I believe the the gym is a microcosm of society. The things that take place inside a gym on a day to day basis is just a small sample of the drama, the humor, the highs and the lows that happen in the "Real World".
Happy am I of the type of life that I live as well as the type of gym environment that has been created.
One of the things that I have spoken about in the past is the "PRODUCT" we offer.
Some will say, "Strength". Others will say "Fitness", and arguably there are those that will go so far to say "Lifestyle".
I will tell you that those are the serendipities of what we Strength and Conditioning Coaches offer. What we truly are in the business for is the development of "Relationships".
We have all heard, "no one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care". This is an ABSOLUTE! You might be the smartest human being on the planet, and those peers that you have might recognize it, but no one gives a CRAP about that until they know what the meaning of your intentions are and "what's in it for them (me)"?
I have this particular luxury in my gym. The people that don't train with me, well...there is a reason. I DON'T WANT THEM! I GET to train with those folks that I truly like, no LOVE. When a prospect comes into my place and asks to "check me out", I smile at them and then tell them to go get their gear and come back so that I can see if "they qualify" to train with me.
I'm not looking for the strongest, the fastest, the one with NFL, NHL, potential either. I'm looking for the person who I can have a dialog with, that will listen and take coaching points. I am looking for the person who asks the RIGHT questions, and then can get personal without barriers.
Lastly, while I don't EVER mention it (and this is to my own fault) I look for someone who can actually PAY me for my experience and investments of time into THEM!
The gym opens "when I get there". Some days that is 4:00 AM other days, it can be 5:30 on the dot. Mostly, I'm there around 5:15 turning on lights, music, and preparing the "White Board".
Over time, I have been witness to great Successes, bitter defeats and failures, marriages, births, and funerals.
Today the conversation was AWESOME with a gal I will call..."Hey You".
Hey You is a very attractive (and I mean Holy Cow who cares what she looked like when she was younger, she's a MAJOR babe NOW) women in her late 40's early 50's.
She is a beauty in many senses of the word, but beyond her physical babealisiousness, her ATTITUDE makes her even more appealing to hang out with.
She has an established family that have gone off on their own paths and have started THEIR families as well.
When "Hey You" walked in one day and was feeling elated from the birth of her Grandson, she also had the look of "oh my, am I now getting older because I am a Grandmother?"
My quick and immediate response to this was ..."Hell NO! You just became a GILF" (Grandmoms that I like to F@c). Lucky for me, I CAN and will continue to "get away" with this kind of stuff, because I had five to eight other fellas of good looks and strength backing my claim up with a round of HELL YEAZ from them all as well.
Hey You smiled and we laughed.
That's when one of my favorite "Big Mans" began to take things off the curb and right into the gutter.
The subject of Power Tools came up and he did an evil laugh and properly timed eye brow raise that caused quite the gfaw of laughter.
That's when I explained that there were 112,000 power drills sold last year (2014). Then I questioned, how many people wanted to buy a Power Drill?
The smart answer would be 112,000...right? WRONG!
No one wanted to buy a power drill, but 112,000 people needed a hole.
Big Man ran with that. "Needing a hole, that's IT...Don't sell the drill, sell the HOLE"
When the GILF Hey You responded with "I like a good Power Tool" and Big man retorted with "whats more impressive, a Power Tool or a Hole?" Then out of the corner of the backest, darkest place in the gym came, "A doggie style hole that has been drilled with a proper Power Tool".
My GOD! People, this dialog is usually held in the wee hours of the morning or closing time somewhere. Here we are, educated upper middle to upper class people having this type of "Gym dialog" at 7:00 AM.
THIS is the reason I LOVE what I do, and train the people I train.
By the way... Hey You can Dead Lift with ANYONE, and Big Man can MMA fight with the best of them as well.
As for me, I'm going in tomorrow to see what kind of stuff I can stir up.
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This was my type of training today.
My elbow has a DEAD spot in it. I can push and pull things through a range of motion except for a little glitch in my giddy up. Doesn't hurt! It just doesn't work in a span of about an inch or so. I need to move to more development of Hurt'n bombs. You know, Blunt Force Trauma ones.