Thanks.
The little guy was sad, but we walked him through it and he did well. I think my wife was actually worse. I was sad, but all told she was a good cat, especially for the kiddo, so it was nice having her.
Clumsiest cat I’ve ever seen. Like 4 left feet.
I confess that despite being super happy, I’m also feeling very sad that Alfie is in dog jail for the night.
I’m not gonna lie man, one time my best friend rock got picked up and I shed a tear. My boy was in jail. I just knew he was suffering and scared and getting attacked by all the other vicious dogs that belonged there.
Next day when I went to get him, dang turd didn’t even want to leave. He was having the time of his life!
Hahah well they’re in individual cages, I’m not worried about him getting hurt, he’s just very excited around other dogs and he’s probably very anxious right now. This is my first and only dog and I was pretty shaken up today.
Had a German Shepard that took off after a deer. Hot summer day, walked right into the local ymca and laid down in the AC. Well the cops picked him up (police, not animal patrol) and gave us a call. We found him in the police station, lying flat on his back while 3 officers were rubbing his belly. We were worried sick, and I swear this damn dog was having the time of his life.
My dude is home! He was crying so much when he saw me that I could barely get his leash on, and when he saw my wife and kids he nearly broke he leash and peed everywhere haha. I asked where he was picked up because he was spotted nearly 5 miles from our house 2 hours after escaping, and it turns out he was picked up in my townhome complex. He came all the way back and went into the wrong backyard 
Happy to be home!
Awwww, what a happy-maker, both the post and the pic. Yay!
CONGRATS!!! Maybe he’ll learn to stay with dad next time
The more I go through “formal” education in the health and fitness industry, the more I realise how absolutely f*cking useless half of it is.
With the exception of higher-level degrees, so much of what I’ve seen so far doesn’t teach anyone just to fucking think about what they’re doing
I just finished my cert to work as a PT, and the amount of useless burpees and pointless form corrections (changing good form to a slightly different good form for no real reason that made sense) I received was asinine. Everyone hated me because I kept asking why and half the time someone couldn’t answer me.
One guy in particular stood out to me: he couldn’t remember the program he wrote, he couldn’t remember the names of basic exercises and he couldn’t perform anything resembling a hinge or a squat. And he PASSED
Why is the barrier for entry so low that this type of stuff happens? It’s ridiculous. Also why would someone do a PT certificate if they clearly lack the skills to deliver outcomes for their clients? To me, that’s either egotistical, selfish or both.
And then there’s the lack of critical thinking. I’m fine with people telling me to do something because it’s “what everyone does” if they have a deeper reason or even the ability to appraise their own thought, but half the time they couldn’t. Moreso it seemed that the single least knowledgeable instructor (who straight up knew shit all) there was the one with the most to say. Why is it that these people I’m learning with and from, many of whom are 30+ and supposedly have so much “wisdom”, are so ready to blindly accept these things without thinking?
Anyways, I’m probably gonna get bullied because of my own weakness and unimpressiveness, but I am confident that I can deliver better outcomes for the general population than 80-90% of the jackasses I saw today.
This is why I never went beyond my Cert III. That was even before I had the degree of knowledge i have now, so I was more confident of what I knew because I didnt know shit. It was already blindingly obvious that the formal education required to work in the fitness industry in Australia is in no way focused on teaching anything useful.
I can tell you why too: there’s no incentive for the industry to change this. There is plenty of money to made ‘teaching’ this garbage because the two or three peak organisations who determine what the certification is have a monopoly on it. If you want to open a gym or a PT business and get any kind of liability insurance, you need the certification. The insurers don’t give a shit if it’s good, they just need you to hold it.
Most successful gyms rely on people signing up and them not showing up. So incompetent trainers don’t matter, because clients are ignorant when they sign up and don’t stay long enough to learn anything and realise the trainers are fuckwits. Same with a lot of PTs. They make a living of a revolving door of ignorant clients who equate effort with quality. So as long as they exhaust their clients (which takes no knowledge at all), the clients are happy until they get distracted or disappointed with lacking results (which is the fault of both parties); at which point they leave, only to be replaced by a new rube.
Anyone who is determined to actually make a positive impact by being a PT gets the certification and then proceeds to implement systems they have actually discovered themselves, which they tweak based on individual needs. They take time to get to know their clients, develop a relationship with them and do this with many, many people who never end up being long term clients. These PTs are the ones who, if they last, become the really good and successful ones. Except they probably don’t make more than the shit ones and work far harder.
Case in point, my buddy Jake who owns Ultra, the gym I train at. It’s been open for nearly four years now, he’s expanded and the business is going well. He works his backside off and genuinely cares about every single client he has. He also is very conscious of each one’s goals, what they’re prepared to do, etc. His clients tend to get better more often than not. There isn’t a great deal of turnover that I can see. He’s an electrician by trade and at the current rate will be one of the top 125/140 powerlifters in Australia in the next five years or so. He already totals very close to 1900 lbs and he’s only 27.
Second case, Megan, who runs Thrive PT and trains her clients out of Elite where I used to train. She very obviously has absolutely no desire to push her clients to get any better. She provides programming and cheerleading. She rarely, if ever, tries to correct technical issues. Her clients that I have seen improve generally did it under their own steam. She’s perfectly nice, a reasonable powerlfiter but nothing remotely special despite having competed for a number of years in a relatively small weight class. Her background is in marketing.
Arguably they are equally successful. Jake for sure works substantially harder and is a much better coach.
Man I really got this sense from one of the instructors. She has a Cert III + IV and lost some weight (still obese, still eats like shit) and thinks she’s Jesus with a barbell. The only explanation I ever got from her about anything she said was “that’s what my PT told me” or “that’s how they program and my gym”
Totally agree. Credit where credit’s due though. It was really motivating to see that one of the instructors there who I did actually respect openly smash the Certs for being useless. I’m so glad
Legitimately the only reason I dropped $3k+ for this bs. Even without the uni degree, I have learnt more for free from podcasts, elite and T-Nation than anything I’ve learnt from the certs.
I’ve said this before but the whole mindset behind this genuinely upsets me. I see personal trainers as a type of primary healthcare provider. Why the fuck then is it okay for them to clearly be so ambivalent? The fact that these people get trained to help clients feel better and lose weight without the skill set to do any of it should be punishable as malpractice - which I guess it could be if you injure a client.
Not gonna lie, it’s this very dichotomy that scares me about working in S+C/fitness if I do pursue it. To truly get the clients’ results I want, I know that I will have to be putting in so much extra unpaid time. Sounds selfish, but I hope what I’m saying makes sense.
Yeah man, Drew who runs my gym is amazing. He’s constantly working on growing strongman in Australia and really puts in for his members, yet I know he probably won’t ever be as successful or earn as much as some jackass at F45
Welcome to personal training. I started working at the YMCA after I graduated with a degree in Exercise Science. I held my NSCA CPT and CSCS certifications. The CSCS is still the gold standard if you want to coach at the college level. The Y still made me attend their own personal training certification course. It was like a day or two of powerpoint and then a multiple guess test. I was the only one with any legitimate background. Everyone else just liked working out. One guy was a self proclaimed bodybuilder but he was just the typical 20 year old tool who thought he knew how to train because he was young and lean.
During the test, there was a question about energy systems. The question was something about which energy system would you use during a typical exercise. The answer was “aerobic system”. That’s not actually an energy system. The real answer wasn’t even listed. It should’ve been oxidative energy system (phosphocreatine, glycolytic, and oxidative are the three systems). I pointed this out to the “directors” administering the test. I said “The real answer isn’t listed.” The woman groaned and said “Just pick C (aerobic). This is why I hate these tests.” At least she knew the test was a joke.
I obtained my ACE PT cert when I was 21 by reading the book and taking a multiple choice test. I obtained the NSCA certs the same way. The CSCS requires a degree to obtain; they try to keep that cert from getting diluted with idiots.
With all of those letters to add to my name, I still learned the most in the gym. The book stuff helped me understand some things like why I did better at certain types of exercise (sprints vs distance running). I learned a bit about biomechanics which was more in line with the mind muscle connection (how to use the targeted muscle). I guess you could say I’ve attended both “schools” on the topic, and I think the best approach is about a 70/30 split - 70% bro science and 30% textbook stuff.
The reason I don’t work in the field is that I can’t make any money. I’m not going to kill myself to make $35K a year. The financially successful trainers have clients who pay them just so they can talk about “their trainer” in social circles. The other chunk of their clientele is made up of people they’ve tricked into thinking they need a trainer to work out. At the Y, one guy had to work the floor for free to get his health insurance. He had so many PT sessions that he was making full time money but wouldn’t get the insurance unless he did some floor time for $10/hr. His approach (and he told me this) was to confuse them and have them do complicated things during their free consultation, thus making them feel like they needed him. I despise that approach. It’s selfish and helps no one but the trainer. And that’s why I sucked as a personal trainer (in career terms).
Two words - liability waiver.
It would have to be gross negligence for there to be a civil case and you’d have to go above and beyond to warrant one of those.
This is why I started going to school again last year. I had a “full time” training job which meant I trained my first client at 5:15 am then took a nap in my car until the next one 2 hours later. Only got payed when I trained so ended up picking up a part time custodial job in the side. I was at private studio so it was a bit pricey and not a great location, another studio owned by the same guy 15 mins east in a richer neighborhood always had a full schedule, made me envious looking at their schedule while I twiddled my thumbs waiting.
I did enjoy training a lot though, especially the teaching aspect so I may go down something like training/coaching in the future.
It’s unfortunate that a PT’s schedule is like 4-8am and 5-9pm with a few sessions sprinkled in the middle. That’s the downside of any industry that works around everyone else’s work schedule.
Confession: I think the body dysmorphia is kicking in again, every other time I see myself in the gym I either think I look big and fairly defined or small and puffy.
It’s weird because looks haven’t been the main goal since I first started lifting. I mean, if I wanted to look better I’d probably be better off getting a haircut and shaving rather than hitting the gym
Can you take CSCS online? Australia doesn’t really have an equivalent but I’m not sure if flying over to the US would be practical
There were a couple of these types at the cert. One of them (who I actually found to be genuinely nice and funny) seemed to think he would/could pass just because he was jacked.
I hate to keep bullying this instructor, but this one comes to mind.
I had just “perscribed” band rows for a pregnant client with shoulder pain
Instructor: “I would want the client to row with a full ROM to get their elbows passed their body”
“Why would you want that”
“Because it’s better”
“How is it better?”
“Because that’s the rule”
“Really? Because elbows passed the torso is gonna tilt her scaps, which could very easily lead to impingement”
“What?”
Just that lack of critical thinking got to me.
I’ve started getting experience coaching athletes at my old high school and it’s honestly the best work experience I’ve ever had. It’s purely volunteering but I’ve already learnt so much about cueing new athletes
I’m just trying to stay confident that I can attract a big enough clientele to not have to do this. Either way, PT is pretty much a side hustle for me before I get going with physio/sports med
Comes across as a decent guy on social media for sure. Committed to growing strongman too.
I ate a box of chicken seekh kebabs ( grilled minced chicken with spices and stuff). The nutrition label said 480cal for the box, but looking back, it’s probably more like 480 for 1/2 the box, which means I overate by about 500cal.
Confession: they tasted amazing. I probably could have had quite a few more if they weren’t so filling
Confession 2: I’m seriously considering cutting cals by 500 to make up for it
