I’ve struggled – well, the word struggled isn’t exactly right – more, pondered and hesitated with the idea of starting a blog for a while now. I’m not 100% sure why, but I know it deals with my hatred of feeling like I’m dying for attention. Which if we’re being honest, we all love attention, but I don’t want it to be apparent. That’s not what this is about.
I’ve read in a couple of places where creating more “clout,” or awareness of your personal training services or presence online is greatly aided by starting a blog. Various things about showcasing what you know, showing who you are, creating more topics that search engines can find for your website – all that – are brought up when this subject comes about.
But anyone anywhere who considers themselves an “expert,” on fitness has a blog. How can my voice stand out when everyone is already shouting?
I guess, in all honesty, I’ll never know unless I try.
Then it got me thinking about trying to relate and have empathy for someone who isn’t as into fitness or experience with it like I am. Maybe they have those same feelings. Why try? Isn’t it a daunting task? Aren’t I – in some shape or form – being narcissistic in my pursuit of looking better? Sure, I want to be healthier, but looking good is a fantastic byproduct of being healthier.
So I looked at this (starting the blog) the same way. What would I say to someone who is unsure of starting? Someone who has a bit of a “why climb the mountain if others are doing it,” mentality.
I wouldn’t judge them. That’s not the point of personal training. The point is to help them get healthier even if they come to me for different reasons. I often joke with my people (I abhor the word client, fucking hate it – they’re more than money, they’re more than a means to a business end – the relationship is more than us meeting a few times a week to lift weights. I learn them, I learn their lives, they learn mine – I know the name of their family members and stories about their lives – they aren’t clients and until I find a better word I’ll just say people) that half of personal training is just manipulation. I’m just helping aid in behavior change to get them (and me to a degree) the goals we’ve set forth.
So if someone came to me about wanting to start a blog but was unsure of how to do it (or even if they should) I’d tell them screw it, just have fun with it and write whatever comes to mind. T-Nation puts out an article everyday and not every single one of theirs is golden. Half the time they’re just ads. EliteFTS puts out solid stuff but some of theirs aren’t applicable to me or my people, so cool, it’s not the end of the world.
So just start. Both of us. Me wanting to start this blog and you (if you aren’t already training) wanting to train. Who cares if others are already doing it? Who cares the reasons behind it? We overthink things most of the time anyways. Just start.