Last week, I had the honor of being featured on Tony Gentilcore’s website with a guest blog entitled Tips for Becoming a Better Fitness Writer. I’ve always looked up to Tony G (figuratively, because he’s awesome, and literally, because he’s tall and I’m not) since well before we became coworkers at Cressey Sports Performance, so the opportunity to write for his blog got me pretty fired up.
Tony G and I have both spoken about how we often get asked by young fitness professionals how to start a blog or how to start writing for pay. We always agree that the first step is “Just start!” and the second step is “Don’t suck!” The first step is easy. The second step is not easy (but gets easier with lots of practice). These tips should help with the second step.
As many of you know, I was a writer long before I became a strength coach. My writing career officially started when I was 16 years old and covered high school sporting events for my local newspaper (but it actually began long before that when I was scribbling out stories about dinosaurs, Power Rangers and the Legend of Zelda for elementary school writing assignments). Then, I majored in journalism in college and went on to work for three newspapers and three collegiate athletic communications departments.
Writing helped me stay engaged with the fitness community while going to grad school – hence why I started this blog. Along the way, I’ve seen how good writing can skyrocket a fitness professional’s career and how lousy writing can make a fitness pro sound phony and ignorant.
So if you’re a coach or trainer looking to improve your writing chops, check out these tips. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or sharing on Facebook or Twitter!