Come whatever may

The new year has come...

This year has a lot of surprises on the way for myself as a personal trainer and as a post-graduate student straight out of college. With one more exam to write to earn my Bachelors in Business Administration and Marketing Management and finishing off my Specialist in Strength and Conditioning, the year has yet to take its first steps and I'm feeling positive with life's outlook.

Consistent education 



As a strength trainer, lifter and overall enthusiast the ability to learn and pass on knowledge to clients, friends and other lifters is a gift. As a species one of our definitive traits that make us the top of the food chain is our ability to learn and develop ourselves through the constant learning we achieve throughout our lives and applying it to achieve success.



In the next few months for myself I will have my BBA, CFT, SSC and will be putting the plans in motion to attain my Crossfit level 1 certification and any other qualification I can get to make myself a better and differentiated strength and conditioning coach and businessman.

As I get older and 'leaving the nest' per say I really wish I paid more attention in my earlier years to teachers and educators of all sorts that drilled the importance of getting an education into our faces as young school kids. With youth and its arrogance the words fell upon deaf ears among the yearnings to rebel against the system but the remnants of those messages did take root in the soil of my mind and I am glad I have tended to those pastures and continue to become a better human; as a man, as a trainer and a lifter.

Take home point:
I believe that even though you may finish certain studies for your job or even to move up to a higher level of learning in current studies, consistent education can only ever have a positive effect on your life. Find some courses or seminars to help improve the things you enjoy

Setting goals

I have set myself some immense goals for this year but everyday I hammer away at the mountain that stands before me. These goals are not meant to break my spirits nor prevent me from enjoying my life and job, they stand as a challenge and more importantly as a test of character so that when I stand victorious over them I know that I earned my place on this earth and deserve whatever I have in front of me

One thing I will say about goals is keep them SMART: Simple. Measurable. Actionable. Realistic. Time-bound. Any goal should follow that acronym and having the end result in mind should be drilled down to smaller manageable pieces so when completed consistently you end up where you wanted as short, medium and long-term goals have to be put down on paper. Never keep things in your head, write them down as that idea that can so easily be swept away in the everyday bombardment of instant information is never lost. Make the idea a physical manifestation of thought by writing it down and having it glare back at you, that's the first step, the proceeding are up to you to bite the bullet and head out.

Take home point:
Plan your goals out for the year. It won't hurt to have a end vision for yourself on what you would like to achieve this year and break those goals down into smaller manageable pieces that you can act on. Every small victory will lead to winning.

Competition

This year I have some number of competitions I aim at competing in. Primarily powerlifting in the International Powerlifting Federation listed competitions but also in the 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation which if all goes well could be well up to 9 competitions this year and many opportunities to earn provincial and national colours.

But STRONG is STRONG

So I have set myself with the challenge in competing in some endurance events such as The Warrior Race and the Impi challenge. Both involve teams to attack obstacle courses over quite a far distance and work together to completing all the tasks on the way. Now for myself being a strength orientated lifter, the endurance element is a factor to consider but effective programming and knowing my body will be the facets of my training I will focus on to peak in time for all these events.

Strength is the base of ALL PEFORMANCE

I have made a few changes to my training like moving to a high frequency training methodology and no matter what happens or what changes as I get stronger the fact of the matter is that the weights lifted are not subjective. Even for those not interested in being a strength athlete, enjoying all sports and hobbies dictate the need to be strong enough to excel in what you want

Take home point:
Plan to compete or join a club of sorts this year. The ability to test yourself against others and your own perceptions of who you think you are is an amazing feeling when you come out on top. Even losing you learn more about yourself than if you never had the courage to step up and take the blows.

Enjoying what you do




This year I have so far and will continue to pour all my effort into the en devour of becoming a world class rated strength and conditioning coach and trainer. I love what I do and I love being able to teach people.






I don't do it for the money, the image or for the fact that I think its an easy way out of real life as some people have the perception that personal training is a low-grade job.

Everyday I deal with people's bodies, their ambitions and their self esteem lay in my hands every time they walk through the doors and place their trust in my knowledge. That to me is as important as running a company as you don't lock your body up for the night after a day of work and go home. Your body is your home.

All I want in my life is to be able to beat my own perceptions of who I think I am by beating personal records in the gym. Training is one of the only things that I can control completely, it is an art and a science and every facet can be managed to become better and if done so correctly, produces results guaranteed. Nothing beats making yourself a better person than feeling accomplishment everyday you live and I get to experience that and would not trade it for anything in the world no matter what the offer.

The only thing other than making myself better is by making others better as I wish I had appreciated all those that did it for me growing up. My sports coaches, teachers and most importantly my father who passed away last year. So I spend everyday trying to make a difference and the end result after a hard training session with a client is to make them want to do it again...

"Internal drive is the desired result of a personal training session whereby a client wants more than what you gave them" - Pappa Firm

- Jarrod Firmani