There are coaches … and then there are COACHES

There are coaches and then there are COACHES.  What makes the difference?  What makes a good coach a great coach?

For the past two years, I have had the incredible privilege to be coached by a great coach – Brett.  My journey is in large part because of him.  I am grateful that he was my first coach, as he taught me to love exercise and change my life!  I don’t know if that would have happened with a different coach, as I started with an incredibly negative view of exercise, athletes and the whole shebang!  Brett was the right coach at the right time in my life.

We started a Bootcamp here on campus just over two years ago and Brett came to our community to coach us.  He also coached some of us in CrossFit.  I remember at the time, thinking that he handled a bunch of mouthy women very well!  We didn’t phase him.  He enjoyed us, and we enjoyed him!

The very first boot campers

I have documented a lot of my journey on this blog … and most of the lessons I have been learning along the way have been in a large part because of Brett and his coaching.  On Friday we had our last workout with Brett and tomorrow, he leaves us to fly back to Canada to continue his life journey.  We are sad to be losing him as he has had a huge impact in our community, but we are excited for his future and the growth he is stepping into.  I have been reflecting on what makes Brett a COACH instead of a coach.

Passion

When we started Bootcamp, we asked Brett for a short bio that we could put on our promotional material.  One of the things he said was that he was “passionate about coaching, helping people reach their potential and goals, and helping people to enjoy exercise”.  Passion is infectious and a quality that coaches must bring to the table.  When you love what you do, it is hard for that not to impact those you are working with in a positive way.  One of our boot campers commented that she always loved watching Brett explain the workouts.  She would look around and people would be frowning and grimacing, or even occasionally looking a little disgusted as they contemplated what was to come.  Brett always had a smile on his face and would be like, “cool?!”  Brett’s positivity always set the tone for a great class – no easy feat when dealing with a bunch of teachers at the end of a long work day.

Skill

Obviously, if you are going to coach people, you need skill.  Marry passion and skill together and its a powerful combination.  Brett has a degree in kinesiology.  This background, along with his experience and skill in coaching, helped engender trust.  Most people who workout aren’t looking to be injured, they are looking to get healthier and more skilled.  If we were injured, there was never a reason not to come and workout (well, to quote the Australian movie, Strictly Ballroom, “maybe if both arms and legs were broken …” ).  Brett’s skill and knowledge meant that there was always an alternative something you could do to work around your injuries, whilst still getting in a good workout.  If you are coaching, you better know what you are doing.  But, its not enough to know what you are doing if you don’t know how to deliver it and break it down for people.

Not long into bootcamp, I was on an early morning hike on our mountain, got lost, off track and fell down the steep side of it, hurting my shoulder.  The doctor said no bootcamp for me for a week.  So I went each night and just watched.  When you are working out, you get into your own zone and space, and tend not to notice what is happening around you.  Watching the classes was absolutely awesome.  I could see Brett working the class and the skill I saw was impressive.

Correcting plank form …

He constantly circled through all the participants and completely changed up his approach for each.  This comes down to knowing your clients and how they tick, as well as being able to pull out different teaching/coaching techniques that will click with that particular individual.  Just like good teachers, good coaches know that no one size fits all.  I watched Brett gently, but firmly encourage a client who was push pressing.  He took their dumbbells, gave them a heavier set and when they said, “no, I can’t”,  he didn’t let them back away from the challenge, just responded with a “yes, you can”,  helped them get their technique right, watched them master the challenge, praised, encouraged and then moved on.  The next client he gave a verbal boot up the backside, “come on … get up!  Keep going”.  Some clients he corrected audibly with a well placed coaching cue, other clients he guided physically … the interesting thing was that all through the class, he was constantly varying his approaches as needed and appropriate.

Empathy

Often this is not something people talk about with coaches, but I do believe it is a skill that makes good coaches great.  Don’t mistake empathy for mollycoddling.  Empathy is understanding where your client is at and working with them in that space.  There have been times Brett’s empathy for where I have been at in my head space, has resulted in a well timed boot up the bum.  And there have been other times, where his empathy has led to a different approach.  I went through a phase after I started doing handstands, where I crashed and burned a couple of times and became terrified of them.  Not even logical but still, my head space was a mess with them.  I remember one night in personal coaching, I was doing a wall walk and because of the fear I had developed, just moving one hand back at a time to walk in closer to the wall was terrifying me.  I didn’t say anything, but I was freaking out.  Upside down …  sweaty hands … my mind screaming that I was going to crash and burn and hurt myself … and I was fighting my way through it.  My breathing was shaky and I was actually fighting back tears.  What I remember was that Brett got right down on the floor, so his head was almost at the level of my upside down head.  He got in my space with me.  He didn’t say anything about the state I was in.  There was no judgement.  There was no impatience.  There was no offer of  “maybe just give it a rest for tonight” (which would have set me back even more).  Just an encouraging, “c’mon Sarah.  You got this.  Good.  One hand back.  Great.  The other hand.  You got it girl.”  And I did.  That empathy and quiet encouragement enabled me to keep moving through my fear.

Build People

Last Bootcamp with Brett

Last Workout With Brett

Brett’s biggest asset, and the thing that I think makes him a great coach, is that he is a people builder.  He is passionate about people.   He believes in them unconditionally without judgement, accepts and encourages them where they are at, pushes them to stretch, grow and enlarge, and structures an environment for success.   And with a coach like this, you can’t help but fly.  Good luck Brett … we are privileged to have had you with us.

The remnants of the original boot campers, 2 years on at our last workout with Brett.

 

 

 

It Takes A Village …

We are all connected.  Our journeys weave in with each others.  Like a handwoven carpet, threads cross and intersect, with a variety of colours, making something beautiful and unique.  How does this relate to fitness, exercise and health?

I have been reflecting on this the past weekend in terms of my journey – how is it I am where I am right now?  We were never made to be islands – we are part of a village!  The threads of others have become part of my tapestry.

Strength on my journey came from those who went before.  The nudge I needed to get off my butt and reprioritize my time to fit in exercise came from my friend Jo.  She had the vision to see if we could start a bootcamp class here on campus.  She encouraged me to think about it, and when I responded with concerns about time (because studying takes up a lot of extra time when one works full time), she responded with “it’s three hours a week!” and kicked my rear!

I started.  Yes, I had to repriortize my time and make the commitment to myself that my workouts were non negotiables, I had to put in the effort and eat well, but even here, the village stepped in.  Working out with a bunch of fabulous bootcampers, we made a community and we encouraged and challenged each other along the way.  Bootcamp led me to CrossFit.  This community aspect is one of the major strengths of CrossFit.  There is definitely strength in the group –  you work harder, push more and stay in it when you might otherwise quit.

SFS Bootcampers taking on the Seoul Reebok Crossfit Sentinel /10 Magazine Seoul City Challenge!

Maybe you can’t make a class.  Get a workout buddy.  Hold each other accountable and encourage each other along the way.  My friend Jenny was my workout buddy for quite a while.  She has seen me through my worst, most insecure times and still believed in me, encouraged me and challenged me.  She has coached me through my handstand freakouts and been patient with me.  Jenny is a gifted athlete and working out with her was a healing thing for me, as my experience as a kid with athletic people, was impatience and competitiveness – resulting in feelings of shame and withdrawal for me.

Jenny and I after one of the Crossfit Open Games Workouts
April 2013

The journey is long.  So far it has been 20 months.  When you have a LOT of weight to lose and when you are very unfit and weak, it’s hard and results are not instant.  Therefore, you have to hunker down and keep going – push through, be faithful, be consistent.  Keep doing the right things.  Endure.  How did I do this?  Where was the village?  I respond to words.  They stir me and challenge me.  So I reached out, and visited the online village! I found motivational quotes and pictures, and started compiling a folder full.  On days when I didn’t feel like eating well, or exercising, or felt unmotivated, I would flick through the folder until something resonated with me, and then I would post it on facebook (maybe it would resonate with someone else too – my way of giving out) and that would be my mantra or thought for the day to keep me going.  These days, I need  the folder less.  My motivation is more internal … the joy and satisfaction of working hard and rising to the challenge.  I still find reading people’s blogs inspiring and encouraging … the global community can be powerful too.

Think of those in your life who have gone before … in my case, my friend Dominic and my friend Edie have both walked this journey with incredible results.  When I was discouraged, I thought of how they were steady, committed, day in and out, to keep doing the right things with exercise and nutrition no matter what.  The results will come.  I took a lot of strength and encouragement from their journeys.

Get a coach/mentor.  For me, my coach Brett has had a huge part in this journey.  I have learnt (and am still learning) so much about how to work out, form, eating, and adjusting my thinking.  More than anyone in a long time, he challenges me, holds me to higher standards than I would have set myself and has encouraged me to keep going.  There have been steps back as well as forwards (thinking handstand freak outs here), but he is always encouraging me to reach higher, move forwards and step out of my comfort zone.  He does not allow me to stay in a place of fear and operate out of that.

So where am I going with all this?  I want to encourage you on your journey.  You can make it.  You will make it.  And maybe along the way, you will become a thread of  inspiration woven into other people’s journeys.  It has shocked me as people have told me that my journey is encouraging them on theirs.  Upon reflection, I am less shocked, as I think when we see normal everyday people pushing through and succeeding, we are inspired and encouraged to believe that we too can do it. We don’t have to be super athletes!  Normal people can achieve amazing things.  Truely, it takes a village!

*cue music …*  “it’s the Cirrrrrr-clllleeeeee …. the cir-cle of life!  :0)

Get after it!

Step It Up!

In the past couple of weeks, I have decided I need to step things up a notch … in workouts, nutrition and sleep.

In my workouts, I am trying to stop underestimating myself and ramp up my intensity.  It seems to me the best way to do this is either challenge myself in weight, or, if it’s an AMRAP, pick up the pace.  So I am trying to do this.  In terms of comfort zones, I still tend to stay with what is safe.  Tonight my coach handed me the 20kg kettle bell and I caught the words muttering out of my mouth, “you are dreaming …”   Followed by an immediate mental smack down! ” STOP IT!  Just DO IT”.   So I did it.  Fortunately we were only doing eye- level swings but still, I did it!  A definite ramp up in intensity for me and a stretch physically and mentally.  Good stuff.

In terms of AMRAPS or x amount of rounds for time.  I am trying to find a pace I can keep form, feel like I am pushing myself but keep going.  Sucking air hard at the end of the workout is a clue I might be on the right track!

Nutrition.  If you want the results, you have got to dial in on your nutrition.  This summer I managed to put on about 8 pounds and it has taken me a good two months to get that down again by being really dialled in with my nutrition.  The final push for me to tighten things up was craving sugar.  That stuff is CRACK.  So I have been off it for a couple of weeks.  Its so addictive for me.  It took me about 10 days to stop having sugar cravings.  Had ONE milky way little square thing Halloween night and a bit of caramel slice as a  treat, and BANG!  Right back to sugar craving the next day.  

Consistency is a big part of seeing results.  I am working on seeing food as fuel and giving my body what it needs, but also, trying to cook things I like and don’t get bored with. At present I am eating Paleo  (no grains, no dairy, no sugar, no processed food) – just lots of clean food and chicken.  Carbs from veges, a bit of fruit and sweet potatoes.  Lots of eggs.  Protein.  I have been experimenting with different recipes.  Slowly but surely, things are paying off.  Still trying to find the balance of fueling up before cross fit.  The days I get it wrong it really shows – I have literally run out of energy in the middle of the WOD – nothing left.  Not fun.  

Sleep is the other thing we can’t ignore.  I have the problem that the drugs I take for my tumor screw up my sleep big time.  However, I am still working on trying to establish earlier bedtime routines (studies show that the hours of sleep before midnight are more beneficial) and being optimistic that my body will come down and rest.

Intensity.  Nutrition.  Sleep.  Balance.  

Take control and step it up!

3 – 2 – 1 

GO!

Face Your Fear

Lets be honest.

All of us have fears.  Each one of us.  For some of us it is being alone.  For others, its fear of public speaking.  For some, its fear of facing things in our past.  As adults, we become very good at hiding our fears, at building fences and walls around them, isolating ourselves from them so that we never have to confront them.  To do that is to choose to live a confined, small life.  Don’t you want to continue to enlarge?  It’s not going to happen if you stay in your comfortable place.

From time to time crossfit makes me come face to face with fear.  Tonight I had a moment.  Such a moment, I nearly burst into tears as I had a mild panic in my workout (and for those of you who don’t know me, I am not a crying kind of girl).  Such a moment, I turned to my coach and pleaded not to do part of my workout.  Fortunately, he cares enough to keep pushing me.  We were working my shoulders a lot tonight and in my workout was a couple of wall walks.  Wall walks … never been a big issue for me … hand stands yes … but not the wall walks.  However this summer when I was home crossfitting, we did one workout with a ton of pull-ups and presses and handstand holds (about 30 – 40 seconds at a time).  My shoulders were SMOKED.  I crashed and burned multiple handstands.  Enough that the coach was like, “maybe you shouldn’t do those”.  And for me, I got a little mad.  Not at the coach.  At myself.  Because I had done lots of handstands and I was feeling better about them and I knew if I stopped in a place of failure, it would set me back.  So I said, “Nope.  I have done plenty of these and I can do them.  its a mental thing and I need to do them”.  I asked him to spot me, set my mind, and did the rest no trouble.  However after that, about 7 weeks went by with no hand stands and I am back to that place of fear.

Fear.  I have been there, as I am sure you have.  My biggest fear is a MASSIVE fear of injections – to the point where I had to be held down as a child by multiple adults for my immunizations.  My blood tests are often terrible. It seems my veins also are afraid, and try and hide!  When I got my tumor, I have had to face my fear and get lots of blood tests.  I really worked on dealing to my fear and I got better and mentally stronger about them.  Then I was really sick, needing emergency surgery.  My body was in such a bad way that it was shutting down and in the theatre there were five or six excruciating attempts to get a line in without success.  I remember tears streaming down my face as they tried and the surgeon getting mad with the people trying to set up the lines.  It set me back … WAY back.  After a followup surgery I had to inject myself in the stomach every day for several weeks.  Sometimes I laid on my bed for nearly an hour poised with the needle working up the courage to do it.  Facing fear.  I continue to address that fear … by not avoiding my blood tests!  Again, the key seems to be in setting your mind to just do it.

Two nights ago, a massive centipede was on my bedroom wall.  That puppy was so big you could put a saddle on it and ride it!  They also move lightning fast and I don’t do well with them!  Well the joys of singleness … who was I going to call?  Ghostbusters?  Nope.  Just me and my trusty can of flyspray … I set my mind, got in there and killed it!  Because the bigger fear is going to bed with it running around in my room somewhere.  When I needed to … I did it.  How?  I pushed past my comfort zone … faced it and dealt to it.

So wall walks with tired shoulders.  Fear.  Ridiculous.  Seriously?  If I crash I crash.  I crashed on my handstands and did not break my neck, tear ligaments or do any damage.  So really … deal baby.  Man up (or lady up as the case may be) … and get on with it!  And do it again.  And again.  And again.  Tonight as my coach encouraged me to get up the wall, I took an additional step.  As my mind screamed at me that my shoulders were going to give out and I would crash … as it said, “you can’t move back and forth” … I intentionally made myself pick up one hand and then the other to move a little closer in and out from the wall.  Not much … but the point was not how far, the point was do the thing my mind told me I can’t.  Building back some mental strength.

Ralph Waldo Emerson observed fear defeats more people than any other thing.  It is NOT going to defeat me and you should not let it defeat you either.  Face it … set your mind to push through it, and know great things are on the other side.

Aging Well …

How do you want to age?  Do you want to live lives of vitality and health, or see a gradual decline in your mobility and activity?

Grandma and Grandad on their 50th wedding anniversary

My grandparents were so completely inspirational in the way that they approached their later years.  They were active everyday, walking, fishing, gardening.  When they retired they travelled a great deal and were adventurous in the places they visited.   I have a great memory of grandma going for a ride on the back of my brother’s motorbike in her late 70s!  My grandparents chose to live life with a positive outlook and they loved life and embraced it with every fibre of their being until they both passed away.

My mother is very much like her parents.  She is also active.  Right before her 70th birthday she was involved in a two week archeological dig at Vindolanda up near Hadrian’s Wall.   Me … I couldn’t think of anything worse than doing an archeological dig … its back breaking, hard labour!  I would rather rock up after the dig and see all the discoveries.  My mother is passionate about history and she loved every moment of her dig!  She then joined me for 6 weeks in Italy and had a ball exploring Pompeii, Herculaneum and embracing the joys the Amalfi Coast has to offer.  Inspirational.

Mum in Theatro Piccolo at Herculanneum, Italy

Being home this summer and seeing family friends who are in the later years of life, has given me pause about how I live mine.  Am I helping others and embracing life … LIVING it rather than just living it?  And, as important, am I being proactive about caring for my physical health?

When we are young or approaching middle age, we roll through life without thinking too much our futures.  What we eat, what we do in terms of physical activity now has huge ramifications for how our bodies take us into our later years.  Sure, life throws curve balls sometimes and we can’t control everything, but I definitely want to control that which I can.  This means I need to be a lot more mindful about what I put in my mouth and ensuring that I move regularly.

Crossfit and bootcamp are not only fun, but they embrace the ethos of functional fitness.  Fitness that equips us for embracing life and living it to the max!  We must make moving part of our regular routine.  We need to be active and strengthen our bodies.  Strong bodies and strong minds will help us as we age.  If we don’t use it, we lose it!

Be mindful about what you do today.  Each day is a building block for tomorrow … and all those tomorrows are your future!

The Intensity Factor

How to kill 6 hours in an airport layover?  A workout and a massage are a great way to pass the time.  It seems I wasn’t the only one.  Not long after I arrived another woman also arrived to workout and I have reflected a lot about the differences in our workouts!

I rocked up in my workout shorts and tank … (moisture wicking fabric an important element …).  She rocked up, partner in tow, in her cute cutoffs and a bikini top.

I was working my way through a chipper.  She was working with dumbbells  and the treadmill.

I ignored the mirror and hurled myself to the floor repeatedly (think: burpees with timer going) … squatted … lunged around the room, renegade rowed, mountain climbed and did sit-ups and pushups.   She focused on the mirror and raised her 2lb dumbbells in a variety of arm exercises.

I finished on the treadmill with a full on sprint (looking somewhat like Phoebe from Friends), huffing and puffing, terrified it would hurl me off if I didn’t keep up (I was supposed to be doing a series of short sprints).  She walked with grace and poise.

I was grunting (and yes, the odd whimper escaped my lips) and sucking air.  She didn’t make a sound.

I had the room attendant staring at me like I was a crazy woman.  She had her man looking on admiringly.

I finished my workout in a dripping sodden sweaty mess.  She looked cute.

How’s your intensity in your workouts?  Are you going through the motions or pushing hard?

Workout satisfaction!

Focus

Challenge.  We all have them.  Sometimes it’s physical.  Sometimes it’s mental.  How do you deal with them?

Handstands are a skill I mastered a few months back.  The biggest part of them was not the physical thing, but the mental thing.  I had huge fear of the point where my hands hit the ground and I transition from standing to upside down.  I envisioned my wrist twisting and myself crashing down on my head and hurting myself.  My friend Jenny helped me sort work through them one night.  Her voice is what I hear in my head still … “hands flat … foot to the wall … commit …”  That has become my mantra.  It’s all about focusing the mind.  Although I can do them, I still have to get my head around them … and so … I repeat the mantra to myself.  I had become very consistent with them.

Yesterday we had handstands in the workout and I haven’t done any for a month.  The choice was handstands or wall walks.  I went to do a handstand and once again … I was back in the place of fear.  I stared at the wall … stared at the floor … took a couple of breaths and had a couple of false starts where I pulled back.  The clock was ticking, and I didn’t want to get through 60 seconds doing nothing, so I opted for the wall walk.  I was mad at myself .  My coach walked by and said, “next time do the handstand”.  I knew it.  But fear … the clock ticking … I thought too long about it.  In this case … the better choice would have been the hard choice … overcome the fear no matter how long it takes.

The next round … I looked at the wall … looked at the floor … and started to think too much.  So I stopped … chanted the mantra to myself (it works really well for focusing my mind) and dropped down into the handstand.  Didn’t commit so didn’t get up.  Did it again … “hands flat … foot to the wall … commit …” and boom!  Up I went.  I realised that for this skill I am going to need to keep doing them fortnightly so that I don’t allow fear to come in again.

What are your goals?  How do you focus your mind?

Reflections on A Year’s Journey of Bootcamp

A year ago this week, I started a journey … and what a ride it’s been.  A year ago this week, I made the decision to become a lot more proactive in my health.  I had come out of several years of poor health, dealing with chronic anaemia and severe endometriosis, a hysterectomy at 39, and then a pituitary tumour.  These things knocked the stuffing out of me – literally.  In my darkest, hardest times, I was sleeping a day and a half of every weekend, sleeping after school for 3 – 4 hours, getting up to make some food and then going back and sleeping like the dead for another 9 – 10 hours a night.  I needed multiple alarms to wake me up because I slept so heavily.  I lived in a state of constant exhaustion – so bad that there were a few times I caught myself having fallen asleep at my computer at work.  Exercise was the furtherest thing from my mind.  After my hysterectomy, we stabilized my anaemia and then I just had to deal with my tumour.  As I have continued in treatment for that, it gradually shrank and I’ve gotten stronger and healthier and felt so much better.  My body was ready for more.

In March 2012, Reebok Crossfit Sentinel started a satellite bootcamp class on our campus and I realized that this was my opportunity to get moving and start to rebuild health and become stronger.  For those of you that don’t know me, I have never been athletic or coordinated and have many negative memories of sport at school.  In fact, I have realized whilst working through the past year, that a lot of shame was attached to physical activity for me.  Shame of not being good enough and constantly failing.  Basically, I locked that part of my life up tight in a basement room with huge steel doors and never went near it.  No one else was allowed near it either!

In the beginning of March 2012, I rocked up to our very first bootcamp class and spent the next two months literally hating it.  I liked the variety of exercises and the different routines.  I just hated the exercise part.  It was hard, it hurt, I struggled to master the movements and felt so inadequate.  I turned up because I knew I needed to, and I knew that from where I was … things could only get better.  By the third month, something started to change and click and I loved Bootcamp.  I couldn’t wait to go.   I began to relish the mental challenge and realize just how big a role the mental thing played in the workouts.

 Just after 3 months of Bootcamp, we hit the summer break.  I looked at the 2 months stretching out ahead of me and thought, “I am not stopping Bootcamp”.  I had come too far and the memories of how awful it felt starting were too fresh.  So, I got onto some crossfit websites and found bodyweight movements that i could work with through the summer.  I designed my own workouts and kept going until September when we started up Bootcamp again.  In Arizona, this meant I was outside at 5am when it was 25 degrees, because I knew in 2 hours it would be 35 – 40 degrees and there was no way I could workout in that!  It was hard working out by myself, but I wanted to keep moving forward and I realized that staying on the bus is a lot better than getting off and then trying to get back on!

 In October I started training with my Bootcamp coach and my buddy (thanks Brett and Jenny!) … we started learning crossfit.  This is great because Crossfit boxes are all over, and when I am out on vacation at home or elsewhere, I can attend class and keep growing and moving forward.  So … here we are now … one year on and the journey has been incredible.  Here are some of the things I have learnt along the way:

Just Do IT!

Stop making excuses and JUST DO IT.  The famous Nike slogan has a lot of truth.  Many of us are brilliant at rationalizing and finding excuses to not exercise.  The biggest one I hear, is time.  I get it.  When I started, I was trying to juggle a very intensive Masters degree and a full time job.  I couldn’t see how I could fit in three one hour workouts a week.  My friend challenged me with … it’s only 3 hours a week Sarah … come on.  I decided I would just sign up and see what happened.  And I learnt … it’s all about priorities.  We make room in our life for that which we prioritize.  Interestingly, everything else in my life still got done.

Get Your Head In The Game

This is probably the biggest lesson I have learnt.  Although my body has been undergoing a lot of physical transformation, the bigger transformation is in my mind and thinking, and it is here that the battle really has to be won.  Our thoughts have HUGE impact on what we do.  The Bible has a bit to say about taking every thought captive … by doing this, we pull down mental strongholds.  I am learning this again and again – at different levels each time.  I have a mantra that has helped me through this year … it gets me through the hard moments …

One thought,

One Choice

One Step,

One Rep at a time

Win the moment 

WIN THE DAY!

The mental thing is something I still deal with.  For some reason, in this area of my life my brain is quick to go down the “I can’t” trail rather than the … “let me nail this sucker” one.  Rewiring our thinking is important.  Catch the thought and then go back to the Nike thing … “JUST DO IT”.  Yesterday I jumped on a crossfit box, for no other reason than box jumps currently scare the willies out of me and the day before had been a very stretching day in terms of learning that I CAN jump onto a box.  They still scare me … but every time I do it, I am rewiring that negative voice that says “I can’t”.

Nutrition Is Important

One of the big parts of this journey has been nutrition.  I have never been a fan of diets.  Generally I eat well.  I enjoy food and I have a sweet tooth!  I have had to learn to view food differently – it’s fuel for my body.  When I eat this way, I feel better and my body performs better.  When I eat for the enjoyment of food, I can get into trouble quickly!

 Essentially my coach and I looked at my diet and noted that I was not eating nearly enough protein and fat.  Seeing food as fuel has also changed WHEN I eat certain types of food.  I am learning what my body needs before and after a workout.  Food logging is a really good place to start getting a handle on how and why you eat.  We don’t calorie count, we just look at how I am eating and whether it is meeting the needs of my body.

Be Consistant and Faithful

This is one of the hardest things for us in exercise and nutrition.  Living in a fast paced world, we are accustomed to fast … we want results fast.  When we don’t see them on the time schedule that we think we should, we get discouraged and quit.  I had this temptation.  In June 2012, I was very discouraged about how little weight I had lost.  The point of this journey has not been about weight, but I had a lot of weight to lose as it was contributing to my poor health.  One of my goals has been to get my body fat composition into an acceptable, healthy range – I still have a ways to go on that but I am so much closer than I was.  In June, a friend who had been working out similarly had lost over 10 kgs and I had only lost 4.  There was the temptation to throw hands in the air and give up.  Instead, I thought of my two friends Edie and Dominic, who lost huge amounts of weight and are healthy and fit now.  Both of them were consistent in their exercise and nutrition … in for the long haul.  This isn’t a quick fix … this is a life change.  I knew if I was consistent and faithful in both those areas, eventually change would happen.  I decided that no matter what I was seeing on the outside, change would be occurring on the inside if I just kept going.

No (Wo)man is an Island

The journey is so much easier if you travel with others.  We are built for connection.  Never underestimate the power of encouragement and journeying with others.  This is one of the strengths of crossfit – the great community.  People cheering others on.  It’s awesome.  I watched a throwdown at Sentinel with Matt Chan (#2 in the 2012 Crossfit Games) and his wife Cherie.  Watching a group of powerful athletes pushing through a full-on workout and then going back to cheer others on when they were finished, was inspiring.  We have an awesome group at Bootcamp.  I look forward to every workout with that crew!

Don’t Compare Yourself With Others

A common issue when we workout with others, is comparing.  Don’t.  Your journey is yours and yours alone.  If you compare to someone better than you, you get discouraged.  If you compare to someone who is not as good as you, you are tempted to slacken off.  The best comparison you can make is with yourself.  Are you growing?  Can you do more?  Are you seeing changes?  This is why logging your workouts is really important … its pretty exciting to go back and see how far you have come.

Encouragement and Motivation are Important

What motivates you?  For me, the initial motivation was health.  Then the motivation was to never feel as awful as I did again about starting with fitness.  My motivation has changed to mastering new skills (such as OLY lifts and handstands, and not falling off a bar!) and growing stronger.  I want to be that badass girl that can push weights around and push her body around.

On a daily basis, the thing that really helped me was knowing that I am a word person.  I compiled a folder of workout quotes, and when I lack motivation, I scroll through quotes until one resonates with me for the day.  There is always something that pushes my buttons!

Get Help From Someone Who Knows What They Are Doing

For me at this stage on my journey, it is important that I have a coach and go to classes.  I started this journey pretty clueless.  I have been learning a lot and I still have a lot to learn.  I am learning a lot about form and what I can do.  In fact right now, my coach has a better sense of what I can do than I do.  I am learning to trust that.  Each time I have been down an “I can’t” road … he proves me wrong … slowly I am changing, but right now I am doing things that I would never do if I was left to my own devices, for no other reason than I wouldn’t think i could.  Some things scare me and my coach pushes me past my comfort zones.   This brings me to my next point …

Wanna Grow?  Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone!

I am growing and changing and the main reason is that I am pushing beyond my comfort zone.  If you stay with what you are comfortable with, you won’t grow.  Isaiah 54 commands us to enlarge and stretch … we need to do this … don’t you want to be bigger and stretched so that you have a greater capacity?  I do … it might be uncomfortable … but I want to be more than I was. There is joy in growing.

I cannot emphasize this point enough.  As adults we get pretty good at arranging our world so that is comfortable for us.  As I mentioned earlier, I had locked up this whole area of my life in a basement room with big doors and I let no-one in there.  Too much shame and failure in that room.  Bootcamp cracked open those doors, and right now they are wide open!  It’s uncomfortable and often I feel very vulnerable.  I don’t like putting myself in a place of failure and having to confront those shame feelings. But as I do, I see more success and those shame feelings are becoming less because there is nothing to be ashamed of when you commit to trying and doing your best.  I learnt that one day when I was doing a partner stretch at the end of a workout.  I could barely lean forward into the stretch and I was laughing with my partner saying, “wow, that’s pathetic”.  I didn’t realize that my coach was behind me.  He came around in front of me and said, “I don’t ever want to hear you say that Sarah.  Everyone starts somewhere and the fact that you have started, is not something to call pathetic”.  It really challenged me.  And he was right.  We all start somewhere.  What is important is that we start, and we commit to giving our best.

Take Pride In Your Journey

Where ever you are at in your fitness journey, take a moment to take pride in what you are doing and how far you have come.  Then lace up your shoes and push on  🙂

A Final Question …

This has been an amazing year.  I have stretched … grown and changed.  Much as there are days I struggle with the challenges, I am so thrilled with the progress I have made.  I am stronger and I am grateful.  I look forward to the continuing journey.  Thanks Jo, Brett, Jenny and all of my Bootcamp buddies who have walked this with me.  You are awesome.