Tacoma Personal Trainer- A Letter to Love.

From Tacoma Personal Trainer- Isaac Ho

Busy days! It’s OK. I like it that way. However I was remiss to miss sharing with you about one of my favorite topics. love, especially as Valentines day was Thursday.

Love. How strange you are…I have experienced you many times and each time you feel different and show me different shades of the world that I have not yet seen before. Now, I’m not an expert in love by any means but I am an expert in dealing with the aftermaths of love that didn’t work out. If you’re reading this and willing to lean your soul next to mine for a bit than continue on.

What is love?

I’ve always been fascinated with love. So many ways to define it and it manifests itself in so many forms. So we should probably start with what love ISN’T.

LUST is the desire for their body. That’s NOT love. Love is the desire for their soul. Simple enough and well stated.

Exercise is an amazing way to strengthen your body but in the end what it really strengthens when done correctly is YOUR SOUL! Exercise is challenging your soul to get better and better. It’s showing up when you don’t feel like it and pushing through when there seems to be nothing left. Growing pains for your soul is what exercise is when done correctly. Workouts that are fun and make you laugh bring light to your days and your soul.

However, if you have been around for any amount of time you know there’s a huge difference between being in love and loving something.

Simply put I love exercise but I am not in love with exercise.

What is the difference?

Love isn’t a feeling it’s a commitment. It doesn’t stay one day and simply fade the other. It’s there to stay. At the same time being “in love” is an intoxicating feeling that most would equate with being in a room without oxygen. Oxygen, or love in this case, is all you can think about. Exercise quite simply isn’t all I think about, I am however extremely committed to it because I love it.

What I am “in love” with on a constant basis is what exercise does for your soul. At the end of the day everything fades away and you won’t be able to take your body, your skin, your money, your nice car with you. The only thing that will be left for you is your soul. Investing in your soul and the souls of others then becomes the best way to spend your days. So when I workout I’m not trying to improve my body, though that’s a nice extra benefit, I’m teaching my soul a lesson. Try that next time when you do a workout and experience the huge difference between the way you will end up viewing the session.

When Love Comes Crashing Down

I had a talk with one of my coaches the other day about his sour disposition on love and girls. In short words to him ” girls are mean”. Maybe true…I do recall one girl who was quite mean in middle school and to this day I’m still wondering why she was so mean for…..but since then I have encountered many woman and the ones that you love the most are always the one with the greatest capabilities to hurt you and be ” the meanest”. But for every “mean girl” there are quite a few nice girls. Perhaps the biggest problem most men encounter is trying to pick a girl instead of a woman. Even then though the difference in that may be purely labeling as when I look at every lady no matter how old I can tell there is a little girl inside there, just as in myself I am simply a silly little boy beneath all this faux hawk.

It’s far too easy to feel like your would is ending when the person you’re in love with decides that it’s time to move further and further away from the happy times you’ve had.

Try, try and try sometimes there is no salvaging the house where you both shared your heart and it all comes crashing down.

The House The Hearts Used To Share

Normal stages of grief ensue and it’s been something I’ve been struggling with for some time now. Feelings can be so strong, negative and positives ones that the best I can do is to pick the ones that would really encapsulate what love truly is.

So in my last relationship I told myself the following.

Tacoma Personal Trainer- Talks 9-11

Tacoma Personal Trainer- Don’t Be Offended

Tacoma Personal Trainer-Three Stages of Strength

Hey there, it’s your handicapped and immobile Tacoma personal trainer. As this is a blog site, I will actually blog and not just write articles on motivation or how to work out. Recently, I actually put out quite a few articles maybe four to six but they’re going to be on different sites (syndicated) so you’ll have to wait for me to send you links to them. I have to start this post with the word, “DON’T BE OFFENDED”. Probably never a good thing when you have to start things like that but I mean it. If you’re here, then you’re like me, you’re looking for the no BS way to life that you never learned in school. You aren’t one of the many people who want something more so while people endlessly line up to jump off cliffs, you find what’s important to you and follow your heart. Now sometimes following your heart can be foolish, you will probably have to blaze a path of destruction and terror that many may frown upon, but sometimes the only right thing to do is the thing that is right in your heart. For years I worked as a trainer at a gym and watched people line up on treadmills and sit on machines to waste their time. Hours after hours in a gym with no progress.

Still on there. Still Chubby.

They weren’t taught about progressive overload, nutrition, the benefits of using your own body as your machine, or about proper intensity. They also quit after a period of time. Because no matter how much you love something, you can’t do it forever if it doesn’t love you back. That’s a life lesson there you should always remember by the way.If you’re still reading I’m going to assume you’re not going to be offended and you and I are going through this post ready to talk about life on the real stuff!  I’m going to show you how I cope with life when it gets hard. Three simple stages to crushing life, you’ll learn today and then a video I took for you. My iPhone tends to have too much stuff on it so it ran out of video before I finished, which was probably a good thing, but you can look forward to seeing me post surgery in it.

F*** that S***

Yes, that’s the first step. See when I met my mentor Luka Hocevar I didn’t really know what true intensity was during training. He showed me pretty quick. All the years training by myself I realized were pretty much wasted because I clearly wasn’t as strong as I should have been, because I wasn’t approaching training with the right mindset. Luka attacked everything he did like he was mad at the world. When you got under something heavy you didn’t think you were going to be able to lift he would yell, “F*** that S*** SON!”, your only next step was to lift it. When he lifted, he looked like he was on the verge of dying! It was pretty awe inspiring and taught me a lot about what it takes to be successful.

Luka is a beast. Always.

Pretty much when stuff doesn’t work like it’s supposed to I just think ” F*** that S***”. That’s my secret. When someone tells you you can’t do something, you do it with that mindset. When you need to smash something. You think that. No, not politically correct but when life gets you down you have to attack it like you’re angry. Sitting on your back and letting it take over you will not help you.

In martial arts one thing they teach you is that you never go into a conflict thinking I’m going to defend myself. You think I am absolutely going to destroy this person. You have to take your mental attitude to a high level and give it all you have. It helps to get angry sometimes when you need to get something done. But after a while you’ll burn out and find it impossible to defeat challenges you come across. That’s when you need to move to stage two.

Know Your Limits. Know You Can Conquer 

There is always evolution of a hero. Discovering you have limits is something that most young men realize one day. Usually they realize it the first time they break something. Babies born without pain receptors will rub their eyes out, burn themselves on stoves, and break bones by accident. When you know your limits you can push and stretch them. When you don’t know them you are easily able to destroy yourself. As a Tacoma personal trainer and someone who practices what I preach I test my limits and stay within boundaries. The same way I would with any of my clients. Before my clients try anything I make sure I know it and have a level of mastery at it. Otherwise you are asking someone to go to limits that you don’t even understand. Part of limits is knowing what you’re strong and what you’re weak at. What can you do and what can’t you do?

I'll be able to do this soon again.

Focus on what you can do

One of my Tacoma personal training clients said they would like to know how I am staying motivated. The coaching lesson I picked up from it ” Break A Leg” is something you’ll see on the video at the end of the post, but I survive by focusing on what I can do with a broken leg and the blessing I have because of it.

Always be your best

1. I can sleep! Which everyone knows recovery has been a big issue for me with energy drinks. So I haven’t drank an energy drink since my accident and been sleeping a ton.

2. I can take plenty of time to work on systems, working on our BeFit Team, and getting everyone comfortable with our wonderful team members. This really gives our team a chance to step up. Which is something I’ve been needing to give them. This is actually a blessing in disguise as I will help BeFit grow simply by stepping away.

3. People call me a workaholic so I’m purposely not working for a while and enjoying just vegging and focusing on what I would do if I was lazy. Playing video games that I haven’t in years and actually going out and getting an Xbox

4. I become great at what I can do. Some people say ” It must suck not being able to workout for six week!”. I worked out five days after surgery! It was rough and discouraging but I knew what I needed to do. The first day all the medication and drugs from surgery made me exhausted and sweating. Not to mention it was discouraging having to have someone hand me a dumbbell because I couldn’t rest them on my leg. Robert, my buddy, took my crutches from me between each set of chin ups and dips and then gave them back to me as soon as I finished. It was like having a baby sitter. I found really quickly that day I was not going to hit my training goals but it gave me a good idea of where  I was and where I could go. My second workout was much better. I wasn’t nearly as winded and I was able to almost double my performance in some movements. It was discouraging at times, I kicked my foot on a weight tree on some chin ups and had to stop, dropped a crutch on my foot, and jammed my ankle on a bench. They key is not to let the little frustrations distract you from what’s important and what you can do to get better.

My Tacoma personal trainer Strategy For Broken Leg Recovery

- Week one- Get three workouts in and max out the big movements- Focus on the dip hold. Get 20 chins per training session after ring chins.

- Week tw0- ( I actually get my caste on) Get three to four workouts in and add more volume to the movements, possibly add some single joint upper body exercises.  Move my arms out further on a dip hold. Get 30 chins per training session after ring chins.

- Week Three- Train the uninjured leg and get three to four upper body training sessions in. Start extending one arm out in the dip hold. Get 40 chins per training session after ring chins.

- Week Four- Train the injured leg by adjusting around machine ( they won’t require you to actualy use the ankle muscles. Slowly straighten both arms in the dip hold. Get 50 ring chins per training session after ring chins.

- Week Five- Continue to train both legs and upper body. Do a full iron cross. Get 50 ring chins per training session after ring chins. Do a muscle up!

- Week Six- Caste off- start rehabbing the ankle and training lower body again. Keep upper body volume high.

You see. I have accounted for my limits, adjusted, and moved forward with a big goal in mind.

I'm going to do this even with a broken fibula.

Understand Life

Life happens. It happens to everyone. It’s how you react to how life treats you that makes you strong. The one principle I’ve understood is that the bigger the challenge the bigger the hero. Always. The greater the struggle the greater the reward. Most people don’t have a lot because they aren’t willing to struggle. How do you look at what happens to you? I am inspired by people who lose limbs and compete in athletics. They see it as an opportunity to continue to do more with less. When people make excuses despite having more they don’t understand that great people never make excuses for what they have or don’t have. They just find a way to make the best out of it. The third step to really breaking out of any barriers is reflecting on yourself. Everything about the way you treat others, the world around you, the way you hold yourself accountable, do you blame others for your failure? Are you really doing everything you need to succeed? No one will ever be more committed to your own success than yourself. Are you really committed to it or thinking someone else who saved you before is always going to be there to save you? Because in your hardest moments it’s just you and what drives you. Your will to succeed and why you want it.

When you remember why you want something you will climb out of the pit that others can't.

There Is More There

I have had a relationship that has been on and off for the last seven months. Not to my choosing but because of her circumstance and situations. It breaks and comes and goes. There were so many times I just wanted to quit and think I’d be much better without it. But every time there was an opportunity to make it work, I came back and I did my best. It was frustrating, hard, and so often it felt like a complete failure. I asked myself sometimes, why bother? I could easily go another route.  Time after time people thought I was crazy, I even thought I was crazy. In fact, I still can’t really justify or explain it to people so I don’t even bother most of the time. But whenever I felt like quitting or not trying again I just remembered what it was like when the best parts where there. When we were happy and how blessed my life was. I reminded myself that the uncomfortable, hard parts, working through this relationship, and all the heart ache would be worthwhile if I could have that back. Because when the sun is out it’s a sunny day. But when the sun is out and we are together it’s a beautiful day.

You probably remember what it was like to have your health and fitness at the best points. I remember what it was like to walk proud and strong. Feel full of energy and do 100 pushups in four minutes at the end of a workout. Now I sit on a couch with my leg in a splint, I can’t drive myself anywhere, someone has to hold my crutches for me to workout, I can’t even get dumbbells myself, I have to crutch with a backpack anywhere, I can’t fill up a water bottle, I sit on a shower stool to take a shower since I can’t stand. You could say my life has gone from fit to lame. But I remember what my best days felt like and I know I’ll have them again soon if I stay focused and do what I can. For now I count my blessings and I stay your very happy to be here Tacoma personal trainer.

PS. I’ve included a video I did for you on Wednesday before my workout after I checked the sign in sheet. I ran out of video because I took some coaching videos for the team as well. Everyone knows I never have enough room for video even with three cameras so sorry about the break.

BeFit,

Isaac

Tacoma Weight Loss Expert Breaks His Foot

Tacoma Weight Loss Expert Has An Accident

Hey guys! It’s your friendly, yet temporarily disabled Tacoma weight loss expert, Isaac! I was trying to figure out more artful ways to channel my athleticism than simply bench pressing and back squats so I did some parallel bar research yesterday afternoon. The third site on google for the search term “Parallel Bar Moves” was a site where a personal trainer was using a walker as a set of parallel bars and quite nicely I might add. Naturally, I fired up the old twitter and facebook feed and checked with some of my Tacoma weight loss clients to see if someone had a walker that I could use. One of my favorite BeFitter’s, Rhonda, brought me on that very evening! Rhonda you are so sweet!

It's So Shiny!

After trying a more v-shaped handstand move a few times, I almost was able to do the movement it but doubted the safety of the walker. Luckily, my Tacoma massage therapist friend came by and was nice enough to hold the walker for me while I attempted my gold medal routine.

If you cut to 1:05 of this video you’ll see what I was doing when I brought the house down.

                As I locked into my straight legged prone V, I was surprised at how easy it was, I’ve never been athletic  and decided I could probably get a full handstand. I forgot on a set of parallel bars handstands at a lean forward angle meant me flipping over.  And that’s exactly what I did. It seemed like a slow motion tragedy in my head as I flipped over. As my body arched over my hands I pulled my legs underneath me because I hadn’t set the walker up around me with enough room to actually flip. It was either kick a bunch of gym equipment that would probably break me or angle myself to fall. This resulted in my ankles catching underneath me. My right ankle and left ankle both hurt but it only took me a second to realize my left one was in big trouble. I was a big mixed martial arts fan, as that’s how I got started becoming a Tacoma personal trainer, and I remember watching a particular fight where a notoriously tough fighter, Mirko Cro Cop, caught a kick to the head and passed out cold falling on his own ankle. On TV you could see it twist unnaturally underneath him. That’s pretty much what happened to me. Of course, I couldn’t just tell you about it without showing you the video.

                Aaron was right there to help me elevate my foot as soon as I fell. I could tell it was pretty ” Cro Copped”, it was a bummer because I was planning on working out with the seven pm boot campers that day. Sounds silly, but I was thinking about how if this ankle was sprained how I was still going to work out. About three years ago I broke a toe in Jujitsu practice, it sucked pretty bad because you would never think that the toe would bother you. The big toe if you break you’re in a lot of trouble, sort of like defaulting on the mafia, the little toe just makes it impossible to walk. It took me a good six to eight weeks for my foot to start sitting to the outside again. One thing I hate doing is skipping the lower body training, so while we were watching my foot sit at an angle very similar to Mirko’s, I was thinking of how I could train my right leg. The key is, you want to train the right leg because the neurological strength of the injured one will improve and catch up fast when you return to training the non trained leg. Another bonus, is now I have plenty of time to do all the seated upper body stuff I never do because I was standing!

Lana and my sister

Robert, my client and friend from God, I literally mean it, he’s helped me out so many times is an EMT. He wrapped my foot up so it didn’t look quite as broken but he told me I should get to a hospital ASAP. I’m a just let it stop hurting and keep living kind of person so I didn’t think I needed to but my Dad ( a doctor) and Robert both told me I needed to see an Urgent care doctor. Lana, my other friend from God and my little sister’s bestie, drove me to the urgent care in Port Orchard, where my dad knew the doctor working that night. It wasn’t pleasant, and I’m not going to lie I was grumpy: I hate hospital and I hate not training. Once we were at the hospital, it was a bit awkward explaining to the front desk ladyt, the doctor, and the x-ray tech how I broke my ankle. They all assured me I deserved a bronze medal for my performance. Let’s talk a second about X- Rays. Holy crap that hurt! My ankle was actually extremely swollen visibly internally bleeding on the inside but the outside had a sharp throbbing pain. It was the take me home to Jesus kind of pain. During X-rays they had me twist and pull my toes to nose ( dorsiflex), like the bone wasn’t broken. Unfortunately, it was swollen and kind of broken pretty good so that hurt like you wouldn’t believe.

We waited for the verdict, I broke the fibula on the outside and the inside in two places affecting the mortis (joint). I’ll need surgery as soon as I can get with a steel plate put in and screws. I’m worried they’re not going to take the plate out as I need all the ankle mobility I can get! My ankle mobility is already terrible from being unsound. I guess this surgery procedure is pretty common….in car crash accidents, multiple fractures and all that jazz. In my head on the drive to the urgent care I was wondering if that move is safer on a lower set of bars, or maybe I just set the walker too close to the dumbbell rack. Upon viewing the video of the trainer doing it I realized he never came past the V into a handstand…lesson learned…I’ll try it closer to the floor when I get better.

That's pretty broken

So yes, I’ll need surgery, I probably won’t be walking around and my stud factor has dropped drastically, but here’s the good news, you should always count your blessings! I threw in a few random thoughts as well.

1. I get to do upper body training and core every day now!

2. My right leg is my weak leg and it’s going to finally get to catch up to my broken left one.

3. Since my legs will probably get smaller I get to be lighter for the ring work and nail that muscle up!
4. I have so many wonderful people wishing me well and worrying about me it is overwhelming and I can’t express how much it means to me.

5. I have a hard time with trying to run everything by myself at BeFit and now I’ll be forced to take some time off and delegate. A blessing in disguise! Four to six weeks to systemize and really help my team get better.

6. We are running a body transformation contest in September and my conditioning will most likely be so poor I get to work out with my boot campers during the contest, compete, and feel their pain.

7. I had trained lower body the day of the accident which means….my legs were good for the day.

8. I’ve never had surgery like this before and I’ll be able to relate to people. I know it’s probably not bad, but in my head I keep picturing it like the movie 50/50 where he has cancer and is panicking before going into surgery. I’m a baby when it comes to hospitals, so I can see myself definitely not wanting to go into surgery.

9. I remember my uncle had surgery on his ACL, and when he had surgery he watched them operate on his leg the whole time. I think I’d rather not. Not that it’s not a great experience I just don’t like the idea of watching someone open me up. Slightly unsettling.

10. I may not get to dancing or wear my new chino’s or boots since I will be wearing a big old caste but in six weeks the Puyallup fair will be here so I sure will! Perfect timing and I’ll have a huge upper body and great abs to go with it!

This is your sitting on a couch, with his leg propped up and elevated in a splint, going to see the surgeon in a couple hours, Tacoma weight loss expert, bronze medalist signing off!

BeFit and BeOptimistic,

Isaac

Tacoma Personal Trainer Breaks Down How To Be Sexy

Tacoma Personal Trainer Teaches Life Lesson First

Hello! Your friendly Tacoma personal trainer is here to talk about his favorite topic. It’s not fitness actually…IT”S LIFE! Life is my favorite topic because some people will say ” You and I have nothing in common” but the truth is ” We both have LIFE IN COMMON!”. We both have lived and experienced things. Life has a series of repeating patterns and once you see them in one area you start to see them in others. It’s a big picture idea but it’s refreshing once you digest it. It applies to more than just fitness. Take the “golden ratio” for example. It’s a mathematical formula that carries balance all over the world for beauty. It transcends both mathematics and art.  Now I’m no math expert ( insert Asian who’s no good at math joke here) so I’m not going to get into it but you can read all about it here. The golden ratio makes snowflakes beautiful! That’s something everyone can appreciate and here you thought we had nothing in common!

I appreciate the beauty of a snowflake

Life is funny. I donated some training to a local Gala Event and there I met the lady who was doing most of the organizing. The legendary Alicia Carter! She came to train with me for a while and then entered me in a contest for a local weekly magazine called the “Volcano”. A community driven magazine that I used to read when I was bussing tables at the Chinese Restaurant about 6 years ago, I remember notably reading it for its movie reviews, like the very first Batman Begins! That’s how long ago that was! Now we are on to the last one, I will be going to see it at midnight by the way, in case anyone wanted to come see it with me. If you haven’t seen these movies I would suggest you finish this blog post and then go watch them because if you ever wanted to see what a hero looks like and the journey and struggles a true hero goes through there is no better example than Batman!

Now that we have planned out your next two evenings watching those movies we should probably get back on track. She mentioned they were doing a poll for “Sexiest Tacoma Personal Trainer” and she had entered me and I posted it on our group page and never thought about it again. A few weeks later I got an email saying that I had won and needed to do the interview and pictures. I was pretty sure this was some kind of scam but it panned out and yours truly won. A very nice surprise and a reminder to myself I should always apply for contests where there are no other competitors! That is a life lesson you should write down because it’s an important one. Whether being ” The Sexiest Tacoma Personal Trainer” does anything for me or not is not the focus but think about this first. If I had never donated something to the Gala I would never have met Alisha and she never would have entered me to win, which would have meant I never would have won by default, and which really means I would not be writing this post right now. Life has a CHAIN effect so the next time you think every little thing doesn’t matter it does! That’s the life lesson, now let’s move on to the lesson about being sexy! I didn’t even know the article ran until one of my clients and a few friends texted me with “Congratulations! What a surprise!”. You can see the article below.

Click here to see Isaac featured as Tacoma’s Sexiest Personal Trainer

The most non offensive picture I could find by Googling " Sexy"

What Does It Mean To Be Sexy?

According to my good friend, who I consult on a daily basis, Mr. Wikipedia ,tells me “sexy means to stir a sexual arousal in others”.  That’s important to understand because once you realize that the desire to have sex with someone is going to vary greatly. If you break down the rules of attraction they are very different for men and woman. Men are hard wired to pick a woman who will allow their offspring to survive. Woman pick men because they’re going to stick around when they’re vulnerable to being attacked by a T-Rex when they’re eight months pregnant and not able to high knee it out of there. Now everyone makes poor choices ( you’re probably thinking that right now), maybe a certain friend comes to mind, I won’t name any names….but in general that’s how it works. Going off pure ” sex appeal” I’m going to blend a little philosophy into the sexiness.

There is no running from the T Rex with this

Three Ways To Be Sexy

1. Don’t Be Sexy All The Time!

People like different things, some guys like very curvy woman, while others like very thin woman. I’m attractive to some and not attractive at all to others. Some woman think Brad Pitt is the end all be all to male pin ups and some don’t even wanna look at his face. You can’t be everything to everyone. That’s a universal principle. We’ve all heard ” They’re not my type”. People have types and unless you’re very special it will be hard for you to go after certain types. Start with asking yourself ” What Do I Find Sexy” and then see what those people find sexy. If you want more you have to become more. There is a certain kind of woman out there who likes the baggy jeans, minimum wage, tatted up, and rolling through life guy who has pizza every Wednesday. I do NOT want to end up with one of those kinds of girls so I model myself after the qualities I admire to attract the qualities I would want.

Sexy to Some maybe not to others

The Top Three Sex Qualities I Am Attracted to and Project To Gain

Smile- I don’t consider myself the end all be all to looks but I have been told I have a very nice welcoming smile. It’s not by accident. I used to have no idea how to smile. After years and years of smiling and seeing pictures I have finally smiled enough and found what works best for me. A great smile is something I find important so I know I must have a great smile. There was a period of my life growing up in middle school where I did not smile that much when I went outside, yes I was a silly kid, but I sure wasn’t pretty! People were’n't telling me how pretty my smile was. In fact I looked so serious most kids my age thought I was much older. I’ve found a welcoming smile will make the world a much better place for you. I’m not attracted to woman who don’t smile and look depressed so why would I want to look depressed? The tough as nails, badass guy is NOT my character and I’m not trying to attract a girl who is into badass men so I don’t worry about it. That’s why knowing your market is so important.

Health- Being healthy and fit is kind of a no brainer for what I do. I train myself at least three days a week and sometimes upwards of five, eat a pretty strict (yet realistic) diet, feed my mind with quality information, and make healthy lifestyle choices such as not drinking on the weekends, partying, or smoking. On that same note anyone who doesn’t fall into that is not going to be attracted to me and I’m not going to be attracted to them. You don’t get a great healthy body in one day, it takes time, and people when they look at someone will internally dialogue in their head ” This person has spent a lot of time on their health”. If that’s not where they are they will not match up. Couples that like to sit and drink beer on the weekends mesh well together and couples who go to the gym together mesh well together. A note on dress here. Since men are hardwired for looks and woman are hard wired for survival they tend not to be as picky about clothes. Most men could’t care less about what they wear or how well it matches and most woman won’t judge them off that because it’s not the man’s role to look good but to be a PROVIDER. Ever notice at Nordstrom during the Men’s sale for some reason there are tons of woman walking alone shopping for Men’s clothes! Where are all the men? It’s because woman will buy their husband’s clothes if they really want to see them in something. It’s not as important to them and it’s not important to most men. It is actually important to me though as I am a total clothes whore! I do dress well and I expect the person I’m with to dress well. Double edged!

Life Focus- Here is the sexiest piece of the puzzle to me. LIFE AMBITION. I absolutely love my life, what I do, and the little details that make up my day. It is a dream COMING true and every day I build it up a little more to make the dream come true. I am not attracted to people who do not have life focus. It is an absolute BUZZ KILL to me. What you’ll notice is most woman will date a man off potential and not what they’re actually doing. I’m actually the same way. Musical theater performers are actually my favorite people to date, “dream date”, you could say and it’s definitely not because of the money. It’s because it’s a HUGE dream and requires a mix of dancing, acting, and singing. The focus and path for that field is pretty limited and anyone who can really focus, give their life to it, and take a huge risk all in has much of my respect. The ones who half ass it or don’t hustle are the ones who lose my respect. Life Focus is the sexiest characteristic I see in a woman. Focus gets people you respect to encourage you like one of my heroes and mentors Martin Rooney did for me.

2. Know What Makes You Feel Sexy

The sexier you feel the sexier you become to others. This is what they call your “frame”. It’s your belief in the way the world works. The guy who believes the economy is bad gets exactly that. No job and no money. The guy who believes it’s good treats the world accordingly and benefits from it the same. On one level you need to believe you are sexy, attractive, and worthwhile and on the other hand you have to know what boosts your ego. The other day I was asked ” When do you feel sexiest about your body? When you workout a lot, lift a lot, or have a bigger chest?” That was a pretty simple answer to me, I told her, ” I feel sexiest when the person I’m with tells me I’m sexy and I know they mean it”. To me being sexy has nothing to do with how strong I am, how many workouts I get, or how lean I am. None of that matters if the person I’m with doesn’t let me know and don’t feel I am actually sexy. That’s interesting coming from the workout guy huh? That’s a big picture concept! You won’t always be as pretty as you are now and your smile won’t always be as dashing BUT the person you’re with can ALWAYS make you feel special and take the time to do so. Find out what makes you feel sexy and make sure it’s not based around something that will fade with time.

Tacoma personal trainer doesn't need abs

3. Like Who You Are

Having confidence in who you are is sexy. Movie stars are pretty confident in the fact they’re pretty amazing. My sweet classical guitar teacher would always tell me, ” You’re handsome Isaac! You should be in the movies”. That was his way of saying I should share my beauty with others. He was encouraging me to like who I was and share it with others. The most beautiful diamond in the corner of a volcano doesn’t do anyone any good. When the diamond is set onto a ring, put unto a finger, and worn around a Church to show everyone that a marriage has been united that’s when the diamond is beautiful. The diamond has to develop before it can be shared with the world and then it has to realize it’s value is not itself but in what it share with others. Becoming more to help others and then sharing with others is the sexiest thing you can do. Musicians create music and share it. Movie stars run long days of lines in hard conditions placing themselves in the role of a character to travel in one format or another and share it with thousands of people. That’s why they’re sexy! They share themselves with others! The diamond becomes and then sparkles across the room.

The Sparkle Must Be Shared to Have Worth

My Unsexiness

Growing up is never easy. I don’t feel like I grew up super fast or easily. It was a very confusing time for me from 15-20 years old. It wasn’t until I really committed myself to training and focusing that I started to be happy with who I was or even think that I was someone who was attractive. A lot of being sexy comes from the inside and knowing the answer to the most important question, ” Sexy to who?”. So I’m going to give you a progression of some old shots so you can see just how unsexy I was and how I’ve come along and you can take comfort in knowing anything is possible if you start with yourself!

BeFit,

Isaac

Me ( The Tall one) Before I knew A Carb From A Protein

Me At 18 years old a few months after I got my personal training certification

Me at 19 years old working at a Local Health Club

Me at 20 working at a better health club

Me at 21 with my Brother ( head trainer at the health club)

Me at 22 years old at the Gala (owning BeFit Tacoma)

Me at 23 with my Dad for Father's day. The man I owe all my looks to.

Rainy Days

It’s a hard rainy day outside. I heard this piece from Chopin. Chopin is my favorite. I decided to learn this piece today and though it wasn’t my best take I hope by listening to it you will see the beauty in all the rainy days.

Rainy Days are Beautiful

Dedicated to Natasha Ratliff for all my rainy and sunny days you made beautiful.

Isaac

Tacoma Personal Trainer Secret to Success

Tacoma Personal Trainer Isaac Shares The Secret to Success 

As a Tacoma personal trainer on my journey towards being one of the the best trainers in the world it’s been a work in progress. I started when I was 17 years old and it’s been quite the journey. I was telling one of my personal training clients yesterday when we were having lunch on the deck of Masa’s in Tacoma that I forget how much you know until you remember how little you used to know.

For instance, when I started learning about structural balance I was super confused. The idea you had to do more pulling than pushing to balance out someone who was, for example, a boxer, because they push all day training for their sport was super confusing to me. Than the realization that different hand positions and grips emphasized stress on different muscles left me dazed and confused!

Now days I don’t even think about it and when clients ask me what grip they should take I find I find myself scratching my head thinking…” Tt’s common sense..you know this….stop pretending! You’re so silly!”

YOU SO SILLY!!

I realize maybe I was the one being silly. The things I’ve exposed to myself over the last six years have nicely settled in after hours and hours of listening to audio programs, going to seminars, watching DVD’s, reading books, discussing with other coaches, and hands on training. It wasn’t just one time someone told me and suddenly I was golden anymore than having one client who’s in great shape makes you a rockstar Tacoma personal trainer. You have to stack, stack, stack, stack, stack your results to be a reputable Tacoma personal trainer.

The same goes for anything you might do. For me I compare my life to running my Tacoma Personal Training Gym and BeFit Tacoma Boot Camp. Fitness is relatively easy for me now at least to maintain the level that I have. But running and managing the fitness business aspect is hard. Follow up on phone calls, scheduling new clients, follow up…etc…those are the hard things for me. I’d much rather study, write, train, rinse, and repeat! 

One like these is great but doesn't necessarily make you a world class trainer yet

I was talking to some business owners and at a local morning business meeting they said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

That quote was from Aristotle and is the truth with anything you do. My passion for fitness comes from the fact that fitness is not a stop and go endeavor. If you want to have fitness you have to be consistent. There are no short cuts, cheap sneaks, or quick effortless ways. It’s your body. Only you can take responsibility for it, move it yourself, put the food into your mouth, and actively make yourself healthier. There are many ways to do it but in the end YOU have to do it. Not the guy down the street for you or the kid you pay to mow your lawn for a quarter. You make you successful. But isn’t that what life is all about?

Tacoma Personal Trainer’s Success Steps

1. Everyday and all day.

One good deed doesn’t make you a good person. But many consistent ones do. One funny joke doesn’t make you a funny person. Tell a few funny jokes and people will know you as a funny person. If I want to have a great business I can’t be great sometimes and then average or sit around the other times. I have to be great ALL the time. Habits make or break us. I always say take the habits that have and look at what they’ve resulted in so far. If you like the results continue them but if not picture in ten years what those habits will result in. Analyze your habits.

One great boot camp workout is not going to get you incredible results. That’s why we don’t do a drop in class structure. Letting you come once in a blue moon when you feel like it is basically us telling you…we don’t care about your results! Just come in so we can get your money. As a Tacoma personal trainer how do I get amazing results with my personal training clients and BeFit Tacoma Boot Camp  clients? I don’t only design an effective system but I structure it around longevity for my clients and teach them how to build habits that last a life time.

 2. Surround Yourself with Success.

I repeatedly state ” You are the average of the five people you associate with”. Time and time it’s been proven. Whether it’s financial, relationship, health, or even happiness like attracts like. I don’t know many people who hang around with millionaires all the time and are dirt poor. All the people I associate with are healthy people and because of that I stay healthy. If I have a friend who’s not healthy I push and work with him to make him healthier. On the same token I remember when I was training at a large commercial gym in Tacoma and all the trainers were working for the gym and barely making any money. I was buying things I didn’t need and complaining about the corporation all the time just like my fellow trainers. It didn’t take me long to realize I was doing this and I found new trainers to spend my time with. Trainers who spent a lot of time studying about training and were financially successful. Within a year I had opened my own gym. Saying association doesn’t matter is like saying you can stand in a room full of smoke and not smell smokey. Think about your kids. Do you want your kids hanging around the ” bad kids” in school? No. Then why do you think it’s a good idea to hang around the grown up ” bad kids”?

3. Find a big reason why.

In anything in life it’s not going to be easy. Nothing worthwhile is. To be successful you have to adopt success habits. Thinking about

What is your why?

myself I can’t make myself get up every morning at seven am and work towards getting better and better. I don’t get up and think about myself, I get up and I think about my big vision for life and the people I’m going to help. If you have a big enough why you’ll figure out how. In the morning if I get up and think about checking email, getting back to phone calls, writing programs, and training clients so I can make money to go on vacation in Vegas I won’t budge out of my warm bed. I’ll slam snooze on my alarm clock and keep sleeping. But if I wake up and think about how I have a coaching call to help Megan with her nutrition so she can see the results she’s working so hard and she is going on vacation to Hawaii for the first time in 10 years, and wants to feel good about herself on the beach; somehow I find the ability to get out of bed. If you create and work for yourself you’ll always be limited. You have to find a big reason WHY! Most people can’t make themselves do what they need to because they can’t figure out their why.

If you have no why you really don’t have a reason to get up in the morning.

Tacoma Personal Trainer Wraps it up for you!

Success in fitness and life takes more than just one good day. Pick the right habits and be consistent. Put yourself in the right environment and figure out what your reason is for sticking with it instead of going back to eating donuts and watching TV all day after work. Something as little as the wrong friend can affect your sleep habits and contribute to you being overweight. Just look at the Men’s Health article here “Are Your Friends Making You Fat?”  They found in a ten year study that the more your sleep and social schedule conflict the more overweight you are likely to be. That’s just one single aspect of your life. I can tell you I’ve seen someone who was very healthy and fit change their association and go from working out and being healthy to hanging out with their new boy friend and girlfriend and soon become in the worse shape of their lives! Am I saying relationships are bad? No, but I’m saying association is important and will affect your habits and your success.

Do a check this weekend. Who are the top five people you associate with and how are their:

Relationships- their family, significant others, friends, and even their pets.

Financials- where they are in life compared to where they want to be, how focused are they on what they want and most importantly how much progress have they made lately?

Health- Nutrition, smoking, drinking, flossing, exercise, and even wearing a seatbelt.

Integrity- Honesty with people around them, how well do they forgive, do they steal a little here and there? Would you trust them to take your life savings in cash to a friend in another state?

Leave me a comment, give the facebook indicator a “like” click, share this article, but most importantly…TAKE ACTION and start your success!

This is your friendly Tacoma personal trainer signing out for the weekend!

BeFit,

Isaac

Let me play piano for you

This was a busy week for your friendly Tacoma personal trainer. I try to post mostly training or life related things on Isaacbefitlife but every now and then I feel like it’s national Isaac takes a break day. Time to recharge.

I was reading the book “ The Charge” by Brendon Burchard about the kind of lives that people live.

The Infamous Battery Sign From Apple

1. The life that people put you in that isn’t who you are at all.

2. The life that you live that you look at and realize it’s not everything you wanted.

3. The life that is inspired by others and inspires others in turn.

Life charge is measured in two ways. Negative or positive and high intensity or low intensity.

My life is personally charged but I want my clients and everyone around me to live the number 3 life. They say the sign of  true control is someone who can smile when everything is not alright. I must say I do a pretty good job at smiling and most people would probably think everything is easy for me.

Having a good attitude about life can't be selective. Smiling is not optional.

It’s not any easier for me than it is for you. I just make a decision. My parents blessed me with piano lessons when I was growing up during my dark sweater days I would stay inside and practice, practice, and practice. As I grew older and found myself with no one to talk to it became my outlet for pushing out how I felt when I couldn’t explain in words.

Recharging can mean different things to different people. I had a busy week signing up new clients and working on the business. Despite that I was able to get in four workouts. I did two boot camp workouts and then two of my own strength workouts really working on the new warmup techniques we were implementing. You can’t teach if you can’t do. Friday night we did a great team training where once again we talked about sharpening and moving forward in life which should be the focus of any program.

On Sundays if I don’t go out I program out for all the semi-private clients, one on one, and boot camps I try to take some personal time for myself. Before training I was all about the music. I played piano for eight years but like any skill if you let it go it doesn’t come back to well. You get what you put in. I learned this piece  today ” When Love Falls” by Yiruma and practiced it for a while until I felt it was nice enough to share. I hope you enjoy and can reflect on your life while you listen to it. It was really nice to take some time and learn and practice piano again. If you would like to hear more post below and I would love to put something up every now and then.

I could write for hours on the piano and how it reflects possibilities but today is not one of those days.

Click on the link below to listen and have a great Sunday!

When Love Falls

BeFit,

Isaac

Tacoma Personal Trainer My Number One Mistake

Tacoma Personal Trainer You Lack Motivation!

Hi! It’s your friendly Tacoma Personal Trainer and I wanted to talk about something that’s been on my mind for a while now; something  more important than talking about techniques or science. The topic is motivation. What’s the difference between motivation and inspiration?

Inspiration lasts a second — Motivation lasts a lifetime.

You probably have seen some dramatic examples of people serving in third world countries or some other charitable causes that stirred you, inspired you to take action, and encouraged you to make a donation, but it lasted for only an instance.  After a while you went on with your life. You didn’t pack your things and move away for the rest of you life, committed to fighting for that cause.  I remember the first time I watched the movie “Food Inc.” It shocked me! I told all my friends and family about it; I bought the DVD, and was so grossed out  I couldn’t think about eating corn fed beef again. It lasted for a whole two weeks. The inspiration faded away and I went back to my old ways.

You see, someone or something can INSPIRE you, but inspiration never lasts. It’s like a fire that has to be stoked and when there’s no one to feed it coal it grows cold and dies out. When it comes from deep inside you, your very purpose, your very reason for existing so much that you breathe it every second of your life, then that becomes your motivation.  Motivation is the renewable source of power that never extinguishes.

Being a Tacoma personal trainer for over half a decade has developed in me a love of training science. I came into personal training thinking I was going to train mixed martial art competitors; for that caliber of athlete you have to be an intelligent trainer. You have to be able to make a strong athlete, manage their weigh-ins, build their endurance and explosiveness for their sport specifically, and prevent injuries. I’ve  learned all that, but I’ve only trained two combat athletes in my career. The more I looked around, the more I realized in myself, and the majority of trainers in the industry, that knowledge means the world to us.  We feel the more we know the more we can help our clients. Lately I had to take a step back and ask myself am all I about the science or am I all about the people?

After training client after client, I can tell you as the Tacoma Personal Trainer who has the most before and after pictures ( I prefer to call them “before and now” pictures because are you ever done or finished? No, there’s always more improvement.) that it’s not about the knowledge. With the internet, science, magazines, and high speed forms of communication we have more knowledge than ever about nutrition and fitness, and yet obesity is at an all time high. How does that happen? That’s like saying you make more money now than ever but you’re in so much debt the bank is about to re-posses your house and our car. It makes no sense. The more I thought about it, the clearer it became. You don’t have an earning problem, you have a money management problem. As Americans we don’t have a knowledge problem; we have a priority and mindset problem.

Tacoma Personal Trainer and Failure

I’d like to say I’ve never failed a client, but that wouldn’t be true. See the biggest failure I ever made was taking a client and not teaching them how to think. I thought they would come in, work out with me, and be inspired to make changes in their life, but that only works for a small percentage of people.

A percentage of clients will thrive in any program with any trainer. Let’s use car sales for an example, since we’ve all bought a car before.

1. Person one – walks into a car dealership, and you could be the worse sales person in the world and not even remember their name, and they still buy a car from you. You don’t have to be even a mediocre sales person to make that sale.

2. Person two – will buy the car if you take a little bit of effort.  Perhaps you give them a bottle of water; you remember their name and show them you’re an honest person. Person two wants a car, but not as bad as person one.

3. Finally, person three – this person is just looking around.  You help them find the car they always wanted, but didn’t even have any idea they wanted! The moment you engage them, you help them fit their needs perfectly and they drive off happy, telling all their friends. Only the exceptional sales person could help that person find a car. This is kind of person most sales men would call “tire kickers,” and most personal trainers call these clients “lazy.”

So what kind of sales person does the best aspire to be? The One who can sell number three because if you can sell number three you can sell number one. How does this apply to training?

The Three Kinds of Clients

1. Client One – these clients will come in with any training program and succeed. They change the way they eat right away. They never miss a session, and they never complain. They have great genetics and strong mental discipline. These are the dream clients. Most elite athletes are like this. Think Tiger Woods.  He beat Bob Hope at a putting content at three years old! I can’t even remember knowing what golf was at three years old.

2. Client Two – these clients come in and waver in their drive.  Sometimes they aren’t that motivated. Other days they’re super motivated and work hard. They do what they’re supposed to outside of the gym about 50 percent of the time. These people are still easy to work with if you keep tabs on them because they’re tipped in the right direction.  Most trainers don’t make enough effort to help these people through the tipping point. If you have a solid program, accountability, and work with them diligently these clients see great success.

3. Client Three – the third type of clients is the one who KNOWS they need to exercise but has ZERO internal motivation. You may inspire them on one day, but within a few hours the inspiration is gone. These are the kind of clients who will defend the things they do outside of the gym with, “HEY I SHOWED UP TODAY!” or “I’M JUST HAPPY I DIDN’T STAY AT HOME.”

So what is the problem with this person? They lack motivation, but it’s because they lack standards!

Standards are a funny thing. Everyone has their own level of standards; to a trainer it’s not enough to just come in. You have to do your program with enough energy to actually achieve a training affect.

When you leave the gym you have to have standards on how you’re going to live your life to see results.

There’s a big disconnect on what standards people have. You’ll never get anywhere with these kinds of clients and they won’t make lasting changes if they don’t CHANGE THEIR STANDARDS.

Standards aren’t just about exercise. Standards affect everything.

When I go to a restaurant I expected to be treated a certain way. Those are my standards. Now if I stop by a small stand in the middle of nowhere on a road trip to eat,  my standards for the food and service are much lower. The standards for a pro athlete are much higher than the standards for an amateur athlete. The third kind of client has such low standards you won’t be able to make them change their thought process unless you help them change their standards. Most trainers see a client like this and call them “lazy.” If you want to know why most trainers say, ” I just want to work with athletes” it’s because athletes come in with a higher standard and work ethic.  Most trainers get sick and tired of hearing clients complain about hard workouts, have them rarely show up, and then fuss about not getting to eat cheesecake. These are the trainers that only work with well with the first kind of client.

Tacoma Personal Trainer Red House and Yellow House

It’s time to take a good hard look at yourself. Which kind of client are you? Are you the kind who’s going to make all the changes yourself and really just needs the right exercises to get there the fastest? If that’s the case just find a trainer who knows the most about exercise and  nutrition and you’ll be fine. It’s like finding a car salesmen. Even if they don’t know anything about helping you, if they know the price and the details of the car you’ll walk out with the right car. Let’s be honest, any trainer should at least be incredible at their skill.

On the other hand, you may need more than just someone who gives you exercises. Maybe you lack the motivation. You’re not accountable to yourself all the time. You want to do well, but you know you fall short about the same amount of times you are successful. That’s OK. You just need to find a Tacoma Personal Trainer who is going to keep you accountable and make it a pleasant experience so you keep coming back.

Finally, you may be the last kind of client. What sales men call “tire kickers” and what personal trainers call “the lazy, whining client” (they don’t say it to your face). If you feel your trainer is thinking that, then you need to find a different trainer. That trainer is going to force you into a habit you’re never going to change because they’re not working on helping you reset your standards. They’re telling you it’s OK to have low standards but you have to perform at these standards.

I’m going to end this post with a story. 

Once upon a time there was little neighborhood with white picket fences and perfectly green grass backyards. There was a red house and a yellow house and in each house lived a father with only one son As their boys grew up they started to get jobs. Both sons ended up getting a job at the local mall cleaning floors.  The fathers were excited their sons got a good, hard, honest job.  Their boys worked this job from the ages of eighteen until they turned twenty.

One day the dads sat down and decided that the job their sons had when they were eighteen shouldn’t be the same jobs they should work for the rest of their lives. As they were growing up, the boys needed more money and better things in life; nine dollars an hour was no longer a great thing for their sons.

Red house Dad lectured his son about where he was in life; he told him he had to stop hanging out with friends who wasted their time at the bowling alley, and that he needed to work harder at cleaning in order to get promoted to the janitorial manager. He told his son ” You need to work harder, you need to stop being so lazy, what’s wrong with you? You wanna live here forever with me in this Red house? Is that what you want?”

Yellow house Dad told his son that he deserved more out of life, told him that he was born for excellence, that he was the average of the five people he associated with, and that if he wanted more than what he had, he needed to focus on what he wanted and find a way to get it. He told his son he believed in him and helped him map out places he’d like to work and helped him schedule interviews. He told him, ” Son, where you are now was great for being eighteen, but now your standards need to change as you change and move on in life.”

The son from the Red House tried to do what his dad told him, but he hated cleaning and started showing up late for work. His dad would yell at him, and for a while he would show up on time, but then he would fall right back into showing up late.  Eventually he quit working at the mall. He sat at home until his dad kicked him out, and he moved in with some of the friends and played video games all day.

The Yellow House son thought about what his dad said and realized he didn’t want to clean the mall for the rest of his life. He thought about the things he DID like to do and went to the interviews his dad helped him set up. He ended up getting an internship as a graphic artist and went on to create art models for animated films.

What was the difference between the two dads? Coaching.

Both dads wanted the same things for their son, but one coached his son and the other lectured him. They both cared for their sons and wanted to help them, but one focused on what his son wanted to do and the other focused on what he wanted his son to do.  In the end they both wanted the same things.

If you’re the third kind of person who has tried different trainers, programs, and diets and none of them have worked in the long term for you, then you need more than someone who can train you. You need someone who can coach you.

That was my biggest mistake when I started training. I lectured. I didn’t coach. My biggest mistake was not helping my clients change their standards.

BeFit,

Isaac

Tacoma Personal Trainer Be Real

Tacoma Personal Trainer Let’s Be Real

The F Bomb. Not a G Rated Blog

The other day I was with my friend Renton Personal Trainer Luka Hocevar hanging out with some of the top fitness professionals in the world having dinner in Bellevue and we were talking about what makes people successful. When it boils down to it it’s all about being real. Real steal baby! What’s that mean? It means be a genuine person. Don’t pretend you’re a nice guy if you’re NOT a nice guy. Don’t pretend to be humble if you’re not, don’t pretend you love to learn if you don’t, and if you enjoy swearing every five seconds…you know who you are…then you just let the F bombs drop.

There’s nothing I hate more than two faced people. Why are you going to pretend to be nice if you’re going to sneak around my back and stab me? I’d rather you just be straight and honest so I don’t end up wasting my time and being disappointed in you. The last thing we really need is to destroy the faith in man kind! Luka was nice enough to tell me I was too nice. He also made fun of my “Pink” Obey Hoodie, by the way it’s not pink it’s salmon, this hoodie is super comfy and also doubles really well for a audio muffling device when I do nutrition modules.

See it's salmon not pink....

This weekend I had something happen to me that we’ll put it nicely made me want to not be so nice anymore. And as much as I’d want to go Tony Stark on the world. If you don’t know what Tony Stark on the world means it’s probably because I made the concept up. Tony Stark is a millionare comic book character from the new Avengers movie and he pretty much doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He’s what you call self involved and selfish. Of course he works for what he has and he’s good at what he does and knows it; at the same time he’s less into other people’s feelings and more about which party he’s going to go to and how much scotch he gets to drink out of a crystal glass.

Tony Stark Is too cool to care

As much as I’d love to be all about not caring it’s just not in my character. I think the biggest realization I had when I first started being a Tacoma Personal Trainer was that as much as I liked the training I LOVED the people. In fact my biggest frustration with seeing other Tacoma personal trainers and other trainers in general is they forget the reason they’re even there in the first place. To help their client succeed and feel better every single time they leave that gym.

Now sometimes it means not pushing your client as hard and still help them train. See knowledge is important but it’s how you apply it. It doesn’t matter that I  knows that it takes 18 days to lose the training affect of Anarobic Glycolytic Endurance which is really a fancy way of saying lifting weights for about 6-12 reps. If I don’t care about HOW I can use that to help my client. If have a client come back from vacation I don’t want to make them think they’re starting from scratch then I look at residual training affect and have them lift in a range that helps them build confidence. Aerobic training affects last 30 days before they starts to shrink away so someone on a long vacation may start with more cardio coming back. You have to care about your client and modify the program to help them build confidence as well as fitness day one when they come back.

To be the best Tacoma Personal Trainer I can be I have to care about the heart and motivation of the person I train.

I’m going to admit something to you here on the blog that’s pretty personal. Try not to laugh. And if you do it’s OK just send me an audio recording of you laughing at me so I can play it back when I watch movies by myself so I don’t feel so alone.  I do not do well in my personal relationship life outside of the gym. I don’t know what it is but woman run from me like I have the plague. I see guys in pictures on facebook hugging three girls and I’m always amazed! I can barely get a hand shake. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit….or maybe a bit lot but you get the idea. It’s hard for me to lock a good girl down that I really care about and after I get hurt enough I don’t want to even be nice to girls I date.

By the way if you’re looking for the ultimate heart break movie 500 Days of Summer is one of my favorite ones.

All the heartbreak over the years has really upset me to put mildly. You could say Isaac wants to drop some serious F bombs….and just be mean to all girls outside of my Tacoma personal training  gym, however I can’t no matter how hurt I get because I believe in these following words:

How you do anything is how you do everything! 

This theme has helped me see success in what I do to a point where I can’t even explain. If I’m not like it in the real world then I don’t pretend in the training world and if I wouldn’t do this all the time then I don’t do it at the beginning. I’m a nice person when I train and I’m a nice person when I’m hanging out with people. I’m just too nice. But that’s OK. It makes me successful and I know one day it’ll make me successful in relationships as well. So I’m too nice. It’s OK. I play piano and I write poems. It’s just who I am and I’ll attract the kind of people that appreciate it and repel the people who don’t.

That being said. Let’s keep it real with a poem I wrote. Drop a comment on the blog and let me know what keeping it real means to you. Have you been hiding who you really are or think that you won’t see success if you act a certain way or don’t fit a certain mold?

No one ever looks at me and thinks that’s Isaac Ho the Tacoma personal trainer. They probably just see an average looking guy. In fact I don’t even wear workout shirts when I train clients. ( Sorry to all you under armour wearing personal trainer with dry fit shirts on). I just dress like I dress. I keep it real and don’t worry about fitting into any molds.

I’m my own person.

I fit my own mold.

I’m not afraid to say it loud and say it proud.

You should be proud of who and how you are because you’re uniquely you!

BeFit,

Isaac

Hotel Room

It seems so long ago

Whenenver the moon was full

Wherever I was I’d look up at it and all I could do

Was think of watching it glow with you

Hotel rooms, sunny afternoons, all flew by too soon

And times I left on a Sunday when I had “better things to do”

Make me wish I had stayed, and just been there with you

But now it’s gone and I’m just missing you

Missing you, me, us…in that hotel room

I can’t give you yesterday or then

If you’re looking backwards then I’ll just fail you

I was trying to give you today, tomorrow.. our future

I can’t be sorry

And I wouldn’t want you to be

I could only do my best

I can change me but I can’t do anything about you

And now

It seems so long ago

Whenenver the moon was full

Wherever I was I’d look up at it and all I could do

Was think of watching it glow with you

Hotel rooms, sunny afternoons, all flew by too soon

And times I left on a Sunday when I had “better things to do”

Make me wish I had stayed, and just been there with you

But now it’s gone and I’m just missing you

Missing you, me, us…in that hotel room

Your birthday came and went

And I didn’t say “Hi” or stop by the venue

I don’t think you even missed me

I pretend to be happy

Now that you’re happy too

But deep inside

I’m really just missing you

I wish you had never left

And I could have held on to you

And

It seems so long ago

Whenenver the moon was full

Wherever I was I’d look up at it and all I could do

Was think of watching it glow with you

Hotel rooms, sunny afternoons, all flew by too soon

And times I left on a Sunday when I had “better things to do”

Make me wish I had stayed, and just been there with you

But now it’s gone and I’m just missing you

Missing you, me, us…in that hotel room