The Show Up Fitness Podcast

From Construction Worker to Full Time Personal Trainer

• Chris Hitchko, CEO Show Up Fitness • Season 3 • Episode 257

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What happens when you trade a stable construction paycheck for the uncertainty of becoming a personal trainer in your 40s? Sean's journey will inspire anyone feeling trapped in their career.

After years in construction, Sean found himself drained by his blue-collar job despite doing everything he was "supposed to" do – putting on boots each morning and providing for his family. A chance encounter with John Ratey's book "Spark" ignited something inside him, beginning a transformation that would completely reshape his life.

The path wasn't straightforward. Sean candidly shares his frustrations with traditional fitness certification, describing moments of heart-pounding anxiety when confronted with textbooks filled with jargon he couldn't understand. But everything changed when he discovered a practical approach to training that focused on real-world skills rather than abstract concepts. This breakthrough gave him the confidence to approach gym owners and stand out in an industry where 90% of new trainers fail within their first year.

Now earning more than his construction salary while experiencing unprecedented freedom and fulfillment, Sean finds his greatest rewards in his clients' victories – from the former hockey player who can finally fit into his college jacket again to the budget-conscious client proudly purchasing her first dumbbell. More importantly, his career change has given him precious mornings with his five-year-old son, moments he previously sacrificed to his demanding job.

For anyone contemplating a career change, especially those in their 40s or 50s who think it might be too late, Sean offers powerful advice: "We're here one time on this beautiful earth. The fruits we produce in life aren't for us, they're for others. Give your gift to others." His guiding question – "If not now, when?" – might be exactly what you need to hear today.

Want to ask us a question? Email email info@showupfitness.com with the subject line PODCAST QUESTION to get your question answered live on the show!

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Website: https://www.showupfitness.com/
Become a Personal Trainer Book (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Personal-Trainer-Successful/dp/B08WS992F8
NASM / ACE / ISSA study guide: https://www.showupfitness.com/collections/nasm

Speaker 1:

Did you learn that programming through Ace?

Speaker 2:

No, to be dead honest with you, I'm going to be 100%. I don't know what I learned from Ace. And that is the true, true story. My wife will say to me all the time, every time I would talk, it would be like yo show up fitness. Or Chris said right, like this, that and the other. I can't recall anything.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry, one qualified trainer at a time, with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitnesscom. Also, make sure to check out my book how to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Have a great day and keep showing up how to become a successful personal trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Howdy y'all. Welcome back to the Show of Fitness podcast. Today I have my brother from Philadelphia, gemini Mr Sean, and he has quite the remarkable story. Ladies and gentlemen, if you're thinking about turning your passion for fitness into career changing, careers, full-time construction, one of my favorite country singers, mr Frank Foster, always talks about those blue-collar boys, and that is Mr Sean. Thank you for showing up today my man.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for having me, man, I'm grateful to be here and it's great to see you again and talk to you, brother. So you were able to leave your nine to five in the trenches and now you're a full-time trainer, right there on your chest, extreme fitness, and you're loving what you're doing.

Speaker 2:

I'm loving what I'm doing, man. Nothing in my 42 years of life, dude, like nothing, has brought me more joy than in this last two, three-year bid of you know, last year of being a full-time trainer. But yeah, nothing has brought me more joy, man, it really has. It lit a fire under me.

Speaker 1:

You have beat the statistics 90% quit within the first year. That's not you. You just came across your one-year marker and I just want to talk about your story because it's so awesome to hear, kind of starting with that great book, john ratea spark, and it kind of lit a fire under your ass and now look at you. So let's start there yeah, absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2:

Um, I would say, probably about a good four years ago. Man again, uh, blue coward, just working, supporting family, everything like that, just doing what I was taught. Right, get up, put your boots on, go to work, provide for your family and keep it moving. Um, it was, uh, it was draining the life out of me, dude, like I believe in your book. It says like soul sucking nine to five, or something like that. And that that is the truth, man, like it, just it was. It was sucking my light right out of me. So, uh, I got put on.

Speaker 2:

I got big on the listening to health podcast, everything like that. I just wanted to change and I wasn't living the healthiest life at that time. You know what I mean? There was, there was constantly things going on in my life. But, uh, I heard this book spark, man, I believe it was from the mind pump guys, or it could have been like Jordan Syed, who that's my, that's my guy, dude. Dude, jordan Syed is my guy and I read this book Spark and, um, from that point on, it did exactly what it says on the book, man, it sparked something in me and I just wanted to start getting better. Not physically, man, mentally, like that's where it started for me and everything else is. That's where it's rolling at right now, man.

Speaker 1:

Jordan has such a cool story. I interviewed him in my book and I love hearing where people get connected. And so, from there, you decided I want to become a trainer and probably like most, you typed in the Google machine how to become a trainer and you went the ACE route and talk to us a little bit about that. How was that experience? Was it frustrating? Was it overwhelming? Talk to us.

Speaker 2:

So, uh, yeah, and you just said connection, just to be, I knew Jordan Syed's brother from listening to his podcast. You know he's a comedian, lee Syed, and I never would have put them two together, right. But anyway, for the question that you're saying is, um, in the beginning it was like, yeah, this is great, this is what I want to do. Right, like I feel better, I'm moving better. I, this is great, this is what I want to do. Right, like I feel better, I'm moving better, I'm making healthier choices. I want to be a personal trainer, like, that's exactly where I want to go with it. And, uh, I signed up and I had somebody telling me, like ACE, ace is the best one to take, right, like, and I'm like, okay, I again have no idea about, so I'm just going open-minded, take it, I take the. Uh, I get all the material. I spend, probably I, I'm all out. I say you know what? I'm gonna pay 1100 or 12, I'm not sure what it might have been nine to eleven hundred dollars for everything. I get the textbook, I get the stuff online, I get the workbook and I'm like, oh great, I got it. I'm gonna put a little bit of time aside each day or a couple hours a week and get through this thing.

Speaker 2:

That's not how it went, man. I got into it and I start reading and I'm looking up words because I'm like I don't even know what that means, dude. And then we start going and it's word after word, after paragraph after sentence, and I'm just sitting there I could, I remember feeling my heartbeat just going like what am I getting myself into? Close the book one one day? And I'm like, all right, there's gotta be, there's gotta be a simpler way to learn, right? Like I've always been told, we can hear the same thing over and, over and over again, but it just takes one person to spit that out a certain way and you're like, oh, I can do that. And that's where I went in. I think I was on youtube, man. I just started typing in uh, past, uh, cpt, and you're uh, you're handsome hunk. Ass comes up, dude, and uh, and there you were, and I was. Immediately.

Speaker 1:

I listened to a little bit of what you started to say and I was attracted to how you were putting it out there, man it must be the gemini in you, because so many people will see that personality and say, oh my, my God, this guy's a fricking tool. But I have to be a chameleon and just try to almost stir the bees nest a little bit. And I appreciate what you said. You said you were attracted to my confidence and you kind of weed through the bullshit and say you know what, this guy can help me pass it, which you did, and you got through it, probably a couple months after using the guide, and then we met up in New Jersey, red Bank, and then from there you just kind of started taking off. Prior to Red Bank, which is the hands-on learning portion, you did start working at any time. So let's talk about your intro into the training world working at Anytime, fitness and then we'll transition into where you're at Extreme.

Speaker 2:

After I got yourself to pass the CPT. It was probably within a six week period of studying and putting it and putting it off a little bit. February I passed it proctored exam, so you know, worked hard on it but, you know, got through that piece Within a month. I was excited. I'm like this is what I want to do, man, like I know. I know how it transformed my life in just a small amount of time, mentally and also physically. I started to see that that's just, that's what happens, right. But mentally, how I was feeling, I'm like that's what I want to do. I know what I want to bring to people, man, that pass by me, that are feeling the way I feel.

Speaker 2:

And I started working. I went, I went to a couple of places and I didn't even they said they were going to call me back. They never called me back Anytime. I finished the woman I think she was desperate man because she was saying like we lost a couple. So they were just, they were willing to take whatever they could get to walk through them doors and I happened to be the guy that walked through that door that day.

Speaker 1:

And it's interesting because people will say like, oh, you have to have this specific certification to get hired at a gym, but a lot of it's just time and place. I'm sure that you didn't have to show anything. You're at the right place the right time, you look the part, you talk the part, you're eager, you have what I talk about with the help. Nick, you're hungry and they're like this guy can definitely make an influence here. So then they were brought on the team And's talk about, like the, the beginning aspects. How was programming in and helping your clients at that point? Cause these are 30 minute sessions and you're probably getting anywhere from maybe 12 to 15 bucks per session, correct?

Speaker 2:

That's yeah, that's true. So I had an hourly rate of anywhere from I believe it was 13 to $15 when I was able to get a client. If it was a half hour session, they gave me $2 for that half hour.

Speaker 1:

And then, if it was?

Speaker 2:

an hour session. They gave me five hours on top of my hourly rate. So that's that's where it was. When it came to personal training one-on-one that way, um, and they had dude, they had the simple uh, clients coming in, you can go right on the database, pull off with, like. So it wasn't personal, it was just like pull this out and go run it with my client.

Speaker 2:

And I remember the first time I saw that happening, I was like I had already now been in contact with you with show of fitness learning, learning how to program, take paying for your monthly membership, right, and that that right. There is what changed the game for me, man, because I went in there and I was, of course, overwhelmed that I'm going to be in front of people and this, that and the other, but I was able to go in there knowing that I didn't need to look at that machine or the computer to pull something out. I was able to talk to my client and then see what goals they wanted or what they wanted to work on and, boom, we went to work, man, right from there.

Speaker 1:

And prior to the podcast we were chatting how awesome the CCA is with programming because a lot of new trainers can definitely be that deer in the headlights where client comes in. It's Monday. We got to go bench but you only have two or three benches in the gym but you're able to think on the fly, no-transcript.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, man, like there was. There was, exactly, you're right. There was three benches at Anytime Fitness and most of the time I was in that peak hour because, again, I was only part time. So when I got there, mostly everybody else was working the same nine to five job or seven to three, and they were getting to the gym at the same time. So there was always an amount of people in there and everybody was always on the bench and there was three squat racks. Someone was always in a squat rack. So that's that's exactly it, man.

Speaker 2:

Learning from these guys with the cca and then knowing what tools I could use anything and put my client through the best workout man. So it would be like, hey, we're going to do bench. Today there was no benches, I'm not going to wait. Sure, I could have went and worked something else out and then hope for that bench to be there. But I didn't do it.

Speaker 2:

It was like, hey, we're going to wait. Sure, I could have went and worked something else out and then hope for that bench to be there, but I didn't do it. It was like, hey, we're going to grab dumbbells, I'm going to throw a yoga mat down. I'll get an ab mat behind your head If we got the head leaning up two months and make it nice and comfortable, and boom, we're going right to work, rocking it right from there. Squat rack. Same way, man, if the squat rack was there, we're just working. Dumbbell suitcase, we're going goblet, we're working some kind of way. I didn't need a barbell for someone to squat, you know, unless they told me, hey, I want to work on my barbell, back squatting, then we would have to work something out there did you learn that programming through ace?

Speaker 2:

no dude, to be dead honest with you, I'm going to be a hundred percent. I don't know what I learned from ace like, and that is the true story. My wife will say to me all the time, every time I would talk, it would be like yo show off fitness. Or Chris said right, like this, that and the other. I can't recall anything. And I mean that book is huge dude, I can't really recall anything in there.

Speaker 1:

That's the unfortunate thing. It's not to necessarily knock the textbooks. People in your situation, they want to help people, they want to turn their past from fitness to a career. But I can only imagine that new trainer who doesn't have this resource, where they literally are just completely confused because they're like, oh, client needs to bench, bench is taken, and they kind of just flutter around. And they're farting around and so the client senses it and they're like, what is this trainer doing? They're not confident in owning what's going on right now, and so that client, ultimately, is going to either not show up, they're going to cancel sessions, they're going to not retain their business.

Speaker 1:

And yes, this is part of sales and people get flustered over sales, but it's the confidence that you deliver and the ability to help your client, no matter the situation. And so that transgressed into more opportunities and so you're able to transfer over to a gym in Philadelphia Extreme Fitness. So tell us about what's going on. And then let's get to the point now where, a year in and you're making more than you were in your nine to five is construction, which I got to tell you right now. I'm proud of you. That is pretty awesome to be able to say my man, so way to go.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. Yeah, it's truly amazing man, and I don't know and I'll be honest with you, I don't know if I set the bar that low, so I didn't have high expectations. But again, a father of three, you know house, everything like that. Me and my wife come back from a trip last September and I wrote in my book if not now, then when? Right and right in there I turned to my wife and I said I'm going to not go back to work anymore and I'm going to turn into this full-time personal trainer. And without a blink of an eye she goes you got it, so we turn in.

Speaker 2:

I'm now working at I left Anytime Fitness about about. So I was there from March until about July and this opportunity of extreme fitness had opened up. I saw he was posting for a personal trainer and I just reached out. And again, without y'all fitness I would have never reached out, because I've known this guy a long time. He's been in. He's been in the fitness industry. He's been a successful business, though, for over 25 years.

Speaker 2:

That's Marty McLaughlin and his wife, linda, dude for extreme fitness.

Speaker 2:

Um, I mean, even when I used to work out there before, I would look at him almost like, oh, that's Marty, like that's how I would look at him right.

Speaker 2:

Like wow, this guy he works with professionals, he works with, you know, bodybuilders, and I'm like no way man. But that's how, just that little spark that you gave me, right like Show Off Fitness gave me, was able to get me to reach out and be like you know what I believe in myself? I want to reach out in the morning and see if he'll give me a job at Extreme Fitness. And that's where it went from there, man, he lined me up for an interview and within like a week or two I was working there part-time and taking on classes and already accumulate. They gave me a few clients right away to start working with. When they trained me and they saw he made me train him and that was like, oh my God, even him and the other trainer that's been in the game a long time, they said the way I moved I was able to go boom, boom, boom and run that CCA. They hadn't seen that in a trainer in a long long time or if ever.

Speaker 1:

And I want to take a moment to really dissect that a little bit more, because as a newer trainer, you don't realize the other side of the equation. And Marty has been in the game for a while. I've been in the game for a while and we know what the industry provides Textbook trainers who are not confident. And so if you wouldn't have had that confidence in the experience within the CCA, you would have gone to him and he's gonna be thinking he doesn't care about what certification you had. He's thinking can you perform? And if you were to take him through a workout and you're looking around, he's just like another trainer. I guarantee you he's going to support the statistic 90% quote within the first year. And so when you have an anomaly like yourself, it comes in and you have that energy, you're that shooting star and he's just going. You know what I need you because you were able to perform and it wasn't because of show up, it was because the confidence that you have from implementing the systems so that you can be on the spot and perform.

Speaker 1:

Could you imagine like in baseball we're getting to the World Series and the playoffs here, you read a book on baseball and then you go up to the manager and say, give me a chance. And he throws you a strike and you swing and it's not even close. With that first pitch, the person knows like, oh God, this is not going to gonna work. And that's so many trainers. And so when you came in and you took a hack and you hit the fuck out of the ball, he's going oh shit, this guy's special, I need you.

Speaker 1:

And that's exactly what you've done. You hit the ball out of the park. So that's so awesome to hear. And now you're at a gym with 30 plus racks and you're doing small group training as well and you just like you. I use for clickbait a lot of the numbers because people are attracted to that. But what you said was really, really humbling about like you're not doing this for the money. Yeah, you're providing for your family, but it's little things like the client wins. So talk to us about some of those things that you've experienced. That really just makes you feel complete and whole as a personal trainer.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so there you go, Like the humbling factor, right? Never with my older kids did I ever have the chance. But, like this morning, wake up breakfast with my youngest son, who's five, take him to school and then, you know, go about my day, dude, right, Schedule to where I'm going to schedule my clients around. Hey, I'm going to pick my son up and then I'll be back up to the gym. Things, man, it's spirituality, it's family, right, and then it's everything else. Client-wise man like I can tell you a couple of stories of them.

Speaker 2:

I had a client come in, you know, played hockey back in there. He's overweight, knees are hurting him a little bit. Man, we start going through, we find certain ways that make him not in pain when he's doing. You know, hey, my knees hurt. Okay, well, we're going to figure out a way to get you to squat right, whether it's raising the floor, whether it's opening your stance, whether it's moving around, getting certain things going. 30 pounds later can put on his college jacket right now. He hit me up the other day with a picture of it, right, and I'm like this is great, dude, a woman, man, she didn't even know she wanted to do this, right, we get to going and she's on a budget, man, you know so she's. She spends, you know, $65 for a half hour one time a week. The other day she's at the store shopping and she's like I bought myself a little gift and she took a picture of the dumbbell, the 15 pound dumbbell to you know. Now she's going to have that at home, which is again how I showed her she can use that dumbbell for so much, for everything, can make that work, right, so that that's another one on it.

Speaker 2:

I had a client that was uh, uh. He's been away for a little bit and anytime someone crosses my mind, I always just reach out, not for trying to get your business back, because I care, right, calls me back up. He's going through a hard time. His mother paced away. Stuff like that gets emotional on the phone. We're talking about an older man, right, like, and and he's like I promise you I'll see you next week. We're going to start from zero. I'm like no, we're going to start exactly where you are today, man, you know so, there's some of the. That's the real pay for me. That fills me up, man, so much Because we also wear a lot of hats and we're energy. Right, you're an energy, I'm an energy, and we give our energy away all day long, and it's just like so. We got to make sure we fill ourselves up, and that's one way that fills me up right there, man.

Speaker 1:

Those are so cool. That's exactly people say. They get into this to help people and that's exactly what you're doing. I'd like to hear a little bit more selfishly about you. Get certified, but then what did that seminar do for you? Because so many trainers they're going to kind of flutter around for months and that's where they really have that self-doubt Like, can I do this? And they don't have people to ask questions to. And I remember numerous times whether, if it's the Facebook group Qualified Personal Trainers or just DMing back and forth, we would have actual conversations. So you got to the in-person. What did that do for leveling up your career when you went to the Lifetime at Red Bank?

Speaker 2:

Well, that one was eye-opening for me. I got to see a gym where I was like what? Like I've never seen a gym. That was a Lifetime, I believe, right, lifetime. And I mean, I think the day I was there, mike, the situation was in the gym that day or something like that, dude, right, but like it opened me up to wow, dude, like this is where, like I want to be right.

Speaker 2:

And then I got around qualified personal trainers and teachers like yourself, right, and then people that had been in the business from lifetime trainers that were there and that's what opened me up too. I was like man, these trainers, because I would think, like other people, these trainers have their certification and they're here in the seminar, why they need to be here, like that's what I was saying. I knew why I needed to be there, because I had no faith in myself. I didn't know what I was doing, even after I passed the CPT, right and I, so that's why I was there. But then I was like wow, it opened me up. There was people around around me. I was able to get connections, I was able to start talking to people, I was able to train trainers.

Speaker 2:

That was my. That was my first real-time trainer trainer, which then got me ready for when I had to train my trainer at extreme fitness. You know what I mean. So that that opened me up to that. So the hands-on to be able to ask questions, um, and I, I there was like no stupid question, man, when I would ask the question to you, or Josh was there, right, like it was just, and Katie was there. I mean, like you three were amazing dude and you had an answer, and it seemed like if you guys didn't have an answer or something, you would just be. You have no problem being like I don't know, but I'll find out for you. You know what I mean and that, right, there is another thing that's so attractive about you guys, man and that's exactly why we do this to to help trainers level up their game.

Speaker 1:

But there's something almost selfishly about the rewards that you get, and I remember it was on sunday morning when you came in and you brought everyone a bunch of what. What did you bring?

Speaker 2:

us. Yeah, we got a bunch of philly pretzels going on there. Man with some spicy brown mustard.

Speaker 1:

I'll always remember stuff like that because it shows that we touched you in a way that we really made an impact. And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to change the industry because I really feel for the alternative universe, where there's Shons out there who've paid thousands of dollars I mean double, triple what you did and they want to help people, but they weren't given the tools and so what they do is they end up doing another job or they're going back to their soul crushing nine to five and it could have been if they would have came across us. And it's just unfortunate. And you're doing what so many want to do and you have to give yourself a pat on the back because you're new into this, but at the same time, you're so far ahead and I think you really noticed that during the first couple months where you're going toe-to-toe with trainers at the best gym in the world, lifetime, and you're like, wow, you know what it's not to say I'm better than you, but I can hold my own and I'm quote-unquote a new trainer and the systems.

Speaker 1:

What they do is they just give you that confidence to be able to go toe to toe and then, most importantly, help your clients safely, because a lot of trainers would not be able to know how to modify regress progress. If your client does hit a little null, what do we need to do progressively to help them stimulate the system so those results start pouring in? And, like you said beautifully, it's like there's so much more than just training people. It is a people business and when you have that like you do, then it is the most rewarding thing out there. So I mean you've done some great things and what would be some words of advice for that construction worker or that person in their 40s or 50s that are thinking I don't know if I can do this, I'm old. What would your advice be for them?

Speaker 2:

Oh God, dude, your advice be for them. Oh God, dude, like, so there's, we're here. We're here one time on this beautiful earth that we've been given a man Like we're here one time. So just make the best of it, man. You know, like, just go out there and if you believe you can keep that positive thought, man, and just keep on action, keep moving, keep moving, that's the best thing I can say. And also, right, like, how, how was it? Like, uh, the fruits that, uh, the fruits that we produce in life, they're not for us, they're for others. Give your gift to others, man. That's why, that's why we're here. So, like, just keep pushing, keep trying and keep working, man, keep showing up, right.

Speaker 1:

I love that. And what you said earlier is we were kind of on the same wavelength. Maybe we're not astrological or whatever that sounds like with the Gemini stuff, but we do. We're definitely kind of on the same level. I'm a good old Catholic boy and you used that quote earlier and I really liked that. What was the quote that? You said that really when you came back from your cruise.

Speaker 2:

Oh. So I said, if I wrote down in my my scheduling book, right Like I wrote down right there on that Sunday I was getting ready for my work week, and it wrote uh. I wrote, um, if not, what, now, when? And that's when I just turned to my wife and I said I'm not going back to that job, I'm going to start personal training full time starting tomorrow, and it's. I haven't looked back and life is. Life is good. Is there struggles and all that? Absolutely man, but I've never felt more fulfilled in my life I love it.

Speaker 1:

I think we can paraphrase that quote by saying it's your time now to show up yeah, yeah, absolutely all right, my man. Well, I appreciate your time today. Where can people find you on social media?

Speaker 2:

so, uh, I'm on instagram. Um, you're gonna ask me my handle. I don't know. To be dead honest, I gotta get better at that, right, I'll put that in the link, like seanstraw13, I'm not sure. That was a long time ago when I made it. I'm on tiktok like, and that's it. I'm always constantly. And facebook right, like, but I'm always constantly man. It's all about the mental gains that I get from working out man and showing up and it's all about, you know, being kind man like, that's it I'll put the link in there.

Speaker 1:

If you're in the on the East coast, make sure to stop on by the Facebook group. Say hello to Sean, let them know. This podcast hits you in a good way and I, like I said, I cannot stress enough how prideful I am in you, but also proud, because your clients are in good hands and you're doing such awesome things. So thanks for changing the industry. My man, and remember, big biceps are better than small ones, and keep showing up.