23 hours a day…the Blame Game.

Posted on 08. Dec, 2008 by Keith Scott in Back to Health

I usually see my clients once a day for an hour. Some I only see for 3o minutes. That’s it! 30-60 minutes a day of contact, where what I say goes.

Only 1 hour, out of the 24 is spent together…however, some will blame all of their fitness failures on the trainer. The guy or girl that only has 1 hour of direct influence a day…and that is usually only 2 days of that week. Not much time together if you ask me. Certainly not much time to make all of these difficult changes that people are after. So, with that said, who is responsible the other 23 hours?

As a trainer, I usually find out that diets are NOT being followed, and clients are not doing what they should be the other 23 hours that they are not in my sight. Frustration sets in for both the client and the trainer and thus, the blame game begins. Clients will blame their trainer, the program they are doing, and the diet that they are not following at the moment. Trainers will blame the client for NOT following their diet, NOT working hard, missing sessions, not getting enough rest, not being consistent, etc…

I have parents who bring me their child-athletes, some in high school, middle school and even college, hoping that I will help make these athletes into the next scholarship “phenoms,” or a future pros. They will eagerly sign up for sessions, make plans, and walk away from our first meeting excited and ready to go. As a performance coach, I must say, I am just as excited usually and can see the potential in each athlete that comes to see me. Eventually, however, sessions are missed for “more important” things. Kids have tournaments that need to be played in. Vacations come and go, and finally there is the “We have a friend who does training in his basement, so we are going to work with him for half of the time and you the other half.” I could go on and on, the list of things I have heard is very long.

The months go on, the progress for these particular athletes is slow, and the parents grow anxious. The blame game begins. Parents will ultimately blame the performance coach for not getting their son or daughter ready. The coach will blame the parent and athlete for missing sessions, and not taking the training serious.

All of this blame and who is right? I guess that all depends. If you have a bad trainer or bad coach, I would guess that some of the blame would fall on his or her shoulders. Honestly, there are really bad trainers out there so I could see this as part of the problem. Most of them work at your public gym. However, even the worse programming will yield results if followed consistently and if the client is doing their part the other 23 hours in the day. Read that last sentence again and again. To re-cap, even the worst programs written by the worst trainers can and will yield some results if they are followed consistently and if the client is doing their part on the side.

I have seen this to be true more than you know. That is why bad trainers still have clients. They may not get great results, but they get enough from the dedicated clients to keep the money coming in.

This brings me to who is ultimately to blame. Usually it is truly the client or the parent. As I mentioned above, it is the other 23 hours of the day that the client or athlete is not in my immediate care that things get messy. It is easy to blame the trainer or the program first, without looking at the rest of the day when you are away from the trainer. Did you cheat on your diet? Did you get enough rest this week? Are you doing too little? Are you doing too much? Are you following the advice of the expert, or are you the scary “self-made internet expert?” Are you doing the extra that was asked of you? Etc… Most people will say, “Yea, I eat what you tell me and I slept pretty well!” Did you eat what you should have ALL WEEK? What about the week before? Did you sleep well each night? How is your stress level at work?

You see, without sounding anal about all of this (I understand how I could sound that way) this stuff isn’t easy. To get where you really want to get, you have to put the time in, sacrifice and be patient. Read that again, especially the sacrifice part. TO sacrifice is to give up what you ultimately want to have or do so you can reach your goal. Anything less is not sacrificing and will not yield the results you want.

Therefore, the next time you here the blame game starting up in your head, stop and ask how your other 23 hours were. Be honest with yourself and take responsibility.

I have had clients in the past quit on me and their program because they were frustrated about the results they were getting. Notice I said “getting.” They were making progress, just not at the pace they wanted. Guess what? Every single one of those people who stopped training with me, moved on, or thought they could do it on their own got worse results than ever. If you cannot stay consistent and reach your goals with a trainer or coach, how the hell are you going to do it on your own or in someone else’s basement? Answer? Your not.

Make a true commitment, do your work and you will see results.

23 hours a day.