What I’ve learned during Quarantine
It was 5 pm on Monday March 16th where my whole business and perhaps my life changed. Life was going normally or as normal as expected. I was busy preparing for my wife’s birthday (March 28th), Easter, summer vacations and as always planning on what the future of Formal Fitness Training would be. That is when everything changed. Within an hour I found out that Wyomissing Fitness and Training, Retro Fitness, and the Mifflin YMCA (the places where I do personal training) would be closed for at least two weeks. Two weeks later we found out that the shutdown would continue until at least May 1st due to the global pandemic (Corona Virus). Now I have a pretty jam-packed schedule so I needed to figure out what I was going to do the very next day. Monday March 16th is a day I will never forget.
Fortunately I have done some virtual and online training for the last two years through online personal training programs, as well as Facetime & Google Duo virtual personal training sessions so I already had some idea of what I needed to do. I began the process of reaching out to my clients and seeing if they would be willing to do virtual training for the time being. To my elation most of them were on board. Only a few of my clients await the reopening of gyms to continue their personal training. This was a pivot Formal Fitness Training hadn’t expected but a pivot that may change the way we do business forever.
What was your life-like before the Corona virus besides the fact that you could go anywhere you wanted to at any time and also procure toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, napkins and gloves at your leisure?
*Wake up chug coffee, rush to work, eat lunch as fast as possible, continue work, rush home, eat dinner quickly so you can crash on the couch and watch a few hours of TV, rinse and repeat? Sound familiar? This is largely what we were conditioned to do.
For me the day is even more complex than that. A typical day for me is wake up at 450-515 am chug coffee, drive to one gym, train a few people, drive to some clients homes, workout, slam a protein shake, rush home to eat lunch, drive to another gym, train a few people, drive to the last gym for the day, rush home to eat dinner at 7 pm then watch perhaps an hour of TV with my wife before showering, rinsing and repeating. This is my life four days per week and the life of many personal trainers. But must it be this way?
What has changed?
Now all my sessions happen on Facetime and Google Duo along with one local family I train outdoors. I got back twelve hours of driving each week which I’m now utilizing to promote my business, study, and reaquaint with some lost hobbies (playing guitar, researching and finding new bands and music). The best part is that my clients are enjoying the in home virtual training and some have said they even like it better! I also know that many of my clients would drive very far to work and very far to see me. Many of them are now also saving ten or more hours of drive time each week. Think about that ten or more hours each week that you are not sitting in the car now. This is eye-opening to what you could do with ten extra hours per week or …..wait for it….. FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY HOURS per year! That gives you thirteen more weeks of vacation per year! (520/40 hour week = 13). Holy crap! Was this what we all needed to wake up and realize there might be a better way of living? I believe many companies will realize that working from home can become part of their business model.
Don’t get me wrong when this is over I will return to the gym in some capacity to workout and train people but it will be different. I’m sleeping better, more focused, driven and I’m also building a new small business mastermind group while also conducting Google Duo small group personal training sessions with up to twelve people from all over Pennsylvania at the same time. Some of these changes are simply awesome!
My challenge to you is find the positive during this time. Reach out to the people you neglect when you are “busy” and spend more time reconnecting with who you actually are. You may never get this time back, however if you use it the right way I believe that you can pivot your own life and begin to live the life you really deserve. A life of balance and moderation where you can truly strive for anything you would like! Please stay healthy, stay happy, stay vigilant and I will see you “in person” on the other side of this.
Always here for you and always grateful to have you in my life! Thank you for the support. Onward and upward always!
~Michael
Michael Hartman
My mission is to give personal training participants a safe and effective workout designed specifically for their goals. Dealing with many sports injuries over the years taught me how to come back stronger every time. The competition is with yourself... Strive to bring out your best self and get better every day!
