Let resistance be your guide
My resistance, my fear, was both holding me back AND pointing me in the direction I needed to go in my training.
- Ericka Thomas
Transcript
Resistance as a guide
I started my fitness career through martial arts. Tae Kwon Do. One of the first things we learned when we tested out of our white belt was how to spar. We would warm up and then help each other put on full protective gear. Arm guards, shin guards, helmets and chest protectors, mouth guards. The whole thing. We did it every class. Usually we were matched up with another person our size and skill level. When you’re first learning to spar it’s a little dangerous because no one knows what they’re doing, fists and feet are flying everywhere. I hated it, actually. I felt so anxious the whole time. And then one class I was paired with another woman who was a few belts above me and about my fitness level. And we were going through some drills moving around the room and I caught a sidekick square to the solar plexus and it knocked the wind out of me. I remember going home that night, so angry. Not at getting kicked that hard but that my resistance to sparring, my dislike of it, was keeping me afraid. I hated that feeling. I knew if I was ever going to be comfortable with it something had to change. Not sparring wasn’t going to make me less afraid. I needed to find a way through. My resistance, my fear, was both holding me back AND pointing me in the direction I needed to go in my training. So I joined the sparring team and through that experience, learned a great deal about what it means to be comfortable with discomfort that I still use today in my coaching. It was one of my first real world experiences with resilience and the nervous system although I didn’t know it at the time.
I recently had the opportunity to be a guest on a new reboot of the training club podcast with my friend Nate Sleger. Nate has been a guest on this podcast as well, episode 114 Getting healthier beyond weight loss. This time we were speaking specifically to trainers. Apparently some of my recent IG posts about coaching mediocrity got some attention particularly about being better than a google search as a fit pro.
I’m not sure when my episode will air but in it Nate asked some great questions about how to do that. How can we as fit pros stay in our scope and still give clients the kind of experience beyond what they could get by themselves? Where do we get that kind of education? What makes a coach or instructor stand out above the rest? And how do we become that?How do we know what education to pursue?
Great questions!
There are a lot of ways into the fitness industry. You can go to college and get a related degree like kinesiology, biology, health promotion, exercise science. That looks really good on a resume. Or you can sneak in the back door of the gym you spend everyday in anyway and study your way in through any certification process. And any combination of those. If you carry a certification you are required to maintain CEC. It takes some creativity to curate those CEC’s into career excellence.
So How DO you get better at what you do in an industry where everyone is basically doing and offering the same things?
In my humble opinion what sets instructors apart lies outside traditional continuing education. Outside the letters after your name and the certifications on your wall. And in order to find it you need to think outside the health + fitness education box.
The way I find it is by taking a hard look at where I am resisting change.
Where do I feel that bit of fear or anxiety? What are the things that I am resisting?
When I first started in fitness I was a one trick pony. I taught cardio kickboxing and that’s all. Even though I had my CPT, I much preferred group classes. Slowly over time I was able to build out my portfolio to other types of classes but still the 1:1 was not my favorite. I really had a lot of mindset blocks around it including the imposter syndrome so many new coaches get stuck in. I didn’t know what that was at the time. I didn’t even think of myself as a business and would never have entertained the idea of getting business coaching for myself or anything else that wasn’t attached to cec’s.
The problem is that I would have benefited from mentorship and networking with other instructors and coaches. The fitness industry NEEDS mentorship for new coaches. We are not in competition with each other. The truth is if I had been single I never would have continued in this industry. It would have stayed a hobby, like it does for so many others and I would have been one of those numbers who leave the field after 3 years.
But I digress.
If you’re one of those instructors who is getting a little bored with the basic-ness of most CEC’s or you’re tired of learning the same things over and over again. Maybe it’s time to follow some of your resistance down a different path.
I think of it a little like when Luke Skywalker is training with yoda and he finds that cave and he can’t resist going inside to fight darth vader only to learn that it’s actually his own face in the mask.
So what are you resisting? This doesn’t have to be in your career. Maybe it’s in your personal life. Maybe your spiritual life. One of the ways I excavate these things is to notice when I say things like “That’s not me.” or “I’ll never do that” or “This is just how I am” All of those things reflect a fixed mindset. There’s no room for that if your intent is growth of any kind.
Fear is also a good guide post but sometimes fear looks like procrastination, self doubt, shiny object syndrome, imposter syndrome or even anger.
To be excellent in your field requires more than all the requisite credits and letters after your name. It requires self awareness and an active willingness to become a little better at being who you are every day. Building that self awareness of both your strengths and weaknesses and leaning into ways to connect to them both is one of the best ways to shore up your foundation as a coach.
Coaching, afterall, is a business of connection. You can’t connect with people if you don’t know yourself. This is the first principle of trauma informed coaching. Your life experience, your core values, your passion for what and how you teach even all the stuff you suck at all goes into your signature in this industry. Becoming clear on those things from the start will set you apart in this industry. You don’t have to do things the hard way and fumble around as you figure it out. It takes too long and what you can offer the world is too important to hold back.
The fitness and wellness industry is the frontline for health in this country, both physical health and mental health. What we think of as health care is actually “sick care” . It's medical management designed to cover up the symptoms rather than seek out the cause and empower people to be actually healthy.
If we as coaches elevated our own definitions of what we do in this world first and then sought out ways to improve how we get our message across we can start to make literally a world of difference. Things like learning how to communicate better, how to coach mindset, public speaking, copywriting, how to optimize SEO so you can be findable, how to tap into your creativity, storytelling, learn a new language, how about sign language?…and so many more wonderful “outside the box” things that you could be amazing at or could broaden your perspective. They all give you opportunities to learn more about yourself and in turn help your clients.
SO what’s it going to be? Where is your resistance guiding you these days? Where might it lead?
If part of your resistance is because you’re not sure where to start, you’re bootstrapping your coaching business and doing it alone. I’d love to help. I created Bespoke C3 to be a customized virtual head start for the newest coach on the block. YOU. You get exclusive access to me and attention for a full year because I want you to be around for a while. We’ll work 1:1 to give you the direction, purpose and foundation your business needs. Bespoke C3 takes you step by step from kitchen table checklist to tech savvy CEO. That can be you. Go to Savagegracecoaching.com/clarity to get some.
Hey there!
I’m your host Ericka Thomas. I'm a resilience coach and fit-preneur offering an authentic, actionable realistic approach to personal and professional balance for coaches in any format.
Savage Grace Coaching is all about bringing resilience and burnout recovery. Especially for overwhelmed entrepreneurs, creators and coaches in the fitness industry.
Schedule a free consultation call to see if my brand of actionable accountability is right for you and your business.