I Lost My Job And Started Going To The Gym

I did not plan this. I had recently lost my job, and I started going to the gym. Not casually — religiously. Four days a week, sometimes five, sometimes six. It was the part of the day that was mine, and it was the part of the day where something got better instead of worse.

My wife owns a small business as a massage therapist. She watched me do that for a while and said, you should look into becoming a personal trainer. And I did. And I've absolutely loved it.

Why I tell people that

I am not going to pretend I have been an athlete since I was fifteen. I came to this as an adult, during a stretch where I needed something to hold onto, and I found out what training does for a person's head as much as their body.

That is why I do not flinch when somebody tells me they are starting from nothing at 68 with blood pressure to watch and a bad knee. Starting from nothing is the part I understand best.

The talking is the method

Here is what I do differently. I'm a bit more chatty. I like to talk and get to know my clients — their background, what's going on in their personal life — before we get going. I know a lot of other guys in the business just like to get in there and get going without having any sort of background on their client.

It is not small talk. If I know you are on your feet at work all day, we are not starting with heavy legs. If I know you sleep badly, I know why today feels harder than Tuesday. If I know you are watching grandkids this weekend, I know what next Monday should look like. All of that changes the session, and you cannot get it off an intake form.

It also means when you tell me something hurts, you actually tell me, because we are not strangers counting reps at each other.

Real life does not slow down for training

Nobody I work with has perfect conditions. There are appointments, medications, grandkids, bad nights, weeks that get away from you. The plan has to survive that, which means it has to be something you can do on a tired Tuesday with twenty minutes, not just on the day you feel great.

So we build for that. Two or three sessions a week you can actually keep. Movements that work whether you slept eight hours or four. Progress measured over months, not moods.

Where we start

We start slow with light weights so I can see exactly what you can do. We stretch. We talk. And we take it from there — a little more each week, for as long as you want to keep going.

Whole body fitness is one year in, here in Port Chester. If you want to feel better and you do not know where to begin, that is the normal place to begin. Read how progressive overload works for beginners, look at the training options, and get in touch.