As a fitness coach, I think it’s imperative to know what one has accomplished in their career? Well, I listed just a few testimonials in my book, The Fire Within. But I have some other cool stories I want to share with everyone and I just feel like bragging about my success on this beautiful Sunday morning!
Also…. I’ve changed names in all testimonials since I’m not asking these people for permission. If you recognize your story on here and don’t mind your real name being used, let me know!
First up is Jessica. She came to some bootcamp classes of mine in late 2007. She then took 2 personal sessions with me in November ’07. One was a hike up Rattlesnake Canyon. Well, more of a walk – she was pretty slow. We did a jog back down and she lasted 100m before gasping for air, “Matt, I’m not a runner – I’m a dancer! I will never be a runner!”
I chuckled and we walked the rest of the way down. For New Years, we ran the New Years Resolution 5k run together and she had an impressive ~26 minute time. Within a few short months, she was getting pretty strong in boxing, kettlebells, and ran weekly.
Where is she now? Well… if you want to hire a personal trainer, find Jessica at Spectrum in Santa Barbara. She’s now a trainer and has many successful clients of her own. You can tell who she is – the sour one who says “Matt’s training just doesn’t work & his company is a joke.”
I put out an ad for a training buddy for myself. This is where I met George. He really reminded me of Jack Black. Came to the workout with jeans on and a tshirt. His hair all messy and a scruff beard. Seemed like a nice enough guy, but about 50lbs away from what I was looking for in a workout buddy. We did a kettlebell session on the beach anyway and it was the first time he had worked out in years (or ever!). Before parting, I said “You know, George… I own a fitness company. How about you join up with them and in a year me & you can be workout buddies?” He agreed to that as his purpose of meeting was to lose weight, anyway. So he started training with Jessica, actually – she was to the point now that she was taking clients of her own with my company.
George worked out with Jessica about 2x a week for a few months. His first workout was a grueling 3 sets of stadium stairs. Fast forward six months and George wasn’t so Jack Black anymore. He’d trimmed about 15lbs and could get in 15 sets of stadium stairs in one workout. But he wasn’t finished yet. George got involved in 5k runs and boxing heavily with our company. I continued to train his trainers and coach them for his success. Another 6 months went by and George had lost an additional 20lbs. Now looking pretty good, I asked George to help out with our bootcamps. By now, we also had started joining each other at the gym. I was using this for my own personal workout, so I would stack some heavy weights on for myself and then ligthen the load once he did his set.
Then by mid 2009, George took over one of the bootcamp programs entirely. He was also even with me at the gym with how much we lifted and had shed another 8lbs. He only had about 15lbs to go before he was in tip-top shape.
George went further to become a certified trainer, published some articles on health and fitness, and now takes clients of his own.
Looking for a yoga teacher for my company late 2007, I met Jackie. She was very strong in her practice and quite the runner, too. Although strong in her practice and her ability to teach, she didn’t really have the best business sense or following. She had only been in Santa Barbara a few weeks. I took Jackie under my wing and we came up with a game plan to make her a rockstar. A few months later, she was well known at all the yoga studios in town and was an instructor on our staff. Fast forward 4 more months and she was published in a few magazines – either with articles herself or with people writing about her. We then put together a beautiful yoga video filmed on the beach which pushed her career to the next level and designed an incredible website to showcase her talent and portfolio. All this within 8 months of meeting me.
These are just a few of the successes in my own personal clients. As you can see – working with me is a process. It takes a few years to fully develop a client into the success I see in them. The beauty of my training is that each individual I work with will tell you I’m horrible & they did it all on their own. Well, not all of them – but the majority. Why is this beautiful? When you can train someone to really think they have the success on their own, it is a wonderful thing. Like Jessica for example. She really believes my training didn’t work. When I first met her, she was reading cosmopolitan, seventeen, etc. Halfway through our training I finally got her to switch subscriptions to Women’s Health, Self, etc. Then she finally had a breakthrough one day when I said, “Go ahead and get into Plank position.”
“Planks? What will this do for me. I want to lose weight. Women’s health says that planks are great for stability, but not weight loss!” She said with disgust.
I smiled, “Plank position, please.” I was happy to see Jessica had finally took the initiative to start learning health & fitness on her own. Who cares if she was right or wrong – at least her head is getting filled with better info than the gossip in those other junk magazines. After a few years of continually making her research her questions, she got to the point she didn’t have questions anymore and she started teaching more thank asking. This is exquisite success, in my eyes.
I have a few more success stories coming up, but they just aren’t finished yet, so I want to hold off on them. I only take a few personal clients per year and it’s my pride & joy to watch them blossom into forces within the wellness industry & become leaders in their own lives & others.
For the next chapter of my life, will I be writing about you? Are you seeking a little more success in your soul & want some guidance? Get in touch – you never know what we could create.
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