Welcome to my brand new website for Christina Fischer Fitness Coaching!
It's taken me quite some time, but FINALLY we were able to create a great website that shows who I am, what I do, and why I'm here to help. I'm excited to connect with you all on the web!
I had always wanted my first blog post to delve into why I'm a personal trainer and what I hope to bring to others through teaching fitness. This particular topic had come from a conversation I had (one of many many great conversations) with my corporate wellness business partner, Rebekah. We had just left a tai chi class - my very first one - and I was incredibly curious and impressed with the class, and particularly the instructor. Tai chi, I had learned, brought some very valuable preventative health benefits, meditative qualities, and incredible healing powers to its practitioners that were very different than what strength training or even the medical world could do. I was also very impressed with the instructor, Martin. You could tell he had been teaching this for years, was excited for each and every class, utilized class as a personal peaceful time, and loved to guide his students to find something in themselves that they've had inside all along. For him, it was completely a labor of love. The room of students itself evoked such a positive, warm and welcoming vibe and atmosphere, and made me feel something incredibly grounding that even deadlifts couldn't do. I loved to be part of something like that, and made a note to myself that Tai Chi was something on the list for me to begin to study this year.
I asked Rebekah – who had been taking classes here and there for some time – what it would take to become certified to teach Tai Chi down the road.
“You don't become certified. You just teach what you know”, she replied. She explained that there is no official certification for Tai Chi in the United States, but that every teacher just gives what they can in class to their students, and teaches only what they know. If a student is more advanced than the teacher, the teacher encourages that student to personally deepen and advance that particular exercise in the way they have learned in their practice. Most of the time, even the most advanced students benefit from a class that emphasizes purely the basics. And as any other art, the teachers observe different things from their students and learn as well, becoming better teachers along the way. And you always have something to teach that can benefit others.
I thought that this concept was incredibly interesting and resonated very strongly with me. What a beautiful system! Everything we learn as personal trainers and for specific methods of training in particular, there are required certifications and accreditations. The whole point of doing that is to prove that “we know what we are doing”. Now, I absolutely agree with regulation and industry standards, and continuing education as a whole, to make sure that all of us know the best methods and how to implement them with our clients so that they reach their fitness goals safely and efficiently. But this conversation served as a reminder that it doesn't take 25 years of experience in something to have acquired the ability to teach it in some way! (And it also must be said: having a bunch of certifications doesn’t guarantee that we will bring passion to our work or that we are actually good at teaching!!)
I have been a trainer for 5 years now, to the month, and have been involved in athletics for most of my life. Although I am certified through a few certifiying agencies, most of what I've learned as a trainer has come from personal experience and how things feel and have worked/not worked for me and my clients along the way. Having worked with many clients over the years, and staying in touch with top notch physical therapists, massage therapists, and other trainers, I've learned different ways to reach the same goal, and how to handle certain injuries, illnesses and plenty of different situations with my clients. If something doesn't work with a particular client, even if it has worked in most of my previous experience, there is always another route available to get to where we are trying to go. I have also learned to acknowledge the moment when something is outside of my scope of practice and when to seek outside help! The entire goal of this thing is to help our clients get to where they want to be. My promise to everyone that I work with, that I will give my best, teach you what I have learned that works, and always give you the most efficient route that I know of to get to your goals. No fads or trends, just what works. If something we need falls outside of the scope of personal training, and we need help of a physical therapist, massage therapist, or other specialist, I will always connect you to the guidance and professional care that you need. And important to note- I’m always open to learning different training methods and how to help people better. My main mission is to help my clients learn the tools to become more intuitive with their own bodies and cultivate a happy relationship with exercise in general, and to always leave you feeling better than when you came in. :)
Welcome and thanks again for checking out Christina Fischer Fitness Coaching! A huge huge thank you goes out to Jen Salas for helping me solidify my vision and designing my whole website, to the photographers who have worked with me to create these amazing photos, to my model Carla for being my client (in real life and in the photos!:), and to anyone I have worked with in creating this thing!! So excited to begin this new journey and I'll see you in the gym. :)