I am a fitness junkie, a sneaker connoisseur, a lover of anything pink, a daily you tube user, and a certified personal trainer and group x instructor. It is my mission to show each client, gym member and class participant just what their bodies can do. My fitness philosophy is focused around "What can your body do?", changing the focus from what we look like to how our bodies perform and function. The Fitness with a Purpose Newsletter and Blog is a place where you can find tips, tools, and tactics on how to make fitness a lifestyle and maximize each workout and meal to enable you to become as fit and healthy as possible. This is also a place where I share my personal experiences with my own fitness and quest to see just what my body can do when I set a goal and do what ever is possible to achieve that goal. Consistent action produces consistent results!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Self-acceptance


This week made me so proud!!! I just love my job. It's a pleasure to train each and every one of you, helping you reach your short term goals, developing programs to guide you through the gym when you are not with me, and being there right by your side when you see muscle definition and an improvement in strength. This is why I chose to be a coach and a trainer! I absolutely enjoy helping each of you discover your inner athlete!

We are not perfect, and that is the hardest thing for myself to get through my thick head! I can be quite bull-headed, militaristic, and confined to the boundaries of my box. I am organized, I can be quite rigid, and discipline is my middle name.

Motivation is not my struggle. Patience and self-acceptance is. I develop exercise programs every hour of the day. I am in constant thought of how to help my clients achieve results. My job is to sculpt the human body and to develop muscular skeletal balance. I am in the gym 50 hours a week. I put intense pressure upon myself to be a great trainer and to do my best to practice what I preach.

The quest for perfection leaves me stressed out and at times wrestling with positive self-esteem. Not only do I strive to be a great trainer and coach and to have all of the answers to your questions, but I too want a good looking body and struggle with the reflection I see in the mirror! I too would like smaller thighs and for them not to rub together when I teach Pump class. I would love for that small patch of cellulite that sits on my left thigh to magically go away and never to come back! Every time I workout I take a good look at the pudge below my belly button and I wish it away, with great fervor and determination.

Most will call me crazy! I know. I really do have nothing to worry about. However, it's all relative. Even a trainer, who knows she is 150lbs of muscle, will have those days of feeling fat in black spandex, waiting for the end of the day to rip them off to find salvation in baggy gray sweat pants and a bowl of cereal. I too compare myself to the girls on the cardio machines or even other trainers, making promises to myself that I will not eat anymore cereal and ice cream!!!!!!!!!!

When does it stop? When do we just accept ourselves for who we are? When do we make friends with the reflection we see in the mirror? When do we stop feeling guilty, stop beating ourselves up for not making it to the gym, or not feeling like working out, or for having too many glasses of wine, or eating more french fries than we needed? When?

The reality is it's a never ending process. There's no such thing as perfection and there will never be The Perfect Body!

I don't want to not eat ice cream, to not enjoy beef tacos and extra queso with my friends. If I decide to drink the whole bottle of wine with dinner, I should be able to do it without intense guilt and frustration.

Cellulite and pudge is not only genetics but it is diet. The girls in the magazines do not eat sweets, drink wine, munch on cereal at 10pm. They are strict with their nutrition. Bottom line, and that's why they look the way they do! However, they rarely go to cocktail parties, join their friends for happy hour, and most will not go to a super bowl party because of the snacks that will be served. And chocolate, it's not in their vocabulary!!!!!!!!

This morning as I took a look in the mirror I began to beat myself up. I looked at myself at different angles and I started to rip myself apart!!!!! Madness! Then my special someone came into the room and told me that I was beautiful and sexy!

So what are we not seeing in ourselves that others do? Why do we hold ourselves to this intense, unrealistic standard if others do not?

I want to workout to be strong, healthy, to do 40 push ups in a row, and to be able to enjoy life and it's great delicacies. I don't want to sleep with guilt and the quest for perfection hanging over my head.

This week, together, let's begin changing our thought process. Let's begin being more kind to ourselves, more realistic, and most importantly more self-accepting. Today is the only moment we have. Tomorrow might not be there, so fitting in a size 2 or 6 or an 8 will not matter! What matters the most is if we are enjoying what we have now!

Chocolate or vanilla ice cream?
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