I became a personal trainer primarily because of my own body shaming. Back when I was in high school, I used to play basketball a lot but stopped at one point and had started spending many hours a day playing video games and sitting mostly in a chair, eating junk food, and not doing any form of exercise.
I gained lots of weight back in that time. And this reflected in my physical performance. In grades eight and nine, when we had physical education classes, we had to pass various tests such as 10 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, etc. I remember how I couldn’t do a single pull-up, and this made me feel terrible about myself almost bringing me to a state of depression, so I decided to start exercising again. I started going to a fitness center, and like many newbies, I didn’t know what I was doing. However, I was still doing it, and I limited my diet and ended up working out well.
I felt and saw that I lost a lot of weight and gained some muscle. And in the last grade of high school, we had to pass these exact same physical exams again. I did the most pull-ups in my class. Before, I couldn’t do a single one, and then going from the last place to being number one felt absolutely amazing. That’s when I decided that being involved in the health & wellness space is something I might be passionate about as a career path. Helping other people to achieve their goals and get rid of this body shaming. I decided to go and study Biomedical Physiology Bachelors of Science degree to learn amazing and more importantly real life-applicable knowledge about both macro and microstructures within the body and learn how to implement it to clients’ training.
I’m sure many people know this feeling, you know when you start looking in the mirror and day by day you know your physique gets worse. You start feeling worse both physically and mentally and no longer able to do certain things that you know in your daily activities anymore as efficiently. You may start gasping when you go upstairs. It’s especially seen when you start coming to the fitness center or doing something that involves a lot of physical activity and you see that you’re not as good as you used to be before. It throws you off mentally. That’s why I’m a big advocate of mental health and the importance of physical health for your mental state of well-being.
Many of us know how we can put in a lot of effort, and not see any results for the first few weeks, months, and start getting discouraged but it’s always important to remember that it’s a long game. Nothing worth having comes easy. This concept applies to everything in life including your physique. It takes a lot of time, effort and patience to get to where you want. It didn’t feel nice at the beginning. Eventually, I started to see progress and it got easier, but the first few months definitely were a lot of mental effort for me. I didn’t have a personal trainer, and I do believe if I had one, this might have been easier for me to persist and be consistent because there was nobody to support me. That’s also why I think that’s one of the biggest responsibilities as personal trainers to support our clients and be there for them every single time, helping them to overcome not only physical but also mental challenges.
If there is one tip I could give to someone feeling the same way that I felt the past at the start of my fitness journey, it’s to start small and slow. Don’t go too fast. Many people start and stop working out a month later because they go super hard right away, get burned out. Starting slowly, building on each workout, learning how to add exercises on a weekly basis, increasing the load, the number of reps, the difficulty of exercise will make your journey much more enjoyable and long-lasting!
About Turnfit Personal Trainers
TurnFit Personal Trainers is founded by David Turnbull or “Coach David” – an experienced and successful Personal Trainer who strives to build happier, healthier lives every day.
With a focus on holistic health, we pride ourselves on making a difference and were recently awarded the 2020 Top Choice Award for Personal Trainer in Vancouver.
It’s our mission to help you to build the skills and mindset it takes to feel successful in all areas of your life. For more information, please visit Turnfit.ca, join our communities on Facebook and take advantage of all of our FREE content by subscribing to our Youtube channel.
We look forward to hearing from you!
-David Turnbull, TurnFit Personal Trainers LTD
