accountability – Ali Goes The Distance

Hey hey! It’s FRIDAY! Finishing up this two part blog post on what the hype is on online personal training. The first part of this topic I wrote from the client perspective. This second part is what its like on the other side of equation, the personal trainer behind it all.

First off, I wanna say that I LOVE offering this service. I made this clear in the first post, lol, but I’m repeating myself because its 100% true. It works well for me because my method behind my beliefs aligns great with this perspective of being online. I’m all about teaching and educating the client not just putting them through a bunch workouts. Being a personal trainer I believe education is just as important as reaching goals and getting results. Learning along the way is part of the journey. If I didn’t teach the point of the workout, and only just had my client do it, what good would it be? With these reasons, working online gives me a chance to explain and teach the workout with the client while the client works through motivation and effort.

Here’s the run-down on my side of online training. I treat the session like an in-person training session. I confirm the morning/afternoon of and treat it like a conference call. The clients I use it with use FaceTime with me so I can’t really say I’m using Skype or anything like that. I have my workout notes with me so I can keep track throughout the call. I tell them what they need equipment-wise (if they have it available), ask if they have water etc., as well as ask if they have anything in mind fitness related they wanna work on that day. I feel asking before a session and getting their input is important since they’re paying for my service, they should have a small say in what the game plan for the workout is (not the whole thing…lol but *small* say 😉 ).

When planning the workouts, I try not to make it too complicated for them. I take basic movements they’re already familiar with and add to them, usually like a kick, pulsing, an ab movement, weight, etc. so its fairly straight forward but still giving them an extra challenge. Since technology isn’t perfect, wifi can be an issue depending on the location of my client. I’ve had sessions that go in and out of the wifi which can at times can be most annoying. Thankfully I haven’t had that be too much of an issue. Lighting and camera angle is another consideration. I try to position myself so they can get multiple angles of a movement while seeing exactly how to perform it correctly. Lighting is important too on my end and their’s! No one likes being in the dark…literally and figuratively haha.

On the training side, it works great for me because I typically stay and “work from home.” Yes, I can technically train anywhere, but ideally I stay home because I’m moving around as much as they are! Sounds odd, but demonstrating moves would be awkward in certain places…think of me being at Starbucks and demoing pushups, squats, etc. LOL. Best part of training at home is getting other things in between online clients. Treating each online client as an important “phone call” I have to be ready to sit and take, I can do laundry, emails, or other business stuff right before I take the call! Once I’m done with the call, I can back to work instantly. Well, sometimes. 😉

Another non-fitness bonus on my side besides being productive between calls, I save on gas driving back and forth. I didn’t realize this until recently, but it really saves ware and tare on my car and milage. I large chunk of my gas goes to my business so saving where I can is most definitely helpful. As the client is performing the workout, I sometimes sit on my couch and drink coffee/tea, time each movement, basically sit some for the hour. I try and not get too involved in whatever I’m drinking (you know I love my coffee) but being able to chill on my couch is nice. I am moving around demoing so its never the entire time I’m actually sitting, but being in the comfort of my own home is nice and relaxing. However, with sitting/being at home during these calls, I don’t get many steps in as opposed to when I’m in person.

Overall, I love having and being able to offer online training! It’s a great idea to market and capitalize on as well as a turning point for the fitness industry. In a sense, this is what I feel will be the industry within the next few years. In-person will always be the norm, but seeing more and more of this type of service offered will become prevalent. I’m so happy to say that I am ahead! 🙂 Personal training is moving onto a whole new level and I can see gyms falling behind in this regard. Although I don’t foresee this being an issue anytime soon, gyms will have to up their PT game eventually. This reason alone is one of the reasons why I moved away from gyms altogether. I definitely made the leap to this concept of online on my own with my business, but looking back, it was totally worth it.

YOUR TURN:

-What do you think of my side on online training?

-Have you thought about doing online training or are you sold/not sold on the concept?

-What do you think the fitness industry will be like ten years from now?

Hello!! So the weekend is winding down, and I figured we all could use more #MondayMotivation! In my previous #MondayMotivation post I wrote about tips to help get your Monday (and rest of the week) moving in the right direction. This time, I writing on specifically how to get your workouts moving in the right direction (lol) around a busy schedule…that again all comes with PLANNING.

I use a running log aka workout planner to help me do just that. I didn’t start using a log/planner etc until a year or so ago. I found writing things down help lead me to see results and most importantly…made sure THEY GOT DONE! I started with just a plain journal…nothing fancy. From there, for christmas one year I got a running journal allowing more room to write down specifics such as distance, where/when, and comments about the workout. To this day I still use the same one!! Its different since its also a calendar but essentially the same format. I use The Complete Runner’s Day-By-Day Log 2015 Calendar by Marty Jerome you can find it easily anywhere! (Although I’m pretty sure my mom got it off Amazon :P). He writes cool tips, there’s a lot of room for comments/notes, a full size calendar for each month, as well as a motivational page each month with cool pics, etc. Props to my mom who found it and gave it to me!!

Anyways, my point here is that having a place to write your workouts down for the week is SUPER helpful in also committing to your fitness routine. Each weekend, mostly on Sundays, I take time to have my workout planner and daily schedule side by side to compare my availability, workouts, timing, etc among my busy life. *Notice there are TWO planners…workouts and daily life calendars are not together!* Thats what I call the SECRET! I personally like to keep them separate, but if you prefer one calendar and have everything on that, go for it! Its all about personal preference here!! What works for me might not work for you.

Benefits to Using a Workout Calendar

-Plan each day with what you plan to do and the timing of it makes a big difference in if you get it done or not.

-Track results more efficiently

-Its a HARD COPY so you can go back and see your progress easy!

Planning on my workout week back in March. — Planning on my workout week back in March

-A visual way to see your training (more motivation!)

-Allows you to set up a timeline for success

-Serves as a reference for future goals

-Keeps you accountable!! (once you write it down, there’s no going back 😉

I originally started with using it to train for my first few half marathons but then I loved it so much I decided I wanted to use it for everyday workouts. To this day, I use it map out my miles for the week, make the time for other components of training (yoga, cross training, strength training), and rest to get me to COMMIT and follow-through!

Writing down the timing can seem tedious, but I find that generally putting down a time-frame can help with when its gonna happen. For example, if I have a busy morning that day, and I put “leg day—pm” on that day in my planner I know doing it anytime after lunch or before my commitment late afternoon/evening gets busy again. I pin-point a time because things change, but it helps keep it realistic for me. It all starts with a thought…writing it down actually makes it happen!!