Maybe you feel it when you sit down on the couch after a long day and realize that it’s the first time you’ve actually rested since you walked into the gym that morning. Maybe it’s when you realize the sweat stains on your shirt don’t really belong to you. Or perhaps it hits you when you drop your coined can-do-catch-phrase during a dinner date on accident.
No matter what it is, if you’re a personal trainer, you’ve had a moment outside your gym life where you pause, breathe, and think, “yep—I’m definitely in the fitness industry.” We bet you anything you can think back to a time in recent memory that falls into the “you know you’re a personal trainer when” category.
Nothing’s coming to mind?
We bet after reading a few of these personal-trainer-isms that you’re totally guilty of a few.
You Can’t Stop Motivating
Whether it’s a friend struggling with an exam in their grad program, a coworker, or a family member with a personal crisis, you probably can tell you’re a fitness instructor if your off-the-bat advice is super positive and very motivating. If your vocabulary includes a lot of choice phrases about never giving up, giving it all you got, and kickin’ the crap out of that challenge, then you’re most likely a personal trainer.
Doling Out Nutrition and Fitness Advice is Second Nature
If you find yourself constantly offering up free exercise and nutrition advice to everyone around you, you’re probably a personal trainer. You get double (or even triple) points if you do this when it’s totally unsolicited. (Hey, it’s never a bad thing to want to help your friends and family better themselves, OK).
Your Instagram is All About Fitness
Sure, some people scroll through Instagram for cute puppies, funny videos, or to keep up with their friends, but one swipe through your feed and all anyone will find is tutorials, fitness tips, and muscles.
We’re not saying it’s a bad thing, just that if your social media platforms are all about fitness and less about grumpy cat videos, you’re probably in the industry.
You Never Take Off Your Counselor Hat
You don’t need to be in the gym wearing your workout gear to dish out a big helping of counseling. If you’re a personal trainer, you’re used to being a mentor, a therapist, a guide, and a counselor all at the same time. You’re not just there to physically push your clients, you’re there to mentally motivate them, too. It’s only natural that would follow you into other aspects of your life, right?
Your Gym Vernacular is Ever-Growing
Gains. Swole. Cardio Queen. Jacked. Gym Rat. Beast Mode. Boulders/ Cutting. Cheap Reps. Etc. If you are consistently using fitness-specific lingo in your gym vernacular (and if people who don’t exercise never have a clue what you’re talking about), you’re probably a personal trainer who’s spending a good majority of their day in the gym.
That Sweat Stain Ain’t Yours
You come home from work entirely covered in blood, sweat, and tears—except none of it is yours. If you spend your day mopping up the hard-work sweat from clients, leaning in to help them with a rep, and be a physical presence to support them, it’s inevitable you’re going to be covered in somebody’s else’s bodily fluids. And you know what? That doesn’t bother you one bit.
Technique Matters More Than Anything
If you’re a technique-junkie who knows that how you do something is more important than getting something done in general, it’s likely you’re a personal trainer. It’s also probable that this mindset has taken over every aspect of your life.
Your Friends Only Text You For Workout Advice
We’re sure your friends probably love you for you, but if you’re someone who’s constantly being hit up for workout advice (whether you’re on the clock or not), then you’re probably a personal trainer (and your friends probably really love the free guidance, right?).
You Know the Pain of Missing Your Own Workout (Despite Being in the Gym All Day)
Everyone probably thinks that you walk around the gym working out all dang day, right? Well, that’s rarely the case. You’re probably part of the only profession in the world who can literally be at a gym all day and be so incredibly busy they don’t even get to work in their own exercise session.
You’re Used to Changing People’s Lives for the Better
You know your job isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but you also know that a huge part of what you do is improving someone’s life for the better every single day. If you’re used to being a positive force in a client’s life, you’re probably a personal trainer.
