Hiring a Personal Trainer – Confidence Builder or Killer?

Personal TrainingSo last week I joined a new gym and this week I hired a personal trainer.  Yes it shocked even me.  Not because it’s not my thing, but because I am already a  consistent, disciplined exerciser.  I love to exercise and am a 5-6 day a week person (or more) consistently, all the time, rain or shine, etc.  So why the shift and new investment?  And, why now?

Well, simply because I always tell my clients – “your best thinking got you where you are, and you need someone else’s guidance to get you somewhere new”.  It’s time for something new for me.  I’ve been bored maintaining my routine for 2.5 years since I got laid off and it is time to shake things up a bit.  I loved, loved, loved when I had a trainer, a gym, and a program when I worked my day job.  In fact some of those fitness instructors were the absolute best – innovative, fun, creative, and reliable.  I miss it.  Not to mention working from home not only eliminated my daily commute but also eliminated all that collateral movement I had built into each day.  Walking from the car to the building, up the stairs, up and down all day long, over to the gym, down for coffee, etc.  Now I wander down my one flight of stairs to my office and shuffle back and forth to the water and tea pot.  Not exactly the calorie burn one might like.  10,000 steps a day?  Very damn funny…

Today I did their little fitness baseline. I have to say in the past I would’ve used the numbers (albeit some are some canned computer program that like most standardized tests are, well, totally skewed and irrelevant to certain individuals) to beat myself up. After all, I feel fit, I can go cardio for a long darn time.  I put in 1,500 miles on my bike last year, etc.  Yet some of the number just don’t lie.  It’s time to burn some more calories and work muscles that I have been missing with my regular routine.  There’s a reason we hit plateaus and get stagnant.  While confidence is my expertise, the area of my body has always been perhaps my least confident area.   I’m leaps and bounds ahead of where I was at one time, but truthfully it is still an area I need to self-coach myself a lot.  It’s a vulnerable spot for me. Yet today I felt far different than ever before.  I’m not emotionally charged by any of it (other than excited for a new challenge).  I also immediately gave myself full permission to use all the resources and knowledge at my disposal from working with integrative nutritionists and other health professionals to make my own choices about what I do or do not do.  A little software program is not going to suddenly be smarter than me.

Unfortunately, for many women this is not the case. They give up their power to someone or something else and then just feel badly about themselves.  This does nothing to help you feel confident, comfortable in your own skin, and ready for success in your business and life.

So I invite you to choose differently.  Gather information, make new choices outside your comfort zone, invest time and money in your well-being, and then totally embrace the you that is before you right here, right now.

Check out some other great stories on making this fitness leap:

I’ll be sure to let you know just how sore I am after my first few sessions!

Photo by: Flickr

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