Listen to Yourself!

Having a coach has been one of the best things for me in the last 4 years. I was having a really hard time with severe pain and fatigue. I was very overweight and depressed. I have made huge changes that have lead to better health, and happiness. I have listened to my coach. I have listened to my yoga teachers. I have listened to advice from self-help books. And most importantly, I have listened to myself. 

I know the desperation of trying to make changes and looking for some magic pill or answer. I've been there and tried lots of those things. I knew that they wouldn't work when I tried them, but it was a burst of action that was an attempt that preceded hoping real action would come soon. 

When I was ready for that real change, I knew it. I searched out people to listen to, but I always trusted myself and listened to myself and my body, too. When you try to use pure will power and go against everything you know is right for you, things won't last. 

If I tried to keep eating things I hated or just starve myself or exercise in the late afternoon or do running for my exercise because someone said you have to run to lose weight, it wouldn't work for me. There's a difference between not facing things or trying things you need to do because you're in denial and listening to yourself and knowing yourself. 

Nobody could just tell me not to associate food with love or fun. I had to somehow figure that out on my own. I had to listen to my stomach. I had to go through the process of trying different things. I don't even know how or when it happened. 

Nobody could just tell me that sugar and cheese would make my pain worse. I had to experience that for myself and make that connection. I had to stop eating sugar. I had to try other things. I added fiber to my sugar when I did eat it. I'd have chocolate chip bagels. I don't even consider candy or ice cream or cake now. I don't feel like I'm missing anything. 

In the last 4 years, when I have had a candy bar or cookies or cake, I don't feel guilty, but I also don't feel that great after and it makes it really easy to not want it again the next time. It's a process. I listen to my body. Not to some outside person or some deprivation mindset called will power. 

Nobody could just tell me that weights would make my pain go away. I had to be surprised and experience it for myself. Nobody could tell me that training would do so much for my confidence, my posture, my happiness and so much more. I had to listen to myself as I experienced it. 

Nobody could just tell me to try a more challenging level 2 yoga as my pain levels decreased. I had to listen to myself and know that I know how to rest when I need to and modify poses when I need to and know that I'm not embarrassed not to be the best person in a class. 

Nobody could just tell me that by losing weight I'd start a healing process that is so much more than losing weight. I just knew I had to start somewhere and that somewhere took me to more somewheres and bigger and better somewheres so my body, my mind and my soul were open to listening to my coaches, my yoga teachers, my self-help books and most importantly, myself! 

Appreciating Training After The Lockdown

The pandemic threw some curve balls at everyone. In the long run, for me personally, I have had some very positive changes during this time. It started with some loneliness and soul searching. Some self-help reading. Some walking. Lots of screen time and then some baby steps with some new routines and some experimenting. 

I added meditation, outdoor walking. Yoga and training flip flopped from outdoors to zoom to in-studio to back to zoom, to back to studio to zoom and on and on. 

I discovered that I like doing zoom restorative yoga a few nights a week in my home. I like walking outside again even in the winter. I love challenging yoga in the studio, but not on zoom. I don't like getting out of bed without a few minutes of meditation. 

I loved my zoom training during the lockdown when there was nothing open. I also walked outside. The outdoors and seeing Khris saved me from my loneliness. Outdoor training during the summer was heaven. Outdoors and people!! 

In the fall, when the yoga studios were open again, I didn't need to go back to zoom training. Not because I didn't need the training, but because I was in my apartment all the time. Getting out of the house and seeing my yoga teachers and other people in person helped me more. So I did tons of yoga and less training. 

Now that things are getting back to normal a little, I need to get back to training. Not for pandemic reasons, but because I need the actual training!! I love my meditation. I love my yoga. My walking. My restorative yoga. But I miss my training. 

Khris has been training people out of Planet Fitness as well as Zoom. So I joined Planet Fitness and Yay!! I trained on Tuesday and today (Friday) and wow! It's so great to get back to training. 

Khris is really a great trainer! His workouts are so special! He makes them very efficient and just for you and your needs. They make sense. They are quick and effective. Nobody in that gym is doing what we do. It's not just going through motions. More is not better. 

I can tell he does things in an order and for a reason. I did 5 walkouts, BUT after some triceps and arm work and those walkouts were better strength and cardio work than those people leaning on stair-climbers were doing! 

When Khris says it's more than a workout or change your mindset and mind/body, he's not just talking. Your mind has to change for your body to change. When you are mindlessly doing workouts, nothing is really happening. 

When I am doing a training workout, I am in the moment. I am out of my head. I am not making a grocery list. I am focused on the work. On my muscles. I am letting my muscles and my body know I am taking care of them. They get the message that they can relax and they can do the work without fear or stress about other things. They are working together: mind and body. It actually means something. 

When training with KBuddah, he pays attention to what I am doing. He's my coach. He sees if I need to move my feet or adjust my stance. He adjusts the seat or the weight. It's progressive. It's not just going through the motions. It's training. 

I'm so lucky that I found him 4 years ago. I would never go to a gym any other way. It feels great to be back to training. Thank you, Khris, for coming to the gym today just for me. I appreciate my training more than ever now. 

The Difference Between Training and Going to the Gym

Reasons people don’t try personal training? I know them all. I can’t afford it. I don’t want that much spotlight. I can do it on my own. I can just go to classes. I can do DVDs. I already know a lot about exercise and form.

I never thought I'd have one. But I do! I love him and I will never give it up!

I think the biggest reason in most people's mind is the price. But all of the reasons are just mindset. I’ve learned that now. I've been there. I was cheating myself out of long-term results and really changing my way of life.

A good trainer makes your workouts interesting and fun. You look forward to going to workout. You have accountability built into your schedule. You have progression and growth built into your workouts. Your workouts are more efficient because of the precise focus on form and the types of activities you do.  

It becomes a lifestyle. You don’t worry about falling off the wagon. You just stick with it--no sweat....well...sweat!

The focus is on you! You learn to take care of yourself. 

When you try to cheat yourself out of the benefits of a trainer, you end up in the yo-yo fitness lifestyle. You join a gym and go for awhile. Or you get into the habit of doing your DVDs for awhile. You’re always in the process of pushing yourself or motivating yourself to start a fitness program or get back into one.

You might get results for the short term, but it’s the rare person who has a great fitness lifestyle without some kind of structure built into their life. Some kind of passion that keeps them wanting more. 

Something that makes it part of your life for the long-term and that you don’t even think about sleeping through it or skipping it. Then skipping becomes getting out of the habit and having search for motivation to make a new promise or resolution again.

Now that I have a personal trainer, I don’t have to give myself any pep talks. And I do more challenging things than I'd ever do on my own. With the pandemic, I still have my trainer. I communicate with him and I still have done some Zoom training. Summer brings outdoor training. 

I also have incorporated more yoga during the winter. Good yoga classes are like training. They are challenging. They provide structure in my day. I'm not bored and just going through the motions. I look forward to them. 

I have also added restorative yoga and meditation and walking. It seems like having a personal trainer would make you more intense about gym life and exercise. For me it has made me less intense. As Khris once told me, my workout is intense, not me.

Same with my diet. I’m not frantic about it. I eat good food and I pay attention to how I feel. I am not always giving myself pep talks about losing weight. I've become mindful. My decisions are much easier because I know I don't want to feel icky. 

I’m not fearful of gaining my weight back. I know I have developed good habits and I have a trainer who works with me to keep me progressing and feeling my best.

Having a trainer is not about learning what to do so you can do it by yourself. It’s about having a partner and a coach. Athletes don’t get coaches for a few practices and then compete on their own without them. They keep their coaches and their trainers with them all through their seasons and their off seasons.

It's funny. The only people who ask me if I’ve learned enough from my trainer now to do it on my own are people who are focused on the money aspect. They don’t understand what training is or does. I don’t blame them. I didn’t either until I found my trainer and experienced it myself.