Tonight, in my low intensity class, we had a visitor come watch. But before I ever took her back there, I said “Don’t be intimidated. These girls have been training with me a long time. We’ll start you wherever you are and get you there.” Watching her watch the class, and hearing her make comments like, “Wow, they have really great balance” or “Man, they’re strong” or “Wow, they are really working” gave me a chance to remember how far they have come. I started teaching this class in October, and we started with 12 stations for 20 second intervals. Most of the exercises, they used three and five pound dumbbells, with a very rare set of 8’s thrown in there. Tonight, they did 20 stations for 35 seconds—and now it’s mostly 12’s, 15’s, 20’s for dumbbells. When they started, none of them could squat anywhere near butt-to-box on an 18” box. Tonight, they used approximately a 12” stepper—and with the exception of those with some knee issues, they rocked it. I’ve even watched proudly as not only thirty year olds, but fifty and sixty year old women did a whole minute of hard cardio and then went and did weights. I’ve taught them that all they are allowed to say is “I’ve got this”—and now they believe those words. A lot of them have lost weight and dress sizes (err, also bra sizes as we frequently joke.) But the gains they have made in their strength and endurance are impressive by anyone’s standards. They are getting back fantastic reports from their doctors—some of them completely reversing conditions that have plagued them for years.
Success hasn’t come over night, and in many cases, it’s not come as quickly as they wanted it. But seriously, does it ever? It’s been a lot of hard work. I’m sure they have wanted to quit. Who hasn’t? But as the expression goes, “ a river cuts through rock, not by its power, but by its persistence.”
I have pushed them. I have shown them their inner strength, not just muscle strength, but a kind of chutzpah strength, for lack of a better word. Just as my trainer has done for me. Five years ago, I didn’t know I was a strong person. I never would have called myself either capable or determined. I didn’t know what I was made of, or that I would go all-in for something I really wanted. I haven’t always liked having a trainer, because he continuously pushed me out of my comfort zone. But having someone do that for me was not only how I’ve seen great success in my body and lost 100lbs, it’s how I realized who I was.
My body has given me a lot of challenges, which is fair, since I spent so long abusing it. After being completely plateaued for nearly a year and a half, I started threatening to quit. I don’t know that I could’ve done that, but it came out of my mouth more than once. My trainer had enough one day, and told me he wouldn’t train me again until I watched “G.I. Jane”. Demi Moore plays the first female Navy S.E.A.L, and is not warmly welcomed by her male counterparts. The first day, the S.E.A.L. trainees are shown a bell, and invited to ring it as a signal to the whole camp that they’ve given up and can’t handle this training anymore. Over and over, the officers try to make GI Jane so miserable that she will ring the bell, but no matter what they throw at her, she refuses to quit.
I’ve been in this business long enough to realize that the ones who quit far outnumber the ones who will grit their teeth, and dig in their heels, and push a little harder until something happens. Some will just sort of vanish, in a wisp of good intentions. Some will have big things happening in their lives, and will let everything else take priority. Some just simply quit on themselves, realizing that it is much harder to be fit than it is to just finally accept an unhappy mediocrity, where your body hurts and you never feel good in your skin.
As we start a group weight loss challenge, that’s the one thing I hope I can help them achieve. Of course, I want them to lose fat—that’s the purpose. But more than that, I want them to realize that they are fighters, stronger and more determined than they ever dreamed possible. Because of course, that’s what it takes. Being fit and feeling fantastic takes that sort of determination. Life, it turns out, takes that sort of determination. It requires a flat refusal to let any one or anything stand in the way of you reaching your goals. And it’s making damn sure that YOU aren’t the thing standing in the way.
As I watch GI Jane, and the athletes of the Olympics, and my 60 year old trainer who could probably still compete as a body builder, I realize that these people all have something in common—a ferocity that won’t settle for being anything less 100%. These people don’t let anything, not inconveniences or injuries, keep them down.
You want the body? You want to know what it’s like to look in a mirror and not only not hate what you see, but be proud of who you have become and what you have accomplished? Then, ringing the bell is not a luxury you can afford.
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