Believing in Change

My background...recreational athlete starting at the age of 3, high school athlete (soccer, softball, basketball), collegiate athlete (soccer and track). Currently I am a competitive distance runner, have gone back to recreational (competitive league) soccer, have picked up waterskiing, snow skiing, and am an outdoors(wo)man. On a professional level, I have a 4 year bachelors degree in Fitness and Wellness, am an NSCA certified personal trainer, coached high school soccer, and am working on my 7th year in a career as a Personal Trainer. I definitely have a history of leading an active lifestyle and helping others to do the same.

I have to admit in the last few years I've gotten myself in a rut on an educational basis. I wasn't doing much continuing education. Maybe it was lack of time, a lack of resources, or a lack of enthusiasm. Maybe it was a combo of all three...who knows. I wasn't completely in the dark, but I wasn't branching out as much as I should have. Fitness and Nutrition have ever changing research, equipment and "the next best thing". That means I have to be open to change, to learning and to admitting that maybe what I was doing wasn't the best approach.

Lately, I have been studying from videos, podcasts, websites, journals, etc from top names in the industry. Mike Boyle's ideas on technique, Robb Wolf's thoughts on nutrition, Cross Fit's "programming", etc. Through all of this I have realized that some of my previous approaches toward fitness and nutrition were either wrong or were not the best way to go about it.

At first I was a little timid about presenting the new information to my clients in fear that they would question my ability as a trainer/coach because of the fact that in some areas I was contradicting what I had previously preached. Then I got to thinking that the changes I had to offer were going to benefit them more and therefore they should be just as stoked as I was about the whole deal. For the most part that was the response I received.

Understand that change is something that is going to happen in the fitness world. The basics will stay the same, but the there will always be new research that proves something to be more beneficial than the other. Don't be afraid to let new ideas in and don't be afraid to try new approaches. Do be afraid to learn and to believe that change can be a great thing!