Alarm goes off at 6:40 am
Snooze
Alarm goes off at 6:50 am
Snooze
Yes yes. I'm a snoozer. I know I need to be out of bed at 7:00 am but I set my alarm 20 minutes early so I can hit the snooze button and sleep in longer. I do realize I'd get more actual, quality sleep if I just set the alarm for 7 am, but this is the logic of a night owl that hates getting up in the morning. I know it’s a fucked up notion but it works for me. It’s actually gotten better over the years; I used to set my alarm for one full hour before my necessary wake time.
At 7 am I quite literally drag my ass out of bed - no matter what time I have to get up I'm never in bed before midnight and typically it’s much later.
Shower # 1 then out the door by 7:30 am. Today I have a client right at 8 am so I must drink my coffee en route. If you thought trainers were tough normally, try working with one that hasn't had their morning coffee !!
One of my biggest pet peeves is tardiness so I'm very rarely late, and most often I’m considerably early. However for an 8 am appointment I'm a mere 10 minutes early; time to put on my PT t-shirt and get organized before my first client of the day. Today I'm training someone for their first ever session so I usually like to give it a bit of extra time while we both learn a little bit about each other.
This particular session is just half hour but after all the initial paperwork and signing off on our session its 8:45 am when we're done. A quick 15 minute break ... breakfast and bathroom before I'm on to my next appointment, this one is a fitness assessment for a new member. We are done in 45 minutes so I grab a quick snack, another bathroom break and then 1/2 hour on the floor before my next client at 10:30 - another half hour training session.
45 more minutes of floor shift, then I am doing fitness clinics for some of our junior squash members as its March break. Six kids between the ages of 9 and 12 for one full hour of circuit training plus a cardio workout. Keeping these kids motivated and in line proves to be quite challenging !! I ended the session with a push up contest and a prize for the winner, with smaller treats for the rest of them as a consolation prize.
It’s now 1 pm so time for lunch. I try and pack my own including all my snacks for the day even though there's a wonderful bistro on site. I get a decent staff discount, and while they do offer some healthy and very tasty options, I still prefer to brown bag it as often as possible.
My 2 pm assessment appointment texts to cancel so now I have some time to kill before my next clinic for the squash kids at 3:45 pm. Some days if my free time between appointments is long enough I'll go home and back, but today isn't one of those days. I sit in the bistro and get some work done on my Netbook while I digest a little. Next is a quick 3 mile run on the treadmill and I head to the lockers for shower # 2 ... on a good day I may enjoy a sauna or steam first though.
This will be my last opportunity to relax until I get home later in the evening. After the 2nd clinic with the squash kids I have 5 more training sessions going right through until 9:30 pm. By the time I pack up and drive home it’s close to 10:00 in the evening. Including travel time I've just completed a 14 1/2 hour day.
I feed my pets (1 cat and 2 fish) and the guilt over leaving my cat alone for 14+ hours is overwhelming. She is starving for attention and I happily oblige.
The exhaustion I feel is incomprehensible. Not only did I put in 14 hours, most of which were on my feet, tomorrow is lining up to be the same. I start at 8 am and will leave no sooner than 9:30 pm, and the day itself is pretty much full.
I feel like a real trainer now. Many of my coworkers put in similar hours, so they can relate to how I feel. However I'm not even close to full potential as they are ... while the first 3 days of this week were jam packed for me, Thursday and Friday are mere 6 and 7 hour days, and I have my weekend free and clear. My colleagues are not so lucky.
But don't get me wrong. While my poor body aches for some rest, I couldn't be happier. While I'm there and doing my thing, it still doesn't feel like work to me. I don't have to put on a happy face; this here smile is genuine :)
And while not every tale is a success story (yet), I am really starting to see the rewards of the job. Clients whose moods, appearance, fitness and outlook on life have improved thanks to my services. I had a client the other day show me how many good quality push-ups she could do (10 if you must know), remembering how she could barely eke out just one at our first meeting. She was ecstatic and told me I should be proud. I retorted that SHE should be the one who was proud, she did all the hard stuff, I just laid the groundwork.
Snooze
Alarm goes off at 6:50 am
Snooze
Yes yes. I'm a snoozer. I know I need to be out of bed at 7:00 am but I set my alarm 20 minutes early so I can hit the snooze button and sleep in longer. I do realize I'd get more actual, quality sleep if I just set the alarm for 7 am, but this is the logic of a night owl that hates getting up in the morning. I know it’s a fucked up notion but it works for me. It’s actually gotten better over the years; I used to set my alarm for one full hour before my necessary wake time.
At 7 am I quite literally drag my ass out of bed - no matter what time I have to get up I'm never in bed before midnight and typically it’s much later.
Shower # 1 then out the door by 7:30 am. Today I have a client right at 8 am so I must drink my coffee en route. If you thought trainers were tough normally, try working with one that hasn't had their morning coffee !!
One of my biggest pet peeves is tardiness so I'm very rarely late, and most often I’m considerably early. However for an 8 am appointment I'm a mere 10 minutes early; time to put on my PT t-shirt and get organized before my first client of the day. Today I'm training someone for their first ever session so I usually like to give it a bit of extra time while we both learn a little bit about each other.
This particular session is just half hour but after all the initial paperwork and signing off on our session its 8:45 am when we're done. A quick 15 minute break ... breakfast and bathroom before I'm on to my next appointment, this one is a fitness assessment for a new member. We are done in 45 minutes so I grab a quick snack, another bathroom break and then 1/2 hour on the floor before my next client at 10:30 - another half hour training session.
45 more minutes of floor shift, then I am doing fitness clinics for some of our junior squash members as its March break. Six kids between the ages of 9 and 12 for one full hour of circuit training plus a cardio workout. Keeping these kids motivated and in line proves to be quite challenging !! I ended the session with a push up contest and a prize for the winner, with smaller treats for the rest of them as a consolation prize.
It’s now 1 pm so time for lunch. I try and pack my own including all my snacks for the day even though there's a wonderful bistro on site. I get a decent staff discount, and while they do offer some healthy and very tasty options, I still prefer to brown bag it as often as possible.
My 2 pm assessment appointment texts to cancel so now I have some time to kill before my next clinic for the squash kids at 3:45 pm. Some days if my free time between appointments is long enough I'll go home and back, but today isn't one of those days. I sit in the bistro and get some work done on my Netbook while I digest a little. Next is a quick 3 mile run on the treadmill and I head to the lockers for shower # 2 ... on a good day I may enjoy a sauna or steam first though.
This will be my last opportunity to relax until I get home later in the evening. After the 2nd clinic with the squash kids I have 5 more training sessions going right through until 9:30 pm. By the time I pack up and drive home it’s close to 10:00 in the evening. Including travel time I've just completed a 14 1/2 hour day.
I feed my pets (1 cat and 2 fish) and the guilt over leaving my cat alone for 14+ hours is overwhelming. She is starving for attention and I happily oblige.
The exhaustion I feel is incomprehensible. Not only did I put in 14 hours, most of which were on my feet, tomorrow is lining up to be the same. I start at 8 am and will leave no sooner than 9:30 pm, and the day itself is pretty much full.
I feel like a real trainer now. Many of my coworkers put in similar hours, so they can relate to how I feel. However I'm not even close to full potential as they are ... while the first 3 days of this week were jam packed for me, Thursday and Friday are mere 6 and 7 hour days, and I have my weekend free and clear. My colleagues are not so lucky.
But don't get me wrong. While my poor body aches for some rest, I couldn't be happier. While I'm there and doing my thing, it still doesn't feel like work to me. I don't have to put on a happy face; this here smile is genuine :)
And while not every tale is a success story (yet), I am really starting to see the rewards of the job. Clients whose moods, appearance, fitness and outlook on life have improved thanks to my services. I had a client the other day show me how many good quality push-ups she could do (10 if you must know), remembering how she could barely eke out just one at our first meeting. She was ecstatic and told me I should be proud. I retorted that SHE should be the one who was proud, she did all the hard stuff, I just laid the groundwork.
I was still kinda proud though,
and it was a great compliment :)
