When we are looking to raise the bar for both ourselves and our students we have to start somewhere. And today's work IN we’re going to get into the nitty gritty, boots on the ground for how to integrate gold standard instructor skills that are so simple but they’ll take your craft to the next level, make you more comfortable in your own skin and inoculate you against the dreaded imposter syndrome. These are things you can apply to pretty much any area of your life where you come into contact with other human beings.

That skill is holding space. What does that mean? Safety, Predictability, Agency, Communication, Energy…

For coaches it is really easy to get that certification and then just ride it for a while. And if you’re not careful the ever changing world of wellness will leave you behind. Science changes, health recommendations changes, people and society change.  And what it means for you to be a good coach changes. And all those things are important because you never know who will be standing in front of you at any given time. And if you’re not big on self awareness and you haven’t cultivated any understanding of human nature, communication skills or holding space you risk your students.

In my experience there isn’t much certification or continuing education providers can do to guarantee any level of or standard of quality in their fitness professionals. Let’s face it, if you know how to take a test or can spend a weekend at a conference you can get certified in pretty much anything. The fitness industry doesn’t provide any professional oversight. It’s up to the individual fitness professional to raise the bar and perhaps for our students and clients to raise their expectations.

So the next few podcast episodes we’re going to focus on that idea. How to Raise the bar as a fit pro in any format, one on one and group setting, for yourself personally, your professional credibility and your clients. Today we’re starting at the top by challenging certification mediocrity.

Todays solo episode discusses ethical communication, understanding intention and trusting your inner voice in your business and personal life.

... sometimes in our desire to make the “right” decisions in business is sometimes rooted in our fear of making a “wrong” decision, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by too many voices.

The loudest voices are sometimes the last ones who matter. They’re the folks who aren’t your ideal client, have no skin in the game, have no idea what you do or why you do it and usually don’t know you at all.

Today I wanted to talk about the upstream cause of the issues we see in the fitness industry, high turnover, burnout and low skills is coming from a lack of understanding about what the job actually is and a true understanding of the skills that are required to succeed in a professional capacity without sacrificing your body through burnout over time.

So I want to start with this question. What is your real job? If you are a group fitness instructor, personal trainer, health coach, fitness specialist. Whatever your job title is, what is your real job?