1.       Lou Schuler has been a huge resource for me as a writer, and he’ll be the first one to tell you that if you want to get good at writing, then you should freakin write.  A lot.  What’s more, it doesn’t necessary have to be fitness related.  I can’t even tell you how many things I have written just for the sake of writing.  However, it only makes sense that if you want to write fitness related articles, you should write about fitness topics as often as you can.  

2.       Write for free.  Sorry, but the chances that you’re going to be writing feature articles for Men’s Health is slim to none.  That’s not to say that it won’t happen- just not right away.  Instead, there are plenty of sites out there looking for new content and are willing to publish articles.  If they pay, awesome…..but don’t be surprised if they don’t.  Besides, it’s good practice and at least gets your foot in the door.

3.      Similarly, if you’re a fitness professional and have any aspirations of becoming an “internet celebrity,” you’d be an idiot not to have a website/blog.  Blogging, for what it’s worth, is probably the easiest and most convenient way to practice your writing skills.  Moreover, it can also serve as a nice source of passive income once you’ve established a solid following.  I’d highly recommend reading Problogger:  Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income. 

4.      Understand that you WILL be turned down.  It happens to everyone, and it’s going to happen to you as well.  My first article I ever submitted to t-nation was rejected.  Coincidentally, that very article was published elsewhere (after some heavy revisions), and it wasn’t long thereafter that my first article (Program Design for Dummies) was published on t-nation in the fall of 2006.

The point I’m trying to make is to not take it personally if your idea or article gets rejected.  Like I mentioned above, it happens to everyone.    

5.      Recognize your audience.  If you have one particular publication you’d like to write for, then it only makes sense to understand their demographic.  For instance, how I write for t-nation is completely different than how I write for Men’s Health. One of the best piece of advice I got in this regard was from Lou Schuler:

“You can approach the business two different ways:

You can …

·         Pick the publication you want to write for, then study that publication and figure out what it needs. Or …

·         You can decide what you want to write, and then figure out which publication it suits best.

As Lou told me, “either approach is valid. Each gives you a chance for success. What gives you no chance of success is writing the article you want to write and then sending it out to every publication in the genre. That never works. Not ever. Editors can sniff out a generic article before they get to the period at the end of your first sentence.”

To that end, another piece of advice I got from Lou on how to become a good writer:

·         Get to the good stuff as soon as possible

·         Don't try to be funny or clever if that's not your strength

·         Don't waste people's time by making them guess what you’re trying to say."

As it is, I have a 35-40 minute commute to and from work, and there are times on the weekends (when I train with my girlfriend), or if I happen to take a day off, that I’ll elect to get a lift in at a local commercial gym.  Needless to say, I’m often dumbfounded at what I come across.  The strength coach in me is always fighting the urge to want to say something.  Whenever I see someone rounding their back while doing a DB row or performing endless repetitions of bicep curls (even though they weighs like 140 lbs soaking wet), I’m really tempted to say something.

It’s even harder to keep my mouth shut whenever I observe a personal trainer allow their client to perform any exercise with god-awful form.  Just a few weeks ago I was watching a female trainer attempt to show her client how to “squat.”  I put the word squat in quotations, because you and I both know that what she thought was a squat, was anything but.  What ended up happening was the poor guy looked like he was going to break in half.  All I could think to myself was that I could teach the guy how to do a picture perfect squat in five minutes.  I’m sorry, but you lose all credibility as a trainer if you don’t correct your clients form. 

Worse still, I absolutely despise watching personal trainers take their overweight and grossly de-conditioned clients to the BOSU ball.  You know, cause you wouldn’t want to address the fact they have 50 lbs they could lose.  It just aggravates me that so many people have no idea that they’re wasting their money.  I mean, how hard is it to take someone through a Cybex circuit?  My seven year old nephew could do that!  Yet, I’ll see some trainers where that’s all they do is take someone through the machine circuit.  And people pay for it not knowing any better.  Ahhhhhhh.

That said, I generally mind my own business whenever I train at a commercial gym;  although I’ve had several occasions where I’ve been approached by people asking me if I was a trainer.  It’s often comical to see their reactions whenever I bust out the goodmornings or heavy deadlifts.  You would think people never saw someone lift more than 500 lbs before.  I remember one time not too long ago, I ended up coaching someone on his deadlift technique.  It was one of those things where I noticed him deadlifting in the corner, and to be honest, it was the absolute worst thing I had ever seen.  Not wanting to be that guy, I kept my mouth shut.  Not long afterwards, the guy approached me and started asking questions.  I must have spent a good 15 minutes with him working on his technique. 

All in all, it’s hard not to say something at times, but it’s not my place to do so.  Of course, if I see someone who’s legitimately going to hurt themselves, I’ll step in.  However, I don’t want some random person approaching me telling me that I suck, so why would I want to do it to someone else?  If someone asks, I’ll definitely help.  But for the most part, I just put my iPod on, bust out some Wu-Tang and mind my own business."

Tony G:  "I couldn’t agree more with you here John.  I think it goes without saying that people often think they’re more advanced than what they really are.  I can think of a handful of times where I’ve had “the t-nation guy” come to CP for an evaluation, asking whether or not he should start  adding chains to his squats; yet he can’t even perform a simple bodyweight reverse lunge without looking like a baby giraffe. 

Along similar lines, people like to do what’s easy and what they’re good at.  There’s a reason why you see more guys using the leg press machine over the squat rack.  First, it’s easier.  Secondly, and most important, what looks more impressive?  A leg press where you can load five, 45 lb plates on each side and rep it out (albeit with a four inch ROM), or a squat where you struggle to get to depth with 95 lbs on your back?

With a few exceptions, I generally avoid “machines” all together in my programming.  I mean, people sit all day at work as it is, why would I want to have them sit more during their training session?  It just doesn’t make sense to me.

More to the point, it’s quite the conundrum for personal trainers.  I understand why most (read: not all) tend to gravitate towards the foo-foo nonsense (machines, BOSU balls, “functional training” gadgets); they want to look unique and different in the hopes of generating business.  However, as you mentioned above, machines (and the like) tend to “support” deficiencies, and it’s readily apparent that there’s a rather large disconnect between what we as trainers should be doing with our clients, and what we’re actually doing.

How can we shorten that gap?  Well, for starters, I think we need more people like you in the field.  I know you’re adamant in encouraging continuing education with your trainers.  You know the saying, “attitude reflects leadership?”  Well, I think the same concept can be applied to the fitness industry.  Fitness directors who go out of their way to train their trainers and encourage continuing education oftentimes have successful businesses all around.  Trainers get clients, clients get results, clients buy more sessions.  Everyone gives each a high five.

Conversely, I’ve been in some establishments where they’ll hire anyone off the street (only a slight exaggeration) and there’s really no incentive to get better.  As a result, the overall environment comes across more like a circus than a health club. 

Additionally, in an ideal world, trainers would be paid based on whether or not they get results and not by how many sessions they can bust out in any given week.  Unfortunately, most establishments pay their trainers on the quantity of their training rather than the quality.  It’s seems rather backwards in my opinion.  I mean, you wouldn’t pick a doctor based off how many patients he’s able to see, right?  You pick the one that caters to your own individual needs, and has the ability to get you better in the safest, most time efficient manner possible.

I think it would be a major reality check for many trainers if they were paid solely off of results alone.  The trainers who make it a point to read, go to seminars, and place an emphasis on getting better, will more than likely get the best results for their clients.  As such, they should get paid more.  The trainers who are lucky to read one book a year, can’t even name the four rotator cuff muscles, and think the BOSU ball is the best thing since sliced bread, are the ones who are ruining the industry.   We need to give them some incentive to get better!  What better way than to base their paycheck on whether or not they actually give their clients results?"