You're supposed to look like an idiot in the gym, that's what it's for...

" Working out is like walking down the street naked; you're exposed to the world."  - JB

One of my specialties (and favorite things to do) is to train people with disabilities or chronic conditions.  It reminds me that all of our training, all fitness protocols deal in generalities.  Everyone is different.  Maybe not vastly different, but different, until we start cloning (next week's talk).  Anyhow, one of the things about him is that he has a physical disability that affects his ability to stand among other things.  So what do we work on?  Standing, that's what.  It can literally be life or death for him (Side Note:  Shovel your walk jerks!); so standing up is what we do.  Not squats.  Not lunges.  We work on standing up and sitting down, and standing up again (and biceps curls, because biceps, son).  Everyday that we work on it is an entirely different experience.  There are days that go well, and then there are the other days.  You know what I'm talking about:  The Other Days. The last time we worked on it was one of those.  It can be very difficult to watch somebody struggle to do something that most of us take for granted.  A thing we don't even think about, this man breaks into a cold sweat thinking about.  As he struggled through his repetitions, he felt the need to apologize.  "Sorry Steve, I can't get it today.  This is probably getting really old, huh?"  I said no, not at all.  I said:  "This is why we practice here.  The gym is safe; it's a lab setting.  You have a brace on the wall, you have a soft landing, you have traction, you have me, we're supposed to look like an idiot here, so we get it right in the real world (I speak in run on sentences or not at all).    

Note:  At the bottom I've attached a like to a Ted Talk about knowing your own body's data.  How you are different can be profound.  

Glute up (that's a verb now)

A comment I hear a lot when I'm training is:  "I look stupid doing this", or "I feel like people are watching me".  Couple of things:  1.  The point of the gym isn't to look cool (that's my job), it's to better yourself, right?  The very definition of irony is that the best way to look idiotic in the gym is by trying to look cool.  Look silly getting that exercise face on in the gym so that you don't look silly on the beach or when you're finishing up that half marathon.  That is what the gym is for.  Not gonna lie, walking around the gym side stepping or lunging does indeed look silly (and I know better ways to glute up, ask me).  Zumba...even the word is silly, and you wear special pants that make you look like you went to Brazil this one time.  Silly, but it gets people in the gym working harder than they would reading an Us magazine on the elliptical.  2.  Most typically the ones that are watching most are the ones that are trying to figure out what to do, and does that glute me up?  Do the best you can looking like an idiot and get those Glutes Up (I'm trademarking that).

Take care of yourselves (and each other), talk to you soon.

​Trainer Steve
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