If you ever gone to commercial gym and sign up for membership, majority of times personal trainers will contact you and set up a consultation and go through one or two workout to make sure you are starting right.
This process is such an important thing especially for people who have never workout in the gym before or has been a while since workout in the gym. Problem is though, they make you think that you need to have definite goal to start working out.
For long time being a trainer, I too thought that everyone MUST have definite goal or they shouldn't start working out. However, this is a very effective way to shut down the motivation of people to come to the gym.
Goal Came Last
When you read success principles, it is common to see that you should have a definite goal to become successful. I agree with that. However, people can start anything without definite purpose and may become successful because they find the purpose down the road after learning the possibility.
Let me share my story.
When I choose to go to University of Evansville for degree in exercise science, I didn't choose the course because I wanted to become a personal trainer. I didn't even know that type of career existed.
Initially, I started as Physical Therapy student wanting to learn how I can perform better in soccer. So it was more of curiosity rather than what I want to become in the future. After a year of taking Physical Therapy courses, I realized that I was in the wrong program because I wasn't looking for how to treat people with injuries. I wanted to become faster and stronger so I can play soccer better.
After consulting with my advisor, I was suggested to change my major to exercise science, which I should have researched about it before. During this time, I still had no idea what career path I wanted to go in. I was training my friends for free to test my knowledge along with training myself because that was my objective for going to school.
I had great time in exercise science courses with physiology, biomechanics, sports psychology and definitely a lot from gross anatomy with human body. Towards the beginning of my senior, my advisor asked me what I wanted to do for my career. At that time, I realized there are only few choices with my exercise science degree. Personal trainer or researcher. It was depressing because whether I work as personal trainer at the gym or work as researcher at the university or lab the pay was not that great compared to people with engineer, computer science, business and finance degrees.
So I tried personal training by going through internship at the local gym in Evansville, Indiana. Had fun, made some income but learned that the as a immigrant, gyms do not support VISA or Green Card. So I immediately after I was done with 2 year of OPT, I decided to go get a Master's Degree in Exercise Science in Indiana State University. Why there? It was 2 hours drive from Evansville. It was convenience more than anything else. Later I learned that many of the professors that I studied under worked with some of the famous exercise physiology and biomechanics device companies and clinics.
After 2 years, got my Master's Degree but here comes same problem. Moved to Virginia and worked for commercial gyms using my 2 year of OPT. Around this time I've started to realize that I have no other skill except for training people for performance enhancement or weight management and cannot use for other jobs. Because of amount of my education, I was good at it and able to provide results. Once I understood, my goal was to become the most effective trainer. Well, I had not other choice.
From going to University of Evansville to understand what I wanted, it took me 10 years! Were those 10 years wasted? No! I've gain knowledge and experience and enjoyed every step of the way. I have not yet arrived at the level that I want but have been growing ever since.
Just Start and Enjoy
I'm sharing this to let you know that you do not need definite goal to start working out. Most important thing is start doing something. We all know that exercising help with so many things.
You don't have any goals to start exercising? That's ok! Just start exercising and you may find goal eventually. Do you need to find one? Not really.
Do you need to have weight goals to start eating healthy? No, but you can start eating healthy anyways.
Can you train with trainers without goals? Sure! At least I would. It's actually fun since I have freedom to do whatever I want and clients cannot complain about it.
So long story short, if you are thinking about starting your workout don't think too hard and start doing something and enjoy.
Kota Shimada
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