills in Bohol, Philippines

For the last 4 years my diet has stayed largely the same. Breakfast was eggs, lunch was chili, dinner was meat and veggies. Throughout the day I’d have snacks of veggies, nuts/seeds, shakes, and sometimes an omelette before bed.

I’ve never looked at food as a reward so over-indulging isn’t an issue. On one hand I enjoy a good meal. On the other I see eating as a nuisance. It takes up an inordinate amount of time.

I’ve also felt great while eating. My energy never used to be a problem and I had an iron stomach. Nothing bothered me, I was never gassy, I always slept well, and kept trim. Heck, I’m famous for walking onto the floor eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before starting my workout. Listening to others has never been my forte. It goes to reason that I never listened when told to wait 30 minutes after eating to exercise.

Cue the point where I get knocked down to earth

Note: This section is best read while listening to I’ll be missing you by P.Diddy.

My energy’s been low lately. I’ve been trying to ignore it valiantly clinging to the belief that I’m not human. I had planned to deal with it after Ignite the Fire comes out and becomes a massive success April 17th (shameless…).

It started to become an issue when I would find myself needing naps in the middle of the day and constantly feeling “off”. I’ve been having headaches, my workouts have been suffering, and my energy levels have been terrible.

For the first time in my life I’ve felt human. I didn’t have a clue what the issue was but thought it might be related to food so I went to Puremedica and had an IgG test done by Dr. Baum.

An IgG test is a test of the immunoglobulins or antibodies that exist in the blood. Since the human body is brilliant it makes specific antibodies to combat antigens. This is good if the antigen is a harmful virus or bacteria. The problem is that the body can mistakingly create immunoglobulins against non-harmful invaders like my beloved cheese. I had blood taken for the test after returning from Nick Tumminello’s Strength Cruise. It’s good to eat a wide variety of foods before taking the test so I figured the cruise was the perfect time.

The results were that I’m intolerant to gluten, dairy, and eggs…

This means no eggs in the morning, no beer, no cheese, no whey protein, no bread (or muffins), and no glass of milk before bed.

I’m hoping that the results of this test are the reason for my fatigue. Recently I’ve been experimenting with the meat and nuts breakfast and have had fantastic results so I’ll keep doing it. For the rest of the day though I’m pretty clueless as to what I’ll do for food.

Taking a look in my fridge I have a block of cheese, 2 double packs of eggs, and 4 litres of milk. I just put an ad on Craigslist (somebody apparently flagged the ad and Craigslist took it down. Guess they’re intolerant too) for them hoping they’ll find a good home…

After all’s said and done I’m finally able to accept the fact that I’m human. Anybody got any good cook books?

I like friends. If you’re a passionate trainer please make sure to add me to Facebook.

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Back in December I posted an article called “Should all Personal Trainers Have 6-Pack Abs“. I still get questions and comments on that article to this day (which is rare in this transient internet world we’re currently in). Elsbeth Vaino is somebody who I really respect and when she offered to voice her thoughts on the subject I jumped at the opportunity. I think you’ll really enjoy seeing what she thinks about whether or not trainers should work out themselves.

-Jon

I think that it is important that we workout the way our clients do at least some of the time, so that we can empathize with what they are experiencing. Our goals should still direct our training and if our goals differ from those of our clients; then our regular workouts should reflect that. But being better personal trainers should be one of our goals, and I believe that necessitates understanding what our clients go through when they train with us. And thus our workout routine should include experiencing what they experience. This does not mean doing the same weights as they do – our age, health and current strength and fitness level will dictate that. But we should try doing the workout with weights that will be comparably challenging to us.

That is what I did today. I did a 60 minute workout similar to what my clients would do. It’s been a while since I’ve done such a workout, and part way through I remembered how it feels. And can I just say: Holy crap!

Total time was approximately 60 minutes.

Warmup:

• Foam roll thoracic spine
• Sidelying rotation with arm sweep (3x15s ea)
• Floor slides (10)
• Open half-kneeling hip and ankle stretch (10x2s ea)
• 3D hamstring rotation stretch (10 ea)
• 3-way band hip activation (10 ea)
• Single leg Romanian Deadlift with quad stretch (8ea)
• World’s greatest stretch (5ea)
• Foot activation series (something I’m experimenting with – video to follow this week)

(most of the warmup exercises can be found in my dynamic warmup playlist on my youtube channel here:

Power and Agility

2 rounds of:

• Low lateral hurdle hops with hold (4 ea)
• Low medial hurdle hops with hold (4 ea)
• Medicine ball chest pass (10 ea)

Strength:

Circuit A. 3 sets of:

• Goblet squats to 12″ box (10 x 40 pounds – I am experimenting with bilateral squats after a long hiatus)
• Chinups (4 first set, 3 second set, 2.5 third set followed immediately by 8 TRX assisted pullups)
• Rollouts (10 each set – 1st set kneeling stability ball, 2nd set kneeling ab wheel, 3rd set standing stability ball)

Circuit B: 3 sets of:

• Deadlift (6 x 135 lbs 1st set, 5 x 155 lbs 2nd set, 6×155 lbs 3rd set)
• Bench press (4×90 lbs)
• Landmine rotations (10ea)

Conditioning:

Airdyne bike intervals:  5 rounds of 30s hard, 30s easy (5 mins total)

This is a typical workout for my clients once they have been with me for a while, although usually there would be some single-leg and/or single-arm exercises in there. Aside from that, it is a fair sample. And I realized that one of my clients is absolutely right when she says:

“That’s work!“

It has been a while since I did a workout like that, and truthfully, I had forgotten how it feels.

I love, love, love chinups; but starting that 3rd set was hard!

Part way through the second circuit, I will admit that I started trying to negotiate with myself to drop the 3rd set of landmine twists. But then I put myself in the place of one of my clients, and, well, most of my clients know what the answer would have been. So I finished.

Maybe the most surprising part to me was how tiring the bike intervals were. Yowza! I actually almost skipped it, but then I remembered seeing one of my clients busting out some intervals on it last night. He looked like he was about to cry at one point, and he’s no slouch! So I did the conditioning. I should have taken a picture, because I’m pretty sure I had the same expression.

I will now say to all the other trainers and coaches I know: if you haven’t done one of your typical workouts in a while, it’s time. Of course age and health will factor into what you do, and how heavy you go – just like it does for your clients. But I urge you to schedule yourself in for at least periodic training sessions that resemble what you get your clients to do.

Now when my clients ask if they can cut their workout short, I can say “suck it up” with empathy!

Elsbeth Vaino, CSCS, is the head strength coach at Customstrength.com.

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Here’s the deal. I self-published Ignite the Fire (due out April17th) because it’s a niche book. My recently completed book is called The Race to the Top and is a theory as to why people share content on the internet. Instead of discussing the software I get into the psyche of the sharer and what compels them either consciously or sub-consciously to push the “like” button. It blows me away how poorly almost every business both small and large are using both blogs and social media. This book will help those who do great work get their word out so that good content can finally overtake spam and marketing nonsense.

For this project I need a publisher. This book needs to reach out far beyond the fitness industry Problem is I don’t know anybody even remotely connected to the industry.

I’ve included 3 sections from the book below as an example. Here’s what I ask:

1. If you know of any publishers or literary agents please pass this on to them and ask them to contact me.

2. Please share this post as much as you can. I want to prove my theory correct the only way I know how. The goal is to create enough momentum that a publisher takes notice.

Thanks for all your continued support.

-Jon (jonathan@theptdc.com)

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Race to the Top example start

Fitness is a Game

Fitocracy.com is blowing up. At 275,000 users still in their Beta version they’re about to finally release their iPhone App. With it they intend to reach 1,000,000 users in 6 months time. I bet it doesn’t even take them that long.

Workout trackers on the internet are nothing new. Exercisers enter in how long they ran or how much weight they lifted into a computer program. Depending on the software the program then graphs the results.

Richard “Dick” Talens and Brian Wang like video games – a lot. They spent their childhood trying to “level up” their characters. This was the impetus for Fitocracy, to turn it into a game. But that wasn’t the brilliant part.

What Dick and Brian did was build what Seth Godin describes as a tribe. They made the game nerdy and went after all the workout buffs that spent their childhood levelling up in Zelda and Super Mario Brothers. They included fun quirks like the “props” button instead of the Facebook “like”. Achievements are unlocked with names like “Psycho Cycler” and the truly brave can attempt harrowing quests like the “Advanced Widowmaker”.

Exclusivity strengthened their tribe by giving each user invite codes to get their friends to join. The members already playing felt special they had a code to give out and went out of their way to tell their friends.

They recruited an expert team but it wasn’t who you’d expect. Dick and Brian went straight after the obscure bloggers with large dedicated followings. They didn’t bother with the usual industry experts.

Fitocracy is in the driver’s seat in a competitive niche because they appealed to the obscure. What has your company done to give people a reason to care?

How’s My Writing Bru?

John Romaniello is blowing up. He’s a skilled writer and knows a heluva lot about fitness. Aside from regularly appearing in every fitness magazine across the country John just signed a lucrative 3-book deal. Add in the fact that he’s got 100 distance coaching clients who pay $100s/month and a half a year waiting list and it’s easy to see that John is taking over the fitness World.

When people share John’s materials they speak a different language. They call the internet “interwebz” and sign off their messages with “talk soon bru”. It’s become a point of honour to speak like John.

When I asked John about the language he told me that he was just being himself. His goal is to make the reader feel like they’re having a beer with him at Southern Hospitality in New York. John’s one of the most popular fitness writers on the internet because he’s genuine. He’s created a culture around his blog that breeds commitment.

When somebody shares John’s article you don’t see the common “This article really helped me”. Instead you’ll likely see something like:

“Hey brus, check out this wicked article on training the back from my boy Roman”

 The person sharing the article has gained social capital by showing that he’s tight with Roman. After all, Roman’s about as cool as it gets. Shares happen irrelevant of the information contained within the article. John’s being himself and because of that certain breeds of people resonate with him – his people.

John’s information is also high quality. He doesn’t hold anything back when he writes so readers and influencers in the industry have become comfortable trusting his material over time. He’s managed to create an environment where anybody looks forward to sharing his material to both build social capital and pass on quality information.

John summed it up best when he said “People don’t buy coaching, they buy coaches.” How can you make yourself cool so that people want to buy you, not your product?

Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew Mason, Matthew Mullenweg, Blake Ross, Naveen Selvadurai, and Peter Cashmore

You might not recognize all of these names but I promise you know what they’ve done. The above list are responsible for Facebook, WordPress, Firefox, Foursquare, Mashable, and Groupon.

They’ve changed the world – and they’re all under 30 years of age.

Never in history has society been controlled by the young as opposed to the old. These (and others) are the puppeteers of the world economy. They decide what companies succeed and what companies don’t by dictating how information spreads.

It’s not a coincidence they’re all young. They didn’t give themselves a chance to be influenced by common thought of what works. They used their intuition and solved problems.

Do you want to change the World? How about change the business landscape in your community. It doesn’t matter the scope, the concepts are the same. What used to work doesn’t anymore. People who can figure out how to get their content to share are the ruling class. There’s no turning back.

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Race to the Top example end

Please share this post or pass it on to people you may know in the publishing world. My goal is to give quality information providers the tools they need so their word gets out. It’s the only way we can all defeat spam and nonsense marketing.

My email is jonathan@theptdc.com always feel free to contact me with questions or just to say hi.

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Remember when Facebook status updates were really about what you were doing at that point in time? They forced the word “is” after your name.

How about Facebook groups? Remember them? Lots of companies do. Piles of money was spent by companies building up their group members before Facebook decided to change to the professional page format in October of 2010. Group members weren’t transferred to the new pages and millions of customer leads were lost by companies around the world.

Pages gave companies the opportunities to design Apps. This started a new industry of Facebook App design and the race to get the best landing page was on. Lo and behold Facebook decided to change its page format to a timeline on March 30 2012. While apps are still present they became pushed to the side and their effectiveness went way down.

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Foursquare will change. Companies like Pintrest will pop up and try to make their mark. If you try to keep up with all of the current trends and software you’ll go nuts. Lucky for you it doesn’t matter.

All you need to know is the answer to one simple question, “Why do people share?” It doesn’t matter whether they “like”, “tweet”, “email”, “check in” or “pin”. The concept is the same. People are projecting to their world where they are and what they like. The trick is to make them speak about you using whatever means they have.

In this book I use a lot of examples from the fitness world. It’s my background and what I know best. Understand they’re only examples. The concepts carry over to almost every industry on both small and large scales.

There are 3 types of people that are going to read this book:

1. The person who doesn’t think for themselves. They’ll take my examples at face value and use them immediately after reading. Know that my specific examples, while powerful, will become overused and useless almost immediately after this book is published.
2. The person who gets it but doesn’t think creatively. They’ll try to justify what they’re already doing using the theory I’ve put forward in this book.
3. The person who’s advanced. You’ll see the examples I provide as a way to illustrate the over-encompassing theory. You’ll apply my concepts and develop your own systems of implementation for your industry on whatever small or large scale you desire.

Software or specific aspects of social media may no longer exist when you read this book. Understand the theory behind what I’m saying and learn to apply it to whatever software you have available. It doesn’t matter what aspects change – you’ll be ready to adapt quicker than your competition.

If this post has peaked your interest make sure you head over to Facebook and add me as a friend. I love meeting new people and you can always ask me whatever you like or participate in whatever conversation is happening on my wall.

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My second book explores this theory and the concepts extend well beyond fitness. I’m almost finished and ready for this to change the way you do things on the internet.

Problem is that I’m missing a couple key pieces. I can’t quite connect the dots. Up until now I haven’t been able to focus 100% on the theory. I’ve been pulled in 1000 different directions and need to concentrate.

Because of this I’ve decided to go dark. I’ve been tying up loose ends the past couple days and as of this Sunday will fall off the face of the Earth for a week. You won’t be able to contact me in anyway. I’ll be in a room thinking and writing.

Once a day on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday I’ll post an article to thePTDC. I ask that you help support the movement by promoting the article to your network as I won’t be able to do it. I won’t be responding to emails, tweets, or Facebook messages. I’ve cancelled my clients and am having food delivered to me. I’m shut off and thinking about one thing and one thing only.

Wish me luck. I’m 98% of the way there. Every problem has a solution, I’m going to be the one to solve it.

-Jon

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Without further ado I’ll let Jill take it away.

-Jon

A little about me. I am a 36 year old mother of three children. I have a four year old daughter, and twin 10 month old sons. Mostly, I stay at home to raise them, while moonlight teaching/training at my local community college and YMCA. Additionally, I hope to get my own training practice/gym off the ground in the not too distant future.

I am a fourteen year veteran of the fitness industry, having achieved my MS in exercise physiology as well as my CSCS. Most of my time has been spent in group exercise and the corporate fitness setting. So though I have a ton of knowledge and practice working with clients, and have lifted relatively heavy weights in a body building split routine methodology, I don’t have a lot of experience executing many of the compound lifts. Or, if I did, I was doing it wrong (yes, that was me half-squatting in the Smith machine 6 years ago).

I am teaching myself to lift, and very recently have started working with a more experienced female trainer which is making it way more accessible for me, but I have a confession to make:

I AM SCARED TO LIFT HEAVY WEIGHTS.

But not for the reason you think, and definitely not to the same extent as women in the non-lifting community. I am not afraid of getting big and bulky. Here I am super pregnant and pretty darn “big and bulky” by my standards! To be honest, it was one of the best times of my life, so big and bulky doesn’t really scare me. (As an aside, can we stop calling women scared and use the word intimidated? It’s much less derogatory and highly more accurate).

Twins!

The reason I am intimidated is simple. I am scared that I will injure myself. Is this fear of injury logical? Not really. But is it real? Absolutely. And if it is real for me, I can’t imagine what it feels like for women with far less experience than me.

Consider the following. For me, doing this:

(love Neghar)

Is (almost) tantamount to doing this:

Or this:

Or dare I say, this:

Now I know that I could easily injure myself running or cycling or doing any other commonly accepted and “appropriate” physical activity for women. And clearly, there is inherently more danger in those extreme sports depicted in the pictures above. So why is picking up a big heavy weight and throwing it above my head so darn intimidating for me and other women? When I analyze it and ask myself why, all I can come up with is the Mere Exposure theory. For those of you unfamiliar with the term (I had to look it up too), it really just means that the more times you are exposed to a product, the more likely you are to buy it.

The same goes for images. The more times we see a woman lifting a heavy weight the more likely we would be to do it.

Much like the three examples above, I have very little exposure to women lifting heavy weights. Before Girls Gone Strong existed, I had almost none. And the images I did see were either of women who liked like this or this:

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with those images, but I can’t identify with them AT ALL. Show me a picture or video of Jen Comas Keck or Molly Galbraith, or any other (in my case tall) woman with hips and breasts and I can actually see myself doing this stuff.

In fact, if I had never stumbled upon Cassandra Forsythe, I might not even be writing this piece. This is partly because she has believed in me and motivated me from the start of our friendship, and mainly because I was able to identify with her on a personal level. In short, the more examples of ALL TYPES of women who lift, the better. Keep the Jill Mills and Jaime Easons of the world, because they are awesome. But give us some more examples too.

I would argue that this is true for most women. We need to connect with a role model that actually makes us believe this is possible. So I would change the statement that inspired this post from, “Most women know they should lift. They are just afraid to.” to
“Most women know they should lift. Most women want to lift. They just don’t know it. And they lack identifiable role models and someone to teach them. It’s our job as female trainers to be those role models.”

I prefer to read an article that includes strategies to make things better instead of just ranting and talking philosophy all day. So in addition to just getting out there and doing it, here are just a few suggestions I have for how the female trainers can start to serve as role models (no matter what you look like) to make change in your club or gym or wherever you meet with people. (The men could stand to listen to these as well).

Admittedly, this part goes off on a bit of a tangent from the intent of the article. But I think I wrote it because I was thinking of the other article about women having it harder. Either way, I think it’s gold so I wanted to share it with you.

How Female Trainers Can Serve As Role Models

1. Meet people where they are: You can’t expect someone who has been doing steady state cardio all of her life to all of a sudden be thrilled to pick up heavy weights. Tell her how great her running stride is or how you like her new shoes. Ask her what’s playing on her ipod while she runs. Act like you give a shit (if you’re a good trainer, you actually should give a shit –if not, you probably should start looking into another profession). Chances are she’ll be more open to your suggestions than if you just browbeat her about how stupid she is for running. Remember, it’s all about trust. No one is going to attempt something intimidating if they don’t trust the person helping them learn it.

2. Be yourself: People can smell a phony from a mile away. You may be able to fool them for a week or even a month or even a year. But if you are putting on a front or trying to imitate someone else, eventually, your clients will figure it out and they won’t want to work with you. For example, I know a lot of badass women trainers out there who are tough as nails. And they get results. And that’s great for them and their clients. But if I tried to pull that off it would be absolutely ridiculous. I’m not a badass and I don’t pretend to be one. Similarly, look at Jon Goodman. He seems to me to just be a cool guy as far as I can tell. But I am not cool and I don’t try to be. Because it would be so unauthentic of me to do so and it just wouldn’t ring true. The more you know yourself, and the more you act true to yourself, the more people will want to work with you. And once you have that, you can convince them to do anything.

3. Trust in the process: When you begin acting like yourself, people will naturally gravitate to you. Some will want to work with you and some won’t. And yes, some women will think that you will make them big and bulky. That’s okay. They just aren’t ready for your greatness yet. But I guarantee you that someone else is. Trust it and go with it.

4. Let Down Your Guard: Jon has talked about this, but try to be a little less competitive. It’s hard, especially because many of us are athletes who come from a competitive background. But try. When you spend all of your time worrying about what everyone else is doing, that’s less time to focus on being your best. And less time for others to get to experience your best. Not just your potential clients, but your loved ones as well.

5. Smile, Goddamn it!: Everyone is more approachable and likable when they smile. Women especially respond to it. Put some Vaseline on your teeth or something if you find it especially hard to smile. Again, most people in the gym are so clueless about exercise and feel so isolated that if you smile at them they will be putty in your hands.

6. Let Go of Your Ego: Stop acting like you are better than everyone. You are only limiting yourself and turning people off in the process. In between the birth of my daughter and my boys, I never really got back into things the way I could have partly because I was too busy turning up my nose at everyone at my gym about how much smarter I was than all of them. I wouldn’t take a job that was “beneath me”. And everything was beneath me. Wasted years really. It took me a while to realize that, but I’m glad I did, and here I am a fourteen year veteran virtually starting over. And I am pumped. Best thing I ever did was letting go of that ego!

Talk to any successful businesswoman today and she will tell you that she most likely didn’t follow the typical career path that her male counterparts did. Learn from the men, take notes from them, but don’t try to sell things the same way they do. We are different, and thus people will respond to us differently.

So are women afraid/intimidated to lift? Yes. But will they, if given the right opportunity? Yes, absolutely. The inspiration must come from other women if it is to happen. Female trainers are in an amazing position right now to make a difference.

I am currently reading a book titled, What I Know Now: Letters to My younger Self which is a compilation of letters that women in power write to themselves at another age in life.

Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright (now about 70 years old) writes to herself at age 44:

“It will take years before you realize that you already are a good role model. But ultimately, you will inspire far more women than you’d ever predict. Twenty-three years from now when women choose a career in international relations, the thing you’ll enjoy most is telling them that there is no formula, that everybody must choose their own path.”

Choose your own path and know that you are making a difference just by being you.

Jill Maxwell, MS, CSCS received her degree in Exercise Science from the University of South Carolina after leaving an uninspiring career as an engineer.  Jill currently resides in Philadelphia where she gets to live her dream of educating and inspiring others through fitness and wellness. Her goal as a fitness professional and a person is to demonstrate enthusiasm, balance and strength to her children and her community. She blogs at www.jillmaxwellfitness.wordpress.com.

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T

One of the reasons I became a trainer was because it forced me to interact with people. I’m an introvert. Personal training is my comfort zone and I’m high energy but outside of the gym or workshops you’ll find me sitting in a corner reading a great book.

My childhood reading list consisted of James and the Giant Peach, Jacob Two-two, Dr. Seuss, and The Stinky Cheese Manand Other Fairly Stupid Tales. As I grew older it progressed to Goosebumps and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory before pretending to read the mammoth fantasy books. (Note: I never read the Hardy Boys. Nothing against you if you did. I just thought they were terrible.)

I don’t get gifts for my birthday. I get a book and I cherish that more than I’d ever cherish the 57th version of Call of Duty (seriously — how many guns can they come up with?). The book’s always an opportunity for me to discover a new author or genre. Last year I discovered Swedish mystery novels and devoured the Stieg Larsson trilogy before dipping into his predecessor Henning Menkell’s books. 

My Dream

Here’s the interesting part. Inevitably I would rip open my present with the same excitement as those crazy kids getting a Tickle Me Elmo doll. I’d immediately flip the book over to the back cover and read the authors bio — dreaming.

I’ve never told anybody else this but my dream was always to have my name and picture on the back cover of a book. It was the kind of dream so strong that I got butterflies in my stomach every time I read over any other authors bio.

This dream is what kept me up until 4am writing when I had to train 10 clients starting at 7am. This dream is what allowed me to take my time and see through the scammers attempting to take my money and “edit” my book before my friend Brad Schoenfeld directed me towards Kelly James Enger. This dream is what kept me going for 2 years to make Ignite the Fire as good as it is.

My Dream Realized

My girlfriend and I joke that I need to check my mail every time I leave my apartment. I moved here 8 months ago and have moved every year for the past 4. I still get things sent to my parents because it’s easier than switching my address every time.

Yesterday there was a notice from UPS. Immediately I felt the same butterflies and ran the block to the post office. I ripped open the package in the store and immediately flipped to the back cover. Here it was —  the culmination of my work. For 2 years this dream was a document on my computer. It wasn’t a reality and there were endless pressures to cut the project at every turn.

The test emotionally to publish my thoughts for the World was harder than I ever thought it would be.

The test mentally of interviewing and researching people who I admire day in and day out and trying to do them justice in the book wore on me.

The test physically of training 30-40hrs a week while writing a book into the wee hours of the night left me exhausted, stressed and missing the people I cared about most.

Yet the dream was strong enough to keep going and when that book arrived and I saw my face on the back cover it was all worth it.

My Next Dream

My next dream is to share this book with the World. I can’t wait for my work to help fitness professionals new and old. The information in this book is sorely missing from the industry and I’m honored to be the one to provide it. There’s one short step left until my next dream is realized on April 17th. I’m just afraid I won’t be able to sleep before then.

This book already has orders from all corners of the Globe, from Australia to Malaysia to Africa to Europe to Scandanavia the United States. What I’m most excited for is the moment when I’m sitting on the subway in Toronto and I catch a fellow trainer reading my book on their daily commute. When that happens I’ll mosey up beside them and simply ask “Got any questions?”

I want to thank you all for being such a large part of my dream. I’ll also take this opportunity to announce that I’m midway through my 2nd book but it’s not what you’d expect. I’ll give you more info as the date closes. Please add me to Facebook if we aren’t already friends and always feel free to email me with questions or just to say hi at jonathan@theptdc.com. 

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