I attended the New School’s climate change conference entitled “Climate Change Demands We Change Why Aren’t We?” It was an awesome event with incredibly smart panelists and an equally thoughtful and engaged audience. At one point, I was able to stand up and ask a question. Before asking, it was requested that we introduce ourselves briefly. When I stated that I am a personal trainer each member of the panel raised an eyebrow. No one could readily explain what a personal trainer wanted at a climate conference. I happen to believe that there are many, many ways that personal training and fitness overlap with climate change. I want to focus on one for this post.
Professor Robert Mendelsohn of Yale University gave one of the presentations during the morning panel. His talk centered around what kind of capital would be needed to achieve certain outcomes with regards to global warming. He stated that the common goal currently is to stabilize the global rise in temperature at two degrees celsius. That is to say, we should reduce our use of fossil fuels enough that the current global temperature does not rise by more than two degrees celsius. According to Professor Mendelsohn reaching this goal will require an investment of 95 trillion dollars. Not only is this a huge sum and a substantial burden, but based on current economic models, the return on this investment will be around 1 dollar for every 100 dollars spent. This, Mendelsohn explained, makes the outlook on reacting to climate change much bleaker. In light of this reality and other factors, Mendelsohn put this question to the audience: might it be more intelligent to set a less lofty goal, but one that we might actually be capable of achieving? Four degrees, he suggested, would cost substantially less and would yield a return more along the lines of 10 dollars for every 100 spent. Four degrees would still cause substantial changes in climate but those changes would remain manageable for humanity and at least that goal has a real chance of gaining momentum. Insisting on two degrees runs the risk of leading to no action at all, which we can not afford on any level.
As I listened to this I couldn’t help but think about how we as trainers deal with exactly this kind of issue every day. Clients often come to us with goals that are completely out of line with what they can realistically achieve. Think of the desk jockeys that decide that the first physical activity they should take part in after fifteen years of inactivity should be a marathon. Or how about the guy who wants to add inches to his arms but only has time to hit the gym once a week and who barely manage 6 hours of sleep a night? We as trainers have the arduous task of helping clients to recognize that to train smartly, they need to pick goals that are reasonably achievable. In the industry, the common acronym is SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound.
This probably makes sense to everyone when they sit down and think about it, but it is actually very difficult to convince someone to follow this philosophy, especially in fitness where the current model is biased towards quick and easy solutions, preferably wrapped in a dose of fun. In order to help someone move forward, that model has to be broken. A client must come to understand that turning your health and fitness around is about making a long term commitment. It is about identifying realistic goals and laying out a long term map for getting there. The big rewards don’t come overnight and we all must be comfortable with that.
Making this kind of change is not easy because what is really necessary is a change in paradigms. The current mantra of mainstream fitness is miracle methods, kick butt workouts, and easy and quick home video answers, none of which ask the buyer to take an objective look at their lifestyle and formulate a long term strategy to slowly and progressively change their situation. Most of us would rather pay a fee and be given the solution, quickly! And why wouldn’t we? Quick and easy fixes are a very common offer in our society.
This subject cuts even deeper. Mendelsohn said during his talk that whatever plan we adopt towards climate change will have to be a long term commitment and that we will need to be comfortable with the fact that it is going to cost us money, not make us money. In our current economy, no one likes that model. Investing loads of money for little to no return for something that will likely benefit others (future humans/tropic regions) more than ourselves is hardly compatible with the economic system that the United States is built on. In other words, buying into this will once again require a paradigm shift. We as a society are going to need to start looking at other benefits, besides short term gains made on minimal investment. That is a tall order, but I would submit that personal trainers (committed personal trainers) do this every day. The clients that we reach can become convinced that there are other ways to approach progress and that there are other factors to consider than what seems flashiest or most instantly gratifying. In fact, a lot of the changes that are necessary require giving up certain things in exchange for benefits that will come at a later time. In other words, we see paradigm shifts in our daily work. What we now need to figure out is how to bring it all together!
