Starting Line Fitness?

I was recently asked why I chose the name Starting Line Fitness. I realized that I've only told a couple of people how I picked the name Starting Line Fitness. So here goes... It was a dark stormy night...just kidding. One day my wife and I were hanging out in our living room and she asked if I could write her a workout program. She had recently joined a new gym and wanted to do more than just group fitness classes and cardio machines.

I was up to the challenge. I wrote the best damn program that was ever written. She looked at it for all two seconds and said "what are those?" She pointed to the words "Barbell Back Squats 45lbs 3x10".

"They're squats," I said still beaming with the pride of haven written the best program ever.

"I know they're squats but how do I do the barbell part?"

"What do you mean, you go to the squat rack-"

"I don't go to that part of the gym," she said.


Now that she had completely crushed my soul, she explained that she didn't like that part of gym. She said how intimidating the free weight area of the gym is. It can be full of guys grunting and dropping heavy weights and even women who are comfortable/advanced enough to venture towards the free weights may not be the most welcoming.

When this occurred, I'd probably been a personal trainer for about 7 or 8 years. Think about that, the wife of a veteran trainer didn't feel comfortable going into the free weight area of her local gym. It became very clear very quickly that I had forgotten something when I wrote the best program ever (have I mentioned how good this program was?); I forgot to consider the user, my wife.

It wasn't that she couldn't do the exercises or lift the weights that were prescribed. It was whether she felt comfortable enough to do them on her own in a gym full of strangers. I realized that having your trainer standing next you is a big security blanket. I hadn't really thought about that before.

So long story (just a little) longer, I want everyone to be able to walk over to the squat rack and do whatever exercise they want to do in there (except curls). I truly believe people know they should be doing more than cardio. I believe people know they should and that they want to lift weights.

So I want to be the bridge between I should lift weights and I do lift weights. I want to give people the tools they need to start making healthy nutritional and lifestyle changes. I want to help people figure out their starting line and the steps needed to go beyond that point and reach their end goals. I want to get rid of the security blanket.

So there you have it. If you are ready to get started and hit the squat rack (or any part of the gym), leave me a comment and we'll figure out where to start. If you know anyone who can use a little help getting started share this with them and encourage them to reach out.