This past Friday and Saturday I gave three presentations at Can Fit Pro, a huge gathering of personal trainers. I have never seen so much spandex gathered in one place. Speaking at this definitely got me out of my comfort zone. (I accepted this at the invitation of my publisher Human Kinetics who were one of the sponsors) As I have stated many times in this blog I am not a big fan of what I see in the personal training world. Too much style, not enough substance. So taking the opportunity to speak to an audience that consisted entirely of personal trainers was very interesting and challenging. I made it clear where I was coming from. I am a coach who coaches; I do not do personal training. Once that was clear and on the table despite my apprehension it was an enjoyable experience. People seemed very will to learn and were open to new ideas. I hope I was able to get my message across to the audiences I spoke to. It was quite an experience walking through the exhibit area. I have never seen so much stuff designed to do what you can do with body weight, a dumbbell, barbell and some jump ropes. There is obviously a big business here. I am not sure if I am a dinosaur or an alien from another planet, but I just don’t get some of this stuff. Ultimately it is about training, getting people to move and use their bodies efficiently. I don’t see how all the toys and props really accomplish this. I came away convinced that this is a world that is foreign to me. On a humorous note it was quite fascinating to see people lines up about 100 deep to wait for the escalator when there was 12 of us on the adjacent stairs (and that was to go down stairs!). It was also quite funny to see one of the trainers decked in full spandex walk out the door of the convention center sit down in the grass and light up a cigarette! I am a big believer in talking the talk and walking the walk.
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