1. Once you find the right form of exercise, you will be motivated to continue. I believe the workout that I do right now is technically called interval training which is defined as "training in which an athlete alternates between two activities, typically requiring different rates of speed, degrees of effort, etc". I call it "I can do anything for 45 seconds" training. My trainer, owner of Hiit It With Brit, is one of those encouraging, dedicated trainers who seems to be everything to everyone. What I mean by that is that she gives just the right sort of encouragement for each athlete. For instance, she pushes the more experienced participants to challenge themselves with more weight or a higher kick. And then for newbies like me she models modifications that still are intense enough to be effective. I doubt I would be successful with interval training if it weren't for Britt and her fellow trainers. But the different daily workouts that go along with this type of training really make each workout interesting and challenging. I find myself on days off from the gym checking on Facebook to see which workout I missed out on. And speaking of off days...
2. I need to ease my body into increased days of exercise. For me, I have found that 3 days a week are totally doable. One of the reasons is that I have an "off" day in between each of the work out days. The two weeks that I tried to work out on back to back days I ended up so sore that I skipped my normal days. That led me to working out only one day last week, and bouncing back into class today after a week with no workouts was brutal. While my goal is to work out 5 days a week, I have learned that I need to work up to that. I'm thinking about walking/running on the off days for about 30 minutes. That way I'm still exercising and training my body to have physical activity daily. This mind set of getting physical activity worked into every day is definitely a new one for a former human slug like me. New beliefs abound these days including this next truth about sweating.
3. Sweating is an essential result of challenging myself. I am no girly-girl but the thought of sweating in front of others used to be so scary to me (okay, maybe I am a girly-girl). If I was at a party or gathering and started to sweat, I would be so embarrassed. Now when I sweat I know it is a sign of hard I am working out my body. If you are doing interval training and you don't sweat, something is definitely wrong. I now consider my beet red face and my dripping clothing a badge of honor signifying my hard work and dedication to doing as many of the exercises as possible. I still try not to have to go anywhere after working out due to the fact that I resemble a dripping tomato after a workout, but I'm no longer embarrassed about how I look. I know that it is a sign that I'm working out my muscles intensely enough to warrant the bedraggled look. One of the reasons I'm able to work up a good sweat is because of the modifications that I use.
4. Modifications are a chubby girl's best friend. When I first started working out, I was very intimidated by the types of exercises the class was using. But I used my instincts and just did the ones I thought I could do. And this is where it was essential to have an awesome trainer like Britt. She has been able to coach me on ways to modify the exercise or do a completely different one that would work out the same muscle group. While moves like burpees and jumping jacks are still out of my range for now, I have challenged myself to do more of the floor exercises like planks and push ups. At first I felt like I was cheating by not pushing myself to do the assigned exercises, but once I realized I was still getting in a great workout it all made sense to me. The best thing about modifications is that I'm learning which exercises can be replaced by others without Britt needing to tell me. In the teaching world we call slowly taking away the supports for a learning activity "scaffolding" and this is what I find myself doing. Whether it takes me a month or a year, I push myself to give up the modifications for the harder exercises. Pushing myself is at the heart of the last truth.
5. Challenging myself is rewarding and (yes!) addicting. Brittany reviews all the exercises that make up our routines at the beginning of class. As closely as I pay attention, I still find myself shaking my head and practically talking myself out of being able to do the exercise. Once the routine begins, I sneak looks at the more experienced athletes and attempt to do the actual exercise or use a modification. I have been amazed at some of the things that I have been able to do or get close to doing. As much as the flight response is activated once I see what Britt wants us to do, I have never left a class without even trying. While it may look to others that I'm not working hard because of the modification I"m using, I know the truth. Lifting weights, running sprints, and using exercise bands for rowing are activities I never would even try a year ago. Because I found this safe environment (the gym is www.hiititwithbritt.com) in which I could challenge myself, I have made great gains in my fitness. I also have set goals related to my fitness that I know I will reach. And that feeling of achievement is what is addicting.
These are some of the truths I have discovered so far. I will keep mining my experiences for positive landmarks like these so that I can eventually become the fabulous fit 50 year old I am striving to be.
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