Workers Comp?

This was the beginning of a horrible burn/bruise that resulted from me falling while on the treadmill. The worst part is that I didn't fall because I was pushing myself to such limits that I became faint or weak and lost my balance. I was actually stepping back onto the treadmill after a drink break and forgot that I had left the treadmill running and stepped right onto what I thought was a still belt. It was actually a belt that was moving at about 6.5 mph. As you can probably guess, my feet were whipped out from under me and thank goodness I landed on my arm instead of my face. Of course, the first thing I did, after making sure my ipod, which had flown across the room, was not broken, was run upstairs and take a photo of my injury (seen here) and send it to all my friends. The bruise didn't come until about 2 days later.

So of course I show up at work with an enormous bruise and burn on my arm and have to explain to people what happened. I seriously considered lying about it, but I had already sent the pics to a co-worker and he had blabbed to everyone what I did anyway so it's a good thing I was honest! The significance of this is that I am a fitness professional. It's kind of my job to prevent this kind of thing from happening to other people. Although I work with a fairly young and equipment-savvy group of people now, I have a history of working with high risk and elderly populations. And I'm the one falling off the treadmill. So this makes me wonder: why am I in this profession?

I started working out to support my eating habit. This is while I was in college. I got pretty serious about my working out, and actually lost a few pounds in lieu of gaining the "freshman 10". Then I graduated and I got a "real" job that involved sitting behind a desk in a cube for 8 hours a day with a phone attached to my ear and my fingers clacking away at a keyboard in front of me. I tried to continue working out, and did so sporadically, rattling off countless excuses to explain my lack of commitment to exercise- ones that I now hear every day like "I'm too busy" or "work has been really crazy" or "I'm too tired" and whatever other lame reason popped into my head. So I decided to get a job in the fitness industry so I would be forced to work out and stay in shape. Plus I could get rid of that loathsome desk and all the paperwork that came with it. I have a very short attention span, and sitting at a computer for so long is not an ideal passtime for me.

So I got certified as a personal trainer, quit the job, got a MS in exercise science and a couple of other certifications on the way and there I was. In the field. That's why I do it. Not for the love of being healthy, although it's ok. Not for the joy I get from pushing my body to the limit, although that's ok too. Now I think, so am I GOOD at what I do? That's a good question. I feel that I have a good amount of knowledge in and a respectable desire to learn about the science of exercise. I get along pretty well with people. But do I motivate? Probably not. Thinking obectively, I probably look like I work out, to the average person, but I certainly don't have the ideal physique that would make all the ladies at the office I work for take my classes to strive to look like me. So what constitutes a good exercise physiologist? What constitutes a bad one?

I've had plenty of positive feedback from personal training clients. I even had one lady who came to my house while I was on maternity leave to get her sessions in. I've also lost a few clients who gave up on their goals, and to me that's failure on my part, even if their reasons had nothing to do with me. Do I expect 100% success rate? Of course not or I'd be the richest personal trainer alive! But if I'm going to do something- if this is my career, I want to be the best, not just mediocre, and I feel like that's what I am at this job.

So what are my options at this point? My degree is so specialized that there's not much else I could do that would utilize it. My BA is in Mass Communications, but I have no actual work experience in that. A desk job would bore me to death and anything else I lack experience/education in, so even if some numbnut did hire me, I would have to take a drastic paycut as my position would most likely be entry-level. I've considered asking around at work to see if any of the members who know I'm an intelligent, competent person have any ideas of possible jobs there, but I don't really want to be part of a corporate setting. So it looks like I'm stuck in the fitness field. I've been trying to improve my physique, increase my strength and endurance, study up on my physiology and gain knowledge in other areas like nutrition and wellness. The problem is that my current position doesn't allow for much branching out so I'm not using a whole lot of potential here.

It's not that I don't like what I do. I do love many aspects of my career. I am a perfectionist and I have to feel confident in my ability and my output and I'm not 100% completely there yet in this field. I'm not sure if I'll ever be.