How I became a trainer
"So what sparked your interest in becoming a trainer?"
I get this question often from clients and other fitness enthusiasts. I like to think my "fitness journey" began when I was a kid. All I cared about was playing games or sports with friends (or anyone who was available). I've played hockey my whole life, and have always been a fan of many sports and activities such as: football (both kinds), skateboarding, basketball, and baseball among others.
In hind sight, I was a pretty healthy and happy kid however, my nutrition SUCKED! Being active is only one piece of the puzzle. But, that topic deserves an article of its own.
Alike many other 12th graders, I had NO idea what I wanted to do in the future and decided to take a Victory Lap to upgrade my marks and ensure I got into a school and program I was interested in. I realized how much I loved sports and was very interested in finding out how athletes could improve themselves through exercise.
That lead me to enrolling in Humber College's Fitness and Health Promotions program where I fell in love with the idea of improving human health and performance through exercise and nutrition. It's also where I started to actually take the weight room more seriously myself and was able to pack some muscle onto my then skinny frame. I felt better in every aspect of my life from cognitive function and awareness, to more confidence (and hey, the new muscle didn't look too bad either ;)) and motivation. After working with my first client and helping her reach her goal I felt awesome, and I knew then and there, this is something I really like and want to do. She wanted to drop a bit of body fat, while also improving her VO2 max or an upcoming race and we made it happen!
*****None of that first time success came without hard work on both ends. I hit the textbooks so that I knew I was creating the best possible program, and Crystal worked her butt off and was amazing to work with. After that experienced I learned the importance of evidence based science, building relationships and hard work in regards to fitness. That is where I established my philosophy and its stuck with me since.