I’m in the last few months of being a 40-year old. I’ve been coaching for 20 years. That’s half of my life being a coach. I never thought I could make a career out of coaching, but here we are.
At the beginning of this journey, I thought I was the smartest and best trainer in the world. I read academic textbooks and every issue of Muscle and Fitness magazine. I looked “jacked,” and was stronger than anyone in the gym. There was only one problem. I didn’t have any clients. I couldn’t keep any clients. My idea of a great workout is seeing how fast I could make a client vomit. I took pleasure in making people suffer. If they couldn’t hang, then they didn’t deserve to train with me. I had no tolerance for weakness. I was too stubborn to understand there was a communication and relationship aspect to this field and kept chasing clients away. It’s not that they couldn’t do the workouts, it’s there was no empathy and support from me.
That’s not how success is achieved. It takes relationships to thrive and anyone who understands what a family, team, company, or military unit knows this.
It took me a while to figure it out, but once I did, the world opened up for me. My success was created by helping others find success. I could no longer be the disconnected, “I’m superior to you” type of trainer. Once I shared myself, my fears, and personal struggles, it created opportunities that would bear fruit for me today and days yet to come. I was reminded of this today as I listened to a well-respected podcast.
Tim Kelly, was a D1 baseball player from York High that committed to play ball at Virginia Tech. I trained him when I first moved here from CA. He wasn’t just a baseball player, but a phenomenal athlete with physical size and speed as he was the fastest indoor and outdoor sprinteras his high school. Today, Tim is now an outstanding and wickedly smart sports performance coach at Virginia High Performance, a sports training facility in Virginia Beach. The industry is now recognizing Tim’s skill and he was a guest on the Jochum Strength Podcast. I was humbled as Tim gave me praise as helping to influence his career path into the strength & conditioning field.
There’s so many hours I spend with athletes, not knowing if I’m breaking through to them. I see many success stories and wonder if I’ve had a part in it. I know that whatever time I get with them, I will use it to let them know I believe in them.
It’s been 10 years since I worked with Tim.
No matter how long the journey, I’ll travel this path for moments like this.
