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Why I Became A Personal Trainer and Lifestyle and Weight Management Coach

Posted By: Frank Rosalie on 05/07/2011

Things happen in life that make you wonder Why?

When I was laid off from my job in 2002 after being an accountant for 24 years I was over 40 years old and couldn’t get another accounting position.  To be honest with you, I didn’t want to be an accountant any longer, but you have to make a living to pay the bills.  If I had gotten another accounting job I probably would have been relieved, but a month down the road I would be unhappy behind a desk again, not getting any satisfaction or enjoyment out of my job.

So, I bounced from selling used cars for 5 months to working at the Home Depot for a year in New Jersey.  My wife said to me one day “Have you ever thought about becoming  a Personal Trainer?”  I looked at her and told her that I didn’t think that I could make a living as a Personal Trainer.  She said that she wasn’t thinking about the money; she knew that I had always had a passion for exercise since I was about 25 years old.

When I was a teenager, outside of playing baseball and softball, I had never exercised.  In fact, in High School I actually had to attend Summer School for Gym, because I hardly ever showed up.  Back in the “old days” you needed 4 years of physical education to graduate.

But the light switch went off in my head when I got my first job out of college, working for a brokerage firm on Wall Street in Manhattan.  What I noticed were people just a few years older than I was that were really overweight or looked older than they really were because they were so out of shape.

I promised myself that I would never get to that point.  Because I’m a very private person I wouldn’t join a gym because I don’t like people watching me when I exercise.  But, I didn’t even know how to begin using weights or educating myself about eating in a healthy manner.

Some of my friends lifted weights, especially on Friday or Saturday evenings before they hit a bar, so they could impress the ladies when their chests and arms were pumped up.  I told them that they were crazy, but I needed help.  So I enlisted my future Best Man and he told me that he would train me, but not until I could bench press 100 lbs.  My parents bought me a simple weight set that Christmas and off to the basement I went.  65 lbs. was all I could start with – embarrassing for someone only 25 years old and weighing around 135 lbs. at 5’ 10”.

I worked out 3 times a week by myself – I don’t remember how long it took to finally bench 100 lbs. for just one repetition.  I do remember that the day after I did that one repetition I was sore – it was a wake-up call that showed me playing ball was not exercise; I was really out of shape.

So my friend built this machine for me with a cable and just looking at this thing made me laugh.  And it was the noisiest thing I had ever heard.  But using it made me stronger in a hurry.  He trained with me for a long time.  All my friends quit training, and I just continued.  My body went through a transformation; when I began seeing people that I hadn’t seen in a long time they were amazed at how different I looked.  Once I began to see those changes I was hooked for life.

It was then that the seed was planted for me to become a Personal Trainer and become the owner of multiple Personal Training studios.

I began to give advice to my friends on fitness training from knowledge gained from reading Muscle & Fitness Magazine, as well as exercise and nutrition books.  Knowing that I had not only exercised on my own for years, but also advised friends and relatives on training, my wife knew that the leap to become a trainer was not too far-fetched.

I had no knowledge of how to actually become a trainer.  I began going on interviews to big gyms that advertised for trainer with “no experience necessary”.  During these interviews I noticed that most of these gyms were just too big, too noisy – and that the trainers there really weren’t paying attention to their clients. There was so much equipment, much of which the average person wouldn’t even know how to use, or what they should be used for.  I knew that this wasn’t what I wanted.

On one interview the Manager informed me that I needed to get one of the Top 5 Nationally Accredited Certifications for Personal Training if I wanted to really make something of myself in the business.  She gave me the names of the Certifications and I chose ACE (American Council on Exercise), probably because the name just stood out.  I came to find out that ACE is actually the top ranking certification in the fitness world, but I was also told that the certification course is very difficult and that about 60% of applicants fail their first test.

I studied hard and I passed my certification test on my first try.  The test was very comprehensive.  But I knew I wanted to do more than just training, so six months later I took a test to become a Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant, also through ACE.

While I was studying for my ACE certification, my wife continued to look online for job openings for trainers.  One day she noticed a small ad for a personal trainer with no experience at a new fitness studio in Princeton, NJ.  She called me and told me about it, and I told her to fax my resume to the studio.  I soon received a phone call to set up an interview and I found out that the studio’s name was Fitness Together.  I went on line to check them out and saw that they did one-on-one personal training in private suites.  This was for me – Privacy.  Just like when I exercise I want my privacy.

I went to the interview the following week and was hired on the spot.  After some in-house training I began my second career.

After a few months clients were thanking me for saving their lives through exercise and better nutrition.  This was very gratifying to me because I felt like I was actually making a “difference”.

I worked at that Studio for 2 ½ years before moving to Williamsburg, VA and opening a Fitness Together studio of my own.  My wife and I took over ownership of a second existing studio in Virginia Beach in January of 2010.

In addition to owning Fitness Together and training at my studios on occasion, I am also a Personal Trainer for the high-level executives of Sentara Healthcare, including the CEO and President.

I also do consultations with the patients who go to the Sentara Evaluation Center in Norfolk for a Corporate day of health testing.  I discuss the importance of exercise and proper nutrition.

I honestly believe that what I do as a Personal Trainer not only gives my clients a better quality of life but, in some instances, actually saves lives.  Heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, among other diseases, are real threats that too many people accept as “usual” – all of which can be controlled or even cured by regular exercise and healthy eating.

And that is why I do what I do.