What was your inspiration to become part of the fitness industry?

Hello Lawrence with Gym Insight,

This is great; I love the stories. Thank you all for sharing and helping out our country.
I love to do many things; but, one day, I had had enough of all the gimmicks out there and watching good, well-intentioned people fall for every one out there, only to add to their confusion and disgust.
I started helping friends and relatives then thought: I could be getting paid for this, but better get educated to do things properly.
I went back to school after raising our children to adulthood. Now it is my turn to make a career helping one and all achieve their health and fitness goals safely.
Take care.

Hello Lawrence,
I played sports in school, football, track and field, wrestling and powerlifting.
Graduated high school and went to work in the oil & gas industry. Very rough rugged and tough work along side other men of the same caliber in the oil field.
Some bad habits started...smoking-alcohol and soon became out of shape.
My sister talked me into going to a small gym with her and I found just how out of shape I was.
Changing my habits...I was soon hooked working out again and within a year was in my fisrt bodybuilding competition.
Left the oil & gas industry and crossed over into the health and fitness industry full time.
Received the first PT certification from IDEA when they had PT certifications,
and began my PT business and started two retail/distribution businesses soon therafter.
So..."a thank you" to my sister who had a part in changing my bad habits and my career.

Sincerely,
Michael

A very good question, I loved being in a gym since I first set my foot through the door at 13 I had to lie about my age so they would let me join.

After I left school I was employed as a casual gym instructor, my employer paid for me to gain my personal training qualification. In 2004 I moved t africa and started working at the biggest chain in the country, I worked as a personal training manager till 2010 when my love getting my clients in shape and the interaction with clients brought me back to PT.

To this day I still feel the same excitement that the 13 year old me felt that first day in the gym. I get to feel that every single day.

I have spend my entire adult life living and breathing fitness as a soldier in the Army. I have always gotten alot of fulfilment and joy from working out and being extremely active. I just want to try share this with others that have a desire, need or want to do the same.

Hi Lawrence,

great question. I loved to read all the other narratives, and here is mine:

Even though I had a rotten athletic start because of a bone problem when I was a child and always HATED sports in school, I eventually got to love horseback riding, Tae Kwon Do (Emma Peel was my hero) and eventually playing Squash. Squash became my claim to very moderate fame. I started playing in Germany when I was 20 or so, and when I was sent on a work assignment to England, I REALLY got off into it and played just about every day.

I continued to play as I pursued my corporate career but my shoulders did not like my playing Squash as much as I did and started giving me problems. I became acquainted with the term 'impingement syndrome' and eventually had surgery. By then I was in the United States in search of corporate glory. I wanted to resume playing Squash but this sport was hardly known over here, and Racquetball just did not do it for me.

So I joined a gym and started working out as a continuation of my physical therapy. A very helpful young man was showing me what to do but knew very little about shoulders, so I ended up winging my way through the machine jungle at the gym and finding out what worked for me and what did not.

At that time, I had married and decided to stay in the US. My husband had retired and decided to start a career in fitness which had been a lifelong passion for him. I quit my corporate job and thought I'd try that as well.

That was almost 20 years ago. So there was a bit of chance and circumstance but things have been leading up to it as I look back at my decision to change careers so drastically.

Karin Singleton
www.meltnc.com

We love helping other's improve the quality of their life. Plain and simple.

Ron
www.motionsoft.net

I've mentioned my story many times.

I became inspired because of Jack LaLanne. I was five years old and home sick from school with a sore throat. The Jack LaLanne show came on and I knew what I would eventually do when I got older.

Thanks for your question.

Hi Lawrence,

I was an athlete since I was 8 years old. I was a competitive swimmer until my early 20's, so for me was a natural path to follow. I am competitive and at the same time I like to help others improve their lifestyle and adopt healthier habits. The disciplines I've learned while I was a swimmer helped me in my career and made me understand what it takes to set and achieve goals. Jack LaLanne was an inspiration for me as well and I hope to continue helping people just like he did.

Best,
Harris

Great thread Lawrence. Similar to Jocelyn I got into it by chance. I was working as a nurse, slightly overweight and joined a women's gym to get fit. It did not take me long to realize the instructors (we are talking 30 years ago, there were virtually no personal trainers back then), knew little about fitness or weights. I bought Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Body Building For Women" and brought the book to the gym with me. My body changed, the members noticed and soon began asking my advice (very few women used weights back then). I discovered I enjoyed helping them and continued to educate myself. Within 2 years I had left nursing (though I still keep my RN) and was working full time in the fitness industry.

creative outlet, working with awesome people, helping inspire light bulb moments of clients, positive energy

Being a gym rat.

For me, the answer is in your question, I have a need to inspire others to be their best.

Since having kids I let myself go, my husband was in the armed forces and away a lot. We had moved around several times, which lead to me being long distances away from my family. For years my eldest daughter who is now 14 had been bullied, she is a very pretty girl with a great personality. I had to deal with all these problems on my own as my husband was away a lot, I worked full time and had become very stressed. I took to buying lots of take away, and ready made meals as well as junk food for comfort. I was sleeping my life away with any spare time and had no energy to do anything especially with my daughters. I joined the local gym and went a few times then gave up and made heaps of excuses to myself as why not to go. Then one day I was so stressed and upset about how my daughter was being treated so I went for a run, once finished I felt good. This became a regular late night thing when the kids had gone to bed. I was confident enough to go back to my local gym, the staff were so friendly and helpful. I decided to take up a personal training package they were offering. After a month or so results started to show and my weight was going down. They where offering a 12 week challenge with a cash prize of $10,000 and they convinced me to sign up. I was a bit hesitant at first but then thought why not as I got nothing to lose. As the challenge came closer I was so determined to prove to everybody especially my family and friends that I could do this and maybe even win it. I became more and more determined to try win it, weeks passed and I still believed in myself, I had my first weigh in and got some great results, I had a number of goals I wanted to achieve by the end of it , my fitness levels were improving greatly and believe it or not I loved more and more going to the gym. I stuck to my diet and my pt pushed me harder and harder I let no obstacle or thought get in my way. The challenge came to an end and I had achieved great results. I got a phone call to say I had made it in the top 5 of the comp. In the end I did not win the $10,000 but made an amazing transformation of myself and along my journey had inspired many family and friends to take the plunge and look at their own life's. I decided that I wanted to be able to help people just like me so I am completing my training to become a PT. I am now on all the posters around town and at my local gym as the next 12 week challenge is about to start. The gym is now apart of my daily routine . My girls have become more active and see me as an inspiration . My youngest daughter 11 since joining cross fit kids has not missed a single session. To date I have lost a total of 37kg . I never ever look back and hope by telling you my story that you can share it with others .

Loved reading all of the answers. I've been involved in athletics for as long as I can remember. My dad was a high school coach so I've struggled heel and toe with athletes for since I can remember. After competing and coaching at both the high school and collegiate level it was fortuitous that the 'fitness industry' was just emerging when I retired from coaching & teaching. It has grown leaps & bounds and I am thankful to have been a part of it for many years. Working with individual clients, groups, lecturing, writing articles and books and striving to maintain my own fitness have all been a labor of love!

Take care.

Really interesting paths that got us all to this industry!

In high school, drill team was my life. I did other sports, music, etc., but what I really loved was choreographing and teaching synchronized dance routines. Although I'm an introvert's introvert, I had no trouble teaching large groups how to dance, and I continued through college.

When I got out of college, I bought my first gym membership. Yuck. I was bored on the machines and the treadmill. Then I attended a "hi/lo" class and decided that I'd rather teach it than take it. That was a chance for me to get back into choreographing (more simply) and teaching.

As we know more, we do more. I've grown into many directions in the last 25 years, now most interested in therapeutics and keeping Baby Boomers in their best vibrant shape. But it all started with the back of an aerobics class, thinking, "I should do this."