So how is fitness a path inward? I believe fitness takes you inward in two ways.
The first is it has a way of bringing you radically present. When I am trying to knock out the last two bicep curls or lunges, I am not worried about my past or my future. Everything is right now. The more time I spend being present, the more I am able to see that the past and the future are really just illusions. They don’t exist in the present. All that matters is now.
So personal training is a way to get you working in the “now”, where every choice matters. Where you matter. I love training women and watching them overcome stuff from their past and their false beliefs about what they can and can’t do. I love seeing women get stronger and taking that strength out into the world. Some of my favorite testimonies are from women who are putting all their hard-earned strength, balance and endurance to use doing the things they love with the people they love.
Personal training works.
But some women need more. I was one of those women. I was doing the workouts, but not getting anywhere. The workouts were great. I was developing strength, balance and endurance. I was feeling better about myself and was definitely toning up some. But I wasn’t changing like I wanted to. Now I know why.
I needed a coach.
Coaching took me inward in a way personal training never could. We really need to focus on form, heart rate, and all the other things that come with a great workout during a personal training session. For me, it was the conversation that had to come along with the workouts that addressed issues that were really keeping me stuck. Things like:
Learning to say no, so I had time to do things that supported my goals and honored my health.
Being terrified of disappointing others or being disapproved of myself.
Using food to sooth my stress, loneliness, fear, grief and feeling like I’d never be good enough.
Being stuck in the all or nothing workout or diet mentality.
My coach helped me address all these things by asking really important questions. And as I thought through the answers to these questions, I began to realize that maybe the beliefs I was holding onto were not entirely true. And with encouragement and support, I began to open up to the possibility that my beliefs were getting in the way of my desire to change.
That is the second way fitness takes you inward. It asks you to take a look at and challenge your beliefs. If you say you don’t have time, fitness coaching asks if that’s really true. If you say you can’t lose weight, fitness coaching asks you to look again through new lenses of the present instead of the past. If you say you can’t do something, fitness coaching asks, “What can you do?”
If you have taken the step to begin personal training, I want to congratulate you. It is an awesome thing to do to honor your health and your life. If you have been doing it for awhile and are not seeing the change that you are hoping for, I really want to encourage you to get some coaching. Whether it is me or someone else, it can be one of the most exciting and motivating things you can do for yourself. When you realize that what has been holding you back all along was just a list of lies, you experience a sense of personal empowerment you didn’t think possible. Of course you can do it. You can do anything you decide. As long as you believe (the truth).