There was a time when we, as trainers, believed we had all the answers. We sold the dream of “sustainable fitness”: weigh every gram of food, hit every macro target, never miss a workout. We thought we were helping.
But we were wrong.
We didn’t know any better then. Most of us were young, living in a bubble where fitness was the center of everything. No kids, no mortgages, no real complications. It was easy for us to live by those rigid rules—and we assumed it could be easy for everyone else too.
We preached discipline as the ultimate solution. If someone struggled, we thought they just needed to try harder. We didn’t see how life’s beautiful complexities—family, careers, responsibilities—made that level of commitment unsustainable.
To all the people we coached during those years: we’re sorry.
We see it clearly now. The plans we offered were flawed. They demanded perfection in a world where perfection doesn’t exist. They left many of you feeling like failures when you couldn’t keep up. And when the plans didn’t work, we blamed you instead of the system.
The truth is, the failure was never yours. It was ours—for not knowing better.
Personal training and most sport coaching is a young profession. It has an incredibly high churn because the barrier to entry is pretty low. But when there is enough time to mature in the industry, the training matures as well.
Life has been our greatest teacher. We stand here now, years later, transformed not by supplements but by simple truths. Over the years, we’ve seen how health fits into real life. Sleep is stolen in between life’s demands. Movement happens wherever it fits—sometimes that’s in the gym, sometimes it’s carrying a child or walking the dog. Nutrition doesn’t always look like a perfectly balanced meal; sometimes it’s just grabbing whatever’s on hand.
We’ve learned that health isn’t about control. It’s about freedom. It’s about strength—not just in your body, but in your ability to show up for the people and moments that matter most.
To those who felt like they failed under our old systems: you didn’t. The systems failed you.
And here’s what we know now: health doesn’t need a calculator. Wellness doesn’t come from a meal plan or a macro split. And joy? It definitely isn’t found in a tracking app.
Questions to Reflect On:
- What expectations are you carrying that you might not need anymore?
- If you let go of perfection, what would your life gain?
- How can you redefine health in a way that fits your season of life?
We’re still learning. We’ve traded the rigidity of our old ways for curiosity and compassion. We’ve seen how health changes as life changes, and we’ve let go of the illusion that it needs to look a certain way.
So the next time someone tells you that wellness means cauliflower rice and calorie banking, feel free to laugh. Then go enjoy the butter on your toast.
Remember this truth, as profound as it is simple: You can be healthy without making it your whole identity. You can be fit without fitting into someone else’s mold. And yes, eating butter is still just eating butter, not a moral decision.
Because in the end, the most remarkable act of health might just be accepting that health looks different for every body, every day, in every season of life. In the grand experience of wellness, we’re all just learning to write our own stories now. And isn’t that something worth wondering about?
Because health isn’t about doing it perfectly. It’s about living well—on your terms, in your time, and in your way.