What's Your Motivation?

I believe that being healthy and strong should be the motivating factor for people to want to lose weight, eat healthfully, and be active.  In my experience, people who focus solely on losing weight to be thin or to fit into an outfit or because they have a special event coming up are not ready to commit to the lifestyle changes that are required to keep the weight off. This is where we get people who constantly yo-yo diet, because they just aren’t ready to face the hard realities of changing some really important things in their life – the first being how they think and feel about themselves.  Believing that you deserve good health and to look and feel your best is the foundation for committing to the necessary lifestyle changes. 

I met a woman who came to my Aqua Fitness Class the other day.  We had stopped at the gym’s snack bar to re-fuel after the workout. We chit-chatted a bit and then she told me that she’s lost 70 pounds so far and is trying to stay on track to lose more but she’s finding it difficult to see the same kind of weight loss results that she had in the beginning (as she stood in front of me, I thought she probably weighed about 170-180 pounds and was about 5 feet 2 inches).  She told me that she had thyroid issues but she was regulating that with medication and that she increased her workout time in the pool and on land to two hours a day and also had just started on a HCG diet (whatever that was).  She was trying to stick to it, but she felt hungry and tired all the time.  All this personal information was divulged to me in a matter of 3 minutes at the snack counter. During our conversation, she said the red flag that all trainers (who are truly interested in helping people achieve their goals) should listen for – she said that she didn’t always look this bad and she wanted to get back to looking good again. Bad? I didn’t see anything bad about her. I saw a beautiful person struggling to appreciate herself, but nothing bad.  I knew that she was looking for something and she wasn’t going to find it in some HCG diet or by spending all of her time at the gym (as much as I encourage people to stay active, I don’t think they need to live at the gym).  This woman wanted to be validated for all the work that she’s put in thus far.  She had a need to feel that all the things she’s done to lose weight  (the money, the time, the sore muscles, the constant hunger) were all worth it.  The problem was, that what she was searching to hear needed to come from her – not me.  I knew that I could help her lose the weight and change her life, but until she was ready to believe in herself and realize that she deserved to feel good about herself, she would continue to struggle with her weight, health issues, and the driving force behind it all – her self esteem.

I’ll keep talking to her. I’ll remind her that whether or not she realizes it, she is an important person in this world and deserves the very best things that life offers – and it begins within us.

My Own Certification Revelation

I have been a certified group fitness instructor since 1992.  I had been teaching and subbing group fitness classes regularly at a health club in Eugene, Oregon (hi/low aerobics and step aerobics) for about six months when my group fitness coordinator called me in to her office, sat me down, and told me that if I wanted to continue to teach for them, I had to get my group fitness certification.  "Sheesh, first they want me to go and get CPR certified and now this" was my thought!  "What a pain-in-the-rear"! My coordinator didn’t specify one particular certification over another, just that it needed to be a nationally recognized certification.  When I asked her why this was important and if it was really necessary, she told me these things:

1. Having a group fitness certification shows that you have demonstrated the minimum requirements to teach (and essentially prescribe) exercises to a group of people.  It brings you credibility and by having a current certification proves that you know enough about anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, basic nutrition, and professional instructor responsibilities to lead a group of people through a safe, effective exercise class.
2. The health club had adopted a new policy that all group fitness instructors were to be certified in order to teach classes for them.  She told me that this was because they wanted to maintain a professional staff that was dedicated to being the most knowledgeable in their field as well as decrease their risk and liability for the club.
3. She then told me that it was just the right thing to do if I wanted to continue teaching group fitness classes anywhere.  She told me that being certified meant that you teach your classes by the current industry standards and guidelines and that you stay knowledgeable by attending regular workshops and trainings to keep the certification current.

All of this struck me as pretty darned funny because really, I just thought I was teaching my few classes a week to have fun, stay fit, and be social with other moms like me.  This is when my coordinator said something to me that I’ll never forget.  She said, “If that’s why you’re teaching classes, you’re working in the wrong place.  We want people who are professionals in their field, and who are here to better the health and fitness for our members – It’s not YOUR workout!” Until this meeting with my coordinator, I didn’t think that what I did was that important.  I didn’t appreciate the knowledge I had gained or the experiences that I had been blessed with.  My coordinator had made it clear to me that the way I originally thought about teaching classes was undermining all of the other fitness professionals that I worked with who studied, practiced, and worked their rear ends off to become credible and certified.  I felt like a "poser" - a person who pretends to be something they're not.

It suddenly dawned on me that I really did take pride in planning out my class choreography so that it was balanced, safe, and fun – FOR THE MEMBERS.  I really did enjoy helping people lose weight and meet their health and fitness goals.  I knew that I wanted to continue teaching, and learn to teach new formats but my original purpose for being a class instructor had changed somewhere along the way and I didn’t even realize it.  I couldn’t imagine myself teaching anywhere else (I felt comfortable and important at this facility), I felt as if I was making a difference to people.  Somewhere along the way, I had crossed the threshold of “this is a fun, part time thing that I do so I can get out of the house and be with other adults in a healthy environment” to “I really care about teaching people to exercise safely, effectively, and with a purpose in mind”.  I realized that I had grown to become a fitness professional (albeit with little experience), but I didn’t have the credibility to back up any of my knowledge and skills that I had learned thus far.  My coordinator had seen it in me and challenged me to take the next step.  I took the ACE (American Council on Exercise) Group Fitness Instructor exam (it was the closest exam offered to me at the time) and I passed!  That was the beginning of my career in Fitness. 

Since then, I have gotten many more certifications and I continue to attend workshops and trainings.  I don’t take knowledge and my teaching skills for granted anymore.  I've worked hard to learn as much as I can and perfect my teaching skills.  In fact, I have devoted myself to help other instructors become certified fitness professionals through presenting workshops of my own and as a Presenter with AFAA.  Although I wouldn’t have admitted it 20 years ago as I sat in her office feeling like I was being scolded, I am so appreciative that my coordinator challenged me take the next step.  Thank you Stephanie Harris.  You may never know how much you inspired me.

Current AFAA Certification

Current ACSM Certification

From Dorothy Hamill to the Tanning Mom!

I learned something today:  Getting a spray tan and then teaching a sweaty strength training class is NOT a good idea!  I looked like I was rusting! I literally had rust colored six pack ab marks on the front and rust colored spine marks on the back of my light blue tank top! Yikes! I think I would have rather had a hole in my pants than those embarrassing marks on my shirt and streaks of sweat on my face and arms!

Dorothy Hamill

I don't know why I'm so self conscious about how pale my skin color is - perhaps it's because when I was in high school some boys teased me and called me "ghost".  I got teased a lot - I was short, awkward, had bucked teeth and a haircut that made me look like a cross between Dorothy Hamill and Dennis the Menace. (I really wanted to look like Farrah Fawcett, but unfortunately genetics and my mother's love for the pixie hairdo kept me from that).  I guess being teased for the color of my skin bothered me most of all because I knew I could always wear high heels, grow out my hair, and get braces, but the color of my skin was there to stay.  Back in those days, self tanners didn't exist and your only option was to sit in the sun until you could pull up your shorts a little and see a tan line (or in my case, a red blistery burn line).  I tried my best to become more tan, but it's very difficult when you grow up in quite possibly the foggiest place in the world!  I got a lot of fog burns, but I never seemed to get that "Tahitian Goddess" look that I envisioned for myself.  What can I say, I was a dreamer!

Tanning Mom

So, the moral of this story:  Give your spray tan at least 24 hours to set in and dry before you go teach a class (or tell everyone that you're dedicating your class to the "Tanning Mom")!