Some people know me as Trainer John, others just
John. Growing up, I was never too crazy
about athletics, yeah, I played in a tee-ball league as a kid but once I came
down with Guillain-Barre Syndrome at age 10, my world and my interests
drastically changed. But I don’t want to
talk about that.....let’s talk about after that, when I found my purpose and my
new nickname, lol.
While working as a Teacher’s Assistant at the Children’s
Institute Day School from 2009 to 2015, I had gained an interest in Physical
Therapy by working alongside some great Therapists who worked with my
students. In 2015, I left the Day School
for UPMC Mercy Hospital’s Center For Rehab Services as a Rehabilitation
Aide. I was so excited to be working
with patients in a hospital setting, something that I always had secretly
wanted for myself. The first few weeks
was interesting and exciting. Working
with the patients and other staff members, I was learning a lot very quickly
about caring for people in the hospital, which obviously was a learning
experience to say the least. While I was
at Mercy, I was in a relationship with someone who wasn’t the best for myself
and anxiety had developed in me and I changed my job status from Full-Time to a
Casual employee. MISTAKE! Knowing that I couldn’t make ends meet by only
working one weekend a month, I had spent the next year searching for a new full-time
job. In March of 2016, after numerous
interviews, I interviewed at Planet Fitness for an Assistant Manager
position. The next week, on a Saturday
morning I got a call for the General Manager saying that the position had been
filled but wanted me for another position as the new Fitness Instructor for the
gym. Of course I happily accepted on the
spot and that afternoon, went to the gym to sign the papers!
While working at the Children's Institute Day School, I had attended the National
Personal Training Institute (NPTI) where I was rewarded a diploma in Personal
Training and Basic Nutrition with the hopes of becoming a trainer as a ‘side
job’. Never in my wildest thoughts did I
think I’d ever work as a full-time trainer as my career. I also had gotten my certification as a Spinning
Instructor as well, which I was using at a local fitness studio. When I started at PF, I really didn’t know
what I was in for. Being the only
trainer at this location, I really had some housekeeping to do. My goal for this program was to create an
atmosphere that greeted the members I was serving and treating with open arms,
empathy and understanding as I went on helping them meet their goals. As months had passed, I had received numerous
positive comments and feedback on social media message boards. In my regular life, I usually take the modest
approach, so when someone usually compliments me, my response is usually a
mediocre one at best. When I was at NPTI, I remember thinking to
myself, “Am I just fooling myself with this?”
I didn’t really think I fit the Trainer ‘persona’. I really didn’t look overly muscular,
certainly not fitness model ready like most trainers I had seen were. About a month into PF, I remember I did get
one review online that wasn’t in the best taste. It was by a person who never even met me and
based their review from what they saw instead.
The gist of it was that ‘trainers were meant to inspire’ and that they didn’t
think they would be inspired by someone who looked like me. Needless to say, it hurt. My bosses were shocked by the review and took
it to their bosses. In a few hours, the
comment was taken down and in some small way, I felt like I had won. But the hurt never went away for quite some
time though. I had second guessed myself
everytime I would train someone. “Is
this the right workout for them? Should I have them perform different exercises?” The questions just ran in my head over and
over. At some point in everyone’s life,
you have to look at yourself and say “YOU CAN DO THIS AND YOU WILL.” Once I had made that realization that I was a
decent trainer and was out of my crapshoot of a relationship, things began to
change for the better.
After almost three years at PF currently, I’m truly
grateful for the mission that I carry out for my clients every day. Seeing them reach goals and create new ones
is truly an awesome thing to have a hand in and I often find myself wondering ‘How
did I fall into this?” I don’t think
that it was by chance. If I look back at
the events of my life, I can see that this was perfectly planned out with no
help from me! This is definitely a God
thing and something I pray on every day.
I pray that I can give my clients the help that they need and express
how grateful I am that I was chosen for this job.
Growing up I never was particularly athletic, but I
participated in tee-ball as a kid. I
absolutely hated it. I was more a loner
in my early days as a kid and when disease struck me, even more so. In high school, I had envied the ‘jocks’ involved
in sports because they always seemed to have it all and things just naturally
came easier for them or so it seemed.
For a guy who is 5’4” and 150 lbs., stature and size were not on my
side, so I think somewhere along the way, I resided myself to a life of being
an academian instead of an athlete or someone who was involved in taking care
of his health all too much. So it’s
ironic that I’m in the profession that I am these days. Fitness has provided me with a lot: When I went through my bout with disease, it
helped me rehabilitate myself and learn to walk again. When I wanted to make friends in college and
find a common bond, trips to the college fitness center became a normal
thing. When I needed a job and it seemed
like nothing would ever present itself, Planet Fitness changed all of that. After 36 years, I’ve made peace with the
demons in my not-so-easy past and look forward to every day that I wake up and
go to work. There’s a definite reason
the Lord has us work, for me it’s to help people realize that their health is
nothing to be taken for granted and we should care for our bodies every single
chance that we get because once we reach the point where we can’t care for
ourselves anymore, regrets will usually follow.
Of all the things that health and fitness has given me
the most important is that fitness gave me a voice. It has provided me with a platform to tell
people that everything is going to work out if you just trust the process and
it’s okay if you fail. The most important thing that you can do is start
where you are and set small goals. After
time, all those small goals with add up to some big victories...I should know,
I’ve overcome some pretty big obstacles and turned them into major triumphs for
myself. Won’t you consider doing the
same?
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