I know all of this but when I look at the scale and see the number it reflects back a number that I often tack onto my self worth. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. When number falls I am proud of myself, even if it's because I skipped meals to get that magic number. When the number rises I shame myself for the mistakes I made throughout the day that gave me that number in the first place. Honestly, it’s a losing battle. I teach my students to have self love and to say positive things to themselves instead of negative things. I even went as far as posting positive affirmations throughout the classroom. These are for me just as much as they are for them. The problem is that this is a battle I have had with myself for as long as I can remember so it’s what I am used to and it’s my “normal”. SOOOOO not healthy!
For me, it’s not lack of having the right tools and the know how to be in good health. No. My problem is I lack the motivation. I either have the food right and I’m not exercising consistently, or my food is off and I am working out compulsively. Knowing the problem is a good thing in the way that you might be able to fix it. You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken!
As I have trained for triathlons and marathons I have heard so much about heart rate training but didn't really have the tools or know how to do it. Yes, I could find out what the zones were and yes I had a chest strap to measure my heart rate but…. Then what? “What zone should I try to stay in? For how long? How do I track it?” I felt like I was shooting blindly in the dark. So I made the choice that everyone makes in that situation: I chose to do what I always do because it was the easier option. But OTF isn’t like that. You know EXACTLY what is going on! They have giant monitors above the workout equipment where your heart rate monitor information shows up and you can see in real time your heart rate and which zone you are working in. When the workout is over, you get an email with all your stats. You can even workout at home and have the heart rate monitor bluetoothed (is that a word?) to your phone so you can get a report of your workout. If it seems like a silly and unnecessary expense, it’s not! Heart rate training tells you exactly what is going on in your body. It takes all the guesswork out of “Am I working hard enough?” You get a report of how much stress your heart is under and how quickly it recovers after stress. To me, that is the goal of exercise. It shouldn’t be to have rock hard abs or a stellar figure (but you might get that as a side effect!) It should be to have a healthy heart!
My OTF opens soon and I cannot wait to get started! I love HIIT classes and group workouts (unless I am running, then I prefer to be a lone wolf.) If I want to be successful, I need someone to hold me accountable and someone to push me to be better. A couple years ago I took a group fitness class from a guy named Sean and those classes would kick my ass every Saturday and I LOVE it!!! I think OTF will be a very similar style but instead of having my ass handed to me once a week, it will be twice! Memberships to OTF are not cheap and I couldn’t afford a monthly unlimited pass, so I signed up for the 8 classes a month pass. If I can get there twice a week I know I can do the rest of the work on my own. I have become friends with the owner of the Greenville, NC location and I know she will push me to be successful! (Toni, if you’re reading this, you should know that we all appreciate you bringing OTF to our town and helping us to get healthy!!)
So here goes, OTF. We’re going to do this and we’re going to do this right!