A Daye in the Life of Fitness

Eric Daye, my Canadian climbing counterpart, is not just in the business of fitness, he’s in the business of changing lives. Eric started Trubody Fitness in Burlington, Ontario, Canada roughly 4 years ago. His gym, unlike many others, is unique because of his utilization of semi-private personal training. This is an extremely efficient use of time. While I was there I observed 6 clients performing 6 separate individually tailored programs all at the same time. The Individualization Principle of Training states that each person’s needs are different based on factors such as age, gender, and skill level, therefor training should be specific to these needs.  The amazing thing about Eric’s programming is that he has his gym laid out in such a way that he and his fellow trainer Alex can have a watchful eye on their client’s form.

Eric is passionate about movement and psychology. He’s not as concerned with fat loss results, although those definitely are an effect of training. The goal is a change in lifestyle and an increase in mobility. The better a person can move, the more efficiently they perform, which leads to greater health results. There are a lot of people with goals who aren’t quite sure how to reach them. Eric’s approach is to look at the limitations keeping someone from their goal and help them eliminate it. Hip mobility limiting your squat and deadlift you say?! Well let’s just work on that hip mobility then!

This is an approach that can be carried out in all aspects of life, not just fitness. As I mentioned before in previous blogs, traveling has always been something that I’ve wanted to do, I just never thought it was possible. However, as I have heard time and time again from people like Martin Rooney, instead of coming up with all of the reasons why you can’t do something; write down all the ways that you can! Eliminate the limitations! You’ll surprise yourself!

Eric feels like his greatest success is getting to do what he is passionate about. That’s an amazing success! Being stuck in the grind and being unhappy with your career path is not a way of life. At least not a healthy one! Do what you love! This may be a common sense observation, but people who enjoy their job, are far more productive in that job than those that are just there to punch their time card. You only get 24 hours in a day, so why not be as productive as possible in that time?

Eric and I had an interesting conversation over coffee (or in my case green tea with peppermint!). My career path into fitness originally was geared to lead me into the physical therapy field. After hours upon hours of observation in various rehabilitation facilities I realized that physical therapy was definitely not the career path for me or something that I could be very passionate about for several reasons. In addition to the fact that most therapists are buried in paperwork, it’s the physical therapist assistants who actually get to work with the patients for a fraction of the salary. I also found that the patients themselves frustrated me in many, but not all cases. Before I tell you what frustrated me, let me tell you the settings that I loved! I loved working in geriatrics! I could listen to stories and pearls of wisdom for days! I loved working with stroke victims, people who are extremely motivated to get their life back on track and won’t let their circumstance get in their way!  Now what frustrated me….the general “I’m going to milk this workers comp for as long as humanly possible” types. These are people who clearly are not getting to do what they are passionate about in life. There’s no real motivation to get better, no goal, no real sense of purpose.

This is where Eric and my perspectives change. I would consider myself to be a pretty patient person to a degree. I can be put in a room of twenty hyperactive short attention spanned 4 year olds and teach a stellar karate class! Patience! Now, put me in a room with one full grown adult that doesn’t have any desire to learn or get better… patience… completely… LOST! Maybe this is a selfish thought, but I feel like my time is too valuable to try to help people who have no desire to help themselves. Help me, help you people! HELP ME….HELP YOU!!  This is where Eric shines!!! Eric loves these challenges and thank goodness for people like him because that takes a very special person! This is where Eric’s love of psychology comes into play. Eric is the kind of person who enjoys helping people discover their goal, whereas I am the kind of person who likes to help people get to the goal that they have already established. Eric likes showing people their purpose and helping them realize their “Ah Ha!” moment. It’s really quite remarkable!

Everyone has their niche and Eric has definitely found his. I encourage you to recognize your strengths and develop your own. This is not to say that you shouldn’t continue to work on what you view as weakness. There are definitely some that I need to work on! Learn, develop, grow, and most importantly do what you’re passionate about!

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” –Albert Schweitzer

 

Trubody Fitness is located at
4087 Harvester Rd Unit 17
Burlington, Ontario

 T : (905) 921-8977 www.trubodyfitness.com