Performance Lifestyle Client Spotlight

Focusing on longevity, muscle, strength, and energy through coaching.

Long-term Coach/Client Relationships

One of the interesting things about my coaching clients(remote and local) is that the majority of them stick with me for years and years. My longest-standing coaching client, who I’ve never met in person, has allowed me to work for her for 15 years. Aside from her, a handful of clients have each had a spot on my roster for several years.

So, why am I talking about client retention? First, putting in years of continuous hard work through following my programming is impressive, admirable, and demands respect.

I often tell these clients how they’re actually inspiring me through their consistency, dedication, and effort. We show up for each other.

Second, it takes time to achieve true lifestyle changes; the type where you’re never going back to old ways. It also takes time to make complete changes to a body and mind. Without long-term client retention, my coach/client relationships would never be long enough to achieve those elite-level results.

Third, the guy I’m featuring in this article embodies the two reasons I just outlined.

Meet Derek; he’s 65, a husband, a father, a Washington D.C. real estate boss, a lover of the beach, a driven cyclist, a cancer survivor, and also someone who inspires me with every one of his weekly check-ins.

Derek lives half a country away from my home base, but we’ve been working together for years. His training is focused on a handful of primary goals:

• Maintain as much muscle and strength as possible

• Train smart to reduce injury risk

• Stay focused on training longevity and healthspan

• Keep the gym fun and exciting

These are non-negotiables for Derek and I take them all into account when delivering his program each week. The guy honestly trains with weights and methods that guys half his age aren’t capable of, which I think is great. He really does embody the concept of investing time into your body early in life so you can use what you build for years to come.

If you’d like to take Derek’s route, fill out my questionnaire for a complimentary assessment and service/pricing details.

If I were to describe Derek’s outlook on life, from my perspective, I’d say it’s a no-mercy approach to doing what he needs to do to feel his best, not give up on youth, and continue to do the things he loves to do. I also believe he’s purposefully setting an example for his sons, which is so good.

Speaking of leading by example and being an active parent, check out this article outlining my deeper thoughts on the topic:

Training... with Children

OK, back to Derek. Before he became a client, I met him once at a bodybuilding show in which he was competing. I had traveled from Minnesota to Maryland to be with my clients on their show day and Derek happened to be doing the same show. At some point, we talked back stage. Truthfully, I don’t remember the details of our conversation, but he must’ve had a good feeling about me because later, years down the road, he reached out for guidance. He’s been giving me the opportunity to work for him ever since.

Consistent Clients Always Do the Best

The title of this section never fails to come true. One thing consistent clients have in common is that they always move closer to their goal over time, eventually reaching it. They are on top of their game the majority of the time and this ensures progress. It also shows me they are serious about their training and nutrition, they value their progress, they’re enjoying the process, and they possess strong work ethic.

The whole reason this section even exists in this article is because Derek defines consistency and I know I’ll see a check-in email from him at the end of every week.

In all the years I’ve been working for him, there has only been one period where he needed to take a break. This wasn’t due to choices of his own; it was out of his control. It was a bout with cancer and the way he worked positively through that time in his life blew me away.

I don’t want to dwell on the down time he had to take during treatment and removal, as that wasn’t something he had control over.

The funny part is that I actually fully believe that if he wasn’t ordered by his doctor to take a pause from physical activity, he would’ve kept hitting the gym. He’s on that level.

Like I said, I don’t want to dwell on the down time. The reason I brought up this time in his life is because of how he stayed positive the whole time, had faith that his doctor would remove it, and just like Schwarzenegger, ‘he’d be back.’ And you know what? He did come back…like he didn’t miss a beat.

Like I said, consistent clients always do the best, and you really can’t be more consistent than Derek. It should be your everyone’s goal to match his consistency.

Coaching Value: Guidance from a Real Human

One of the biggest values of coaching comes from having an expert on call at all times. Being able to pick my brain and receive thought-out detailed answers is, in my opinion, one of the reasons my clients stick with me for so long.

Derek takes advantage of this perk whenever he needs to. He recently finished up my 25-week program focused on muscle growth. At the end of the program he asked me, “The only question I have for you is, how do we determine strength gains from week 1 through 25? How well did I perform? What is the measure of success?”

I thought this was a great question and the answer I’d give to one client is not the same as I’d give to another. Since Derek is training for longevity with risk mitigation built into the background of his programming, here’s how I answered his question:

“You asked about gauging progress and this is an area where answers change based on age and the period of training someone is in, as well as how long they've been training. As naturals who have years and years of lifting under our belts, we're both in somewhat similar periods of our training careers.

Strength gains will come to exercises that are fresh in the rotation, but at this point, will not be continued for months and years on end. We have generally set our lifetime PRs and are aiming to hold muscle and strength the best we can. While this isn't as exciting as how we felt when we were hitting the gym in our earlier years, it's just the nature of the game. And don’t get me wrong, hitting the gym is still a blast in its own way. Am I right?

So, by reviewing your weekly records, it's easy to see you've gained strength across the board with your lifts. Some have gained more than others, which is normal. We could go through and add up total weekly training volume from Week 1 versus Week 25 and you'd see a higher number now than in the beginning, 100%. That's one way to gauge success with actual numbers.

But to me, the goal here is really for you to continue to train smart, continue to fight the war on natural muscle loss, continue to feel young, continue to feel strong, and to be happy with where you're at as a result of the work you choose to put in. From what I can tell, you're doing and feeling all of those things and it's so good to see.

How do you feel about what I'm saying? If I said all of this to a guy in his 20s, he'd probably hate it because I'm not putting a massive focus on the numbers. It's all about perspective and where we're at in the training timeline.”

As you can see, when I say I take time to respond thoroughly to my clients, I mean it. Providing great programming is one aspect of delivering value. Making sure every client knows they have someone working hard for them in the guidance category is another.

The human touch involved with real coaching can’t be replaced, and I never want it to be.

Conclusion

I wrote this feature for a few reasons:

• Derek continually impresses me and I look up to him. I want him to understand that the choices he makes to better himself are also helping others.

• As we age as gym junkies, the truth is that we find ourselves surrounded less and less by people our own age. People who never stop working to keep their lives vibrant and strong are rare. Derek is one of those people and I believe he should be recognized for that.

• I have a few coaching openings that I’d like to fill and client results show you how signing up with me will change your life.

Want me to be your coach? Fill out my coaching questionnaire for a complimentary assessment and service/pricing details.

Thank you for reading about Derek. I greatly appreciate you taking the time and my hope is that he inspired you, just like he inspires me.