S&C/Fitness Isn't A Workout Field, It's A People Field.
Not understanding this is why the vast majority of people in this space lose.
“People in the training space who are ‘just obsessed with training!’ get pole waxed by the market.
It’s why most trainers are stone broke & their lifespan in the industry is shorter than a middle school relationship.
If you don’t learn it’s people > squats, you’ll stay losing.”
-Ray Zingler on X
Being in this game for closing in on 2 decades, if there is one thing I can promise you, it’s this:
LOVING training or sports is NOT the reason to get into Fitness or Strength & Conditioning Coaching.
You’d think doing what you love to do yourself would be an awesome career path, but where many miss it here:
Once you make it a career it isn’t about you. Your love. Your goals. Your results.
It’s about them.
And more specifically their problems, their issues, their roadblocks, their results.
And this is why so many don’t make it.
They get burnt out because they don’t realize every person they encounter is not a hard charging gym goer like themselves.
They complain about the hours, being a sounding board for clients, and working with “regular people” who aren’t “beasts” (usually losers) like themselves.
If you get into this space because it’s YOUR passion, you’re going to get pole waxed by the industry and there is a strong likelihood of you losing your passion for training in the process.
I’ve seen and heard about it happening a million times over.
It’s because Fitness/S&C, whatever you want to call it is not a “work out” field.
And if you’ve spent any real length of time in this space, you know that by now.
It’s not about squats, deadlifts, jumps, & sprints.
It’s about Jimmy & Sarah, solving their issues, and being a glorified therapist for them along the way.
It’s repeating the same advice, hearing a lot of the same stories, and slowly, but surely helping THEM with THEIR behavioral modification to stamp THEIR lifestyle change.
This space is a people field.
And it isn’t for everyone.
Take a guess at the average lifespan of a personal trainer?
It’s less than a year.
And the reason these guys get out is because of burn out or “there just isn’t any money in this space”.
There is PLENTY of money in this space.
Most just don’t find their way to it because they naively believe the field is what it isn’t.
If you’re truly hungry & savvy, and getting in this field to love and serve others, you’ll win.
If not, this field will kick your ass like it does most.