Yesterday after my motivational strongman performance I did a questions and answers segment.  Generally speaking, people always have questions and I’m more than happy to answer them, though I don’t reveal my personal numbers in the gym (I like some things to remain a mystery).

One question I got yesterday is;

“What do you train people to do?”

“Uhm, I train people to do what they want to do.”

I know it’s kind of a weird way to answer a question but upon some digging to understand the question better, they asked if I helped people learn to get stronger ie general strength or if I also helped people lose weight.

The answer is I train people to accomplish the goal, whatever that goal may happen to be, but sometimes the goal changes.

As an example, years ago before Jill became my substitute teacher of strength and awesomeness, she had hired me to help her lose weight for her wedding. Prior to me, she didn’t know that she could get stronger without putting on muscle and nowhere in her stated goals did she ever mention anything about strength. 

However, strength was part of the strategy to help her lose weight, which yes she lost the weight but got much stronger in the process and when a video featurette was being done about me, I asked her to say a few words on camera.

With tears starting to well up in her eyes on camera, she talked about how getting stronger made her feel, without once mentioning weight loss.

I found with her, and with many others that though they initially want one thing, they become excited by another thing altogether.  I understand this myself.

Years ago, I embarked on a program to get really ripped.  I did and kettlebell training was part of the process.  Being ripped wasn’t fulfilling to me, but when I got stronger that was exciting and it opened doors to a world that I would never have thought possible. 

yes this is me

And many people come to me because they feel something is missing in their life, and they think that getting in shape will fill in that gap. 

Many times it does.I digress though. 

One of the reasons they had asked me that particular question is because many fitness programs have a cookie cutter approach and lump you into their goal for you.

I don’t do this.  I dig deep to figure out what your goal is, even if you don’t really know. And when I know the destination I can provide the path to get there.  Sometimes your goal will stop being important to you and your goal changes.  That’s ok too.

I do have a system in place to make everybody stronger though.  I make people stronger to accomplish whatever it is they want to accomplish because strength is the foundational quality that makes everything else easier.

And even if you don’t even really have a reason, it’s good to get strong because as Mark Rippetoe famously said;

“Strong people are harder to kill and more useful in general.”

Would you like my help getting strong?  I have a one-week trial membership of my personal training services available.

Eric Moss is a world record holding professional strongman, author, speaker and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is in Boonton Township New Jersey with Lewandowski Chiropractic and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, and Parsippany New Jersey.