Starting Your Fitness Journey : Fear Of The Gym?

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Hello everyone. And welcome to the curious Ulsterman podcast. The podcast designed to give you the tools you need to thrive as an adult. And one of the many aspects of thriving as an adult is good physical health. And too often, we neglect this , uh , will last just through comfy bollard going to the gym, or maybe even intimidated by the gym. Uh, today's guest is my good friend, Ray, who is a very knowledgeable PT and in today's chat, we discuss diet sleep , uh, getting over that intimidation and the gym , uh , gym etiquette, as well as other various things , uh, in the world of fitness. And , uh, yeah, it was a great show . I learned a lot and hopefully you will too. So here's my chat with Marie . Hey Ruth . Thanks very much for coming on the podcast today.

How's it going? Good to have you

Thanks very much for coming on today. Um, I'm really looking forward to this one because , uh, physical fitness is always an important part , uh , of our health and our daily well-being , but if we're on us, we don't do as much of it as we really should require a sedentary society. We're no longer having to hunt for our food and stuff. And physical , physical exercise is something that you're forced to do perhaps in school. Uh, and beyond that, if you suddenly take are running or walking, but , you know, unless some physical exercise becomes a hobby, it's generally something we don't do a barge Henri first and second, and then we leave it again and then we leave it again for another year. And so I'm really looking forward to what you have to say today, but , uh, before we get into the subject , uh , if you just want to introduce yourself and describe your journey to becoming a PT and why you chose that profession.

Yeah, sure. So my name's Ruben , uh, grew up in Northern Ireland. Belfast haven't really left the country much beyond that. So it is what it is. Yeah. I worked seven years in retail, which told me that I don't want to do retail for the rest of my life. And , uh , one of the fellows I worked with there was PT worked with them for about five years before I actually asked him to take me on as a client and we'll actually get into this. Uh, hadn't really had much of a background in sport or fitness at all from school . Um, growing up, it was just not something I really did. And there, there was just one sort of moment. I think it was watching a movie or something saw someone was pretty cups , probably aren't old or something like that and thought, yeah, I could look like that. Let's give that a go. And so I'm talking to my mates and he took me on his client for a few months. Uh, looking back now, the training wasn't the best that I could have been, but it definitely got me an insight into it. And I find out from that, that I enjoyed doing the wits style of training because personally I hit running cycling enough . And ironically, anything that makes you work very hard, I don't want to feel I'm working the cm sort of working hard when I'm lifting the weights. So that suited me better. And so fast forward a bit training with him for a few months and then just couldn't afford to keep it up because it can be expensive for some people. And when you're working minimum Ridge in retail, it's not always a priority to spend half your wages on personal training. Conveniently enough, my brother started seeing who is now his wife and her father was a power lifter, had been lifting for the last three decades. Uh, he got in contact with me and says, what you're paying someone for this for I'll train you for free. So went ahead and trained. And he came in with the mindset of desk Altria and for five or six weeks, and then he'll play golf. You'll get bored of it five years on. I'm still treating with them . He can't get rid of me. I think that was my first insight to turning in a garage and a personal setup rather than training in a gym, in a public setting. And he showed me the ropes for basic strength training, and it was exactly what I wanted and it's still how I train today. Uh , so as a career change, I thought, right, well, if that other guy I used to work with could be a PT, I'll give it a go see how we go. Uh , that a few years turned into become a personal trainer. And then it opened up my horizons in terms of other professions, which would all tie into it. So , uh , I'm also a qualified sports massage therapist and I've gone on to Tran and various other treatment modalities for that. And I find it's all encompassing in terms of recovery protocols, recovery, even after training, not just necessarily injuries and , uh, everything that sort of brings the body into balance. And it's made me a better trainer for that because I have a better understanding of how the body works, how muscles react in certain ways to certain stimulus. And that's when it comes to training. So that all seems to be the re this taken me and long-term goal is not to go into chiropractic or physical therapy or something like that. So again, further encompassing, more and more specific details to why the body works the way it does and how to get somewhere with someone where they want to be with their training.

Yeah, that's , that's really cool. So like, not only are you , um, training the body and in a way, I suppose, damaging it for it to them , um , recover better , but you're like, you're, you're very knowledgeable then in the recovery side of things , uh, which I don't know if this is true, I've heard in some circles that recovery is more important than the actual exercise itself. If you focus more on your recovery, you know, regardless of high budget exercise, when it's still better, is that true or is that meth ?

It's sort of two sides to echoing as it goes, recovery is paramount. If you don't recover between your sessions, you'll never get the best benefits or gains. I suppose, if you want to call them that if your recovery is not on point , your body's not going to be performing optimally and subsequent sessions, and it's going to take you a lot longer to get where you want to be. But at the same time, there's this idea of a lot of people taking this prehab rehab sort of thing, and you'll see them roll an EIT for half an hour or so before a session, not to say that film rulings bad, it's just, they're taking it far beyond. It becomes the focus of the session rather than the actual training. And they're spending too much time on recovery and mobility that they're not getting a solid workout. So it's about striking a balance between that sort of thing. Cause if you don't do any of that sort of stuff down the line, you won't, you'll feel more and more aches and pains. There won't be any longevity in the actual training.

Yeah, that's a slight tangent here, but something I've noticed with all the conversations that I've had, even with a brand new podcast is that nothing is black and white. There , there are so many, there are so many nuances to each of these topics I've discussed in each of the guests are bringing to light. So again, not something, you know, I wasn't aware of. I fought you had the stretch before and after, and maybe you do, but like maybe don't make it the, the , the core part of your workout , so to speak. But , um , sorry,

That was okay. As a species, people want quick results and they want a straight answer because it's the fastest way they think to get something, which is why everyone has this black or white attitude.

Yeah. Yeah. I suppose that ties into our modern world of, I can pull out my phone and have the entire, you know, knowledge of our species in my hand, you know, and I can have everything I want and, you know, a couple of clicks of an app or a button, whereas achieving that body or losing that fat is not a two-second a two week or even a two month process,

The pushups in the morning and you'll look like Thor or whatever.

Yeah. Very good. On the subject of pushups and exercise and stuff. How do we do this? We go to a gym. So arguably yes, you could do all these home exercises. And that's what people have done during this lockdown, but going to the gym that is in my mind an event, especially the first time you do it, because to me, I know certainly I am not the biggest dude, but I've obviously under your guidance in that I've certainly taken, gotten into weight , lifting in the past two or three months. And I've known certainly going into a gym before. It's very intimidating. Especially when you walk in or you don't know anyone, you've never been in this gym before and all these people clearly know what they're doing in this gym. And you feel so out of place was machines everywhere. Very intimidating. Yeah. A hundred percent. So what's your advice to people who, regardless, whether this is getting geared and getting those muscles or losing fat, how do you get over that fear of walking into the gym? How do you get past that first part?

So the main thing is everyone walking into gym is going for the same reason they want to better themselves. So if you understand that everyone's in the same boat, regardless, regardless of how far along in their fitness journey, so to speak that they are. And , uh , the other thing is everyone walking in thinks everyone's looking at them, but to be honest, no one cares simple as that. Unless you're the film that's like swinging from the cable crossover upside on, no one really cares. And , uh , if you're going into a gym and you're getting people that are the up in that, oftentimes the people that are in Europe are the ones self-consciously and they're sad think in their head thinking like, why thought person there ? What do they think of me? Sort of thing. Um , as a people we're all very van , we're all very self-conscious. So oftentimes people are exactly a mental struggle in your head. Everyone's gone through that one point. And if you do, unfortunately, go to a gym and you do have standard, like there'll be a bite . There's no helping that. Um, but that's not necessarily a reflection of gym culture in its entirety. It's just on the unfortunate thing that sometimes people are just.

Yeah. 100% . And I know, certainly when I have gone in, and the first couple of sessions I've went in within, like by the end of the first session, and you realized exactly what you said, nobody cares, everybody's too busy trying to get their own workout. And they're in their own time schedule,

Unless in particularly you're getting in someone's way or you're like bothering someone then.

Yeah. Well it works , but we're gonna work . We're gonna , uh, I'm very interested to hear what you have to say on that with regards to Jim etiquette, which we're going to discuss later in the episode. But I mean, for me personally, I know when I've gone to a gym, everyone has been very courteous and helpful, and I've always gotten the vibe of once I've, once I've gone out of my own head and thinking, Oh gosh, everybody's judging me because I don't know how to use this kit . Or, you know, I don't want to ask for help. Cause I'll look like a fool. Everybody else is either too busy, you know, working like doing their own work. I trying to get on with their own lives. And then on top of that as well, when they do take time in between their sets and you see you're struggling, the amount of times people have come and say, Hey bro, do you want a hand? I can spot, I can spot for you or hear that you're doing a really good set there, but there's perhaps a more efficient way to do this. And like, Whoa, like all these people are really helpful.

Same way as being a new person to the gym, being a person who's a regular at the gym, there's a way to approach people. And there's a way not to approach people. And as you said there , it's saying you're doing a really good set, but you could make it better if you did. This is a much nicer way of approaching and saying, you're doing that wrong. Cause instantly they're already, self-conscious about how they're doing things. If they're doing it wrong and you call them on that, they're going to feel squandered .

Oh yeah. A hundred percent. Um, so yeah, that's really good , uh , for getting leads , getting over the fear. So I wake up

As well of , uh, asking people for help. So , uh , with my previous job, as I was becoming a personal trainer, going through all the training, following that, I actually ended up working for the company that I got my qualification searing . So I've taught people to become fitness instructors, personal trainers, as well as sports therapists, but that's side note. And , uh , it's what they're trained to do. Like if you ask someone for help, any gym worth their salt, should have people in place to show you around the gym, show you how to use the equipment that you're not sure of. Um , nine times out of 10, if you go into a gym and ask a fitness instructor, that's not busy with other people, can they show you around the gym, breaks their day up for them as well? They'll be happy to. Yeah.

Yeah. And I suppose it's the whole point of them being there as fitness instructors is to help you in your yeah. It's to help you in your fitness journey as well. So yeah, that's, that's really good stuff. And so you've gone over your fear, the gym, and you're finally walked in and whether that's a membership or you're just trying out a single session at a particular gym, see if it works for you, what are the big do's and don'ts what is proper gym etiquette? The first time you walk into a gym or even just if you're a regular member and you're perhaps not aware that there is gym etiquette, okay . What, what is, what are those things?

So not just applicable to the current situation of bike to keeping your six foot distance, but even before all that stay out of people's personal space, it's simple as that, especially if they're using equipment because that equipment can be fatal. If you get into the way, distract someone, that's trying to concentrate under it and basically respect other people in general. Again, it doesn't have to be in the gym, but it's very much applicable here, respect the personal space. And uh , if you're using the equipment, make sure you keep your area tidy and clean it down afterwards. Because at the end of the day, a Jim's a minefield. If it's left on tidy, it's going to be injuries everywhere.

Yeah. And I mean, I think there's, there's honey , there's hundreds of little like micro rules, so to speak, to make sure that the Jim's a pleasant experience. But like I assume then that those are the big ones. Like your massive do's and don'ts clean up respect, personal space, you know, especially when people are operating very heavy equipment, like , you know, people are free four rings on a squat or something. And you're like walking in between the bars and stuff. Yeah. It's not ideal. Right.

Rewrite your way . It's when you're done. Like it is a nuisance, like there's been multiple gyms I've gone to over the years and there's nothing, I find more annoying than plants on the floor and in your way, even if you're going to be using them again after keep them tidy to your side sort of thing. But , um, there's one instance. I recall of a gym that I used to frequent and there was this one fellow who unfortunately we didn't know is scheduled to go at a different time, but every time we were there, he just seemed to be there. And he had taken it upon himself to do circuits in the gym. And that's including using some of the free weights equipment and some of the machines. Right . So he'd be doing circuits of four or five exercises running up out the gym exercise to exercise and basically barring people from using the equipment. Cause he's using it.

Yeah. I'd I don't know if I, I don't know if I'd have accepted that. I'd be like, man ,

It's frustrating to say the least. And then he was stubborn enough that anytime someone called him on it, he would just keep doing it.

Yeah. I mean, there's always Jocko . Don't don't be that guy. Yeah. There's always, there's always jerks, no matter what social circumstance or area you're in, isn't there

And say, say you do have a program and you're coming in, you have a specific thing to work on. Like the public gym. If it's already in use, go do something else. Don't sit around. Like you're in the park . We , and they get on the swing sort of thing. Cause that's just, that's going to put them off. If they , if they know you're waiting and they feel under the pressure to finish up. So you can jump in for years .

Yeah. Yeah. Cause I have find people in the gym to be very, very courteous, you know, EBV , if I've even glanced in the direction of a way that people like, Oh, are you using that? Where , Oh no, no man. You know, they crack carry on. So you know, if anything, I think some of them was courteous. People I've met are in the gym and then you get

99% of the people in the gym will be perfectly pleasant. If you , if you catch them at the wrong time, like someone's psyching themselves up for a heavy set . Like you don't want to get in their way. And that's because they have a lot going on internally. They're trying to prep for yeah .

Yeah. You do need to get, you do need to get kind of angry unpleasant when you're lifting, you know , a couple of hundred kilos off the floor, it does help. So you're in the, so you finally go over your fear of the gym. You're not being a good sport in the gym. You're not ruining other people's day or leaving equipment by . And you're finally committed to a program. Whether that's one you find online or someone has drawn up for you. What I was something that I want to touch on is realistic timeframes. I mean, you touched on this a little bit earlier in the episode where, you know, the world is an instant place. Now I can switch on my TV and instantly have access to Pfizer's of movies on Netflix. Or I can go on my phone and order something off Amazon. And the next day it's here, whereas training your body, which is, you know, by all kinds of very sophisticated machine, you know, people, I don't think are hoppy when they go January 1st , January 2nd, realize how much bloody hard work this is and , and cut themselves off. Yeah .

Sales for two days and feel awful for the next week or so because their body's not accustomed to it. And that's what puts them off

Realistic way of approach . Let's say, right enough is enough. I want to become fitter or the fittest I've ever been. What's a realistic way to approach the gym and the results you're going to achieve. So like what's realistic timeframe.

Okay. So the main thing before we talk about times at all is just to trust the process right ? Days you'll make good progress days . You we'll make decent progress or there'll be like , uh , depending on your goal . So you're looking for strength, greens, muscle building, or weight loss. There will always be ways of tracking that, but there'll be days you'll see it more than others. But the idea is just as long as you're always taking positive steps in the right direction, you'll get where you want to be eventually. And sometimes timeframes, you'll see people selling these 12 week transformations, which in their own right, you can do a lot in 12 weeks. I ever won't necessarily be the healthiest way to get there or the most sustainable way to get there. You'll find a lot of people will do these 12 week transformations for sake of a photo shoot . Look at themselves into the best Bever . However, those last couple of weeks they will feel awful. And then as soon as they go back after the photo shoot, they'll bounce back to where they were before. And uh , oftentimes it's more waterway or something that they've lost, but it makes them look a bit better for to see if those photo shoots , um, realistically, like it's not irrational to say in terms of years to get where you want to get. Because say you're a person who is quite heavyset and wants to lose a lot of fat. It didn't happen overnight. So you can't expect it to disappear overnight. Same way. If you're a skinny person, you're looking to build up a lot of muscle, you've gone your whole year and never art your whole year. Sorry, your whole life. I never built up the muscle. You can't expect that. I'll just top on. And have you look like stage ready in a matter of weeks or months?

Yeah. That's , that's a , probably a bitter pill to swallow for some people. The fact that, you know, they , yeah ,

The sooner they help them to realize this and accept it. You'll, you'll be surprised how quick you do make the progress.

Yeah. So in your mind, in your opinion, then what creates that sustainable change? What , what , how do you, how do we, or you get beyond the free month transformation? How do you go beyond, you know , um , I'll do this, I'll get the beach body, I'll start in January, get the beach body. And, and the rest of the year after, you know, I'll, I'll not baller. How do you recreate the physical exercise and your physical well-being becomes either a daily habit or a weekly habit or some , it doesn't become like this weird thing that you either do on January 1st or second or a month before beach season, you know, how do, how do we create that sustainable change?

So they say it takes what 60 days create a habit. The idea is making multiple habits over time, all fueled in the right direction. So , um, when it comes to getting yourself a trainer, as I said earlier, by the financial hold backs, all that can be quite expensive. For some people you'll be much better than paying a trainer three days out of the week for a few months to get yourself into the best year of your life or whatever do one day a week. Because when you're new to it , one day a week is plenty. As long as you're consistent, consistency is key with all of this sort of thing. And if you do once a week, every week, 52 weeks in the year, you'll get much more progress than if you do well. I did three times this week and then I didn't train for two weeks. And then I did four days this week. And then if you're yo-yoing like that, your body will never have the consistent stimulus to make a change. Whereas if you do once a week and do it right, you'll get there in the longterm and you'll be all the better for us as well. If you're only setting yourself one time a week, you can put your all into that one time and most people will hold themselves more accountable. Aqua, you only have to do it once this week. It's much easier than to go and write three or four days. That's a lot more time to dedicate for them when they come into it .

Yeah. See, that's, that's really good. I like that. Rather than like John re first and going in for like an R to our session on , you know, absolutely destroying yourself, you know, baby steps walk before you can run. And yeah, that seems to me like a far more sustainable way of doing that . Yeah.

And the perspective , um, I had a client a couple of years ago and she came to me. She wanted to lose a bit of wit and just you'll hear the term tone up a tune up for most people is get a bit more definition. Technically the definition for tone is the muscles readiness to be active, toning up. It doesn't actually mean you look better. It's the muscles readiness. It's not really, it's sort of a skewed a term that a lot of people say they want to tone up sort of thing. Yeah. Besides the point , anyway, she wanted to lose a bit of weight and get a bit more muscle death definition. She doesn't have a lot of weight to lose, but yeah, I could see, she wanted that goal. We trained once a week for, I think two months. And the main thing is we cleaned up the diet as well with that. And she lost a stone, which for a lot of people, a stone is quite a big feat. And uh , for the most part it was diet. Like, again, everyone has this idea that, Oh, if I train in the gym, I'll look like Arnold. But when it comes to a decent split to think about, it would be that it is 70% nutrition, 15% training, 15% sleep.

Wow. Okay. So

A lot of people are just like, Oh, I'll smash it in the gym and I'll look good. Then they'll go home and they'll eat rubbish and then wonder why they're not getting anywhere.

Yeah. Okay. That , that blew my mind. I didn't realize that that, that was the ratios we're talking about here. So

It's not an exact thing again, nothing's black and white, but that's always the way that I've heard it. And I've seen similar things written and I've seen it written as well. The training and sleep can sort of wherever , but it's always going to be nutrition as the first thing that's going to get any sort of body recomposition

That's . That's incredible. Yeah, no, no . I'm looking at it. I know for a fact , my diet could improve. Like I have prior to , uh, you know, the time of this interview, we have just gone on to another lockdown . But prior to that, I was going to the gym three times a week. But in the back of my mind, I knew that my diet, while it was better than it was before could definitely improve even more. And I I've been tracking my sleep as well. And I it's maybe not as good as it's been. So I've certainly noticed that I've gotten a little bit bigger, but the fault NY that 70, you know , nuanced here, 70% of the work give or take is in nutrition that blew my mind. So

The thing with the nutrition is it will fuel your workouts, but it would also require it also give you all the components you require to recover. Um , and you recover when you sleep. So that's why the sleep is just as much important as what the training is. But , um, same thing with the diet. It doesn't mean that you need to go straight onto the calorie tracking while yes, that will be the most effective way to do it. Not everyone's going to sit and weigh out every fruit of the ground because like even me personally, I just can't be bothered with it. I don't care enough to do that, but it is the most effective way because you'll get the most feedback. You'll have the most figures to work with, but CMY way that can be a mountain for someone to climb is about making little changes and creating the habit. Substitute soda drinks with water, cut back on the salt, cut back on processed foods. If you've got three nights a week, you're having takeaways cut one night out, little changes over time will make the big difference. Yeah ,

That's see that . That's such good advice as well. You don't think about that. Like I think the biggest, I think why going to the gym and getting into fitness in general is so intimidating is because we have this idea that it requires a massive immediate changes in lifestyle. Whereas what you're saying, being the expert in this situation is that little changes have big impacts and those habits over time that create the results that you're after. And that is so much more easier to deal with. And so refreshing to hear that as well, because it's no longer, [inaudible] , it's just a small Hill get over this little Hill on the next Hill, on the next Hill. And you look back and you go, Holy crap, I've gained either a Kayla of muscle or I've lost a stone. And all I did was cut. I eating out once a week or I went for a walk after work or I did, or I invested in a personal trainer once a week. So simple little things like that make this seemingly impossible task of losing weight or gaining muscle so much more achievable.

Absolutely. And I think if people start making little changes and start to notice how big a difference, the smaller changes make, it'll become easier and easier for them to make more changes in the right direction. So it just builds up momentum.

They see that little change and go, while I look good in the mirror or while my sleeves are fitting tighter and they want more of that, they'll create that. And they'll go, you know what? I don't free times a week. I only need to eat out once a week or in fact, you know what, let's just cut it out altogether . You know, the healthy rice and chicken and broccoli actually tastes better. And I don't feel like crap off

Two words . And the thing is as well, people's tastes will change. Uh, the reason that they creative takeaway so often if they have , have had it for so long is because they're their interiors like the bacteria and their gut are acclimated to that type of eating. So then healthier foods will feel weird to them for some people that might make them feel a bit iffy the first few days of doing it. And then they'll get to a point where they're bacteria, cultures in the gut have changed. And that's the sort of thing they're craving. They'll go for a takeaway and it might put them off completely. Um , another client of mine before I didn't tell him to do this, but I told them about the cleaner eating and what would be considered, I suppose, a bodybuilding diet, like same as you'd said, like chicken, rice, broccoli, plant the vegetables, fill up on the verge sort of thing. And he took that as gospel. I didn't tell him to do this now, but he took that as gospel. And for a month he had that daily, not for every meal. He had other things in between. He cleaned up, but he had that for dinner daily. Then he decided, right, well, it's been X amount of time. I'll treat myself to a takeaway. It ruined him for two days because his body was just so far pastored at that point. Yeah . Maybe you just got,

Yeah, but I know to be fair, right. I can testify that my team has certainly changed. So , uh , years ago I used to have two sugars in my tea and I had a very sweet turf. And um, I went to see , uh , with my company came back , we brought, whoever was in charge of getting the tea and sugars off . Right. And so we had to go, I had to go cold Turkey for two weeks with no sugar , uh, which , uh , was a deeply unpleasant experience. We also ran out of chocolate bars as well, which I wasn't happy about, but I was craving craving craving. Like this chocolate bar got back to the shop. It could not get it diamond quick enough. And I felt so ill. Like I stood at even like, as I took a first bite, the amount of sugar in it, my feet I cringed, like my body was like, wha what is this? Yeah . Oh yeah. I finished it and immediately regretted it. And I haven't done it since I have no, I would say I have very little , I wouldn't say no sugar, obviously that's, that's a, you do need some sugar in your diet. It's all balanced and healthy, but I have considerably less sugar in my diet than I did years ago. And I'm all the better for it. Like I did notice a big change in my mood and my mental health and in my physical shape as well. Um, but that's something that I would love to discuss on another episode , uh , for the audience for the should pick gloves on ovary will be, it'd be a repeat guest for all things, physical exercise related and recovery. So you can look forward to that, but you know, gut health, diet recovery, all these things associated with a good workout in good physical health. This is something we're going to discuss it in future episodes. And, but moving on to something I do want to have a chat about , and that is physical trainers. I, I going to stick my hand up here and say, I don't know a great deal about your craft. I know you use study hards to understand the human body and why it does what it does and you know, Heidi get the best optimization out of it, you know, tailor it to the client based on what their goals are and what their occurred, physical shape and fitness. But is , is this a one size fits all or is there a different types of trainers? And do you know, when you walk into a gym, is, are all the trainers to see him? W w w let us get a sneak peek into the world of physical trainers.

So same way, everything else hasn't been black and white. This has excuse the pun, but over 50 shades of gray. But , um , so the issue with these days with everything becoming so available online is there's a lot of online courses for these physical qualifications. You're getting people that have sat in front of a computer ticked boxes on a multiple choice question and got their print Doug's certificate that says you're not a personal trainer. I wouldn't trust that guy to put the colors on the bar, let alone teach me how to lift it. Um, and the thing is, oftentimes other companies are offering these courses at much cheaper rates, and it shows because the quality is horrendous. And , uh , as the fitness industry has been glowing growing for the last few decades, it's like everyone and their uncle is a personal trainer. Like you , you can get a personal trainer, a diamond does. And these days, the main thing is if you're getting a trainer it's, it's okay to ask them what their qualifications are. And the best way to do it is to check which of which qualifications are regulated, because you'll get all these online ones aren't regulated. And there's nothing to say that it's worth the paper it's printed on, but most of the general public don't even think to ask. They assume this person's in a gym and they're working here. So of course they know what they're on about ,

Right? Okay. That that's caught me off guard. I did not realize that Y you know, in some cases nowadays, you can just fill like a naughty course, and you , you are in the title of physical trainer. So , um, I mean, bar bar asking their qual , asking for their qualifications, is there any surefire way of , of being able to gauge whether a physical trainer is worth their salt? Like, are they worth the money they're demanding?

So it'll also depend on what you want from the training. Um, oftentimes a lot of people will look at the trainer and see if the trainer is in shaped themselves. If they look a certain way and the person wants to look like that, oftentimes they'll just accept. Right? Well, they've got themselves there. There'll be able to tell me how to get there. And personally, that's how I got into it as well. Originally, like the guy that I got to train me, he looked a certain way and I thought, Hey, I could get that way. So I just asked him, it turned out. It was just paying his rent for the last three months that I was working for him. Like it was extensively overpriced , right? A standard price. I don't want to undercut anyone in the industry, but in Northern Ireland, anyway, 20, 25 pounds for a personal trainer, it's pretty average. Now you will get obviously more and more qualified people. Like if it goes from personal trainer to then go on to strength and conditioning coach, they've obviously invested in themselves for much more qualifications themselves. So of course, you're going to have to pay more for them as a coach, because their knowledge is more specific for a personal trainer. You'll see, obviously depends on the gym. They run a load over as well. You'll pay maybe up to 40 pounds. If you're paying more than that, you're going to really want to do your research to make sure that they're actually worth the money. Because a lot of people are just there with their hand light . And it would be the same with certain other industries. If you come to a trainer and they're instantly trying to bookie in for repeat sessions. Now, granted, some of them might have an offer where it's like, say it's 20 pound a session, but if you buy five or knock 20 pound off the collective price sort of thing, that's fair enough. But if you get a person that's always trying to Becky and Becky and bookie in , that's usually a red flag, right ? It's not the grit , not the greatest of business models, but as a personal trainer, you want to be able to get a person to a point where they don't need you anymore. Yes. Make yourself redundant. Yeah . Which as I say, from a business standpoint, isn't ideal. But if that person's always got their hand out and trying to bring you back, bring you back, run the opposite direction,

But that speaks volumes. So because if you make yourself redundant that in a way means you've done your job and you've done it well, and that person and their sphere of influence is going to look good and people are going to go, you look great. How did you do that all? Well, my , uh, my PT Ru they've given me has given me this year. I've finished with them though , but I can give you his contact details and, you know, you can see what he can do for you. And then almost by word of mouth, you don't need to advertise. You don't need to say , uh , or you don't need to have , uh , you know, have your hand, are you please , please, you know, come and , uh, come into the gym and I'll teach you to , uh, how to use it. And I'll get you in the best shape of your life and free mounts , you know, in a way it's a lot more wholesome and organic and , and I've trusted , uh , PT far quicker than I would. You know, someone who's, you know, almost badgering me, you know, coming, come and train at my gym.

The hardest part with that though, is because of how saturated the market is. You'll get people, undercutting people all over the place. I actually knew a PT was doing five pine sessions just to get himself started for one is severely undervalued in his own training and qualifications. And for too , like, if a person pays a fiver , they're expecting like Aqua, it's only a fiver . If it's not good, it's not good. And most of his was just really high turnaround. Like there was no one adherent to the people didn't see the value in him as a trainer because he didn't play as that volume on himself. Yeah.

And you struck a , you struck a chord there with, it doesn't matter what profession you're in or, you know, it's investing like, for me, like for me , uh , like our good friend Mark, I hadn't seen Mark in five years. And the last time I seen him, you know, he was an average bloke. Now I went for coffee with him at some point this year, when they locked downs at East and he looked like bloody BN . I was like, what , what has happened here? There you go. I was like, what is going on? Like, I actually had to do a double take because I was like, there's no way that's smart . Cause there's no way he's that big. And it's like, good grief. He he's rocking the Viking. Look, you know, with a beard and looking massive. And I was like, ma what happened? And obviously he told me all about yourself and you get an I'm in the strength training. I was like, Oh, let me, and,

And that , you know yourself, Mark lives in London now . So it's not even that he's been training with me the whole time that he's been doing it East. I taught him the basics, showed him the ropes and he's overdoing that himself in London, like to be very, he's one of the most dedicated people I know to it as well. He'd be like, you shouldn't do this, but he beats himself up if he misses a day or if he has a bad day, which is another thing for people that are new to getting into it. Like if you have a bad day, don't beat yourself up for it . The fact that you got up, you went there and did something is better than 50% of the population. But if you have a good day, don't be afraid to optimize on it. Push yourself a bit further forward.

Yeah. I just, obviously I'm still relatively new to the whole gym experience and weightlifting , but there's been some workouts where I was like, man, that was just not good. And I w I wouldn't say I felt bad, or I beat myself up about it, but I was kind of like, man , I rock the gym last week and, you know, maybe expecting to get another five kilos maybe on my school or, you know, my bench press. And I was like, no, the body just would not, would not perform today. And you kind of go, Oh, that's the , that's a sham. But then the next week you come back, I come back and maybe add not just five, but seven kilos to various lifts . I'm like, Oh, this is great. I think it's the key is for me personally. Um , this is my own thing. I have an end goal in mind and, you know, I'm very aware and I, that this is going to take mom's even not years. So for me, it's, I look beyond the micro, the micro training sessions and look at the bigger goal of what I'm going to achieve , uh , to become.

And that's not to say you can't, it's not to say you can't set goals on the way sort of benchmarks as it goes. And there's a protocol that we follow. It's taught generally to most personal trainers when they're going through it. And they refer to them as smart goals. Now you may have heard them in other things of work, because it's quite a well-known thing. Smart is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bind. And you want to set goals based around these five parameters to then see the progress. So this can range from short term, medium term to long term goals. And obviously you have , you have set yourself a longterm goal is your final destination where you want to get to. But if you take this approach on goals on the , enter him on the way up to it, it could be a difference of your short-term . One is right. We're going to cut out a takeaway each week. That's pretty achievable, pretty specific, pretty measurable. Like it fits all the parameters. It's realistic. It's the main thing. Cause you'll get these other people. And again, it's going back to this 12 week transformation mentality. It's not realistic for most people. And if your end goal is to end of 12 weeks, then what? Because they're not seeing the bigger picture.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100% . Um, there's so much more we can dive into here, but I think that, you know, we could end up chatting for free ours on this, but we'll hop work on . I have to hobby on again, under so much just on this subject. I want to dive into, I've already mentioned in the episode previous between the sleep, the recovery, you know , gut bacteria, that's the stuff I definitely want to dive into just cause that's such something we never discussed . But , um, do you have any final bits of advice or just a good things to know when you're starting your physical training journey?

Okay. So I suppose sort of reeling back a wee bit of topic that we're talking about specific types of trainers. And if you have a specific goal in mind, whether you want to be able to run a marathon, you want to lose a certain amount of weight. You want to build your strength up, to be able to dead lift a certain amount. Oftentimes you'll get trainers will have their own niche because it's the type of training that they enjoy. So don't be afraid if you have a session with a trainer and you just don't really click, like they won't be a fan of that. If you say it's not actually the sort of thing I'm looking for, it's not a big deal. And for myself personally, the stuff I enjoy is the strength training. So if a person came to me and said, they wanted to be able to run a marathon and do some endurance sort of stuff, it's not my field of expertise. I could point them in the right direction. But a better thing that I could do for them is I have other personal trainers that I've known in the industry. I can point them in a direction of someone who really can help them. I'm really will be aware their time.

Yeah. Yeah. I see . And that just shows how I whole , some of the PT are you , but you're , you're willing to accept. This is not my area of expertise, but I can, I can direct you to someone who's maybe better qualified for them specific goals.

There's so many people, especially people that are new to it . I think they have to know everything. And there's people who've been doing this for decades, still don't know everything. And that's when it becomes an issue when you get all these Instagram trainers, which are like, Oh yeah, I'll do your online coaching. There's coaches. I follow that are three decades. And the industry won't offer online coaching because you just can't do it through a screen. You need to be physically there in person to see all the angles in that .

Yeah, yeah. Uh , spark and the, a wisdom there Ru um , so I just want to say thank you very much for coming on today. I really appreciate everything you've had to say. And audience, you can look forward to having re uh, back on this podcast , uh , sometime soon to discuss all things, physical training related. So once again, Ruth, thank you very much.

Yes. Thanks for having me Johnny . And I'll look forward to the next one.

There you go. Folks. That was my chat with my friend Bree on , uh , all things fitness and yeah, I got a lot of that chat and , uh, hopefully you did too. If he did enjoy it, then please leave a rating and review that really helps us podcast grow. And yeah, if you want to hear more content from the curious Ulsterman, please do subscribe to all the various social media and just search for the curious Ulsterman and I'm easy enough to find, so, yeah, folks, thanks again for tuning in. I really appreciate it all the best. Bye

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