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I’ve been featured in or written for some of the best names in the industry. Outside my blog and socials, you can also find me in…
For a fitness professional, I’ve had a unique path that sets me apart from the typical gym culture bro you’re used to. While fitness professionals usually elevate sports performance to the pinnacle of the industry, I’ve decided to step away from performance standards twice.
The first time was in college. I was doing an internship as a Student Strength Coach with the athletic department. I was responsible for helping train the basketball, golf, rowing, and tennis teams for a Division I program. Since I was in college, I also got a part time job as a personal trainer at the University Recreation center to get a little extra beer money for the week. Don’t judge! I was 21 at the time!!
I started working with a small group at the rec center, and Danny was in that group. A freshman on campus, he was in over his head. Shy, awkward, and generally unsure of himself, Danny was… not great at fitness 😅. His friends teased him, he struggled to do the exercises correctly. In the kindest way possible, you could call Danny an embarrassing dweeb.
But a couple months later, I was gobsmacked. Danny was a whole new person! He moved with poise, he held himself with confidence, we laughed and joked and teased his friends back. There was a glow about Danny.
I realized in Athletics, I could help an athlete get a little faster or jump a little higher, but… what’s the point?
In personal training, I could help people radically transform who they are as people. I can help people gain more confidence and live a full, vibrant life.
So that was the first time I actively chose to step away from athletics and sports to focus on wellness for the everyday person; fitness for people who don’t care about being athletes.
(Confession… I wasn’t perfect! I grew up in athletics, I learned how to coach people in athletics, and I brought those lessons into personal training my first couple years. I used to even hand out a sheet about “The Everyday Athlete” to new clients to explain my background and how I was planning to train them with my background… yeesh. Forgive young Steven, please)
The first 9 years of my career was characterized by the slow departure away from sport and performance standards. As I worked with more people who had no reason to pretend to be athletes, I adopted my programs to be more reasonable.
But…
I mean, I still held an “athlete mindset” for myself. I still pushed my body to the limits. I enjoyed the push, the anguish, the achievement. I still liked kicking my ass and getting better. That was my personal bias.
How could that bias not translate to the workouts I gave clients?
Even though I was actively separating standards for “general population” clients that were different from traditional sport-obsessed fitness standards, I’m sure there was still too much performance emphasis for me and my clients. Still too much bias towards pushing harder.
But then tragedy struck in 2019.
On Friday, June 14th, at the lovely hour of 1:30am, I was curled up in the fetal position on the floor of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas clutching my knee. I had just suffered an accident that shattered my tibia.
I would need reconstructive surgery and almost 4 months bed rest to recover, plus MONTHS of physical therapy to regain capacity. And even then, it was obvious that it would be dangerous for me to attempt to push my body to the limits anymore.
If fitness was a way to push my limits, to test and expand my limits, and I couldn’t do that anymore, then…
What’s the point?
I was distraught to be honest. I thought I had lost my hobby, my passion and my career. My life felt like it was taken away from me.
One day, I crutched into my brother’s house and my nephew came screaming down the hall. “UNCLE’S HERE!! UNCLE’S HERE!!!” My brother had to snap into action to grab his son and hold him back. “Sorry, buddy, you can’t play with Uncle, he’s hurt”
I’ll never forget the pain on his face. The joy that got drained from his 5 year old eyes. Telling a 5 year old he couldn’t play with his favorite uncle? It might have well been the end of the world.
It was in that moment that fitness changed for me. It wasn’t about pushing your body to the limits. Fitness is a way to nurture the body and elevate it to give you any option you want in life. By regaining my fitness, I could wrestle with my nephews, hopscotch with my niece, hike with my dog, take a bike ride along the river trail…
Fitness is not about pushing your limits, it’s about removing your limits. It’s about Thriving.
That shift in meaning, that shift in purpose, is what helped lead to the birth of Thriving Body Holistic Fitness. I wanted a platform to help people find the same definition of fitness that I did. I wanted people to become physically active not just for the sake of fitness itself, but because of all if can give your whole life.
I’ve abandoned sports performance standards twice to focus deeper and deeper on wellness. I hope you’ll join me.