For most people, fitness is the journey towards creating a perfect body that everybody loves and marvels at. People hit the gym so they can trim the excess fat and chisel all the right places. However, it’s different for Samuel Chewning, a 31-year-old fitness trainer from Santa Monica, California.
According to Chewning, fitness is a holistic exercise for the human body’s physical, intellectual, and emotional aspects. When we engage in physical fitness, we do more than strengthen the body muscles. We open our bodies to thousands of possibilities and the ability to achieve everything we set as goals. Chewning has made a name for himself in the fitness industry with his holistic approach to fitness, having worked with different clients for 10 years.
More Than Physical Benefits
As friends and clients call him, Sam is motivated by the changes he witnesses in clients when they start exercising. He says, “I fell in love with the way fitness made my clients feel about themselves and allowed them to excel in all aspects of their lives.” According to the trainer, exercising nourishes the mind and soul and helps you see beyond impossibilities. Most of his clients seek fitness to gain clarity in their lives and push towards achieving the goals they have set out for in life.
A Unique Approach To Fitness
For Chewning, fitness is not only about pushing the client to achieve their ideal body. It focuses on the whole body and allows clients to understand and embrace their bodies before seeking perfection. The fitness instructor helps each client create a personalized training program by exploring the different unique features of their body.
Chewning helps clients conquer their weaknesses and identify their body strengths before they start working out. He says, “When I work with new clients, we always take time to observe the body and address any weaknesses, imbalances, injuries, immobilities, and gaps in motor control.” The coach emphasizes that individuals are only as strong as their weakest link. Having a unique program for each client ensures that Chewning directs his clients to the safest way of achieving their fitness goals. He invests heavily in the well-being of his clients so that the fitness routines are helpful both in and out of the gym. To emphasize the positive effects of the holistic training approach, Chewning says, “This is not just physical training, it is life training.”
Debunking the Myths
Have you ever heard someone saying they want to hit the gym to achieve the perfect body? Well, most of the time, people assume that working out is the only way to achieve a body that they’ll love and appreciate. It could be losing a few inches here and there for fitness enthusiasts to have a well-sculptured body.
However, Chewning believes that such myths are misleading, and people should learn to embrace and love their bodies as they are. He says that such beliefs are why he finds it challenging to teach people how their fitness journey should be a relationship with their bodies. He says, “Your body is there to be enjoyed and used in many other ways. It is one thing you can never lose, so learn to enjoy it.” He emphasizes the need to embrace your body and enjoy it. Love your body truly, then embark on making lasting changes for it.
Love What You Do and Love People
According to Chewning, “It doesn’t matter what you are doing for exercise, just make sure you love what you are doing.” His advice to upcoming professional and personal trainers is to enjoy what they do, relax and put in the work. The money will follow. He says he draws his inspiration from Rich Fronic, who has converted what he loves into a money-making venture.
When asked what the most important trait in professional fitness training is, Chewning says it’s loving people. You cannot hate people and invest in their fitness o overall well-being. He states that fitness is a love language for the body, and if you can’t love, you can’t teach people to love and embrace their bodies and routines.
However, for the professional and personal trainer, there are no two ways of enjoying what he does. Being a successful professional means that he must have a good rapport with his clients. Here, he advises other professionals in the industry to “Only work with people you want to see daily.” It is a two-way traffic association. If a client does not appreciate your efforts, then there is no need to work with them. Be picky and only work with clients who let you enjoy your job.
Chewning’s hobbies are an indicator that one can have a personal life outside professional fitness training. He loves exploring nature, being sporty and adventurous, and learning new things. Professional trainers should strive to differentiate between their personal and professional lives to enjoy what they do fully.
