I have said it before, I hate authority. I simply don’t like being told what to do or how to do it. Big box fitness clubs fit right into my category of hate. I used to work for one of the larger clubs on the east coast. It had a corporate culture that stifled any real results and creativity. Example of the absurd; I was hired to teach Martial Arts, as in Martial – appropriate to war; warlike. They asked me for a flyer. The flyer had me throwing a kick in the air with nobody in it. I was told it was to violent and gave off the wrong image for the club???????? They went with a stock photo of smiling people on steroids.
The above situation goes a long way in demonstrating why I hate authority. You know what? I am changing my hate from authority to a hatred for non-authentic authority. I will take direction from those I respect and find value in. I won’t tolerate authority based on finances – just because you own the big box doesn’t mean you know anything worth sharing.
At 24, I opened my first Martial Arts school. Why? Because I needed to strike out on my own and start training the way I knew would work. I got sick and tired of being told how to do things I didn’t really believe in anymore. From birth we are told what to do. Everyone tells us that we need to do what we are told for our own good. At some point we hopefully become self aware and can start figuring out for ourselves what is and what isn’t good for us as individuals.
The commercial gyms don’t want you to become self aware. They want you to be aware that you are not what they are portraying on their walls. They want you to pay a monthly fee to come and be depressed that you are not that guy or gal in the pictures on steroids. They hope you quit coming in to train and just keep paying that fee you are contractually obligated to pay. Try to get out of the contract and you will see how much they don’t care about you. It is about the $$. We all have to make $$ but do we have to do it this way? I say no. I say we make $$ for the long haul by providing a service customers get a real benefit from. I say we make $$ for years, not months because people appreciate the fact that we provide the results they want and can sustain.
The sad truth is that most fitness businesses are designed behind a financially driven model that has no real knowledge behind it. They create a package that has the right key words, images, slogans, equipment….. it is an artificially engineered environment meant to WOW you, not train you. These businesses bring nothing more to the table then bright lights and pretty machines. You will never become self aware in this environment. You will continue to be a consumer and continue doing what you are being told to do.
I don’t want anyone driving my life down the road for me. I want the control. I want to know who I am and what I want. I want to be truly strong. Its not about looking good but actually being healthy, strong, and able to provide for myself and those I care about.
Do I tell people what to do? Absolutely! I tell people what and how to do things all day long. Here is the kicker. I actually know what I am talking about. Doing what I am telling you to do for a few minutes of your 24 hour day, you will have the ability to make independent choices on how to live your life. I am not controlling, I am liberating and motivating. Pretty bold of me to say – tough, its true. I was liberated from the mundane by some really cool people. Its my turn to return the favor.
We all have choices to make or not make. You can go be another cog in the machine or you can become self aware. The machine is easy because you don’t have to make choices but choices are the spice in life. Do you really want to be bland? I say be bold.
Brian Wright
Real Elite