I’ve sat through over a thousand free consultations at West Little Rock CrossFit. We call them No-Sweat intros because there’s no sweating!
In many gyms, these are sales presentations, but that was never my goal with our intros. My goal was to sit still, listen intently, and learn what’s holding each person back.
Once I learn what’s holding them back, I can show them what they need to do (or cease doing) to correct the behaviors that hold them back from living the life they’d rather have. At least when it comes to body composition, energy levels, mental and social health, self-esteem, and relationships, because all forms of fitness are interacted on by the physical fitness we build.
Once we’ve brought those limiting factors to the light, I can recommend the right program for them. Someone who knows what to do but just doesn’t do it should be in a 1v1 program with their own coach. Others who love fitness and want to change things up or have more fun in workouts should start with less 1v1 and more group class. Some people need nutrition only. And others are just plain D-bags who I recommend to other gyms. Not specifically, of course, I like the other gyms too.
Most of my clients are not afraid of doing work because most people aren’t afraid of doing work. They, like you, will start climbing if I put a ladder in front of them. No one is afraid of that. People are afraid of climbing to the top of a ladder to discover it’s leaning on the wrong wall.
And that’s what people usually do. I know I have. I know that if they didn’t do that, I wouldn’t have a job, and neither would my trainers.
That’s why it’s so important to start with a conversation. So that you eventually don’t need us. Needing us is the anxious high-school relationship. We want marriage. We want you here because you love it and want to come. That kind of relationship comes from care and trust.
We don’t need to know what to do. There’s plenty of knowledge built into our bodies, and anything beyond that can be found on the internet. We need someone in our corner who cares as much about our success as much as their own. We need someone who has a structure for change and who we can trust has patience and wisdom to guide us along that structure and make changes for us when their experience tells them of difficulty ahead.
We need coaching, and coaching starts at the first conversation
