Why I Chose to Become a Personal Trainer

When was the last time you stepped on a weighing scale? What was your reaction after? Were you happy about what you saw, or did you broke down in tears because the weighing scale couldn't handle your weight?

Friends, there’s an epidemic that affect 1.9 billion adults, and over 300 million children and adolescents worldwide. This pandemic condition puts people at a higher risk for serious diseases such as: type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. For decades, we’re being perturbed by this so called Obesity. It increases year after year and that's the sad truth. I’ve seen it not just in adults, children are also affected by it and I noticed more and more young people are living a sedentary lifestyle. This is exactly the reason why I chose to become a personal trainer; to be a connoisseur of the fitness industry.

Passion and Lifestyle

For me, being a personal trainer is the most satisfying, exciting, gratifying and fulfilling career in the world. I get to do three things I’m very passionate about - educating, motivating and living a healthy lifestyle.

Educator

As an educator, I'd like to see my clients become masters of their own body and understand why they do what we do. By being independent and armed with the knowledge of exercise, they can prevent themselves from becoming obese when we trainers are not around. They’ll be more confident on choosing the right food, exercise safely, and being able to share their knowledge to their family and friends. According to Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. I definitely agree to this.

Motivator

How satisfying it is to give someone a reason for doing something? I remember one time after I was done with my group exercise class, I was about to pack my things to go home. Someone from the group came to me and said something that I’ll never forget: she said, “Before I came to your class, I was doing workouts on my own, a little bored, and getting nowhere. But now, I’m always looking forward to join your class. The way you handle it motivates me to push myself because it feels like I’m a soldier and you are the Sergeant. Thank you for pushing me to do things I thought I couldn’t do.” 

That experience opened my eyes and I realized I’ve been motivating people ever since. Whether it’s inside or outside the gym, people who undergo tough challenges in life, and people seeking my advice, I try to motivate them to keep pushing, to stand up, and to take charge of their lives. It also motivates me to do the same for myself: To walk the talk.

Lifestyle

It’s a career around my lifestyle. Most people around us are working for a living and they’re not living for their work. They drag themselves to work, complain a lot, and feel miserable before they go to bed knowing that tomorrow would end up exactly the same. Most people are looking forward for the weekends. On the other hand, I’m looking forward for more people to work with me. Most people can’t wait to get out from their work. Me? I can’t wait to see my clients achieve their fitness goal. Most people dread to see their bosses everyday, while I dread to hear that my clients are always on cheat days. All jokes aside, what I’m trying to say is with the career that I chose, I’m living for my passion and not just for the sake of living.

Final Thoughts

To fight the war against obesity, it’s my burning passion to wear the badge of a personal trainer to instill my sentiment to my clients and to you, to be in the front line and lead people from sedentary lifestyle. It may seem dire, bleak, and almost impossible to change everyone. It’s going to be a tough battle, and a little crazy going up against an enemy dwelling in the behaviors of each individual. But as what Rob Siltanen said, “People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do”.  Now, if I’ll ask you the same question a year from now; if you decide to step on that weighing scale again, what do you think will be your reaction?