Building Confidence

Last week I trained both Mitch and my friend Amy.  It is really quite fun to come up with routines for them because I'm forced to be creative: Mitch has back problems as does Amy plus Amy has a broken big toe.  This posed the greatest obstacle to her workout.  Most of her exercises were either on the ball or mat so that we didn't put pressure on her feet.  It wasn't the most challenging workout but it did get her moving.  At the end of the session I had her do some pelvic tilts and kegel/core breathing exercises.  I first assessed her abs for strength and then I instructed her on how to perform the exercises.  As I was doing this I caught the confused expression on the face of another person in the gym.  I instantly became self-conscious wondering if she thought I was a complete quack.

We finished the session and Amy felt pretty good about it but she thinks I could push her harder.  I'm still trying to find the balance between too hard and not hard enough.  I don't want anyone to pass out on me or not be able to walk for a week!

So afterwards I went to another area of the gym to do my own workout which included squats, lunges, step-up, jumping-jacks, push-ups, etc.  I was also finishing my workout with pelvic tilts and core breathing when at the same time I heard one of the physical therapists at the gym assessing his client's abs exactly as I had done with Amy and then instructing him to do the same pelvic tilts!  I could hardly believe it which made me realized that I do know what I am doing.  I mean, I don't know everything, I'm still learning but I come from a very solid base of knowledge about the body.

At some point as I was leaving the gym it occurred to me that there is no reason that I should have so much unnecessary self-doubt or worry about what other trainers and members think about my workouts.  The reason? I have delivered babies, explored a woman's uterus and manually removed a placenta, managed postpartum hemorrhage, beautifully repaired perineal lacerations, assisted with cesarean sections and helped mothers and babies learn to breastfeed.  That's powerful.

Of course it would be completely unreasonable for me not to be nervous.  I'm not just starting new job, I'm entering a new profession.  But I'm not leaving all of my previous professional and personal experiences behind.  They are coming with me and it is this knowledge that, I believe, is going to set me apart from the pack and enable me to offer women something different and even perhaps a bit more holistic.

If you have lived long enough you come to realize that life is full of constant challenges from all directions: personal, professional and physical.  In a way becoming personal trainer is forcing me to address all of these challenges and I can make a choice.  Either I freak out and pull back, recede into my former self or I can meet these challenges, identify what I can do differently and persevere.  The latter is sooo much harder but that's life.  Without continued efforts to improve and work to my potential, I am merely gliding through life and in turn, not really engaging or enjoying the journey.

Be well.