It's The People

It's often said that it's the people around you that really make a job enjoyable. I certainly found this to be the case when I worked in an office, enjoying the assignments more or less depending on the team, and find it still holds true as a self employed personal trainer.

These days I mostly work directly with my clients and it's these diverse individuals that make my day, rather than with a team behind the scenes. In some cases I work with groups (RunFituk, Back to Fitness) and the banter and the way the group interacts is wonderful. But the vast majority of my time is spent with one or two clients at a time and it's the best fun. When you choose a trainer to work with, you have to get on with them, so it stands to reason that I get on with everyone I've been working with longer term. If a client and I don't gel, then maybe I'm not the trainer for them. There are plenty of us with different approaches after all, and that's absolutely fine. But no matter what else has been going on in my day, I always leave my sessions feeling uplifted and that's totally down to the people.

We chat quite a bit in my sessions, I'm certainly no sergeant major, and everyone has different topics they enjoy talking about. One of my clients chats a lot about foreign TV shows but we've also recently started discussing the merits of planting from seeds versus plug plants, as Spring approaches. Comparing experiences of different potato varieties in-between sets of dead lifts is quite surreal. One of my twice-a-week clients frequently shares notes on yoga classes, cake recipes and what's worth buying in the latest Sweaty Betty sale. And some of my clients have catchphrases that make me giggle. "What... now?" is a frequent exclamation from one person, after I've explained the next set, perhaps ever hopeful I'll suggest a cup of tea first.

And of course it's always great when a client turns up with a story about how they were able to get that dress done up this week, or that someone commented on their newly-found muscle definition.
It's these little things that I look forward to and that give me joy. When my beginner groups tell me about how they were able to manage a longer walk or one of my run group earns a new PB or feels confident enough to set a new goal I'm lifted.

The work I do now is about people, and I'm lucky to be able to work with such wonderful individuals.