#Listen Jonathan is a messed up confused individual but he’s OUR messed up confused individual

[deceptionheadcanons]

Me: Jonathan Black is a horrible selfish person that refuses to acknowledge the fact he hurts everyone around him and uses his troubled past as an excuse for his behavior; he deserves no forgiveness or sympathy for turning on Cameron and going to MW, and it’s a tragic disappointment to see him become the villain.

Someone else: Jonathan sucks.

Me:

[jjba-arni-reblog]

If requests are open; the Jojos and or jobros with an s/o that brings them handmade gifts? (Scenarios possibly, I was inspired by the Rohan one.)

[We decided to settle on 3 people with the requester instead. This was honestly both exhausting and emotional to write a bit haha. I hope you’ll like it!~~~]

Jonathan, Dio and Speedwagon with an s/o that brings them handmade gifts

Jonathan

You wanted to surprise Jonathan with something cute and handmade. Knowing his love for sweets, you decided to bake him chocolate cupcakes. Jojo was embarrassed to admit his love for sweets, especially chocolate, but you quickly reassured him, saying it is cute and there is nothing to be ashamed of.

So, you spend half a day baking, being careful with measurements, as you didn’t want to mess up, even with Jonathan being supportive and happy pretty much over any gesture. Still, you want only the best for your beloved. You asked to meet Jonathan in the evening, meaning that you’ll have the whole day to try and make and best cupcakes for him. After couple of attempts with some changes in the recipe, you were satisfied with them. You carefully put them into a dark blue box decorated with cold ornaments, then wrapping the box with a gold ribbon. You were right on time, as the evening approached. Getting dressed, you gently took the box, trying not to stir it too much.

As you saw Jonathan from the distance, you hid the box behind your back, to surprise him.

“Hey, Jojo” you greeted

“Hello, darling” Jonathan said with a smile, quickly kissing your cheek “So, why did you want to meet?”

“Can I not meet my handsome and strong boyfriend without a reason?~ ” you teased the man, seeing his cheeks redden after your remark.

“Why, of course not” Jonathan answered, trying to keep his cool.

“I have something for you” you said shyly, hoping he would like your present.

“Oh, what is it?” he eyed you curiously.

“Here. I made these for you” you handed him the box.

“You didn’t have to, really” Jojo blushed, not used to such nice gestures “Can I open it now? If you don’t mind”

“Of course.”

Carefully opening the box, Jonathan’s face lit up. Looking back at you he enthusiastically asked “You made them for me? Really?” You nodded. He couldn’t believe it, such effort and work put into baking… and just for him? His face was shining with adoration and gratitude.

“Can I try one right now?” he eagerly asked.

“Yes, Jojo” you answered, chuckling at his excitement.

Biting off a small piece, Jonathan let a happy sigh, savouring the sweet chocolate taste. After finishing the whole cupcake, he quickly hugged you, wrapping an arm around your waste, while the other one was still holding the box

“Thank you so much, the taste is amazing! I love your present so much, you truly didn’t have to. You are too good for me, dear” he said sweetly, looking down at you. You smiled

“I am glad you liked them. And Jojo, you deserve everything in life, don’t doubt yourself. I treasure and love you greatly” you replied, putting a hand on his cheek.

Unable to hold his feelings and happiness any longer, Jonathan swiftly kissed you, putting all his love into the kiss and tightening his hold around you. As you two separated, he continued to look at you with dreamy eyes

“The cupcakes might be sweet, but you are truly the sweetest thing, my darling” Jonathan kissed your cheek.

Dio

Dio is a complicated man, he isn’t the most affectionate and open person, so you didn’t expect him to even appreciate any gift that wasn’t high class or elegant enough for his standards. But still, you decided to make something for him, regardless if he would take it or not. At least he would see the sign of your affection towards him. With that you settled on knitting him a scarf. A red one to be exact, since you thought it kind of reflected his personality: fierce, ambitious, strong, dominant. The man of power and success.

Knitting the scarf and hiding such fact from Dio was difficult. He noticed that your study sessions with him became shorter, as you excused yourself explaining that you had plans and chores to attend to. This resulted in Dio speculating about your whereabouts and true reasons for disappearing. However, soon he would be reassured.

You had asked to meet him near the lake, not providing the reasoning behind it. This only confused the man further. Arriving to the lake, he was met by your standing form with your arms behind your back.

“So what’s the issue?” he asked straight without greeting you. Typical Brando.

“I have something for you” you decided to play it straight too, without worrying to much about being shy.

“Ho?~ Let us see~” Dio said, acting all cocky and flattered.

You brought your hands from behind your back, showing your present (now tied with a yellow ribbon) to Dio, extending your arms for him to take it…or refuse.

“I made it myself since it’ll soon be colder, and I don’t want you to get sick” you explained.

“Hm, as if I, Dio, will be afraid of a temperature change. You made it yourself, you say? What a generous act, I am quite honored” he said somewhat cockily. The gesture clearly has boosted his ego.

“Well, you don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to. I just want you to have this small gift as a sign of my appreciation. I hope you’ll like it… or rather find it acceptable” you answered, carefully choosing your words.

“Well, I’ll accept it” he simply said, taking the scarf from your hands, but not putting it on.

‘Oh well, at least he took it. It is something already’ you thought. You didn’t expect him to wear it or tell anyone about your gift really, so knowing he at least deemed it acceptable made you happy.

~ ~ ~

“Ah, Dio, can I borrow your scarf? I can’t find mine” Jonathan asked, holding a red scarf in his hands.

Looking up and seeing the scarf Jojo took, Dio quickly answered, harsh as usual

“Absolutely not. Don’t put your filthy hands on it” he quickly came up to Jonathan and snatched the scarf from him

“God, you don’t have to get so worked up, Dio, it’s only a scarf” Jojo said, backing away confused.

“Perhaps” Dio answered, but he still didn’t let Jojo or anyone else take it.

Perhaps it was a simple scarf, who knows? But the red cloth was only worthy to warm and wrap around Dio Brando’s neck. His favorite one, even if he doesn’t want to admit it.

Speedwagon

Robert wasn’t the most confident person, usually trying to refuse any gifts, whether expensive or not, with the reason of him being not worthy of such generous things. However, you thought differently. Whenever he saw ugliness, you saw beauty. He saw a disgrace to the humankind, you saw a noble gentleman. Such contrast played on the feelings of Speedwagon, making him question his worth and your presence in his life. So, with that in mind you decided to show him that he is worthy of affection and companionship.

You were painting a portray of him, capturing his strong features. His blonde hair that you loved to run your hands through and that swirled beautifully in the air. He would always try to hide it away with his hat, but you didn’t mind, he was charming either way. His deep brown eyes that make you melt under their gaze. Robert keeps on saying that they are boring and plain, but to you they look warm and welcoming, especially when they gaze at you with such love and adoration. His scar, the symbol of courage and struggles he overcame. He worries about you thinking less of him because of the scar, but you don’t. It’s a sign of a strong soul and bright future. That is what you saw in him. And you tried your best to portray that on your canvas.

After finishing your work, you carefully wrapped it in a black cloth decorated with a gold pattern. With that, you asked Robert to come to your place. After greeting you with a kiss, he took off his coat, hanging it in the drawer, then reluctantly taking off his precious hat. Coming to the living room, he noticed your shy look as you sat on the couch. Raising an eyebrow in question, he sat next to you, taking your hand in his.

“Darling, is something the matter? You seem a bit..stiff” he was unsure what to say.

“Ah, well… I kinda… made you something” you confessed, looking away.

“Made me something? You didn’t ha-” he said confused a bit but trying to refuse it already.

“No! Listen, I won’t take no for an answer, Robert, I wanted to make something for you for a long time. And I tried my best, so please…at least look at it” came an answer back, somewhat saddened by his attempt to decline.

“Alright, dear” he finally agreed.

You stood up, going to another room to retrieve your present. As you sat back down, you gave him the wrapped gift.

“Hmm, you got me intrigued now, darling” Robert said now interested in your present.

Taking off the cloth, his eyes widened, looking at the piece of art before him. As if he was looking in the mirror, he took in his own features, noticing all the details and colours in the work. He was astonished by our talent and especially your portrayal of him. Is this how you see him? Is this how your eyes view him as you stare at him with a loving gaze? He didn’t know what to say, the realization struck him at once. That’s what you meant by all these nice comments about him, how you saw him differently, not as a dangerous criminal or a filthy rat not worthy of anyone’s attention, No, THIS is how you saw him, a noble man, a healed individual, a strong-willed person.

He didn’t say anything, silently putting the work away. He could see your worried look as you saw him turn to meet your eyes with his watery ones. Without a word, he pulled you in a tight hug burying his head into your neck. Multiple ‘thank you’s were exchanged that day and so did ‘I love you’s. Any other words weren’t a necessity that evening, just the warmth of bodies was enough to show one another the deepest feelings. That day, something changed, for that day Robert is thankful.

[owl630]

Monster Support Group

(It's been months and Jon still hasn't gotten a hug or been to a single therapy session so I'm taking matters into my own hands. Also you can tear the idea that Annabelle Cane is a therapist from my cold dead hands)

Being a therapist had been the right career path for Annabelle, and she was usually quite happy with her decision to become one. It had her pulling the strings and being in the center of the action when it came to her patients, and for the most part she considered herself to be an effective one. After all, if she already knew how to manipulate her patients to do something then it wasn't much of a stretch to work backwards and figure out the root of their problem. She had created quite the web of connections, and besides, it was a good hobby to have.

Or at least she had thought it was. The being currently waiting in her office might just be the thing to make her change her mind.

Her spiders had informed her that the being formerly known as Michael was now going by Helen as of around a year ago. She hadn't had to deal with an avatar of The Distortion in years, although to be fair Helen wasn't exactly an avatar as much as a personification. And yet the headache that always came when interacting with them was still going strong. She silently promised herself she'd get herself something from the bakery down the street if she got through this without making any enemies (bribery was such an old method of manipulation) and pulled the strings for Helen to come in.

She did so with a twisted degree of grace, and settled onto the couch. Her limbs seemed to stretch and wrap around the room in an almost web like in a way.

"Weaver! It's lovely to meet you officially!" She said, with a too wide smile that seemed to split her face in half. However Annabelle couldn't pick up on any hints of forced joy in seeing her. She returned the smile with a practiced one of her own, pleasantly surprised.

"Hello there Spiral, or may I call you Helen? I've heard it's what you're going by now."

"You may. Names are confusing, as are coporial forms, but I quite like being Helen these days." Helen replied with an even wider grin.

"Lovely. Now, if you don't mind too very much, may I ask why you're in my office?" She remembered that Melanie King had a connection to Helen, however King was simply a side project she spoke to her therapist contacts about, and a way to keep an agent in The Archives. There was no reason she could think of as to why Helen would want to meet with her.

"I'd like to talk with you about assisting a mutual friend of ours." Helen responded, her form seeming to become even more distorted, as if she was a bit distressed.

"Melanie King?" Annabelle asked curiously, even going so far as to raise an eyebrow.

"No, The Archivist. He's having a bit of a problem with accepting his nature."

She nodded. "Jon did stop by Hilltop road the other day. He seemed distressed." Jonathan Sims was another project of hers, one The Web herself also had an interest in. This conversation was proving to be quite enlightening, especially if through Helen she was able to find a better way of getting The Archivist to be a bit less reckless.

"Yes, he's not doing very well, I'm afraid. He's been refusing to hunt."

"What? I told him it was in his nature, why isn't he listening?" She was irritated and a bit concerned. After all, Jon Sims was important to The Web, it wouldn't do for him to keel over from malnutrition.

"I'm not sure, but I've had an idea." Helen said brightly. "We have both talked to him about this individually, but together we could get him to take some degree of care of himself."

"You're proposing an Alliance." The Spiral and The Web weren't enemies by any means, but neither had they ever been on the same side.

"Exactly!" Said Helen, clearly pleased Annabelle had understood her meaning.

She nodded. "Well in that case, I'll make sure he takes care of himself. A simple nudge should do it."

"Oh, you misunderstand." Helen said brightly. "I don't need you to manipulate him. I need you to be his therapist. I've heard such good things about therapy from Melanie, and The Archivist even mentioned wanting to see a therapist himself. I assumed you would be a wonderful candidate."

"Oh." That was a bit unexpected, but a fair ask nevertheless, "Well, I could certainly try and schedule an appointment."

"Lovely, what time would work for you?"

She felt a faint tug from one of her spiders. It was the one from the archives. Something was happening.

"Now would be best I'd imagine." She said, pulling her coat towards her. "Your corridors would be an excellent means of getting back, wouldn't you agree?"

The nice thing about Helen was that she didn't take much manipulation to convince.

The trip was jarring, but at least it was over quickly. She debated leaving a spider in the corridors briefly, but honestly thought that anything in there for longer than a day would die. Helen eventually stopped by a seemingly random door and opened it.

The Archivist's office was a mess. Papers were strewn about, file boxes knocked over, and in the center of the chaos was Jonathan Sims. His head was lying on the desk, buried in his arms. Blood was splattered across the desk, and pooled near his face

"Oh dear." Said Annabelle quietly. "This is certainly something."

Jon looked up and winced as he saw them. "Not today Helen." He said, his voice ragged. "And you must be Annabelle. If this is some sort of intervention I'm really not in the mood."

"You tried to cut out your eyes." Helen said softly, her bright tone fading slightly. "That was foolish."

He let out a raspy laugh. "Apparently I'm in far too deep to quit. I just... I just thought there was still hope."

Annabelle sighed and sat down in the chair across from him. She had been hired to do this job and was going to make the most of the opportunity. And if her plans involved actually helping Jon then she wasn't about to complain.

"Jon. I'm going to be frank with you. Not as a medical professional, but as an avatar. You cannot continue to do this to yourself."

"I can do whatever I damn well want." He spat. "I'm fine! I'm completely fine. I'm doing perfectly well just with the written-"

"Not that." She said quietly. "You need to be honest with yourself. You're one of us Jon, and you need to hunt just like we do. You may not be able to be human again by taking your eyes out, but you can make the most of things while you're a monster."

"What do you mean?" He managed to ask, his eyes starting to focus.

The compulsion washed over her, feeling almost like her webs. She smiled, The Web chose her servants well. Then she began to speak.

"Well Jon, here's the thing," She began slipping into her role as a Therapist, "You're struggling with the moral aspects of your new powers, but your morality is currently causing you to starve. So therefore, you need to figure out how to reconcile that fact with your own ideals of morality. Thus you should figure out how to use those powers for 'good'." She finished.

Jon blinked, looking a bit stunned. "What?" He asked in utter confusion. In her peripheral vision she could see Helen grin.

"Think of it this way." Annabelle continued, begining to mentally twist the threads of the problem together. "You see nothing morally wrong with using your powers against avatars that threaten you, and yet also see something morally wrong with doing the same to normal people. Am I correct?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes but I don't haunt the nightmares of other monsters."

"Very true." She said with a nod. "However when using those powers you're aware that you're using them against something that is trying to cause harm to yourself or others."

"I guess."

"Excellent. Therefore, I propose you resume hunting, but narrow it down to those who you see as being morally reprehensible."

He stared at her. "I'm not going to be some sort of monster vigilante!"

"Why ever not?" Helen asked.

"Because I'm still going to be a- a monster!" He spluttered.

"Well Jon the way I see it, if you're going to be a monster one way or another you may as well choose to do something useful with it." Annabelle pointed out politely, almost enjoying how his eyes widened as the thought ran through his head.

"Think of it this way," She continued, tugging just a bit more at this line of thinking, "Plenty of bad people interact with our patrons every day and keep their humanity, however immoral it may be. They just need a nudge to see the error of their ways."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are eternal nightmares a fair trade for it?"

Annabelle let herself grin. "I don't know Jon, but I think that you do."

He stared at her for a moment, then started to laugh. It was a broken sounding echo of a real one, interspersed with bits of static. He slumped forward and put his head in his hands. "You're very good at manipulating me into believing I can change."

"I may be manipulating you, but it'll be alright Jon." She said gently.

He shook his head. "You know that I'll be dead the minute my fri- the others find out about this, right?"

Helen stepped over, her limbs elongating, and wrapped herself around Jon in what could almost be classified as a hug. He stiffened then went limp, hugging back tightly as tears rolled down his scarred cheeks.

"I'll be here if they try anything." Helen said, sounding surprisingly sincere. "Just knock."

Annabelle put a hand on his shoulder in a somewhat comforting way, and tugged slightly on the webs around the institute to make sure the archives staff would be busy.

"Same time next week?" She asked her new patient.

[tystreasuretrove]

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Starlight Crusaders - Chapter Four

The party of four, consisting of Mohammad Abdul, Joseph Joestar, Holly Joestar-Kujo, and Jotaro Kujo were seated at a local cafe within the city. Joseph had moved them there from the jail cells in order to have a more comfortable location to explain the situation with Dio's return in full. Annoyed with the entire arrangement, Jotaro sat aloof, ignoring the others and gazing out the window of the eatery.

"Jojo! Pay attention to us! Your grandfather and I came a long way to tell you this."

"Yeah, yeah. Your name was Abdul, right? And as for you, gramps. Come on, this Dio guy died a hundred years ago and has been raised from the dead? You expect me to believe a load of shit story like that?"

Abdul let out a soft chuckle and smirked "A story like what? Like spirit energy that summons fire, perhaps?"

"It's okay, Jojo, you'll have to believe us soon enough. Especially after you here about how I know who Dio is...and why we're chasing after him."

Abdul set a camera down upon the cafe table, causing perplexed looks from Jotaro and Holly as Joseph continued to explain.

"Let me show you. You see, I've had the power of the Ripple all my life, but about a year ago I began to practice a new technique with it."

Joseph raised his right hand over the camera on the table, palm flat in the shape of a martial arts chop. Lifting his arm back for a heavy swing, much to the protest of Holly and confusion of Jotaro, a purple Ripple energy began to take shape around Joseph's hand. Bringing it down onto the camera as a fierce chop, the Ripple energy dispersed throughout the camera as it shattered from the blow, a single photograph sheet being propelled from within.

"You see, this new technique can reveal faraway visions, place them on film. Of course, I gotta bust up a 30,000 yen camera every time I use it. But now, Jotaro. The vision that will come from this photo will reveal our very destiny!"

"What do you mean, gramps?"

"Jotaro, Holly, have either of you ever taken a close look at the back of your necks? It's not a spot most of us pay any mind. But on the back of my neck is a mark like a star."

Jotaro and Holly would both stretch to look at the spot upon which their left shoulder met with their neck, noticing a small star-shaped birthmark. This caught them both by surprise, and only served to make Jotaro more irritated and desperate to reach Joseph's point.

"My mother said that my father had it too. It seems all of those with Joestar blood have this star. That star is our link to the Joestar family destiny."

"Listen, quit messing around and tell me what's on the damn photo!"

With this, Jotaro would snatch the photograph from Joseph's hand, stunned speechless at what he saw. It was the back of a man with long, blonde hair. Shirtless, and with a distinct line of surgery around his entire neck. The most defining feature, however, was the star-shaped birthmark in the same spot as Joseph, Holly, and Jotaro's.

"That's Dio, Jotaro! My Spirit Photography Overdrive always shows only him! And look at the back of his neck...From the neck down, that bastard's body is that of my grandfather, Jonathan Joestar! From what my grandmother Erina told me about the way Jonathan died, Dio must have survived by taking his body. And one thing I can say for sure is that he's out there, hiding somewhere. It's been four years since he was revived, and our Ripple abilities have begun to strengthen since then. What other reason can there be but Dio?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the group led by Joseph Joestar departed from the cafe, another individual was roused from their stupor by the events occurring. The being in question was Dio, the man Joseph had been spying on via his Ripple technique not moments before.

"Just now, I felt as if someone was watching me...It would seem they know. Jonathan's descendants must be receiving some kind of spiritual signal from his body. It must be fate. But fate can be purged, and I've already taken the first step towards that..."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, the next morning in Japan, Jotaro Kujo departed for his final day of school for the year. A large throng of girls of his school quickly gathered around him as he walked, showering him in praise and begging for his attention, despite his irritated silence. Eventually this chorus of praise and chatter would devolve into a pair of the girls hurling insults at each other before an enraged shout from Jotaro led them to stop, but not without a cheerful cry of excitement from them over Jotaro talking to them at last.

As Jotaro neared the steps of the school campus, another student of the school, one with red hair and a green uniform in sharp contrast to the black of the school's, stood at an easel, painting an angled caricature of Jotaro himself. As Jotaro descended the staircase near the mysterious student, a flickering of green light spread from his fingers to the paintbrush, infusing the paint on the tip. With a quick stroke, the student ran the paintbrush across the knee of the painting, hurling a sudden splash of paint bubbling with the same green energy across the knee of the real Jotaro, slicing it open and causing him to trip off of the staircase.

[gabriellakirtonblog]

The Ten Commandments of Personal Training

My fellow personal trainers, we’re in an amazing business. A business that allows us to help people, and each other, become amazing.

Yet each day brings temptations to be not-so-amazing. It’s easy to be led astray by opportunities to make money we’re not entitled to, to take advantage of our proximity to attractive people we shouldn’t pursue, to cut corners, to present others’ ideas as our own, or to provide substandard service for personal gain.

We’ve all heard stories, rumors, or rumblings about fitness pros who gave in to these temptations. Trust me, it’s nearly impossible for a personal trainer to recover from a destroyed reputation. The fitness industry has a long institutional memory.

We need a code. We need guidelines to keep our industry moving forward in positive ways, and to have successful careers with our ethics intact. And you know what? Maybe we need them to be set in stone.

So here they are: The Ten Commandments of Personal Training. Like the biblical commandments, it’s easy to get confused about the order, and different faith traditions have different ideas about the fine print.

But there’s no mistaking the big-picture message about personal and professional ethics.

1. Thou shalt have no other before your client

When you’re with your client, there is no one else. Don’t watch the TV in the background, don’t mess with your phone, don’t yak it up with your peers. Your client is paying you for a lot of reasons: to teach, motivate, hold them accountable, be an ally, and most important, guide them through their workouts.

Don’t worry about filling the air with “good job” and “you’ve got this” between rep counts. Be quiet and watch your client move. Apply specific cues like “knees out” or “chest up” when they need reminding. Your client can’t replicate the trainer-guided workout experience on their own. No matter what app they download, what service they subscribe to, or what research they do in their underwear, they’ll never replace your coaching.

But the best trainers do more than coach. They also know when to stop talking and listen. That’s when they learn what their clients really want.

READ ALSO: How to Make Sure You Aren’t One of the Bad Trainers Ruining Our Profession

2. Thou shalt not make any graven image

If you have to look up “graven image,” I’ll save you the time: an object of worship.

For trainers, it comes down to this: Don’t adhere to a one-size-fits-all approach when you have a diverse group of clients. You may think a certain modality is amazing and infallible, and you may even have evidence it works. But individual clients require individualized guidance.

And no matter how certain you are, there’s always more to learn. Education is one of the most exhilarating and exhausting things in human existence. It’s simultaneously exciting to learn and humbling to realize how much you still don’t know. An expert in one discipline is still a novice in countless others.

You have a responsibility to your clients, the industry, and yourself to keep learning and improving. Whether you study training methodologies, business and marketing, or the hidden history of Westeros, the more you learn, the greater capacity you have for future learning.

READ ALSO: How to Have a Long Career as a Personal Trainer

3. Thou shalt not take the names of your client in vain

Clients are an exciting and frustrating bunch. On one hand they’re the reason you get paid to do what you do. They’re also the reason you so frequently want to scream and rend your garments. Because, well, they’re people.

No matter how infuriating your clients may be in their worst moments, you can’t stop caring about them or their goals. Don’t let a client’s bad attitude or poor effort change your attitude or effort.

You’re paid to care, no matter how tough it gets.

READ ALSO: How to Tell a Client to Cut the Crap

4. Remember the seventh day and keep it as a day of rest

It doesn’t have to be Sunday, but you do need to take at least one day a week away from the gym, your clients, and maybe even your laptop.

It’s harder than it sounds. We train clients because we love training. The gym is our natural habitat. Some of us even fear that if we take a day off, we’ll lose our motivation. But the truth is the opposite: If we don’t temper our motivation now, we’ll pay for it later.

You’ve told clients about the importance of recovery. Make sure you take your own advice.

5. Honor thy elders

It’s safe to guess that few personal trainers get into it with the goal of training people two or three times their age. But if you’re good at what you do and pleasant to be around, you’ll inevitably attract older clients. After all, they have both the motivation to get fit and the means to pay for your services.

So far, so good. You like helping people reach their goals, and you love getting paid.

But there’s a steep learning curve when you’re training seniors for the first time. For one thing, it takes some work just to figure out what they really want from you. When a grandmother of three says she wants to “feel younger,” or a 62-year-old former marine wants to “get back at it,” what they most likely want is to …

Increase or maintain their mobility and physical freedom

Prevent creeping frailty

Prevent injury and potential falls

Prevent or manage chronic medical conditions

They may not share these specific goals with you, or even know how to articulate them. That’s why it’s up to you to figure it out. It takes empathy and respect. But most of all, it takes your full attention. You have to hear what they say and notice what they leave out. You have to observe how they move when they know you’re watching and when they think you aren’t.

READ ALSO: What Are the Rules for Training Older Clients?

6. Thou shalt not put your clients in danger

This should go without saying. But as God is my witness, I’ve seen trainers do things that could’ve caused serious injuries, and possibly death. Like the time a trainer had his client do a jumping barbell back squat from a Bosu ball to a box.

Keeping clients safe is the most basic duty of our profession—a duty that goes far beyond avoiding the organ-donor stunts that end up in YouTube fail videos. It means understanding when a progression might be dangerous, and when a regression is the path to progress. Your clients don’t need to deadlift from the floor, back squat with a barbell, or do Olympic lifts.

What they do need is training that’s appropriate for their current goals, skills, limitations, and fitness level. Train the client you have, not your vision of what that client could become.

When in doubt, think like a doctor: First, do no harm.

READ ALSO: Give Your Clients What They Want and What They Need

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery on the job

Sexually inappropriate behavior may be the original sin of the fitness industry. Personal trainers have made unwanted advances toward their peers and clients for as long as our profession has existed. And from time to time, our clients have made unwanted advances toward us.

We’re now in the long-overdue age of zero tolerance, with clear standards for what trainers can and can’t do, and what we should or shouldn’t tolerate from others.

But we shouldn’t stop with the rules in our employee handbooks. Take, for example, the time I saw a condom fall out of a trainer’s pocket while he was working with a client.

It doesn’t matter that the majority of clients might think it was funny, if they thought anything at all. There’s still a minority who’d be offended, or even threatened. Who needs to carry a condom in his pocket at work? It doesn’t take much imagination to see what that implies.

Even if it didn’t violate the letter of the law, it was still disrespectful to both the client and the trainer’s coworkers. And that’s unacceptable.

READ ALSO: A Fitness Pro’s Guide to Sexual Harassment

8. Thou shalt not steal

While sexual harassment is our original sin, theft comes in a close second. Too many trainers think it’s okay to sell “customized” workouts online while giving everyone the same program. Or take credit for other people’s work. Or double down by taking another trainer’s workouts and selling them as a custom program. (Seriously, I saw someone do this with Eric Cressey’s High Performance Handbook.)

And how many have no problem with marketing overpriced, ineffective products because the commissions are so high? Or shortchanging clients by starting late, finishing early, and sleepwalking through half-assed programs?

These things may not meet the biblical or statutory definition of theft. But if your business model is based on delivering less than you promised, you’re stealing.

READ ALSO: Stop Lying About Your Accomplishments

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness

Your peers are not your enemies. As Jonathan Goodman once wrote about this business, “If you think you’re competing, you’ve already lost.”

In the big picture of modern life, we’re like the Spartans at Thermopylae, fighting for health and wellness against overwhelming odds. If we don’t stand together, we’ll surely fail on our own.

Don’t undercut your peers. Refuse to talk behind their backs. Actively seek out opportunities to learn and grow from your fellow trainers. And don’t be afraid to challenge someone when they violate this commandment.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s success

Success leaves clues, as the saying goes. But it also leaves something else: envy. It’s far too easy to become motivated by jealousy and greed instead of the desire to become the best version of yourself.

Don’t do things because you want people to see you and applaud you. Do them because everyone in your orbit—from clients to peers to followers on Instagram—needs someone to help them achieve their goals.

That’s how you build your reputation and legacy. You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you see how far it takes you.

    Want to Get Better at Your Fitness Career? Here’s Exactly How to Do It

The steps you followed to become a fitness pro will help you master the other skills you need to succeed, but most aspiring or current trainers are left to figure it out for themselves. You don’t need to go it alone. Instead, buy a copy of Ignite to get the insider knowledge that you need, and your clients deserve.

Now in V2.0, Ignite the Fire is the most positively reviewed book for trainers on Amazon, with an astounding 680-plus 5-star reviews. You’ll learn how to:

Find, market to, and sell your ideal client while seamlessly dealing with objections (pg 64)

Deal with the 10 most common difficult client types (pg 160)

Develop multiple income streams while maintaining your reputation (pg 202)

And more!

Get your paperback copy at theptdc.com/ignite or, if you prefer, get it on audible or Kindle on Amazon.

 The post The Ten Commandments of Personal Training appeared first on The PTDC.

The Ten Commandments of Personal Training published first on https://onezeroonesarms.tumblr.com/

[fitono]

The Ten Commandments of Personal Training

My fellow personal trainers, we’re in an amazing business. A business that allows us to help people, and each other, become amazing.

Yet each day brings temptations to be not-so-amazing. It’s easy to be led astray by opportunities to make money we’re not entitled to, to take advantage of our proximity to attractive people we shouldn’t pursue, to cut corners, to present others’ ideas as our own, or to provide substandard service for personal gain.

We’ve all heard stories, rumors, or rumblings about fitness pros who gave in to these temptations. Trust me, it’s nearly impossible for a personal trainer to recover from a destroyed reputation. The fitness industry has a long institutional memory.

We need a code. We need guidelines to keep our industry moving forward in positive ways, and to have successful careers with our ethics intact. And you know what? Maybe we need them to be set in stone.

So here they are: The Ten Commandments of Personal Training. Like the biblical commandments, it’s easy to get confused about the order, and different faith traditions have different ideas about the fine print.

But there’s no mistaking the big-picture message about personal and professional ethics.

1. Thou shalt have no other before your client

When you’re with your client, there is no one else. Don’t watch the TV in the background, don’t mess with your phone, don’t yak it up with your peers. Your client is paying you for a lot of reasons: to teach, motivate, hold them accountable, be an ally, and most important, guide them through their workouts.

Don’t worry about filling the air with “good job” and “you’ve got this” between rep counts. Be quiet and watch your client move. Apply specific cues like “knees out” or “chest up” when they need reminding. Your client can’t replicate the trainer-guided workout experience on their own. No matter what app they download, what service they subscribe to, or what research they do in their underwear, they’ll never replace your coaching.

But the best trainers do more than coach. They also know when to stop talking and listen. That’s when they learn what their clients really want.

READ ALSO: How to Make Sure You Aren’t One of the Bad Trainers Ruining Our Profession

2. Thou shalt not make any graven image

If you have to look up “graven image,” I’ll save you the time: an object of worship.

For trainers, it comes down to this: Don’t adhere to a one-size-fits-all approach when you have a diverse group of clients. You may think a certain modality is amazing and infallible, and you may even have evidence it works. But individual clients require individualized guidance.

And no matter how certain you are, there’s always more to learn. Education is one of the most exhilarating and exhausting things in human existence. It’s simultaneously exciting to learn and humbling to realize how much you still don’t know. An expert in one discipline is still a novice in countless others.

You have a responsibility to your clients, the industry, and yourself to keep learning and improving. Whether you study training methodologies, business and marketing, or the hidden history of Westeros, the more you learn, the greater capacity you have for future learning.

READ ALSO: How to Have a Long Career as a Personal Trainer

3. Thou shalt not take the names of your client in vain

Clients are an exciting and frustrating bunch. On one hand they’re the reason you get paid to do what you do. They’re also the reason you so frequently want to scream and rend your garments. Because, well, they’re people.

No matter how infuriating your clients may be in their worst moments, you can’t stop caring about them or their goals. Don’t let a client’s bad attitude or poor effort change your attitude or effort.

You’re paid to care, no matter how tough it gets.

READ ALSO: How to Tell a Client to Cut the Crap

4. Remember the seventh day and keep it as a day of rest

It doesn’t have to be Sunday, but you do need to take at least one day a week away from the gym, your clients, and maybe even your laptop.

It’s harder than it sounds. We train clients because we love training. The gym is our natural habitat. Some of us even fear that if we take a day off, we’ll lose our motivation. But the truth is the opposite: If we don’t temper our motivation now, we’ll pay for it later.

You’ve told clients about the importance of recovery. Make sure you take your own advice.

5. Honor thy elders

It’s safe to guess that few personal trainers get into it with the goal of training people two or three times their age. But if you’re good at what you do and pleasant to be around, you’ll inevitably attract older clients. After all, they have both the motivation to get fit and the means to pay for your services.

So far, so good. You like helping people reach their goals, and you love getting paid.

But there’s a steep learning curve when you’re training seniors for the first time. For one thing, it takes some work just to figure out what they really want from you. When a grandmother of three says she wants to “feel younger,” or a 62-year-old former marine wants to “get back at it,” what they most likely want is to …

Increase or maintain their mobility and physical freedom

Prevent creeping frailty

Prevent injury and potential falls

Prevent or manage chronic medical conditions

They may not share these specific goals with you, or even know how to articulate them. That’s why it’s up to you to figure it out. It takes empathy and respect. But most of all, it takes your full attention. You have to hear what they say and notice what they leave out. You have to observe how they move when they know you’re watching and when they think you aren’t.

READ ALSO: What Are the Rules for Training Older Clients?

6. Thou shalt not put your clients in danger

This should go without saying. But as God is my witness, I’ve seen trainers do things that could’ve caused serious injuries, and possibly death. Like the time a trainer had his client do a jumping barbell back squat from a Bosu ball to a box.

Keeping clients safe is the most basic duty of our profession—a duty that goes far beyond avoiding the organ-donor stunts that end up in YouTube fail videos. It means understanding when a progression might be dangerous, and when a regression is the path to progress. Your clients don’t need to deadlift from the floor, back squat with a barbell, or do Olympic lifts.

What they do need is training that’s appropriate for their current goals, skills, limitations, and fitness level. Train the client you have, not your vision of what that client could become.

When in doubt, think like a doctor: First, do no harm.

READ ALSO: Give Your Clients What They Want and What They Need

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery on the job

Sexually inappropriate behavior may be the original sin of the fitness industry. Personal trainers have made unwanted advances toward their peers and clients for as long as our profession has existed. And from time to time, our clients have made unwanted advances toward us.

We’re now in the long-overdue age of zero tolerance, with clear standards for what trainers can and can’t do, and what we should or shouldn’t tolerate from others.

But we shouldn’t stop with the rules in our employee handbooks. Take, for example, the time I saw a condom fall out of a trainer’s pocket while he was working with a client.

It doesn’t matter that the majority of clients might think it was funny, if they thought anything at all. There’s still a minority who’d be offended, or even threatened. Who needs to carry a condom in his pocket at work? It doesn’t take much imagination to see what that implies.

Even if it didn’t violate the letter of the law, it was still disrespectful to both the client and the trainer’s coworkers. And that’s unacceptable.

READ ALSO: A Fitness Pro’s Guide to Sexual Harassment

8. Thou shalt not steal

While sexual harassment is our original sin, theft comes in a close second. Too many trainers think it’s okay to sell “customized” workouts online while giving everyone the same program. Or take credit for other people’s work. Or double down by taking another trainer’s workouts and selling them as a custom program. (Seriously, I saw someone do this with Eric Cressey’s High Performance Handbook.)

And how many have no problem with marketing overpriced, ineffective products because the commissions are so high? Or shortchanging clients by starting late, finishing early, and sleepwalking through half-assed programs?

These things may not meet the biblical or statutory definition of theft. But if your business model is based on delivering less than you promised, you’re stealing.

READ ALSO: Stop Lying About Your Accomplishments

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness

Your peers are not your enemies. As Jonathan Goodman once wrote about this business, “If you think you’re competing, you’ve already lost.”

In the big picture of modern life, we’re like the Spartans at Thermopylae, fighting for health and wellness against overwhelming odds. If we don’t stand together, we’ll surely fail on our own.

Don’t undercut your peers. Refuse to talk behind their backs. Actively seek out opportunities to learn and grow from your fellow trainers. And don’t be afraid to challenge someone when they violate this commandment.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s success

Success leaves clues, as the saying goes. But it also leaves something else: envy. It’s far too easy to become motivated by jealousy and greed instead of the desire to become the best version of yourself.

Don’t do things because you want people to see you and applaud you. Do them because everyone in your orbit—from clients to peers to followers on Instagram—needs someone to help them achieve their goals.

That’s how you build your reputation and legacy. You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you see how far it takes you.

    Want to Get Better at Your Fitness Career? Here’s Exactly How to Do It

The steps you followed to become a fitness pro will help you master the other skills you need to succeed, but most aspiring or current trainers are left to figure it out for themselves. You don’t need to go it alone. Instead, buy a copy of Ignite to get the insider knowledge that you need, and your clients deserve.

Now in V2.0, Ignite the Fire is the most positively reviewed book for trainers on Amazon, with an astounding 680-plus 5-star reviews. You’ll learn how to:

Find, market to, and sell your ideal client while seamlessly dealing with objections (pg 64)

Deal with the 10 most common difficult client types (pg 160)

Develop multiple income streams while maintaining your reputation (pg 202)

And more!

Get your paperback copy at theptdc.com/ignite or, if you prefer, get it on audible or Kindle on Amazon.

 The post The Ten Commandments of Personal Training appeared first on The PTDC.

The Ten Commandments of Personal Training published first on https://medium.com/@MyDietArea

[gabriellakirtonblog]

The Ten Commandments of Personal Training

My fellow personal trainers, we’re in an amazing business. A business that allows us to help people, and each other, become amazing.

Yet each day brings temptations to be not-so-amazing. It’s easy to be led astray by opportunities to make money we’re not entitled to, to take advantage of our proximity to attractive people we shouldn’t pursue, to cut corners, to present others’ ideas as our own, or to provide substandard service for personal gain.

We’ve all heard stories, rumors, or rumblings about fitness pros who gave in to these temptations. Trust me, it’s nearly impossible for a personal trainer to recover from a destroyed reputation. The fitness industry has a long institutional memory.

We need a code. We need guidelines to keep our industry moving forward in positive ways, and to have successful careers with our ethics intact. And you know what? Maybe we need them to be set in stone.

So here they are: The Ten Commandments of Personal Training. Like the biblical commandments, it’s easy to get confused about the order, and different faith traditions have different ideas about the fine print.

But there’s no mistaking the big-picture message about personal and professional ethics.

1. Thou shalt have no other before your client

When you’re with your client, there is no one else. Don’t watch the TV in the background, don’t mess with your phone, don’t yak it up with your peers. Your client is paying you for a lot of reasons: to teach, motivate, hold them accountable, be an ally, and most important, guide them through their workouts.

Don’t worry about filling the air with “good job” and “you’ve got this” between rep counts. Be quiet and watch your client move. Apply specific cues like “knees out” or “chest up” when they need reminding. Your client can’t replicate the trainer-guided workout experience on their own. No matter what app they download, what service they subscribe to, or what research they do in their underwear, they’ll never replace your coaching.

But the best trainers do more than coach. They also know when to stop talking and listen. That’s when they learn what their clients really want.

READ ALSO: How to Make Sure You Aren’t One of the Bad Trainers Ruining Our Profession

2. Thou shalt not make any graven image

If you have to look up “graven image,” I’ll save you the time: an object of worship.

For trainers, it comes down to this: Don’t adhere to a one-size-fits-all approach when you have a diverse group of clients. You may think a certain modality is amazing and infallible, and you may even have evidence it works. But individual clients require individualized guidance.

And no matter how certain you are, there’s always more to learn. Education is one of the most exhilarating and exhausting things in human existence. It’s simultaneously exciting to learn and humbling to realize how much you still don’t know. An expert in one discipline is still a novice in countless others.

You have a responsibility to your clients, the industry, and yourself to keep learning and improving. Whether you study training methodologies, business and marketing, or the hidden history of Westeros, the more you learn, the greater capacity you have for future learning.

READ ALSO: How to Have a Long Career as a Personal Trainer

3. Thou shalt not take the names of your client in vain

Clients are an exciting and frustrating bunch. On one hand they’re the reason you get paid to do what you do. They’re also the reason you so frequently want to scream and rend your garments. Because, well, they’re people.

No matter how infuriating your clients may be in their worst moments, you can’t stop caring about them or their goals. Don’t let a client’s bad attitude or poor effort change your attitude or effort.

You’re paid to care, no matter how tough it gets.

READ ALSO: How to Tell a Client to Cut the Crap

4. Remember the seventh day and keep it as a day of rest

It doesn’t have to be Sunday, but you do need to take at least one day a week away from the gym, your clients, and maybe even your laptop.

It’s harder than it sounds. We train clients because we love training. The gym is our natural habitat. Some of us even fear that if we take a day off, we’ll lose our motivation. But the truth is the opposite: If we don’t temper our motivation now, we’ll pay for it later.

You’ve told clients about the importance of recovery. Make sure you take your own advice.

5. Honor thy elders

It’s safe to guess that few personal trainers get into it with the goal of training people two or three times their age. But if you’re good at what you do and pleasant to be around, you’ll inevitably attract older clients. After all, they have both the motivation to get fit and the means to pay for your services.

So far, so good. You like helping people reach their goals, and you love getting paid.

But there’s a steep learning curve when you’re training seniors for the first time. For one thing, it takes some work just to figure out what they really want from you. When a grandmother of three says she wants to “feel younger,” or a 62-year-old former marine wants to “get back at it,” what they most likely want is to …

Increase or maintain their mobility and physical freedom

Prevent creeping frailty

Prevent injury and potential falls

Prevent or manage chronic medical conditions

They may not share these specific goals with you, or even know how to articulate them. That’s why it’s up to you to figure it out. It takes empathy and respect. But most of all, it takes your full attention. You have to hear what they say and notice what they leave out. You have to observe how they move when they know you’re watching and when they think you aren’t.

READ ALSO: What Are the Rules for Training Older Clients?

6. Thou shalt not put your clients in danger

This should go without saying. But as God is my witness, I’ve seen trainers do things that could’ve caused serious injuries, and possibly death. Like the time a trainer had his client do a jumping barbell back squat from a Bosu ball to a box.

Keeping clients safe is the most basic duty of our profession—a duty that goes far beyond avoiding the organ-donor stunts that end up in YouTube fail videos. It means understanding when a progression might be dangerous, and when a regression is the path to progress. Your clients don’t need to deadlift from the floor, back squat with a barbell, or do Olympic lifts.

What they do need is training that’s appropriate for their current goals, skills, limitations, and fitness level. Train the client you have, not your vision of what that client could become.

When in doubt, think like a doctor: First, do no harm.

READ ALSO: Give Your Clients What They Want and What They Need

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery on the job

Sexually inappropriate behavior may be the original sin of the fitness industry. Personal trainers have made unwanted advances toward their peers and clients for as long as our profession has existed. And from time to time, our clients have made unwanted advances toward us.

We’re now in the long-overdue age of zero tolerance, with clear standards for what trainers can and can’t do, and what we should or shouldn’t tolerate from others.

But we shouldn’t stop with the rules in our employee handbooks. Take, for example, the time I saw a condom fall out of a trainer’s pocket while he was working with a client.

It doesn’t matter that the majority of clients might think it was funny, if they thought anything at all. There’s still a minority who’d be offended, or even threatened. Who needs to carry a condom in his pocket at work? It doesn’t take much imagination to see what that implies.

Even if it didn’t violate the letter of the law, it was still disrespectful to both the client and the trainer’s coworkers. And that’s unacceptable.

READ ALSO: A Fitness Pro’s Guide to Sexual Harassment

8. Thou shalt not steal

While sexual harassment is our original sin, theft comes in a close second. Too many trainers think it’s okay to sell “customized” workouts online while giving everyone the same program. Or take credit for other people’s work. Or double down by taking another trainer’s workouts and selling them as a custom program. (Seriously, I saw someone do this with Eric Cressey’s High Performance Handbook.)

And how many have no problem with marketing overpriced, ineffective products because the commissions are so high? Or shortchanging clients by starting late, finishing early, and sleepwalking through half-assed programs?

These things may not meet the biblical or statutory definition of theft. But if your business model is based on delivering less than you promised, you’re stealing.

READ ALSO: Stop Lying About Your Accomplishments

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness

Your peers are not your enemies. As Jonathan Goodman once wrote about this business, “If you think you’re competing, you’ve already lost.”

In the big picture of modern life, we’re like the Spartans at Thermopylae, fighting for health and wellness against overwhelming odds. If we don’t stand together, we’ll surely fail on our own.

Don’t undercut your peers. Refuse to talk behind their backs. Actively seek out opportunities to learn and grow from your fellow trainers. And don’t be afraid to challenge someone when they violate this commandment.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s success

Success leaves clues, as the saying goes. But it also leaves something else: envy. It’s far too easy to become motivated by jealousy and greed instead of the desire to become the best version of yourself.

Don’t do things because you want people to see you and applaud you. Do them because everyone in your orbit—from clients to peers to followers on Instagram—needs someone to help them achieve their goals.

That’s how you build your reputation and legacy. You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you see how far it takes you.

    Want to Get Better at Your Fitness Career? Here’s Exactly How to Do It

The steps you followed to become a fitness pro will help you master the other skills you need to succeed, but most aspiring or current trainers are left to figure it out for themselves. You don’t need to go it alone. Instead, buy a copy of Ignite to get the insider knowledge that you need, and your clients deserve.

Now in V2.0, Ignite the Fire is the most positively reviewed book for trainers on Amazon, with an astounding 680-plus 5-star reviews. You’ll learn how to:

Find, market to, and sell your ideal client while seamlessly dealing with objections (pg 64)

Deal with the 10 most common difficult client types (pg 160)

Develop multiple income streams while maintaining your reputation (pg 202)

And more!

Get your paperback copy at theptdc.com/ignite or, if you prefer, get it on audible or Kindle on Amazon.

 The post The Ten Commandments of Personal Training appeared first on The PTDC.

The Ten Commandments of Personal Training published first on https://onezeroonesarms.tumblr.com/