by Phil Kaplan

This is an article written for Personal Trainers.  Specifically, for personal trainers who have been infected, seduced, and ultimately captivated by what I’ll refer to as “The Fitness Bug.”

In this article I’ll share a bit of background, and then I’ll leap right into 8 specific and far-reaching reasons most personal trainers “stall” along the road to their dreams of success.  I’ll share what, in a private conference for medical professionals seeking to break free from the limiting insurance model, I referred to as “The 8 Reasons You’re Falling Short.”

It applies to doctors, to aspiring entrepreneurs, and . . . to any personal trainer who has landed in a place short of his or her true potential.

THE BUG

It usually happens in high school, or in a moment before the age of 18.  It’s an infectious “bite” that, in its aftermath, exerts some level of control over the rest of your life.

For me, packing on muscle at the age of 17 changed the way I saw the world and, in a sense, the way the world saw me.  I started working out with my home weight set (concrete in plastic) when I was 15 or so, but it wasn’t until I walked into an actual gym (The Basement of the Flushing YMCA), and saw massive men pumping out reps with three massive plates on each side of a barbell, that I was face to face with the “bug.”  Once I saw chalk flying and bars bending during squats and deadlifts, once I understood what it meant to put ultimate trust in your spotter, once I understood that screams, guttural grunts, and explosive vocalizations were the melodic soundtrack of “momentary muscle failure,” I was smitten. 

And that was Chapter One of my “love fitness” odyssey.

IT WAS A LONG TIME AGO

Back in the days when gyms were sweatboxes where flesh and muscle met the extremes of mindset, where rubber and iron would collide with a harmonious thud, bodybuilders were a rarity.  I felt as if I’d gained access into a secret society where drinking liquid amino acids and scarfing down endless chicken breasts were a rite of passage. 

Leaving the gym knowing I’d tangled with kilos of raw iron infused me with a power.  It wasn’t a power over others.  It was a power to recognize the gap between potential and achievement.  I quickly learned that if I were to invest extraordinary effort, I’d be able to design my future to a very high degree.

It wasn’t until decades later, when I read James Allen's As A Man Thinketh, that I recognized my early realization as a universal principle.  Belief, pursuit, education, and action can create miracles.

CHAPTER TWO

In Chapter Two the comments started.  Compliments about my arms, my physique, and at the beach, my abs, made certain the infectious effect of the fitness bug bite was eternal.  Dating took on a new level of excitement.  Flirting became natural.  I traded skinny arms and long-nurtured introversion for a new comfort in a crowd.

Time for some quick reflection.  What I’m describing in presenting the first two figurative “Chapters” was purely about me.  It came with a rise in the “me factor,” an elevation of ego.  There’s no shame in reveling in the aura of self-fulfillment. The truth is, that “me factor” was necessary to make it to the life-altering Chapter Three, the chapter where the infectious contagiastic power begins to radiate outward, to help others.

CHAPTER THREE

Chapter Three began when I realized I could share the power I’d begun to master with others.  I started taking friends to the gym, sharing nutritional strategies, and offering direction for the newbies bitten by the same fitness bug.  I never imagined at the time it would lead to a career, but the odyssey took on a life of its own and led me here.

The rest of the story would involve my first client, a man with MS, a drunken night at the Hard Rock Café on Varrick Street in New York, and a long climb through the interrelated worlds of health clubs, personal training, infomercials, and healing, but that’s not why we’re here right now.  Because I’m certain that if you read this far, you too have been joyously infected, we’ve reached a point where we can agree.  We’re kindred spirits.

Now, with that alignment established, I’ll share the 8 Reasons We Can Identify as Direct Causes of “The Potential Shortfall,” a condition where complacency sets in along the road to the pinnacle, and with each passing day, the career pinnacle you once imagined moves farther and farther away.

Are you ready for the 8 Reasons?  Great.  They’ll arrive in your Inbox as soon as you complete the form below! 

In the meanwhile, I’ll invite you to register for a powerful webinar I’m conducting for Personal Trainers outlining, not the reasons for failure, but the keys to ascension.  You'll come to recognize how the chaos of COVID has changed the playing field and created a direct path to "The Pinnacle."  Ascend.