Earlier this year I was on a three day course in Manchester.
During a gap one of the other attendees said “Have you seen this?” and showed me his phone.
It was a photo and accompanying text by a well known expert in our industry (who will remain nameless here).
Taken from the second or so floor of mall in America it showed a very large lady and her kids sat on a bench below.
The caption was, shall we say, less than complimentary.
Through the rest of the day thousands and thousands of replies appeared in the comments box.
Some lauding REDACTED for “telling it how it is.”
Many outraged at the post.
Both the taking of the photo without permission and the comments.
There was one reply I particularly liked that I copied and pasted at the time and have just find come across.
“REDACTED and his fans who jumped at the chance to mock you revealed very clearly that they’re in the wrong line of business. How wrong? I would compare them to a domestic abuse counselor who would greet a freshly-beaten client with “Oh come on, you let him hit you again?!?! WTF is wrong with you?”
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Our Industry is a funny one.
As you’ll see from PT Profile boards in gyms up and down the country, most FitPros;
“Have always loved sport and played it from a young age, representing my ABC at XYZ”
Nothing wrong with that of course.
And it’s not to say that these guys can’t be awesome, supportive coaches.
But there is an overwhelming majority of FitPros who, shall we say, struggle to understand what their clients are going through.
What REDACTED said was, technically, true.
But other than galvanising the support of like minded Trainers, I don’t know what it expected to achieve.
I certainly couldn’t see it spurring the lady in the photo, or any others, into life changing action.
Quite the opposite I would assume.
It will have ‘confirmed’ for many that we ‘are all like that’ and further reduced the chance of them seeking some assistance.
To my mind, one of the most important characteristics a good coach can have is empathy.
Not sympathy.
People don’t want or need to be felt sorry for.
And not having had to have been through the same challenges necessarily.
Whilst I have four kids, a very busy and challenging life, people being ill dying and constant neck and back pain………
I’ll never know what it’s like, for example, to go through the menopause.
But any coach can understand that people are finding certain things challenging……..
Whilst helping them find a way through those challenges.
If said coach chooses to.
It’s part of the reason that we only take on Coaches who started as members.
Who’ve been through the ‘system’ and believe in it and want to get further involved.
And who have, at some point, seeked the assistance of a coach to overcome the challenges they are facing.
Who, like we do, ‘get it’.
Life isn’t easy.
We know that the challenges it throws at us can be overwhelming at time.
But……..
We also know that with a good plan, the right mindset and focus in the right areas, these challenges can be worked through!
Much love,
Jon ‘If anyone took a photo of my wife without her permission and mocked her on social media, they’d be eating through a straw for a while’ Hall and Matt ‘Fully qualified and insured’ Nicholson
P.S. Step 1 of working through those challenges is, of course, clicking on this link –> myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting. It’s what every single one of our success stories did to start their journey 🙂
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RISE Macclesfield – myrise.co.uk
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