Building a Team: Resistance Training

This is not Mark, but you get the idea! ;-)

I love working out with Mark, a personal trainer.  Mark pushes me.  Those that know me know that I love to workout and sweat.  I love being strong and having stamina.  I love to ride my edge, as they say.

As a Spinning Coach, I try hard to keep motivating my students to ride their edge.  As I have said before, in order to improve your cardiovascular fitness and muscle endurance, you must train longer, faster and/or with more resistance.  Your efforts don't have to be drastic, but 10 second pushes/accelerations/sprints, a change on your tension knob (spin bike) or incline on the treadmill, exercising another five minutes, all count.

I know how to resistance train (weight lift, core work, etc.), but I work full-time, teach four Spinning classes and three abs/stretch classes a week.  I just don't have the MENTAL energy to plan my workout and do it.

The great thing about Mark, is that I just show up and do what he tells me to.  I work hard, push my limits, but it is still very relaxing to me.  Sounds strange, I know.  How can all that hard work be relaxing?  The answer is that for that one hour, some one else takes care of me.  I just go through the motions.  I don't think about any thing else.  I just connect with my body and let him lead me through the exercises. 

In Spinning, we say that clipping your feet in the pedals is 99% of the workout.  Just getting yourself there is the hardest part.  When I work out with Mark, I am usually five minutes late---winded and rushed.  I rush home; change clothes; take the dogs out;  grab my water, heart rate monitor, towel, and mat.  Then I rush downstairs to meet Mark.  But, after a few minutes to center and warm up, I am present and in the moment and enjoying the torture.

Having a team of people to help you is natural.  I am slowly learning this concept.  I was very stubborn and giving myself grief about not doing the weight training on my own.  The chatter in my head went like this----I know how to do it, so you are just lazy if you don't do it yourself.  It is a waste of money,  if you can do it yourself....blah...blah...blah

I realized that this mental chatter doesn't serve me and needed to go.  I now view my work with Mark as a way that I nurture myself.  I work very hard in my Spinning classes, but my focus is still on giving my students a challenge and motivating workout.  My one hour with Mark is all about me.

I hope I motivate, push and nurture my students the same way Mark does me. 

The big question is, Who is on your team?