Train Together - What Does It Mean?
While Soma VT started as a way to keep a gym open and has developed into something more, we came up with the tagline “Train Together” in the early days and it hasn’t changed.
I was working with a long-time client this past year and they mentioned the time that we spend together and how it has impacted our relationship.
“You know, I spend more time with you than I do with a lot of my closest friends” they said to me while crushing an exercise. “I guess that makes us pretty close friends”.
They had a point. On average, I spend 2-3 hours per week with the people that I work with on the training floor. That kind of time investment, along with the nature of the work, gives us the opportunity to build a relationship that’s based in trust. It’s difficult to spend that much time with someone who doesn’t have your best interest at heart.
The road runs both ways as well. It can be challenging to be a trainer. We spend so much time caring for others at work that when we have something challenging us in our own lives, it can be difficult to contend with. In those times throughout my career, the people that I’ve worked with have stepped up and taken care of me.
When it came time to find a tagline for Soma VT and the idea of “Train Together” came up, I thought of those moments. The moments where a client had a rough day at work or lost a close friend to them. The days where horrific war was going on in front of our eyes on the news and we spent time going through a workout that seemed trivial at the time.
Our health is dynamic. We can spend a lifetime making all the “right” choices and still end up in a challenging place. We can take a few months off of our routine and see our blood sugar spike or our stress levels rise. The best technique found to date on managing our health has been finding a consistent routine that provides us with beneficial exercise, stress management, nutrition and more.
It’s hard to find a consistent routine alone. It’s even harder to keep it. Life will keep happening and we will continue to be challenged to break our routines to care for others, grieve or chase a new goal in life. In those moments, it’s helpful to have someone caring for us.
The majority of our work in these first two years in South Burlington has been centered around personal training. Coaches working 1-on-1 with clients to drive the best possible health and fitness outcomes. While working with a coach is one example of training together, it’s not the only reason we thought the tagline should stick.
“Train Together” also applies to our work with each other as practitioners. It could be Jes and Sam working together to implement new training methods with the powerlifting team, or Meg spreading her knowledge of Neurokinetic Therapy or Joy catching a trigger point in a member’s rhomboid causing pain or poor performance. We have become a place where staff work together to drive the best outcome for our people.
We Train Together with our members and we Train Together as a staff to improve what we do on a daily basis. We provide support and guidance for folks coming back from injuries, dealing with higher risk exercise or looking to live a healthier and more fulfilling life. These can be challenging processes filled with peaks and valleys. Sharing these experiences helps us to move forward together and support each other when there is a need.
Soma VT has had to change and adapt in its first two years in business. One thing that hasn’t changed is our tagline. Train Together holds as true today as it did two years ago.
We don’t see it changing anytime soon. If you are interested in training with us at Soma VT, please reach out. We look forward to working with you.
