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I Left the Fitness Industry, Here's What I Learned

Writer's picture: Megan AllenMegan Allen

Updated: Jan 16


Disclaimer: everything mentioned here is about my experience with a corporate gym, not the private gym that I worked with. (If you're going to get training, go private! Trainers tend to be treated way better at private gyms)


Last week I left my last job as a personal trainer and what a journey it has been. Training has brought me through many highs and lows but overall has been a huge blessing in my life. Working with clients helped me to come out of my shell and realize how much I loved working with a large and diverse base of people, it helped me make an impact in other's lives as I played many roles other than just a trainer. I was not just there to help my clients reach their fitness goals, but I helped them work through aches and pains, educated them on how to care for their body (recovery, nutrition, etc.), and was just there to listen through tears and laughter. I am so grateful for each and every client that I have had in the past and still often bring them up in conversation because I am so proud of the barriers that they have broken, not only through fitness, but emotionally and socially as well.


Fitness is not just about looking good

The most common fitness goal I would hear is to lose weight, when I would ask why people would often relate to looking good or being able to wear a certain clothing item. Of course there was the few exceptions where people wanted to work out for health and longevity, but the majority of my clients just wanted to look good. I was honestly in the same boat, I lifted weights just because I wanted to achieve a certain look. It wasn't until I was given a particular weight loss client. I trained him like I did every other client, focus on strength training, complete cardio outside of sessions and work towards a calorie deficit. He stood out to me because he was pushing himself harder than I pushed him (which says a lot because it was always my goal to make everyone unable to walk down the stairs after leg day). I always admired how he pushed himself, and he began to build some serious strength. I specifically remember after one session this client said he wanted to thank me, I was confused as I had just made him do sled sprints. He said "thank you so much for always pushing me, training has not only helped me to build strength but confidence and has really helped my mental health." Those words had completely shifted my perspective on training, I no longer pushed clients to train with me just because they wanted to look good, but because they wanted to feel good. What's funny is that workouts that were once something to check off a to-do list, became something to look forward to. Sessions were so much fun as they became a place for stress relief, mood boosting, and seeing how strong we really are!


When exercise becomes about looks, it becomes mundane, you are constantly working towards goals that get pushed out. Sure you lost the 10 pounds, but you still don't feel good about yourself... "maybe I need to lose more? Maybe I need to build muscle? Once I look good, then I can feel good." The problem is, that rarely happens. We often keep pushing and pushing, hoping to feel better about ourselves until we eventually fall off and start back at square one. When exercise becomes about health and longevity, we can find joy in ourselves. "I'm so proud of how strong I've become", "I'm so happy that I can take the stairs pain-free" and "I've come so far in the past year" become the things that we tell ourselves. There is nothing wrong with wanting to look good, but it's about where your mind is at. Moving for wellness and eating to fuel performance is what brings consistency, and that consistency is what helps you to reach goal after goal, helping you to reach your best self.


Rest is as important as work

This is something big that I had to deal with in the fitness industry. As a personal trainer, you are pushed to constantly bring new clients in. I mean, no client stays with you forever, so it's important to make sure that you keep a consistent schedule and paycheck. However, in a world where you're always pushing clients for that extra rep, it's so easy to keep pushing yourself for that extra client until you reach your limit. I would spend long hours in the gym, often staying from 7am to 7pm with a 2 hour break to workout. I would then go home to catch up on school work and writing workout programs before I went to bed and did the same the next day. I always felt that I wasn't doing enough, I could work harder, put in more hours, and just do better. It came to the point to where I couldn't relax without the fear of being lazy. It was only when I started fixing my mindset that I realized that revolving your life around work is no way to live. There's nothing wrong with working hard, but you need to know when to "clock out". In those times of rest, we are allowed to truly think and reset, and it's honestly where I've discovered my best ideas and had the best times with others. Just like in an exercise standpoint where your body needs rest to recover and prevent injury, you need to rest and recover from work to prevent burnout and continue to love what you do. Just how movement improves quality of life, work can improve quality of life; but that can only be done if adequate rest is taken.


Find the good in all seasons of life

It's so easy to get down about our current life situation, I mean sometimes life likes to throw a bunch of curveballs our way, and it's so easy to focus on that. Whenever I get down about the little things, I like to remind myself about one of my clients. She had a very stressful job, working over 12 hours a day and still getting calls from her boss to take on more. She would tell me that she was often so tired that she would fall asleep at the dinner table after work. Despite all of this stress in trying to keep things together she always had a smile on her face. While she was so busy, she was grateful that she could still afford personal training and find the time to work on herself. Even when she was diagnosed with cancer, she kept smiling and laughing, she really didn't let anything get her down. She was grateful that she could still move her body and that she had such a supportive family.


That was such a big eye opener to me, why do I often dwell on the little things that get me down, when I could dwell on the big things that bring me joy? I'm not saying that it's bad to feel down sometimes, but we can't dwell on things for too long. Sure, school sucks sometimes, but I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to pursue a degree that will help me get my dream job. Sometimes my feelings get hurt by those I love, but I'm so grateful that I have loved ones that are always there for me.



With all the ups and downs, I am happy to step away from the training scene. But I will be forever grateful for the lessons that each and every client and experience has taught me.

I hope you were able to walk away with something too!

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