Jay’s Thursday Thoughts

I am as guilty as the next person of looking backwards and saying, “I used to…. *insert achievement here I can no longer do*”.

Eventually that becomes toxic and volatile for your mentality. Very few of us smash through our 40’s with vengeance when you spent the better part of your life training like we have, playing sports like we have, and throwing caution to the wind like we have.

We just have a lot of years under our belts to try to reclaim any glory years or even attempt to. Mileage earned is mileage already paid.

I suggest reading these blogs to try to help you reframe your mindset when it comes to being 40+ and still having the desire to train like you are 21.

You used to be great, now what?

So you are 40+ and want to look good…

They should give you a good start to helping you gather some thoughts as to what direction you want to take your training.

If that doesn’t help, hire a qualified, understanding coach who will tell you how it is rather than how you wish it should be.

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I have strong opinions about online coaches.

If you haven’t worked in a gym for longer than 3 years training clients, IMO you have little business training anyone online.

The nuances of picking apart form from a variety of different body types and leverages, knowing how to communicate to the swath of personalities you encounter in your line of work, being able to formulate a plan and adapt on the fly in special situations like a machine being used, the platform being rotated by 4 people deadlifting, or Susan’s knee hurts today on a day when you have squats.

Online coaching is watching videos, being organized with communication, knowing how to teach someone from afar because you cannot be there to correct them on the fly, and navigating the sharks of fitpro land and their cliques.

Online coaching is a learned skill from the ranks of personal training. You can’t learn it in a book, but a book can help you organize systems and strategies. You can’t learn it when you are brand new to training at 18 years old, you aren’t nearly experienced enough to train most people much less someone you never met on the internet.

Ask your online coach for their training resume before you hire them, if they produce minimal in person training experience, move on and find someone that does. This is an investment, you will get what you pay for and invest in. The same goes for your coach investing time and effort into building a coaching pedigree before his next “I have 2 spots left” post.

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A few things to remember for today:

1. Coaching is a skill, not a task you inherit because you “walk the walk”.
2. Coaching form is infinitely easier in person.
3. Ruminating over what you used to be means you will never be what you can be.
4. You have more productive years after 40 than you think. If you are reading this and you think you are on the downslope of life, you are wrong. Play your cards right and you have 35-45 years to live and grow in some way.

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