I posted a week ago with photos of the garage pad construction, and briefly described the purpose of adding the third bay on to our existing double car garage. Our plan is to finish the 12 x 24 pad into a training facility that will serve as our personal gym that we can use when the children are gone to sleep at night, but most importantly we plan to use it as my office.
In the past, I had worked at a personal fitness training facility which is still running in the downtown area, which served mostly people who were in the area, and who could quickly get to the gym, have a workout and scurry back to their job. In addition to the corporate training at Body By Bennett, we had a large contingent of athletes who trained with us, especially hockey and ringette athletes because we had a skating treadmill.
My experience as a young trainer was that many of the clients who were frequenting the facility did so because it was the posh thing to do, having a trainer is important in the corporate world, and many of the people who dropped big cheques on a monthly basis did so without the extra work required to see the benefits people desire to see with a fitness plan.
I eventually moved from the studio environment into the high school and quickly learned that I am perfectly suited to train with people who are willing to do the work, in the gym, at home and anywhere in between. It was through trying many different training programs and working with hundreds of athletes over the next 6 years where I found my niche, which I can comfortably say is in a hybrid between Crossfit, Primal Fitness, and University Strength and Conditioning programs.
Back in the early days of training with my clients, we did not see the results people desired…that is as much my fault as the client because I was responsible for guiding and educating my client towards effective training, lifestyle principles and most importantly, proper nutrition. After about 8 years of training, I finally realized that nutrition is THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF ANY STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING PROGRAM. We can workout out for hours and follow a crappy diet, see some results on paper, but rarely do we see the results in our physical appearance and health. It is only when we take the necessary steps to eat properly – meaning real food, and no processed junk – when we will see the physical and lifestyle results that people look for.
Having said all that – I am ranting – my goal with the Garage Gym is to educate my athletes (I consider all of my clients to be human athletes, regardless of age or profession because we all require functional human movement) upon first meeting with them about the ins and outs of my programming. Knowing that the way I structure workouts – with high intensity and high expectations – in conjunction with my nutritional preferences, which typically follows a somewhat modified paleolithic diet, as well as specific lifestyle choices such as walking more often, taking the stairs and so on, individuals who are looking to train with me will know what I expect from them.
No fluffy stuff! I was listening to Zach Even Esh from Underground Strength and he was talking about Mind Set vs. Skill Set. In his speech he described his preference and how passionate he is to train with people who are willing to sweat, puke, regroup and train some more…while he was talking my wife said that he sounds exactly like me. He does because I train that way as well and I expect the same from my athletes. In fact, Zach said that he had no interest in training with someone who did not want to do the work, so he would refer them to someone who would hold their hand. This rings true for me as well. So if you are looking to make a difference in your life, or you want to blow away your teammates at the next training camp, then call me, but if you are looking to brag about having a “personal trainer” call someone else.
I do not consider myself a Personal Trainer, I will always call myself a Strength and Conditioning Coach because I coach my athletes towards increased strength/power and maximum conditioning. This may sound pompous to you, but the way I look at it, why waste your money to pay a coach when you don’t do the work on your own for the rest of the week.
Having said that, here is an example of the culture I would like to create in my Garage Gym…
In the past, I had worked at a personal fitness training facility which is still running in the downtown area, which served mostly people who were in the area, and who could quickly get to the gym, have a workout and scurry back to their job. In addition to the corporate training at Body By Bennett, we had a large contingent of athletes who trained with us, especially hockey and ringette athletes because we had a skating treadmill.
My experience as a young trainer was that many of the clients who were frequenting the facility did so because it was the posh thing to do, having a trainer is important in the corporate world, and many of the people who dropped big cheques on a monthly basis did so without the extra work required to see the benefits people desire to see with a fitness plan.
I eventually moved from the studio environment into the high school and quickly learned that I am perfectly suited to train with people who are willing to do the work, in the gym, at home and anywhere in between. It was through trying many different training programs and working with hundreds of athletes over the next 6 years where I found my niche, which I can comfortably say is in a hybrid between Crossfit, Primal Fitness, and University Strength and Conditioning programs.
Back in the early days of training with my clients, we did not see the results people desired…that is as much my fault as the client because I was responsible for guiding and educating my client towards effective training, lifestyle principles and most importantly, proper nutrition. After about 8 years of training, I finally realized that nutrition is THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF ANY STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING PROGRAM. We can workout out for hours and follow a crappy diet, see some results on paper, but rarely do we see the results in our physical appearance and health. It is only when we take the necessary steps to eat properly – meaning real food, and no processed junk – when we will see the physical and lifestyle results that people look for.
Having said all that – I am ranting – my goal with the Garage Gym is to educate my athletes (I consider all of my clients to be human athletes, regardless of age or profession because we all require functional human movement) upon first meeting with them about the ins and outs of my programming. Knowing that the way I structure workouts – with high intensity and high expectations – in conjunction with my nutritional preferences, which typically follows a somewhat modified paleolithic diet, as well as specific lifestyle choices such as walking more often, taking the stairs and so on, individuals who are looking to train with me will know what I expect from them.
No fluffy stuff! I was listening to Zach Even Esh from Underground Strength and he was talking about Mind Set vs. Skill Set. In his speech he described his preference and how passionate he is to train with people who are willing to sweat, puke, regroup and train some more…while he was talking my wife said that he sounds exactly like me. He does because I train that way as well and I expect the same from my athletes. In fact, Zach said that he had no interest in training with someone who did not want to do the work, so he would refer them to someone who would hold their hand. This rings true for me as well. So if you are looking to make a difference in your life, or you want to blow away your teammates at the next training camp, then call me, but if you are looking to brag about having a “personal trainer” call someone else.
I do not consider myself a Personal Trainer, I will always call myself a Strength and Conditioning Coach because I coach my athletes towards increased strength/power and maximum conditioning. This may sound pompous to you, but the way I look at it, why waste your money to pay a coach when you don’t do the work on your own for the rest of the week.
Having said that, here is an example of the culture I would like to create in my Garage Gym…
Karl