I hate my Personal Trainer

It’s true. I hate my personal trainer. He called me AGAIN at 5am this morning to make sure I got out of bed and headed to the gym. I answered the phone, but then I tried to cough and sound like I was coming down with something. Know what he said? “I don’t buy it.” Well…he was right. You see, I am not a morning person. In addition, for most of my life, I have not been an exercise person, that is, until about 6 weeks ago.

It’s not that I don’t have motivation. I mean, sure, I want to lose weight, get in shape, and build muscle, all of that. Who doesn’t? The problem is it takes a lot of work. Work that up until now I just wasn’t putting in. It finally took my daughter to push me to seek a personal trainer. “Daddy, are you fat?” my little angel said. The honesty of a 5 year old came crashing down right on my head…or fat belly as the case may be. It was this sweet, innocent question that made me decide to make a change and get in shape, finally.

I never really bought into the idea of a personal trainer when I was younger. I can lift weights, I can run, what the heck do I need to pay somebody for? I always thought it was a waste of time and money honestly. I remember going to work the day after my daughter asked her million dollar question. This kid, (I call him a kid, but he is probably about 30) named Danny, worked in the sales department of my company. I noticed that over the past 6 months or so, he was really getting into shape. He lost his little boy pudgy look, and instead, looked trim, and his chest and arms were pushing through his shirt as well.

I guess now that I had decided to make a change in my own life, I was noticing the changes in others. I spoke to Danny about his transformation; he was happy to share and beamed from ear to ear. It turns out, to my surprise, Danny had been working out with a personal trainer for the last 6 months! This just about floored me. This kid was good looking, young, healthy; not at all someone whom I thought would need a personal trainer. He said his girlfriend recommend he give it a try since he lacked the motivation to get the results all by himself (sounded like he was talking about ME). He gave me his trainer’s card; THE SERGEANT, it barked from the glossy black background. Hmmm…this might just work.

Well, that was 6 weeks ago. I am standing here, putting on my workout pants. Pants that would not have fit me 6 weeks ago, now slid on with ease. I think I have lost about 10 lbs now. I don’t even care about that though. The feeling I have in my body, the muscles getting tighter, the fact that I can work out hard for about an hour whereas before I couldn’t jog in place for 5 minutes, all of these keep me going forward. Yes, I say I hate my personal trainer, but the fact is, without his pushing, without his yelling in my ear, without his driving me to eat better, use strict form when lifting weights, and yes, get up at 5am every morning to hit the gym, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

For some folks, hiring a personal trainer is something they would never consider. For me, hiring a personal trainer was the best thing I have ever done in my life. I am happier than I have ever been, (and so is my wife…) and my little baby girl is wondering where Daddy’s belly went bye bye…yes, I hate my personal trainer, but, I love him too.

Told by Robert Clair, client of M2 Fitness Pros