“I hate doing that. I don’t like it.” Did you have a subject in school that you weren’t good at? How did you improve it? You figured out a way to understand the material and pass the class, right? Science was my nemesis growing up, but I ended up majoring in it. When it comes to fitness, everybody has one exercise or element of fitness that they don’t like. “I hate cardio.” Well, do you need it for workouts? To decrease the amount of rest in between sets, yes. “I don’t like weights.” Weight training is one of the best ways to achieve optimal results, so it is essential in a training program. Here are the reasons why you SHOULD do things that you’re not good at.
First, is the fact that you learn. When people have a negative experience with exercise, it’s hard to change his/her perspective. I have a client that refused to do deadlifts and it took many modifications of it to convince her that deadlifts are not dangerous. Essentially, it helped her understand the mechanics of a hip hinge better because of deadlifts. The learning process occurs when clients start to like things they didn’t. This is one of the greatest joys for me as a personal trainer.
Secondly, it puts you out of your comfort zone. The exercises you like are things you are already good at. Why keep making your strengths better? If you have an A in science, but a D+ in math, would you keep putting emphasis on science? No, right? Then don’t train like this. If you don’t like the feeling of being out of breath when running, then run more. Practice makes perfect. From experience, those clients that are willing to be outside of their comfort zone have been the most consistent.
Thirdly, it humbles you. When you’ve accomplished everything, what is there to do? In fitness, there are unlimited ways to challenge yourself. The goal is to keep leveling up so you keep improving. Able to hold a plank for 1 minute? Then, try with your legs on the TRX straps. When you do things that you are not good at, it shows you that you have a lot of room for improvement.
Hope you liked this week’s blog. Stay tuned for more next Wed…………………Kei