Honestly, I can’t think of anyone who does not need a coach or a teacher. The President needs his counselors around him giving the soundest advice that they can produce. Lawyers have an entire support team of assistants who do research for them and write legal opinions. Even NBA teams, the owner has a support staff, the head coach has assistant coaches, and the starting team has their backups to practice against. No one person does it all.
When I talk to successful people, none of them ever take all the credit for their accomplishments, at least if they are being honest because they can’t. It’s almost impossible. If you were doing something for the first time or even after many poor attempts, why wouldn’t you listen to and learn from someone who has done what you want to have before? You wouldn’t waste time making mistakes, you would learn from their own mistakes. Even if you haven’t had unsuccessful attempts toward a goal, wouldn’t you want to learn how to do it better, faster, more convenient and easier? Someone always knows a better way to do something; if you can learn just one or two distinctions I believe you can change the course of your life forever. Likewise, if you have successfully completed a goal, why wouldn’t you offer help to someone traveling that road for the first time? I think you would.
Do you have fitness goals? I bet you do, we all want our body to be better in some way. Even if you think you know what you are doing with your eating and exercise plan, I bet someone else has a way of doing it that can be better for you than what you are doing now. When I was overweight, I had the desire to change. Discovering the right path for actually completing this change was more difficult. I actually made several attempts before getting it right. I wondered if I should work out every day for two hours or eat a lot of pizza with extra cheese because I heard that milk products are healthy. I was ready to do something; I just wasn’t sure how to do it until I learned what several other successful people had done and then I tried out several methods on my own. After making extraordinary changes in my own body, I then wanted to show people how they can do it as well by teaching them what I had learned. This way they don’t have to go through the same trials that I did. This is why I became a coach.
I think the most important benefit of a coach is if you find one that has lived through these trials before. They too know what it feels like to be overweight or even underweight and know all of the life changes that you go through along the way. As a coach, I care if my Clients are all right, if they are comfortable or hungry, and if their past injuries were causing them pain, I talk to them about their day like a counselor would, because I care. Make sure you find one that won’t baby you or push you beyond your ability. Make sure you find a coach that will help you do the exercises correctly and not waste any time. Their sole focus should be on you and your success toward your goals, one that wants your best effort all the time and cares when it’s given. Look for client testimonials as well, not just a few, anybody can make up a quick testimonial, I mean a lot of testimonials from real people with their names on them. I have heard so many stories about coaches who talk about themselves all the time or try to take their clients out on dates. Stay far away from these types of people. Just like with many other service type people, there are good ones, and there are bad ones. Don’t let the bad ones create a stereotype or let them give good coaches a bad name. You will know in the first week if you have a good one, if you don’t feel confident that you do, then move on to the next.
There are hundreds of good, caring coaches. These days, don’t worry too much about the price either, for the price of a triple cheese and pepperoni pizza, you can have a schedule with one. It may be for once a week but you can always upgrade if needed, I’m sure. The rewards of a good coach are beyond description. I recently helped a lady here at my facility from Meriden complete her 12 weeks. She lost fat and put on muscle. She looks great! I get to relive my own transformation through every client I have. You can even have the exact same feeling by helping someone once you’ve made a change. Think about how life will be once you do and think about the people that you may want to help as well. Make the decision to use a coach and be smart when you choose one.
