The Cost of Caring
Leading Small Group Training (SGT) classes at Precision Training has been one of the most fun, exciting, and rewarding experiences of my training career so far. At the same time, it has also been one of the most challenging aspects of being a trainer when I found out what “leading a class” actually means.
Back when I was a "head trainer" at the previous franchise I worked for, leading small group classes was super easy for me for a couple reasons.
My manager's expectations were pretty low. All they really expected me to do was:
Be on time and prepared (preparedness was a loose term)
Be fun, polite, energetic, and smiley from the time the class starts till the time it finishes
Talk with people and “keep them happy" - which if you know me at all, you know that building relationships with people is something I ABSOLUTELY LOVE to do, but not because I’m trying to keep people happy, but because I genuinely care about people
The other reason it was super easy for me to lead small group classes at “the other gym” was they didn't care what I didn’t know. If you’re unfamiliar with my story, the previous gym I worked for hired me as a janitor and the managers promoted me to trainer without having a training certification. They did that because they liked that I could talk to people. At that time, I didn’t know that there were rules for how people should move, and I had no idea that pretty much every person moves differently for all kinds of reasons.
Looking back, the part that blows my mind isn’t that my manager’s expectations were low or that they didn’t care what I didn’t know. THEY approached me and offered the job to be a Personal Trainer knowing I had no experience or credentials.
The part that I still struggle to believe is that the corporate office people (who mind you, NEVER EVER EVER stepped ONE SINGLE FOOT inside the gym) were the ones writing all the programs for the classes.
For most gym goers trying to get in shape, a workout completed is way better than having never gotten up from sitting on the couch, but think about this for a second… imagine YOU’RE walking into a gym to do a class. You are literally there to get through the physical expectation you’ve set for yourself. You have no idea what you’re going to do for your workout, but you hope there’s no squats or burpees cause your knee hurts. You get to the gym, you get to your spot in the group training room, then you wait to start. You think to yourself, “At least it's that nice Ginger teaching again.” The redheaded instructor starts to explain the sequence we’re starting: Squats and Burpees. #FML
What most people don’t realize is that some person behind a computer in an office building somewhere not close to the community or the gym they’re going to was paid to write the workouts they’re now doing.
Why?
The simple answer is: because it costs too much to care.
They DON'T CARE about those people who were paying for and doing the workouts. They just care about the profit margin increasing from more signups
They DON’T CARE to invest in their trainer’s knowledge and provide adequate job training systems to help trainers develop their ability to effectively coach the movement of multiple people at once
It wasn’t till after I left that kind of gym, and actually got certified to be a trainer, that I started realizing (and getting overwhelmed by) all the different things that are happening when a trainer is training a class of people. One of the realizations was: “in order for a trainer to see, they first have to care to see” - Wade said that to me.
Prior to working at Precision Training, no one said that to me at the other gym I worked for because, let’s be honest, it costs to care. Wade brought me in without really knowing what I was doing. I got to stand, watch, and learn from behind his shoulder all day every day. I grew up playing sports and watching game film was something I LOVED doing! When I was “shadowing” Wade everyday, that’s what I felt like I was doing again. Studying live game film so I could become a better trainer and SGT Leader. Those days flew by! We started at 4:30am and most days got done by 9pm. Wade would give me tips WHILE STILL training the class and keeping his eyes on EVERY PERSON. It seemed inhuman.
After each class and at the end of each day, he and I would sit on the bench and go over how and why he designed the class the way he did. I was getting technical information, person to person physiological explanations for movement modifications, and personal insight into the participant’s emotional styles as Wade had perceived them over time and through the development of a true trainer to client relationship. He wasn’t just making people happy. He was giving them what they needed from him each and every moment.
By the end of each day, my mind and body were tired - but I was so freaking excited to go back for more! Slowly, as time went on, I started understanding how Wade had done this for over a decade without getting burned out. He cared.
Unlike the other gyms I worked at, at Precision, we KNOW there is no such thing as a "one size fits all" and we take pride in the individualization we provide in each SGT Class. Training isn't just about coming in and getting sweaty. It’s about you developing awareness of how your body moves so that you can gain more control over your body and incrementally move safer, develop strength, and use your training to experience life confidently every single day.
This week, I’ll be sharing some more of my experiences from being an SGT Trainer at Precision. I’m excited to give ya'll a little bit of a behind the scenes look into how and why we program all these super gnarly workouts that are specifically designed for the members of our training community.