Have you ever noticed when you receive a compliment from someone you immediately down play it and try to not make a big deal about it? Have you been told you looked really skinny in a certain picture and you say something like, “Well the lighting was really good, black made me much skinnier, and I was posed at the right angle.” Why is it so hard for us to accept compliments? Or another question… Why is it so hard to let others know about our successes? I think we don’t want to come off as arrogant or braggish (not sure if that is a word, but it is now). We all know some of the most annoying people to be around are those who always talk about themselves and brag about what they have done. I believe it is ok, once in awhile to tell others what you have accomplished. It helps us celebrate our successes, if we just kept them up all inside and never did anything about them, I don’t think the successes would mean as much to us.
So be sure to post your response to the question at the bottom of this article.
This month I reached a big goal for me, and a huge honor. I was featured on the cover of my favorite magazine Personal Fitness Professional. This is the magazine I picked up 6 months before I decided to become a personal trainer, and to be featured on the cover was a huge honor. I was also told that I was the youngest trainer ever to get on the cover for the “Success Journey” story. To be acknowledged amongst my peer trainers, who I respect and love so much means a lot. If you are interested in reading the article, I have included it below.
Here it is!
Being called a “Mama’s Boy” is not something most people take kindly to. Dustin Maher, however, wears the label proudly… and has already turned his self-proclaimed identity, as well as his unique connection with moms, into a growing empire.
Maher’s strength comes from the fact that he knows who he is and where he’s going. The confident son of a stay-at-home mom who sacrificed a lot for her four children, Maher loves working with moms. With a handsome grin and the youthful charm to make any mama proud, Maher (who isn’t married and is nowhere close to busting out of his 20s) proudly proclaims his goal to be America’s Trainer to the Moms.
Maher is blazing his own trail through the fitness world, with three thriving MamaTone classes and an iPhone app developed from pieces of his core training DVD, 300 boot campers enrolled in his 12-location Fit Fun Boot Camp and more than 1000 moms from nine countries having purchased his monthly DVD program, Fit Moms for Life.
But it didn’t start out that way. Maher, from the first grade on, had dreamed of being a weatherman. It was his passion. That is, until his freshman year in college, when his love for fitness clouded over his weather aspirations. He had been studying exercise and nutrition on his own, and Maher began teaching anyone who would listen — which often times was his mom and her postmenopausal friends — the benefits of moving your body and eating right.
So Maher, a student at the University of Wisconsin, switched his major to kinesiology with a minor in business. He also picked up a job at the university recreation center, where he cleaned weight machines and answered questions. Soon, Maher applied to teach a circuit class and got the job. It was his first boot camp style class. He then recognized the need for a 30-minute core class, which Maher felt was his specialty. His boss asked him to write a curriculum for his proposed class. Soon thereafter, Maher and eight other trainers were teaching his core class, which became the most popular class on campus with more than 400 weekly attendees.
It was at the Rec Sports Center that Maher earned his ACE certification and trained more than 30 students and faculty members his last two years of college. During his senior year, a local health club hired Maher. He initiated his core class there, as well as doing general fitness assessments. After graduation, Maher knew he had the tools to begin focusing in on his niche — mothers. He wanted to develop an exercise class for stay-at-home moms, somewhere they could get a great workout, have free childcare and socialize with other moms.
MamaTone Fitness was born. Women in the community responded overwhelmingly, and soon the program had a following of 60 moms. Maher was also training one-on-one with clients, working about 50 hours per week and moving toward burn out. He knew he needed to begin leveraging his time better. Maher shifted all of his clients into groups of four, which cut his hours in half, and began eyeing boot camp model. At the same time, Maher had received requests for a program similar to MamaTone for working moms. He decided to create some early morning workouts but made them co-ed. Two years ago, Maher formed Fit Fun Boot Camps with two different locations.
Within a year, the boot camp grew to eight locations. By the second year, it amassed 12 locations, 16 different start times and about 250 campers. Always looking forward, Maher knew that he needed to develop a program to reach more people in a way that would further leverage his time and expertise. Maher found a mentor who would help him transfer his knowledge and expertise to DVDs, with his help, Maher created Fit Moms for Life, a monthly DVD program.
Each of the 12 DVDs featured Maher training a different mom at her home, along with nutritional segments and interviews. “I tried to keep it very personal,” says Maher. “Like me training you in your home.” Maher and a buddy who videoed weddings produced the first four DVDs. Then, two months later, after some evaluation and improvements, they produced the remaining eight, plus two bonus core DVDs, completing a total of 10 DVDs in two days. Going low-budget allowed Maher to learn along the way.
Maher is used to being in front of a camera, however. A master at generating publicity, he’s been on TV or radio more than 80 times, leveraging that exposure to build his classes and boot camps and sell DVDs.
In fact, he now trains five reporters on an ongoing basis. And most of them are moms.
Beyond being critical in building his business, his ability to garner TV and radio spots led Maher to partner with another of his mentors, Steve, and launch a coaching program to teach other trainers how to do the same. In August, Maher will release Fitness Media Dominator Coaching Program. But what drives Maher forward is his mission to reach one million moms.
“I”m most excited about creating a movement for moms to come together in a healthy way,” he says.
With a strong online community (his blog gets 1,000 visitors per day) and more DVDs in the works, Maher is now aiming to create a grassroots organization in which moms across the country and around the world can meet in small groups and use his programs within their homes to get fit while holding each other accountable. Also called Fit Moms for Life (the name of his DVD program), these communities are based on the Body for Life model, which still has support groups meeting today.
“It’s about creating a vision,” says Maher, “and the ability to communicate your message within a system.”
And Maher’s vision is clear.
“In Fit Moms for Life, I see a very large, brandable community of moms who are seeking to put themselves first and become better role models for their kids.”
Maher’s mother is, no doubt, very proud.
What’s Your Favorite…
…workout equipment? plain old dumbbells
…healthy snack? ants on a log — celery, peanut
butter and raisins
...quote or saying? “The greatest discovery of my
generation is that human beings can alter their lives
by altering their attitudes of mind.” –William James
So here is the question of the day: List your top 3-5 health and fitness related accomplishments that you are most proud of. These could also include mental and emotional components. Lets celebrate everyone’s successes together!
Great article Dustin. Congratulations. I’m glad we found your boot camp website online and then saw some of your TV appearances. We are so glad we put aside our hesitations and joined up. I look forward to each boot camp and constantly trying to improve.
A few things I’m proud of:
1) After taking the free boot camp class in May I was determined to make it up that hill. I was so happy to make it all the way up and down today, with no walking, while improving my speed by 35 seconds.
2)I’m proud that after each boot camp, I walk away feeling like I have nothing left to give, which to me is a good thing. It means I went all out and pushed myself as hard as I could.
3)In 1987 I was taking exercise classes and had become a little discouraged and disillusioned with them. I didn’t feel that the instructors were doing as well as they could be. However, I told myself that I shouldn’t complain unless I thought I could do better. So that’s what I did. I trained, educated myself and became a certified instructor through AFAA. I then began teaching classes at a health club. I’m proud that now, 22 years later, I’m still teaching, learning, and sharing what I’ve learned with no intention of stopping any time soon.
Congrats Dustin! Very cool article! You really do incredible work!
A friend I have in South Carolina who has done boot camps and I always thought that sounded great but that I wouldn’t be able to do something like that! I absolutely love boot camp and am so glad we decided to join and I found out I can do it (even if it’s slow-I am improving:)). Thanks, Dustin, for such an incredible challenge-we love every day!
Some things I’m proud of include:
1. Increasing my time yesterday on the hill by 28 seconds-it felt good to actually see the improvement on the hill!
2. Healthy eating (most of the time). I joined WW 14 years ago, lost 70 pounds and have kept most of it off during that time.
3. My dedication to exercising. I’ve had friends and co-workers tell me they are impressed and inspired by my exercising and healthy eating. It always surprises me because I am by no means super athletic (which goes to prove anyone can do it if they try). I look back and realize I’ve been exercising 3-6 days a week for over 20 years!
Fantastic article, Dustin! You should be very proud of yourself, your accomplishments, and what you stand for. You have an amazing amount of ambition, compassion, and knowledge and I feel privileged to be one of your bootcampers!!
Mary
Mary,
Thanks so much for investing the time into your body and health to do my bootcamps.
Dustin
Sharon,
It is so awesome to see you and your husband there each morning rocking it together. You have beat many odds by losing a huge amount of weight and keeping it off for over a decade. That is awesome. Now you are creating a very athletic body, not just a skinny body. Finally great job inspiring others!
Dustin
Roger,
That is so great you didn’t just complain, but became part of the solution and became an instructor. Each day you do leave completely soaked in sweat having gave everything. That is amazing to have taken off 35 seconds on the hill, such a huge accomplishment!
Dustin
Jane,
That is awesome you beat your hill goal time! Your consistency has been so awesome to see the past few months. You are going to rock age 50!
Dustin
Great article Dustin! You should be very proud of all that you have accomplished!!!
I was a runner in high school, not a good one, but none the less I was on the track and cross country teams. The one thing I really lacked was the internal drive to do well. After getting injured my senior year I totally gave up on my fitness. It wasn’t until last spring (11 years late) that I realized I was worth a little something. I lost 30 pounds last year. This year I have been really able to focus on my fitness level and endurance. I ‘ve participated in a triathlon, 10K, and a half marathon. Through my journey I have found my inner strength and desire to do well. Not only am I so much physically stronger but the mental strength that has come with that is worth more than it’s weight in gold! Bring on my first marathon this fall!
Thank you for all that you do to encourage us and make us stronger indivuduals. For that I can never repay you!
Liz
Way to go Dustin on another succcessful magazine cover!
There are so many different ways to measure success, but really the different ways seem to boil down to “inner” and “outer” success. I like to think that each day that a person can go to bed and pull up the covers and say “I did good today” is inner success. Some days are harder than others, so some days, inner success might have to be I will try harder tomorrow. It seems to me that outer success, starts with inner success.
Thank you for being an example – showing that inner drive, risk, commitment, professionalism, and raising the bar high (for your clients as well as yourself!) is really a recipe for success, and for having such great programs that show that inner success, can certainly lead to outer success!
My brag: Since I started working with you, I have achieved an “outer success” of loosing 12% body fat (still have 3% I want to loose!) and transforming my stubborn body into something that I have always always wanted – to (begin to)look as fit as I am.
Keep up the great work! Clearly, it is well appreciated.
Great article – congratulations on acheiving another one or your goals. You are an inspiration with how you keep setting goals and work really hard to reach them. Keep it up!
My biggest accomplishment is completing all 12 FMFL DVD’s at least 12 times each. That means I made it through those intense work outs at least 144 times! When I did DVD #1 for the first time, I never would have believed I could do all that. Now, I look forward to my work out days and enjoy a more fit body all around. I have gone from a size 12 (I really should have been wearing 14′s) to a solid size 8 and lost 15 pounds. Its awesome;) I wish I could go to bootcamp, maybe I would be a size 6!
The other thing I am really proud of is covincing 5 of my friends to try the DVD’s. Now they have all signed up and are enjoying the same benefits that I have.
Also my kids have witnessed my dedication to working out 3-4 times a week, I can’t think of a better example to set for their lifetime view of the importance of investing in your own health.
My thanks goes to WPR for having you on since that is where I first heard about you. Keep on going Dustin, you are doing a phenomenol job and I am proud to be a part of your success.
Awesome job Dustin! Thanks for being so motivated, helpful and positive.
My biggest successes have been taking up rock climbing to lessen my fear of heights. Doing a 100k bike ride for the Tour De Cure. Starting and continuing bootcamp.
Melissa,
That is awesome you took up rock climbing! It is amazing how challenging it is, but rewarding. A 100K bike ride is huge. Thanks for being such a great bootcamper.
Dustin
Sue,
I got goosebumps reading yours! Congrats first of all for putting in the extremely hard work and doing at least 144 of my workouts
Secondly you passing on your knowledge to others and inspiring is very powerful. I think you would be a perfect candidate for my next phase and plan for the Fit Moms For Life program. I look forward to unveiling it to everyone soon.
Keep working on tweaking your eating. There is no reason why you can’t get down to a size 6. There is nothing more magical about bootcamps than the DVDs.
Dustin
Sue,
Congrats on dropping 12%. I need to have you share your story on my blog, the pics that you sent of you working out at your tent were awesome. It is pretty cool for you in your mid 50′s to be in the best shape of your life. I hope I can say that.
Dustin
Liz,
I liked how you said “I realized I was worth a little something.” It has shown this year by how awesome you are doing with your fitness. You workout so hard and have the inner drive which is so important. Can’t wait for you to finish that marathon.
Dustin
Dustin! Way to go on the mag:) That must be a really happy thing for you.
Something to brag about… Hmmmm.
Well, I have been working out for the last year and have lost 15 pounds.
I am glad about that, but the best part is that my Mom is starting to get curious.
She has always eaten small portions and is pretty trim for her age, but she has an outdated sense of healthy. She generally thinks of healthy as meat, potatoes and corn or peas and thinks that if she is skinny, she must be healthy. She rarely gets greens and eats a very minimal intake of fiber and water.
Over the last few months, my Mom started coming down to watch me do some of the exercises and would make comments about things like, “I guess I should get a veggie in, huh? or I’ve had 6 glasses of water today!” I have done my best to be a good example because I knew that if I pushed her she wouldn’t get into it. She has now lost 4 pounds and asked, yesterday, if she could borrow the 1st FML DVD. I said yes and that I’d be happy to do it with her. We are going to do it together tomorrow morning:) Yay!
Dustin: Thanks for sharing your article, which was informative and interesting. Such a great story!
I made it through the first week of bootcamp–attended all 5 days. I feel great! Even the chiropractor noticed the difference at my appointment today. I plan to try your DVD’s this weekend to keep active (have had them for several months, but are still unopened). I really enjoyed the variety of activities at bootcamp–maintained my interest. Also appreciated the encouragement from staff and participants–no one let me slide by due to my age! See you next week!
Congratulations on your fabulous accomplishments. You are changing the world one body at a time and I know I am one of them. Even though I don’t live in the Madison area and haven’t attended a bootcamp, I have all 12 Fit Mom’s For LIfe DVD’s. Since I met you back in January, 2009, I have grown in leaps n bounds in my passion for health and fitness and is my way of life. Do I have it all down pat, no, but every day is a journey.
I’m entering the “empty nest” stage of my life and see this as an opportunity to try new things. Health and fitness is my foundation that keeps me strong on both the inside and outside. I am looking at making a possible career change and have you to thank for this. I will share more with you later but want you to know how it’s all about “pay it forward”.
Karen ( Elkhorn)
GREAT Accomplishemt Dustin! WOW!
Of all the things I am most proud of happened today at the Y. One of their trainers came over to watch me do an exercise that I got out of a magazine YEARS ago and complimented me numerous times. He said that he hoped he would one day be able to do it too. He tried with me but couldn’t do it. He asked me how long it has taken me to be able to master it.
Although I am a fitness nut and studying to be a personal trainer myself one day, I can 100% honestly say that I am in the best shape of my life having started the DVD’s (I am on #4). I could do what I did today because of you.
Many thanks again! You are changin 1,000′s of lives every day.
Kathleen
Well done Dustin, you are a true inspiration to up and coming trainer like myself.
Ryan