Cooperation Not Competition

A Happy Tuesday to everyone, hey at least it's not Monday right? I've got a quick one for you all today, mostly aimed at other trainers and coaches out there. I think it's worth the read for all though.

This is a message to fellow strength coaches, trainers and other fitness pro's out there that I think we all need to remember. We are each other’s allies not enemies here. I am lucky enough to reside in the Boston area where, I believe, there are a metric shit-ton (technical term) of great coaches and facilities to train and coach out of. With all of these great facilities you would think that each one wants to take down the other. I think when you’re doing it right, and this is the unique thing about this field, none of them really see it that way.
 
Yeah we all need business because if we're broke we won't keep the doors open. When we lose business to another facility, regardless of how good they are, it still sucks. In the end most of us in the area are usually pretty good about saying how great the other facility someone might be going to is, not trying to trash it for the sake of holding on to the client(s).

We have got ourselves quite the little pocket of the industry. We may disagree slightly on our programming a bit, I know I have my thoughts and the guy's an hour down the road have their own. I doesn't mean we're both not right, it just means we prefer to do things differently. The small changes in our programming isn't worth any amount of infighting, we're still trying to do it right and accomplish the same if not similar goals. This is what makes this area in my humble opinion, so damn great to become a coach. Most of the facilities and coaches are really striving to put together good internship programs, seminars and workshops make anyone that wants to be a better coach, well...be a better coach.

For those of us in this industry trying to do it right and for the right reasons, the enemy is not those of us that might be a 10-30 minute drive from one another.The enemy for us is the mass media and celebrity trainers, who I shall keep nameless (*Cough* *Cough* Jillian *Cough* Michaels *Cough* *Cough* ) Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah, the opposition are those out there that are preaching the next hot thing that this TV show said or that this random study someone pulled from between their butt cheeks said. The ones that are all about the scale and not about how you look or feel. Those that try to out ab-train their pizza, bagels and wine diets. That is our competition right there, because that is what we have to work extra hard to change in the minds of many first time clients.

Those of us that have been helping each other out, both in Boston and beyond, should continue to do so. The ones that would rather try to sabotage another coach or facility in order to make a quick extra buck, remember that you are feeding into the problem. Perhaps not directly, but if you bad mouth a facility that preaches good movement, lifting heavy things and good eating, it'll keep people focused on what the mass media is saying instead.

Those that are already out there trying to help nudge the rookies in the right direction, keep it going. Those that are new to this world, I ask you to contact me or any of the coaches that I've mentioned previously for guidance. Most of them will give you the 5 minutes of their time it takes to reply to an e-mail. Thanks for reading this and giving me your time to let me do a little preaching myself. Go out there and get after it!