Invest in yourself!

So like many people i've been trying to stash some extra $$ money away with all the pronouncements of doom and gloom. Instead of putting money into a miniscule interest earning savings account I decided to buy some stock last month. Nothing crazy, just a few hundred shares of the parent of New York Sports Club, Town Sports Inc. Just my luck, the damn stock just hit a 52 week low today! I just got off their Q4 results conf call and I found it quite interesting. The most interesting piece from the call? Gym usage is up 15% over the same period a year earlier. The good news is that means more people are choosing to make fitness a part of their lives. The bad news is that it's probably because they have more free time due to the fact they have lost their job. I really hope thats not the case. I hope that people are just looking to the gym as a source of relaxation and stress reduction. If you've lost your job, I wish you the best of luck in finding a new one, it's a tough road right now and more than a few of my clients have been impacted by this and thus, i'm impacted pretty heavily too. But please, do yourself a favor, instead of drowning your sorrows in food and alcohol, hit the gym! While it sucks to be out of work, it doesn't have to be all negative. Life is all about turning negatives into positives. Take advantage of the time you have to hit the gym and get back in tip top shape. You'll be amazed at how much better you will feel mentally and physically and looking a little better in those suits can only help you on job interviews!

I got my start in the personal training business when my old corporate 9 to 5 got bought out and the company merged and moved headquarters to Texas. My job was safe, but being in my early 20's and not loving my job and not having a family to support, I volunteered to take a package to save someone else's job and I moved to NYC and got my start as a personal trainer. Through the wonders of Facebook, i've come across so many of those old coworkers who lost their jobs and am happy to see they all landed on their feet and in most cases they are BETTER off now than they were back then! It's great to see people reinvent themselves as nurses, teachers and entrepreneurs!