By Cinder Ernst
This is the third article in the personal training series. The first two offered information to help you decide if personal training is right for you, and how to be successful at finding and working with a trainer. This article begins my favorite topic, helping you to be your own personal trainer. As a matter of fact, I just wrote a book about it called Easy Fitness for the Reluctant Exerciser (easyfitnessbook.com).
You may already be wondering how this is even possible, you being easy and successful with exercise by yourself. Isn’t that the reason you’d want to hire a trainer, to be easy and successful with exercise so you can have the strength, stamina and mobility to live your life fully? (Remember, at Easy Fitness we always recommend not making fitness about weight loss or what you look like.) I understand your doubts, and we will soothe them.
There are two Easy Fitness keys to begin unlocking your capacity to be successful with exercise. They are:
1: Nothing behind, everything in front
2: Don’t give a damn about what anyone else thinks
The first is important for a few different reasons. You may be tempted to use the past to compare yourself to where you are now, and then beat yourself up. If you do that, you may give up before you even get started, or you might get started, but you will probably feel bad about yourself. When you take action from a lousy feeling place, that action will not be sustainable. You might get it going for a little while, but it will be an uphill battle. Sooner or later, you’ll stop. This is a pretty common course. There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s mostly how people approach fitness. It’s why people tend to need a personal trainer.
The other reason this first key is important is that, on your Easy Fitness journey to becoming your own personal trainer, you will have ups and downs. You will have setbacks. The best way to navigate the path is from the “right now” stance: What’s true right now and what’s next. Those are the thoughts that will guide you. You cannot get to the “right now” if you are looking behind. What’s true and what’s next … right now? Nothing behind, everything in front.
“Don’t give a damn about what anyone else thinks” is important because using Easy Fitness to become your own personal trainer is not a mainstream practice or idea. You will be striking out on the road less traveled. When you are on a road less traveled, other people might unknowingly, or without meaning to, impede your progress. Most people are pretty much brainwashed by traditional fitness thinking. Easy Fitness is not based on traditional fitness guidelines.
Traditional fitness starts with a flawed premise that there is something wrong with you, so you better exercise. Or that there will be something wrong with you if you don’t exercise, so you better exercise. When you begin with that flawed premise, the journey is hard and requires motivation and accountability (personal training). We are doing something different with Easy Fitness, and we recommend that you give it a try and get some Easy Fitness traction before you share it with anyone.
The Easy Fitness premise is that where you are is just fine. It’s where you are and it’s your perfect starting place. All is well; we’ll take it from here. In the next article, we’ll give you another step in becoming your own personal trainer. In the meantime, relax. If there is an exercise or stretch that you like or enjoy, think of the Easy Fitness Keys and give it a try. If you want some exercise suggestions, find Cinder Ernst on YouTube or pick up the Easy Fitness for the Reluctant Exerciser book at http://easyfitnessbook.com
Cinder Ernst, Medical Exercise Specialist and Life Coach Extraordinaire, helps reluctant exercisers get moving with safe, effective and fun programs. Find out more at http://cinderernst.com
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