Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from the IFPA!

We also wish to extend our most fervent prayers for a safe and happy holiday to all of our Noble Warriors serving in the Armed Forces of the United States. We are both thankful for your service and proud of your heroic achievements. Stay Safe!

“Did you ever stop to ask yourself…why am I not living my dreams?

Could the answer be…you are too busy living your fears?”

                                                                                              -Anonymous-

On March 13, 1979 I graduated from US Air Force Pilot training. In the Air Force, it is referred to as UPT, Undergraduate Pilot Training. I remember how proud I was to have those silver wings pinned on my chest and how relieved I was to complete a long, hard, grueling year of UPT. I was relieved because I mistakenly thought that the tedious process of PLANNING – BRIEFING – EXECUTING – DEBRIEFING – was over and now it would be all: FUN STUFF!

I quickly learned that every Air Force School I attended, from UPT, to Fighter Lead In, to Replacement Training Units, to Water Survival School to Land Survival School to POW Training and every other school the Air Force put me through, followed the same system: PLANNING – BRIEFING – EXECUTING – DEBRIEFING. I quickly learned that before, during and after everything I did to become a Combat Ready Fighter Pilot would follow the same system:  PLANNING – BRIEFING – EXECUTING – DEBRIEFING.

While I always appreciated the military precision of PLANNING – BRIEFING – EXECUTING. I did not always appreciate the BRUTALLY HONEST CRITICISM that routinely accompanied the DEBRIEFING. Many times every mistake, every error, minor or major, miniscule or deadly was brought to your attention, as well as the attention of everyone in your flight. Often, the mistakes were brought up in the most humiliating method known to the creative (and sadistic) Instructor Pilot.

Eventually, however, I came to appreciate the entire process, even the DEBRIEFING, as a system that could lead to FLAWLESS EXECUTION. Many of you may have attended one of my lectures where I talk about adapting this system to Personal Training. You can use this system to perfect your Personal Training skills and business. Since I have used this system successfully in all aspects of my life, I want to share it with you. You can effectively use this system, as I did, to improve your performance in every aspect of your life, whether it is your career, your personal life, your fitness development, your financial planning…anything. 

STEP 1 – PLANNING:  I prepared a comprehensive IFPA Personal Fitness Trainer, “Business Planning Guide and Workbook” to help you learn how much thought, time, effort and energy goes into the planning for every campaign. “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail”. Regardless of your endeavor, proper planning prevents poor performance. Fitness Assessment, Exercise Prescription, Program Design, Exercise Management even the teaching and motivation techniques you use on your client each and every day must be thoroughly planned. How you educate your client on nutrition, supplementation, water management and stress management will have tremendous impact on your ability to safety and effectively guide your client toward achieving their goals. The more time and effort you put into PLANNING – the more success your will see in and with your clients.

STEP 2 – BRIEFING:  Once your PLANNING is complete, you must make certain that everyone involved in the endeavor is thoroughly BRIEFED. If the endeavor consists of just you and your client during a one-hour training session, then make sure your client is thoroughly briefed on every aspect of that session.

STEP 3 – EXECUTION: While you may not be concerned about enemy fighters trying to turn you and your aircraft into a fireball, your mission: to safely and effectively train your client to quickly achieve their health and fitness goals, requires FLAWLESS EXECUTION – each and every time you take someone through a work out you should be striving for FLAWLESS EXECUTION. Don’t settle for “Close Enough” – get every movement of every exercise FLAWLESS. Don’t settle for 15 good reps – get 15 FLAWLESS reps. Don’t settle for getting through a one hour personal training session – take your client through the most productive, enjoyable, rewarding Personal Training Session they have even had. DON’T JUST DO IT – DO IT FLAWLESSLY!

And now for the tough part, which brings you and I back to the quote I gave you at the beginning of this article: “Did you ever stop to ask yourself…Why am I not living my dreams? Could the answer be… you are to busy living your fears?”

Fear of criticism…or failure, can no longer be allowed to hold you back from achieving your destiny. You are destined to be a Great Personal Trainer. If you have put in the time, effort and energy to get through the IFPA Personal Trainer Certification…and your PLANNING…and your BRIEFING…and your EXECUTION then you have earned the RIGHT to success… You DESERVE SUCCESS… and here is the last step to success…

STEP 4 – DEBRIEFING: You may be an excellent personal trainer or you may be an average personal trainer or you may be a below average personal trainer…HOW DO YOU KNOW? You may ask your client: How did you like your session today? But what does that tell you? In order to continue your march to success, you are going to have to seek an honest, constructive assessment of every aspect of your personal training skills, directly from those who know best…YOUR CLIENTS! You are going to explain to your client that you are setting a goal to achieve FLAWLESS EXECUTION of every Personal Training Session you take them through and you want their most honest and candid constructive criticism of all aspects of your personal training skills. You are going to present to them an IFPA Personal Fitness Trainer Evaluation Form that I have prepared for the use of all IFPA Certified Instructors. You can download it from the IFPA website, it’s under RESOURCES button on the home page. Do not FEAR this step – this is the step that will paint you a crystal clear picture of precisely what you need to work on to achieve FLAWLESS EXECUTION! Do not be afraid of the clients that will give you honest feedback because those are the one who are investing in YOU…they are team mates! Be afraid of the ones who won’t give your feedback, because those are the ones that will leave you without ever giving you the chance to get things right.

Do not let your fear prevent you from achieving your destiny.

Happy Thanksgiving and Good Luck!

Jim Bell, PhDc

President