Empowered Success Through Client Led Training

I have the expertise, but you are the only one who knows how you FEEL.  So, who calls the shots?

So many of us, myself included, are used to having someone else tell us what to do.  We rarely have full control of things and this is can be especially true when it comes to our bodies.

This is NOT OKAY. It is NOT OKAY to have little to NO SAY about your body/mind and how they FEEL.

No one else can ever know how you feel, so why are we so used to giving up our say in our care or wellness routines?

If you are a part of my generation (I was born in 1985, so sure, that makes me a Millennial but I resonate more with Genx) you may have been taught to essentially relinquish control over yourself to your elders.
-Go give so and so a hug
-Disrobing completely in a doctors office when it's not actually necessary
-One size fits all fitness classes
-Coaches and trainers who ignore you when you say something REALLY hurts and tell you to "go walk it off"
-You should never eat fat because it's bad and you're bad if you eat it
-You should never eat carbs because they are bad and you're weak if you give into that temptation
-Your body should look like ______ and fit into the sizes provided on the rack or your "unhealthy", "irregularly sized", "too tall", etc

Says WHO?!   WHY?!   NO, I don't and you don't either.

I know it may seem like I've gone off on a bit of a tangent here.  But really, I haven't, I've just dug a little deeper into this paradigm than most of us are comfortable digging into.  I can tell you, I'm not comfortable writing this right now, not at all.  I am a rule follower.

I am the professional here and I know what is best for you, so I'm supposed to make you do it. <---- This is how I feel like I have been taught to work with people.  But I don't BELIEVE it.  I don't believe it's right, I don't believe it is oaky, and I don't believe it is the best way to help you.  And that's really my job, my job is to help you.

To help you I have to LISTEN TO YOU.  

When I listen to you, to my clients, I am guided by YOU. Yes yes, I am also guided by my training, but you are front and center.  Our work together revolves around you, you are the sun to my solar system.  You are the leader, I am the fairy godmother flitting alongside you with my fairy dust in the form of education and training as a tool I am able to sprinkle on you as needed.

How do I know this is the best way to work with my clients?  How can THEY lead ME when I'm supposed to be the one in charge?

Well, let me tell you.  There is no time when I, Cortney Whitebay, can ever be more important than you in YOUR training.  There is no time when I can FORCE you to do something you don't want to do (even when it's begrudgingly).  Trust me, in my fledgling years I've tried... and I've FAILED.

Let me tell  you how I know this to be true.

One year I had two particular clients.  They were both looking to get a good workout in and lose weight.  One was male, one was female. One was fully trained virtually online, one I saw in their home. Neither of them could preform the necessary exercises to reach their goals to the degree they wished to because they were TOO tight.  Their flexibility limited their mobility and caused them a whole lot of pain and frustration.

For months I tired to tell them, to encourage them, to sneak in what I wanted them to do.  STRETCH!  

They refused.

They stopped training with me because it just wasn't working for them.

Then.

One year later.

THE BOTH CAME BACK!!!  Yay!!!! And guess what they came back to do with me?

You got it, "Cortney, I want to come back to training with you but for right now I ONLY want to stretch."

Something similar  happened to me again this week.  A young man I have had the immense pleasure of training this year has unilaterally decided that he wants to RUN!  On all the nice days!  He used to hate it, he used to complain, and stop every few feet, and whine.  I used to energetically DRAG him with me.  Now I can't keep up!  

Did I have other plans for him today?  Yes, did I stop him and say, 'no you can't do what your body and mind are calling you to do because I know better?'

HELL NO!

We did what he wanted to do and then we picked up whatever else we could fit in for the day.  We both left feeling amazing, accomplished, well worked out, and excited for our next session.

He's a teenager, he is following his instincts and guiding me to train him the way HE NEEDS to be trained, not the way a text book told me to do it.

Empowered Success Through Client Led Training.  This is what I do.