By Evina Del Pizzo
When someone comes to me for training it’s something that I take very seriously. It is more than a relationship of sets and reps, it’s a relationship built on trust and respect. When I get a new client, I am very specific about my expectations. I will do everything in my power to help my clients get to their goals. More importantly help them believe that they can get to their goals.
One of my expectations is one that I find most important, being on time. That does not mean show up at the appointment time, but at least 15 minutes early. This allows proper time to walk in, find a locker, do a quick warm-up and mentally prepare for the upcoming session. True, I will give more specific warm-ups to the workout in the beginning of the session but the point is, be ready to go at the scheduled time. We, as trainers, understand that life can throw some curveballs into the schedule. We all have them but in general let’s disregard this occurrence. What I mean is when everything is going as “planned”. Chronic lateness shows me one thing, a lack of respect for the 
person themselves.
When I take on a new client, I sit down with them and really talk about their goals and discuss with them the process to get them there. We set up a plan of attack. This takes time and dedication. Most trainers will take the time to plan the workouts weekly or even monthly in order to maximize the time with clients. We meticulously plan every minute in order to eliminate the standing around time. This is why it is important to be on time and prepared to crush the workout. Showing up late cuts into the plan making it take longer to get to the final goal. We will get there, I promise, yet the timeline can be greatly affected by tardiness. Every minute counts!
Most trainers also have multiple clients back to back. If Client A shows up 15 minutes late, I won’t push back Client B 15 minutes especially if they are on time and ready to go. As I said, it just shows a general lack of respect of the process of achieving goals. It doesn’t hurt the trainer when the client is late. In the end it hurts the client. As trainers, we want our clients to show up for themselves. In the end, we want our clients to find in themselves the drive or the “why” they are doing what they are doing. As much as we help with the process, in the end, it comes down to the client willing to put the work in day in and day out. We get it, it’s hard. We have been there and we have walked down that hard road. It does gets better, I promise. But remember; missed time is just that, missed. It is time that cannot be made up. Doing extra the next day doesn’t necessarily make up for the lost opportunity from the day before. Like I said, it messes with the plan.
In the end, being late only hurts the person who is late. We want our clients to succeed and we want to be a part of that process but we can’t do it for someone. We can’t make them. Sure, during the time together we can get a great workout. In the end, it is a commitment that everyone has to make to themselves. Being on time is the beginning of that commitment. It is saying, achieve, no matter what. It says that “I am showing up for me because I am worth it.” That is really what we want as trainers. We want people to show up for themselves. Once again, we are willing to help with that process by hopefully motivating and inspiring but we want to open the door that instills fire into our clients to participate in their fitness journey.
How many of us have arose in the morning only to blink and an hour has gone by and we have to rush out the door. We are all guilty of this. I know for me, I have taken steps in order to make sure that I have gotten out of my own way to be on time. I am currently doing all of these and I hope these help:
- Set my clocks five minutes ahead.
- Lay my clothes out for the next day the night before (sometimes even for the week!)
- Prep my food for the next day or even couple of days the night before.
- Make sure all my bags are packed and in the car.
- Leave a half hour early for my appointment even though it is 15 minutes away.
Any of these can help with being late but using them in combination, I have found, allows me ample time in case something unexpected happens (in Los Angeles this usually means traffic!). These minutes saved can add up and it allows me to have a stress free morning which can help carry throughout the day. These are not the be all, end all solutions to getting to a place on time. There is always something that can be tweaked that makes it suitable for every different type of lifestyle but whatever that tweak may be, make it. I hope these suggestions have been helpful and hopefully I have been able to shed some light on what it means to be late. Like most things, we have to show up for ourselves and we have to eliminate the obstacles that are keeping us from achieving our goals.
Want more from Evina? Visit her blog right here at Digital Muscle!
A former Hawaiian Tropics bikini model, Evina Del Pizzo is a certified Master Trainer at Gym Life in Granada Hills, California. She holds a degree in social behavior with an emphasis in sports psychology from California State University, Northridge. Del Pizzo is sponsored by Pro Fight Sports and recently won her first NPC overall bikini title.
