TELL ME WHY YOU’RE TOO BUSY FOR ME AGAIN?

Two brothers walked into my gym in Hoboken where I was a manager many years ago.  Being new to working out, their form was atrocious, the weights too heavy and the selection of exercises unidentifiable.  When you’re a beginning trainer, perhaps for the first 10 years, you’ll go correct them.  After 35 years, I no longer do this outside my clients and you young trainers will soon discover why I don’t.

After 3 months, one of the brothers came up to me and asked if I could take him on as a client.  After all that time of going it on his own, without much to show for it, he was obviously reluctant but desperate.  I rarely if ever turn down new clients, even when my calendar is overflowing, I can usually fit someone new into my schedule.

My clients mean a great deal to me, as do their achievements and overall health and happiness.  

So much so that around this time in my career, I had a few celebrity clients and was asked to fly out to California to train an A List actress for a major movie role.  I turned it down because clients that had been with me a long time had specific goals that we were achieving and I didn’t want to leave them behind for a couple of months.  I will never regret that decision.  But Jaime Lee Curtis looked lean and mean in True Lies none the less…

So one month and 15 pounds of fat gone with an increase in muscle mass later, Jerry dragged his brother Joe to our sessions kicking and screaming.

Usually my clients scream after the beginning of the session, not before.  😉

Now let me tell you a little bit about the brother duo.  Both accountants for the city of Hoboken, both overworked and over stressed.  Too many deli sandwiches, potato chips and fast food and I suspect could hold their own during cocktail hour.  Young, Jerry was 38, his brother Joe was 42.  Funnier than hell together.  Very close to inseparable but two very distinct personalities.

A year later, both brothers were in much better condition.  Jerry, more dedicated than his older brother Joe and therefore more dramatic results.  A year and a day later, the less devoted Joe decided he was in good enough shape now and couldn’t spend any more additional time on training and exercise.

“I’m too busy.”

I hear it all the time.  It’s the most used excuse of all my clients to skip training sessions and yes, to quit, period.

Now this is what you need to remember.

When you stop doing anything that has been a routine, old habits or newly developed bad ones will eventually surface.  

Not only did he gain back all the weight and fat that he lost, he went further and gained more within 6 months.  His brother Jerry tried everything short of kidnapping him and locking him up in the gym to get back to training with us.  But no… he was too busy.

He is no longer too busy.  Joe died at the age of 45 of a massive heart attack.

It takes a piece of me every time I lose a client to work, busy schedule, not enough money etc.   It’s not about money or being busy, it’s all about priorities.  I’ve had minimum wage clientele I’ve trained that would see me at least once a week for years.  They merely skipped a night out over the weekend to put to training.

I shouldn’t care so much but I’ve devoted most of my life to this sport and occupation.  

There may be a few of us left that care and have the experience to guide clients through fat loss, muscle gains, extreme transformations mentally and physically.

Find out if you have one of those trainers.