Learning!

I write most of my blog posts on the weekend, scheduling them to appear during the week.  This allows me to do things like get a post out and drive to Los Angeles on the same day.  Which is what I will be doing when this post goes out.  It’s part of being a fitness professional for me.

So is the trip I’m taking.  One reason that it is useful to find a certified personal trainer or Pilates instructor is that we have to get continuing education in order to stay certified.  While I learn new things all the time, I have the responsibility of getting a certain amount of approved credits over various time periods for each of my roles.  My certifying bodies want to know that I’m engaging in formal education as well as experiential learning with my clients and colleagues.

What I get from this process, I pass on to my clients.  Sometimes I learn new exercises.  Sometimes I learn more about how things work in our anatomy.  Sometimes I refine my understanding of form.  Often, I talk about the why of what we are doing; if I don’t, ask me!  Learning is best when it is shared.

(Next week I am sure I will have a lot to say about what I learned in Los Angeles!)

Not all the time...

With the exception of professional athletes, most of us do not spend the bulk of our time exercising.  We have to do things like work and sleep and drive and read to the kids or ourselves and cook dinner and call our moms.  It is useful to remember this and plan accordingly.

One implication of our limited exercise time is that we need to be efficient.  This is where circuit training, interval work, and schedule balance help.  We want the most metabolic bang for our minute/buck (time is money, right?).

Another is that we need to think about how the other stuff we do interacts with our fitness plans.  Figuring out how to get enough sleep can make all the difference to what happens at our workouts.  Ditto for proper nutrition.  Sorting out a method for sneaking stretching into the odd moments of the day or somehow squeezing out time for a massage or at least some rolling can get stuck stuff moving better when we can lift/run/dance/bike/swim.

We are creative and we can harness that ability to improve what we do and how we feel while doing it!

One thing

When we first start something new, there is almost always too much information to process at once.  All of a sudden, we seem to have acquired extra body parts, each with a mind of its own.  While we are thinking about what the left knee is doing, somehow our elbow ends up wrapped around the back of our head, or the right knee feels that it is time to go on vacation, or we clench our teeth so hard that we have bite marks on our scalp.

There is only one thing we absolutely have to do:  keep breathing.

After we ensure that is happening, we can focus on one or two other things until we can do those on autopilot.  Maybe we want to concentrate on balance, so we think about abdominals and center of gravity.  Maybe we’re rehabbing a knee, so we stay tuned in to how it is aligning with our hips and ankles.  As we improve, we can turn our attention to whatever seems most important next.

Trying to do everything at once mostly produces frustration.  Let’s be patient and thorough and smart about all this.