It took me until I was 30 to really understand the benefit of investing in myself.
I started following Andy ‘Ironmac’ McKenzie on social media and really liked the way he trained people and the message he was putting out there. It was different to the usual ‘6 minute abs’, bodybuilding routines and unrealistic diets that were doing the rounds on the fitness scene. It was refreshing and I could see how his approach and message had a much better carryover to everyday life and how it would benefit myself and the clients I work with.
Through following him and subscribing to his email list I discovered he was running a workshop up in Glasgow on Core training and I had to go. I booked a spot for myself and my wife to attend. At first, I thought this was expensive, but at the time I never looked at it as an investment but instead an expense. I still wanted to attend and came up with the money for it.
The workshop was fantastic, I probably learned more on this day than I had done in the previous 10 years of working and studying in the fitness industry. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and we met lots of good people and learned from Andy and others at the workshop.
This made me realise that I could be doing much better than I was and it gave me a bit of a kick up the arse to help improve as a coach, a person and to develop the gym that we own, ensuring our clients receive the best service possible.
Anyway, my wife noticed that I became really interested in developing myself and for my 30th birthday she contacted Andy, paid and organised for me to go and spend a day with him to learn about his training philosophy, business and and personal development.
The whole day would have been a significant investment, Andy is one of the world’s top coaches so he charges what he’s worth, flights up and down, food etc. It was am expensive day but you couldn’t put a price on what I took away from the day.
After this day, I investet money and time in books, I spent hours listening to podcasts I was happy to spend my money and time on making myself better.
Shortly after my day with Andy, he created the Combined Strength Group and invited me to join, this is where things really changed.
I spent a day or so weighing up whether I could afford it or if it would be worth it, it didn’t take long before I decided to take Andy up on the offer and find a way to make it happen.
The Combined Strength Group is a group of like minded coaches, as part of the group you have access to all the other coaches, regular workshops, help, guidance and support from Andy and the others. You learn so much from the online interaction but even more from the workshops that you attend.
This was another issue for me, most of the workshops were down south which meant I had the additional cost of planes, trains and hotel rooms – however each workshop I attended, I left with more knowledge, confidence and never felt like I had wasted money.
Over the past 3 years I would estimate I’ve probably spent around £10k on developing myself, this may sound pretty extreme but I’ve improved massively as a coach, our gym has been much busier, I’ve travelled to Slovenia twice, presented at the SFN Expo twice and met and learned from some of the top in the industry like Jamie Alderton, Eddie Hall, Marck Goran, Bobby Maximus and of course Andy.
I continue to buy books, spend money on workshops and listen to podcasts as much as I can in addition to the continued development from the Combined Strength Group.
This is my own personal experience from deciding to invest, I have seen at first hand how it has benefited me but I also see it with many of my clients, there is a difference between those that invest and those that don’t, this is usually the results the achieve or don’t achieve.
When you spend more money on something you value it more. Think about a very expensive item of clothing you have bought compared to something cheap.
When you pay for someone’s expertise, knowledge or service this will be more valuable to you than looking up free information online.
There are 100,000s of free workout plans, diet plans, articles available at the touch of a button to you but how many people do you know have achieved good results from these?
If you are paying a higher monthly fee for your training costs you will be less likely to miss sessions. If you are only paying £20 a month for a gym membership and don’t use it, there’s no big loss whereas if you are spending £200 a month on personal training you will be sure to show up and you will make sure you get the most from your money, this usually transcends to what you do away from the gym and usually leads to better results.
Spending a significant amount more money a month can seem daunting at first but if getting in shape is really important to you then you will be amazed at what you can cut back on and invest it in something that’s important to you, if getting in shape isn’t important to you then just disregard this paragraph, maybe the whole article…….
You say you can’t afford a personal trainer……. Do you have Sky TV? How many fancy take away coffees to you have a week? Money on new clothes for night’s out?
It’s all about prioritising what is important to you and if getting results in the gym is important and you are struggling, try and find a way to invest. You might be sceptical but I have experienced first hand and with my clients how things can quickly change for you when you are prepared to invest.
Coach Milligan 