A Short Story About "Young Christian"
This isn't a story about me. This is a story about one of my clients. His name is Christian too. He goes by Christian more often and I go by Chris most of the time so we have a system to keep ourselves from getting confused. Christian came to me via a referral from one of my local trainer friends, Jess. You can actually get to know Jess here https://youtu.be/BJHX-e245l0
I was recommended to work with Christian because of my down to earth nature, as well as my experience in mentoring youth in many different roles over the last decade. Christian needed a trainer, but to have a male trainer who could double as a role model was going to add a layer of value to this major life decision.
Recently I asked Christian's mother for a testimonial of their experience so far in working with me and here is what they wrote together.
"Christian has been working with Chris for over 6 months now. Christian was noticing how much his Mother was benefiting from working with a personal trainer both mentally and physically, and asked her if he would be able to do the same. Chris was recommended by his Mother's trainer especially for his down-to-earth nature, and his desire to see his clients succeed in their fitness activities and goals. Christian has been enjoying his training sessions with Chris, and has been seeing the successes of his sessions in other areas of his life. His endurance and stamina engaging in all physical activities has increased substantially - everything from Gym at School to his favourite hobby of Downhill Skiing. Christian also reports that from a mental health perspective, he is very happy with his successes in training - he loves breaking his personal records and feels very good about his overall health. Chris has been an excellent mentor to Christian. Chris has a great balance between being Christian's cheerleader and providing constructive feedback to promote his best performance during his training sessions. Christian is looking forward to continuing to work with Chris for years to come, and would recommend him to anyone."
Training Christian is one of the things I am most proud of over the last year. I had some pretty amazing role models in school when I was Christian's age. They got me more involved in being active and working hard and facing adversity.
To have the professional opportunity to be that person for someone else is something I will never take for granted.