THIS GUY ran all around my face BEFORE I knocked him off and stomped him with my foot! My only regret is that I didn’t get a video of him running around in circles and me screaming! Actually, I think my client screamed louder than I did. She could see the spider. I couldn’t… BUT I felt him, AND still do!
I had just picked up a set of dumbbells from the floor and handed them to my client. I have a feeling that the spider was on one of the weights and ran up the sleeve of my jacket so I didn’t feel him until he got on my face.
“That looks like a good face for sprint intervals”
Several years ago I was about 30 minutes into a one-hour session with a client when he set the dumbbells down on the floor, said to me, “Ive had enough,” and walked out of the gym. He didn’t stop or look back when I called after him. I fretted all day about what I’d done to upset him and when he finally replied to my email THE NEXT DAY, he simple said, “It was a beautiful day and I decided to go for a drive.” He came back to our next session as if nothing had happened…
My first crazy “training story” happened years ago. During our session, my client told me that she had to go to the locker room. She was gone for quite a while and when I went to check on her, I couldn’t find her. As I walked from the locker room back to the gym something caught my eye outside. There stood my client, smoking a cigarette! I guess when you need a smoke, you need a smoke!
Another client lost her balance, swung her arm wildly as she tried to catch her balance, and smacked me in the head with the five-pound dumbbell she was holding. OUCH! Actually, it barely hurt, but she was mortified! I’m pretty sure she thought I was just being nice to say that it didn’t hurt.
On the flip side, I have wonderful clients who are a very important part of my life and mean the world to me. I’ve had clients lower their cholesterol, come out of metabolic syndrome, lose 100 pounds, go from morbidly obese to normal body fat percentages, become a runner, run their first marathon, get fast enough to qualify for Boston, etc. The rewards of my job are endless and every night I can sleep well knowing that I made a difference in the life of at least one of my clients that day. So what if a spider runs across my face… it’s all in a day in the life of a trainer.
- Questions:
- Are you itchy after reading about my spider encounter?
- Have you had any embarrassing gym moments?
- What’s your greatest gym success story?
Wow. those are some funny stories. This is not a gym story and it is on my blog post today, but yesterday I closed a guy’s fingers in my car door. He had just run his first half marathon and was hurting from that and claimed that his fingers barely hurt. Like your client, I, too, was mortified.
Perhaps your friend should thank you for slamming the car door on his fingers. I’ll bet it took his mind away from the pain in his legs and feet! 😉
HAHAHA The cigarette comment had me DYING!
emma @ a mom runs this town
I have, on more than one occasion, run into things (sign posts, fire hydrants) along the side of the road, while leading a group run. Usually, it’s because I’m talking to them (and watching them, instead of where I am going) – so I have a full audience for these feats of brilliance and grace…
Nice! That sounds so very familiar! 🙂
Ahhh that spider makes my skin crawl! Those are some crazy and funny stories!
Here is my embarrassing gym moment: When I was a freshman in college I would go to the gym with one of my friends one or two times a week to lift weights. He would always spot me for bench press and so in return I was his spotter. Only he could bench press more than I could lift back up. He always pushed himself to the limit and a few times he couldn’t get the bar back up. Usually between him pushing and me pulling with all I had we could get the bar back up, but one time we couldn’t. This other big strong guy had to come running over to help. I was so embarrassed, but my friend was just like “thanks, man” and then we moved on to the next exercise.
It sounds like you got a decent workout just spotting your friend!
We recently had a high school student bench pressing without a spotter and he couldn’t re-rack the bar. It ended up sort of laying half on his chest and half on the floor so he couldn’t move. My client and I ran over and got it off of him and went right back to her workout because we could tell how embarrassed he was.
[…] my I AM A RUNNER post honoring the running community after the Boston bombings. After my post, A Day In The Life Of A Trainer, I didn’t want anyone to think that I don’t love my […]