Recently I was filling in for a vacationing coach by teaching a Get Strong class when a member walked up to me with a big smile and said, “Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while. Where have you been?”
“Oh, my current schedule has me out of the gym at this time,” I explained. “But I’m filling in this week, so you should be seeing me more.” She was visibly pleased, and we began our warm-up.
At first, the class of eight was enthusiastic, and we spent the next 10 minutes getting our minds and bodies prepared for the work that was about to begin. The atmosphere was light, as everyone chatted away with their friends. (I love the sense of family in our little gym.)
Then things got interesting.
As we worked our way through the core training phase and began our first circuit of strength training, I sensed a shift in the vibe. Things got quiet, breathing became heavy, and the sweat started to flow.
“Aren’t you glad I’m filling in for class,” I asked with more than a hint of sarcasm.
One student replied, “Don’t you have something more important you could be doing?” Coincidentally, this was the same student who, minutes before, was so glad to see me.
I laughed out loud, and the whole class got a good chuckle out of it. (We all know that families love to give each other a hard time, right? 🙂
It wasn’t long before another student remarked, “Your job sounds a lot like being a parent. If I’m not around, my kids are complaining I’m not there enough. If I spend too much time at home, they think I should be somewhere else.”
At that point, all the other parents in the class had another good laugh.
I don’t have kids, only a dog named Trudy who can act like a baby and throw a temper tantrum. But, I do have nieces, nephews, and friends with kids, so I can understand the sentiment.
You see, just like a parent, a coach can’t always be endless fun. Our members hire us to deliver results based on THEIR goals. That makes this a job, and I take my job very seriously.
In fact, as a coach, I have many jobs. I’ll never forget the words of my friend, Martin Rooney, on this subject: one of the most important jobs of a coach is to get more out of a person than they could have without you. Amen!
That’s why we push people to do their best during every workout. And “doing your best” means giving the workout your full attention and performing it with the highest intensity that you can on that particular day. That is because intensity can vary greatly depending on many factors, and our Bodysmith coaches have been specially trained to guide you to maximize that intensity safely. We make sure you use the correct technique to protect your back or knees, adjust the difficulty of an exercise to suit your abilities, or help adjust a program on the fly.
It’s these adjustments that are missing in unguided “at-home” workouts, big-box gyms, or franchise chains that rely on staff with very low skill.
So it doesn’t matter if you are in your 50’s and 60’s, or your 20s and 30’s: we will coach you to do your best during every workout.
If getting our members to their goals means I get teased, serve as comic relief, or generally act a little like a stodgy dad, I’m more than happy to oblige.
~Coach Brad
