
I stumbled into my first pole class at the age of 18. In the midst of women in thongs and 8-inch heels doing splits in the air, I found myself confined to the hardwood floor beneath me, unable to bear the weight of my body on the pole. To say I was discouraged would be an understatement. I stared in awe at how the women surrounding me would climb and flip around the pole. Compared to my clumsy steps around the pole, they looked effortless. They embodied a grace that I envied. A grace that seemed like it would forever be out of my reach.
This illusion of their perceived superiority was shattered when I befriended one of the women in my class and asked her about her journey.
“I have been doing this on and off for about 12 years now,” she said.
Despite being older, in her 30s, with a family and career, I saw a reflection of myself in her. She had once stood in my shoes twelve years earlier, beginning her own fitness journey.
If I had let envy and discouragement consume me in that moment, my story would have been different. I would have never found my passion for movement and never known what it was like to make a home in my body. I might have resented those women around me, seeing them as reminders of my own limitations. I would have undermined their achievement as being the byproduct of years of dance and gymnastics, something people like me didn't have access to. I would have never realized that, with enough discipline and effort, I could be like them; in fact, I could be better than them.
What breaks my heart, especially with people new to exercise, is how quickly they convince themselves they can't do it before they even try. They compare their day one to someone else's year twelve and lose heart, thinking they're incapable of achieving their fitness goals. This mindset often becomes the biggest hurdle in their personal training and fitness journey, causing many to quit before they get anywhere.
The barriers we place in our minds materialize in our bodies, preventing us from pushing ourselves toward our fitness goals. It’s important to remember that everyone starts somewhere. The person who climbed a mountain began with the first step.
Here is a gentle reminder: It is never too late to start your personal training and fitness journey.
No, you are not too old.
No, you are not too weak.
No, you are not incapable.
The one thing that I always come back to when those feelings of envy and discouragement settle in is the fact that our bodies were designed to adapt and change. This is what has allowed us to survive over the years. The humans before us have been squatting, jumping, running, and climbing for centuries before we even existed. These movement patterns are not foreign to us, they are inscribed in our DNA, waiting patiently for us to discover them once more.
Embarking on this journey of discovery can be hard, especially if we have never done it before, but it is not impossible.
Think of unfamiliar movements as uncharted territory. Your neurons have yet to make a map on how to navigate the situation, so your muscles clamber through the motion, haphazardly responding to novel stimuli. With repetition, guided by personal training, your nervous system learns how to move your muscles to accomplish a given task. They begin to generate new synapses and strengthen neural connections. Your muscle fibers tear and rebuild themselves stronger, so when you go to do the task again, you will find that it is much easier than it was before. Eventually, over time, the repeated movement becomes mastered, requiring little if any thought to be executed with accuracy.
The person on Instagram or at your gym that you may admire or envy has gone through this process over and over again to get to where they are now. Movement is about continual learning and unlearning, constantly pushing yourself to improve. What most people don’t see is that everyone starts somewhere.
Whether it’s learning to squat properly for the first time, taking a five-minute jog around your neighborhood, or dedicating a moment each morning to stretch, Whatever you choose, consistency and progress over time are key to achieving your personal training and fitness goals.
Consider seeking guidance from a personal trainer to support you on this journey. Understand that, while it may not be easy at first, it will definitely be worth it.
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