Meeting of the Mind, Spirit and Body

Last week I attended a conference in Phoenix sponsored by Perform Better titled “ A Meeting of Minds, The Future of Fitness” The idea behind this conference was to be able to interact with presenters and other attendees. The type of personal training I do often leads to some isolation and I “lunged” at the idea of presenting my mind to theirs, in addition to having a chance to pick some brains. Often time’s personal trainers can get caught up in their own world and theories. I think the same could be said for lots of other professions. It can really create some stagnation of the spirit. You get so locked into a routine, a mindset, and philosophies that you stop growing as a person. I see this within myself but mostly with the older generation. There tends to be some back to the future thinking and quite honestly most people do that because they find themselves uncomfortable with change. Life usually was not better in the past, nor was it simpler. Our fond memories can often be tweaked out just enough to help us resist the changes we see everyday. I am child of the 60’ and 70’s , the good old days? Well some of it was good, but I would have loved a cell phone and DVD player back then. Could have really done without the polyester and Earth shoes, and my mood ring was anything but reliable. Most of my memories are from interactions and experiences not products and politics. The Vietnam war ended when I was in the 9th grade and that’s the most significant thing politically I can really recall. However, I also remember that for women fitness was anything but accessible. The invention of the “VCR” tape was barely begun and the cost was astronomical, so there were no exercise tapes that I am aware of. The only image of women in fitness was the Olympics or Tennis or some other organized sport. I do know that women’s bodybuilding was around, but certainly not on my radar.

In 1978 I went to work for a women’s fitness club called “ Elaine Powers”. I had no concept of fitness at that time but I could follow directions and I owned a Danskin leotard. To be brief, most of what was taught there was stupid…yup…stupid and misguided. I suppose as women we should be grateful for those pioneer female body builders who obviously could do more than some toe touches and jumping jacks. Do I wax poetically and miss that part of the past? No…because it rather sucked. Thank the Lord that industry was able to evolve and change and here we are today with women yanking ropes and hurling medicine balls at cement walls. The reason I bring this up is what I am seeing right now is a lot of stuck concepts and resistance to change in my own industry. Unfortunately the end result of that is people are bored to tears at the local gym and can barely drag themselves in. There is nothing stimulating about doing the same circuit machines for 10 years. Quite frankly that would be enough to cause me to quit and join a quilting club instead.

There are some new, fresh ideas on the horizon and I really hope they are either in your town right now or coming soon. I participated in exercise at that conference and it felt more like play. But I will also tell you …HOLY COW…was I sore the next day! I worked my body in every angel and asked more of it than I had in the last year. There is more than one way to get strong, fast and functional. Circuit training not only locks you into a plane and range of motion….it also locks you into mundane training. I for one am looking forward to next time I get to smash a medicine ball on the ground, followed by some kettle bell swings and topped off with some sand bag lunges. HOOOO-RAHH!