This one is a biggy!
No, I am not running a marathon, I have not signed up to walk 100kms (although I am still thinking about that shh) I have not even signed up for a 10k…
This on is not an event based challenge, it is a huge step towards making my lifestyle change a permanent one challenge (please don’t analyse the grammar in that sentence!). It is a huge incentive to carry on working on my own health and fitness.
Ok…I’ll tell you what it is…
I have signed up for a Personal Training course 😀
This one in fact: Specialist Diploma in Advanced Personal Training (Training Techniques Specialist I will become first a qualified Level 2 gym instructor and the qualified Level 3 personal trainer. It is both really really exciting, and really really terrifying! I signed up yesterday, and it was this that made me slightly over excited at Body Pump 😀
It is something I have been thinking about for a little while now, I have had lots of mixed feelings about it because I am still not “typical personal trainer” shaped. I am much smaller than I was, and I know I don’t look ridiculous, I know I am fitter than I might look at first glance and I also know that these things don’t always matter when you are in a position to be judged on appearance at first glance.
I spent a long time trying to work out if I would even be taken seriously by anyone!
I asked people, I started with my friends, because I have some who will be honest and not just tell me it will be ok to make me feel better, and they made some very good points.
Then I asked some of the people I know in the fitness business, and they made the same points…
and these points were:
# Not every personal trainer has to conform to the perfect “ideal body shape” they of course have to be fit, and capable and knowledgeable, but I have 2 of those things (the 3rd is what the course is for).
# There is room in the business for someone who knows what it is like to have lost size, and has worked to chance their habits and health and fitness outlook.
# There are some people who might just be less intimidated by a person like me, they may find me more relatable.
They key point is, I need to have be healthy and fit, which is the whole point of what I am doing. The other good point, is that although the training starts very soon, the first assessment for the gym instructor section isn’t until the end of March! By then, given the results in the last 6 months, I should be fitter and smaller.
I am so excited to start, I am looking forward to helping people do what I have done 🙂
I am also terrified… Still terrified of not being taken seriously and I am going to have to do some work to eliminate that little voice that tells me I am going to be laughed at!
I am still really terrified that I am not good enough to do this!
I will keep you all updated on my progress, and I can tell you this, it is excellent incentive, already to keep me doing my daily work outs!
Project Warrior Goddess 
Sam, good for you!!! What I’ve noticed in and around the gym (as perhaps you have) is that there is no standard size for a personal trainer. I see several walking around with their clients, some of whom don’t seem to be in particularly great shape. (What an awful judgment I just made. Shame on me!)
But my only real experience with a non-average (read: larger) trainer is with 2 instructors for BodyPump. The one, Raquel is a chubby girl, and I do notice that she goes much lighter on the weights than I do – but she is clearly capable at her job, if not the most motivating, because she doesn’t really push us (or herself) to challenge with higher weights.
The other is Shannon, who I wrote about here. http://myyearofsweat.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/strong-is-the-new-skinny/. Shannon is the single person who most changed my mind about stereotypes I have about what fit ‘looks like’. She teaches Pump, Combat and one other Les Mills programme, which I can’t recall at the moment. Anyway, Shannon not only motivates, but reminds me that fit does come in all shapes and sizes.
I’m so proud of you!
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😀 thank you! 😀
This is the thing, as long as I can deliver / demonstrate / show what I am supposed to be doing to a high standard then I will be ok 🙂 and Matt always says I have good technique with the things we do…and some of the things we do are really hard!
I told Matt this morning that I was starting the course…he was almost as excited as me 😀 and I am sure if he thought I would have a problem with anything, he would tell me 😀
and I could conceivably have lost another stone (14lbs) by march which would put me more or less average especially considering my shape is changing much more than my weight with ll the training 😀
I just want to start now!! I have to wait for them to send me the login details for the e learning sections then I can get going 😀
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I think it’s a fantastic thing you’re doing!
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😀 thank you 😀
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I am so excited to read this! I think you’ll be great at it, you’re knowledgeable and friendly (well internet you is, so I assume real life you also is!) I am one of those people who would be less intimidated by a real person than a fem-bot. The trainers at my gym are all approximately 14, and generally not very approachable. I picked my trainer becasue he makes the effort to speak to everyone who goes in, and because I’ve seen him at work and he gets involved – that’s the most important thing in my book. This is a great challenge for you 🙂 xx
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Thank you so much 😀 it is so nice to hear 🙂 i am still quite scared but excited 😀
The internet me is so much like the real me that a friend of mine who I don’t see too often said he likes reading my blog because it is exactly how I speak and it is like talking to me without having to answer…he meant this as a compliment…
😀 xx
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I think it’s fantastic, but I can definitely see how it would be scary as well!
If that’s the case then you will be absolutely fine 🙂
And I’m finally caught up on the backlog of posts I hadn’t read!
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😀 thank you, I hope so…I just have to carry on like I am and I think I will be ok 😀
And thank you for reading so much 😀
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Reblogged this on Midsummer 365 Projects and commented:
Wow…2 years ago today I signed up for my PT course!! 😀
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