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I don't make New Year's resolutions, because I'm like everyone else in the world. I don't keep them.
I do, however, set goals for myself. There are many things that I'm not, but ambitious isn't on that list of qualities that I lack. If there is something that I truly want, I will figure out a way to get it. (And don't rule out the lead singer of Eve 6 just yet. I'm still working on that one!)
One thing that I've struggled with over the years is fitness. Despite all appearances, I'm a person who is prone to become obsessive when it comes to various cardio activities. I will kickbox. I will tae bo. I will pedal so fast that I find myself in another time and dimension entirely. Unfortunately, each time I take to one of my fitness crazes, the one thing I don't see is results. Granted, I've been told repeatedly that the most effective exercise regimen combines both cardio and weight training.
That's all well and good, but a few weeks ago, if you'd turned me loose in a room full of weight machines, I wouldn't have been able to tell you what any of them did. I did briefly try a trainer when I was living in Indianapolis, so that she could teach me about the different exercises one could do with weights.
The fact that I still know nothing should tell you how much she DIDN'T teach me.
Like most bad experiences, it left a sour taste in my mouth. It certainly hadn't occurred to me to try to find a personal trainer since then, but as luck would have it, I met Mike. I wasn't initially aware that he was a trainer, but when it came out, I immediately inquired on his rates and schedule. Shortly after that, I was in my workout gear, standing in a room full of the most intimidating equipment that I've ever seen.
The first thing I noticed about Mike was his approach to personal training. The girl I worked with in Indy immediately put all the power in my hands and was easily manipulated. It wasn't, "We're going to do this and this." It was, "What would you like to do?" And, on the rare occasions when she told me to do something and I crapped out on her because I found it to be uncomfortable, she would simply say, "Okay, we'll do something else." I was always more appalled than relieved, because when I'm paying someone to kick my butt, I expect them to do just that.
Mike put the power in my hands right off the bat, but in a very different way. We talked about my frustrating attempts to get fit in the past, and his immediate response was, "Here's the thing. I can meet with you and teach you about weight training and help you advance with that. But the majority of this will be up to do. Weight training alone isn't enough. Cardio alone isn't enough. You're going to have to combine what we do here with cardio on your own time. And if you don't, you won't see the results you're hoping for."
I was perfectly okay with that, so off we went.
In just a couple of weeks, I've seen a dramatic improvement in my strength and stamina. I don't enjoy the workouts (it's my belief that only a sick few truly get off on such torture), but I enjoy the changes that I'm seeing in myself. I'm already feeling better, I'm already back to craving more physical activity, and the 'ol jeans are already a bit looser.
In addition to the physical benefits of my new adventures in fitness, Mike is the kind of trainer that really gives me quite a bit to think about, too. During our first meeting, he casually mentioned that he'd noticed something during all of his years of being a personal trainer. "People are so ambitious when it comes to their careers. They work hard to get where they are. But there's often time a general lack of ambition when it comes to fitness. I don't entirely understand that."
I'd never thought about it, but when I posed the same statement to a friend later, she said, "I guess he's right. Fitness has never been a priority to me. I worry about everything but."
He also laughed when I said that I was setting a goal to be able to run several consecutive miles by the end of the year. Running has always been that thing that I wanted to do, but because of a variety of reasons (or, excuses, as Mike calls them), I've never done. I can go all day on an elliptical. But I cannot, for the life of me, run. I'll kickbox for an hour, but I've never been able to force myself to run for even a minute.
You can imagine that he found this fairly unaccetable. "What's something you really want right now? New shoes? A new iPod?"
I didn't even have to think twice. "A new purse I saw in the Coach store."
"If I told you that I had a Coach purse for you, and all you had to do was run 3 miles for it, there's not a doubt in my mind that you'd do it. So why won't you do it when the reward of getting in better shape is so much better than a purse could ever be?"
I didn't have a good answer. So, I shut up and got on the stair climber.
Mike has gotten me off to a great start, and he's really been instrumental in pointing out all of the reasons there are to do this fitness thing up good this time. When you hold it up to the list of reasons NOT to, there's no contest. There's no reason any of us should skimp on it. I physically fight that notion on my lazy days, but I can't mentally fight it.
So, I challenge you to do this with me this year. You don't have to get a personal trainer or join a gym to get in better shape. You just have to get UP and get MOViN'.
(Click the video tab above for one of Mike's free workouts. You can find even more here.)
I do, however, set goals for myself. There are many things that I'm not, but ambitious isn't on that list of qualities that I lack. If there is something that I truly want, I will figure out a way to get it. (And don't rule out the lead singer of Eve 6 just yet. I'm still working on that one!)
One thing that I've struggled with over the years is fitness. Despite all appearances, I'm a person who is prone to become obsessive when it comes to various cardio activities. I will kickbox. I will tae bo. I will pedal so fast that I find myself in another time and dimension entirely. Unfortunately, each time I take to one of my fitness crazes, the one thing I don't see is results. Granted, I've been told repeatedly that the most effective exercise regimen combines both cardio and weight training.
That's all well and good, but a few weeks ago, if you'd turned me loose in a room full of weight machines, I wouldn't have been able to tell you what any of them did. I did briefly try a trainer when I was living in Indianapolis, so that she could teach me about the different exercises one could do with weights.
The fact that I still know nothing should tell you how much she DIDN'T teach me.
Like most bad experiences, it left a sour taste in my mouth. It certainly hadn't occurred to me to try to find a personal trainer since then, but as luck would have it, I met Mike. I wasn't initially aware that he was a trainer, but when it came out, I immediately inquired on his rates and schedule. Shortly after that, I was in my workout gear, standing in a room full of the most intimidating equipment that I've ever seen.
The first thing I noticed about Mike was his approach to personal training. The girl I worked with in Indy immediately put all the power in my hands and was easily manipulated. It wasn't, "We're going to do this and this." It was, "What would you like to do?" And, on the rare occasions when she told me to do something and I crapped out on her because I found it to be uncomfortable, she would simply say, "Okay, we'll do something else." I was always more appalled than relieved, because when I'm paying someone to kick my butt, I expect them to do just that.
Mike put the power in my hands right off the bat, but in a very different way. We talked about my frustrating attempts to get fit in the past, and his immediate response was, "Here's the thing. I can meet with you and teach you about weight training and help you advance with that. But the majority of this will be up to do. Weight training alone isn't enough. Cardio alone isn't enough. You're going to have to combine what we do here with cardio on your own time. And if you don't, you won't see the results you're hoping for."
I was perfectly okay with that, so off we went.
In just a couple of weeks, I've seen a dramatic improvement in my strength and stamina. I don't enjoy the workouts (it's my belief that only a sick few truly get off on such torture), but I enjoy the changes that I'm seeing in myself. I'm already feeling better, I'm already back to craving more physical activity, and the 'ol jeans are already a bit looser.
In addition to the physical benefits of my new adventures in fitness, Mike is the kind of trainer that really gives me quite a bit to think about, too. During our first meeting, he casually mentioned that he'd noticed something during all of his years of being a personal trainer. "People are so ambitious when it comes to their careers. They work hard to get where they are. But there's often time a general lack of ambition when it comes to fitness. I don't entirely understand that."
I'd never thought about it, but when I posed the same statement to a friend later, she said, "I guess he's right. Fitness has never been a priority to me. I worry about everything but."
He also laughed when I said that I was setting a goal to be able to run several consecutive miles by the end of the year. Running has always been that thing that I wanted to do, but because of a variety of reasons (or, excuses, as Mike calls them), I've never done. I can go all day on an elliptical. But I cannot, for the life of me, run. I'll kickbox for an hour, but I've never been able to force myself to run for even a minute.
You can imagine that he found this fairly unaccetable. "What's something you really want right now? New shoes? A new iPod?"
I didn't even have to think twice. "A new purse I saw in the Coach store."
"If I told you that I had a Coach purse for you, and all you had to do was run 3 miles for it, there's not a doubt in my mind that you'd do it. So why won't you do it when the reward of getting in better shape is so much better than a purse could ever be?"
I didn't have a good answer. So, I shut up and got on the stair climber.
Mike has gotten me off to a great start, and he's really been instrumental in pointing out all of the reasons there are to do this fitness thing up good this time. When you hold it up to the list of reasons NOT to, there's no contest. There's no reason any of us should skimp on it. I physically fight that notion on my lazy days, but I can't mentally fight it.
So, I challenge you to do this with me this year. You don't have to get a personal trainer or join a gym to get in better shape. You just have to get UP and get MOViN'.
(Click the video tab above for one of Mike's free workouts. You can find even more here.)
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