The Metamorphosis into a Fitness Professional

You start your life with an inherent belief that muscles are cool because Superman has them.

As soon as you’re old enough to workout you spend more time studying muscle magazines than school work and learning the wrong way to weight train.

You dream of one day becoming one of the

Champion muscle heads you read about and owning

your own gym.

You go to college where it’s now possible to spend more time in the gym than the class room because no one cares if you

show up to class and your mom isn’t there to make sure you get out of bed.

Where I was

Where I should’ve been

You somehow make it out of school with a degree in physical education but you just can’t quite see being a gym teacher in your future.

You come to the conclusion that spending all day in a gym is the life for you so you become a personal trainer.

You get a little lucky and wind up working at personal training studio where they show you that everything you’ve done and learned up to this point is bullshit.

GREAT!

You keep the dream alive of one day looking like a bodybuilder.

You decide to enter a competition and place near the back of the pack.

I would’ve beenokay with placingas well as this kid.

But you learned a lot! And now you’re more knowledgeable about what it really takes to have six-pack abs.

You look for a personal training certification and go with the one that’s not well known but is not teaching all the crap you know to be wrong.

International Association of Resistance Trainers

You become a nomad and bounce around to a few different gyms.

You’re fortunate to find some great mentors along the way.

Natural bodybuilding starts becoming more and more of a passion because you’re

constantly learning more about yourself as well as the art and science of fitness.

What a difference 12 years ofintelligent training & nutrition makes!

Other than gym the only other class you excelled in was English so you write about what you’ve learned.

You write for several magazines and newspapers over the years to help build some credibility.

You bury yourself in business books because you realize after awhile you’re unmanageable as a trainer and are better off “doing your own thing.”

You constantly all flat on your face and struggle financially but you’re too stubborn to

turn back despite everyone saying you’d be better off to do something more “stable.”

After years of treading water you finally have a breakthrough and open a personal training studio (not quite the big gym

you dreamed of as a 13 yr old but far more fulfilling).

Then you publish your book! (The one you know will help millions of people)

And people actually take the time to tell you how much it has helped them in their journey to get fit.

Pretty freakin’ cool.

Ok, so maybe reaching millions and getting to the top of the

‘Best Sellers’ list is a bit harder than you think.

(Still working on it)

At least you’re doing what you love and get paid for it.

Then in typical entrepreneurial fashion—just when things are going good—you extend yourself a bit too far by buying the personal training certification company that certified you.

Now you’re stuck with this thing...gave yourself more

work...and have more overhead.

But hey! At least you’re doing what you love!

You keep grinding, studying, implementing, and grinding some more.

You build your A-Team and put all your focus into

making them successful.

You have some big and small wins along the way and have a positive affect on the lives

of others making all the bullshit and struggles

worthwhile.

Your bodybuilding “hobby” has brought some of the best people you’ve ever met into your life and you feel blessed every time you’re around them.

You continually do your best to grow as a Fitness Leader and help others do the same.

You decide that you’re never getting off this ride because it’s WAY too EXCITING

MikeLipowski.com