The Fourth Walsh

I had an epiphany recently related to this childhood song, “Head, shoulders, knees and toes.”  The song set me up.  I do think mostly about my head, shoulders, knees and toes.  I habitually skip the abdomen area.  For a long time, I have neglected my core.  I like to concentrate my attention on other areas. I guess I felt if I ignored my belly, it would get the hint and just go away. That plan failed.

I worked out with Josh, my personal trainer, this morning.  He is forcing me to refocus my attention on strengthening my core.  We are doing plenty of exercises that engage the abdomen.  One in particular freaked me out initially. He had me hold a plank pose on an exercise ball.  I had to balance myself on my forearms.  I held it for ten seconds.  Josh typically puts me through sets of three.  Each set, he encourages me to go a little further.  For the second plank, he held out his stopwatch and told me to hold it for 30 seconds.  I did and thought duplicating that on the third would be good enough.  He hid the stopwatch.  I went 42 seconds.

Throughout our sessions, he continually cheerleads and assesses.  He is this perfect balance of  commendation and motivation.  On one hand, he makes me feel like I’ve triumphed.  On the other hand, he nudges me to go further.  His words of encouragement and inspiration push me forward. 

Oh, and he makes me laugh. At one point, I was doing push-ups.  He said something like, “Go for the depth.  Don’t worry about whatever pose that you have in your head.”

Josh was right.  I had been concentrating on how I looked doing the push-up instead of what I was doing.  He has always called me on my sh#t.  

Tom recently commented to me that it took courage to work out with a friend that is a personal trainer.  I took the compliment.  Why wouldn’t I? Yet, I don’t know if it’s accurate in my case.           

A personal trainer is like a tailor.  And they are continually scrutinizing your birthday suit.  They make adjustments here and there for a better fit.  That can all be very uncomfortable especially if you are overweight.  That particular fear factor is not present for me working out with Josh.  He knows I’m fat.  And he regularly challenges me to not be so sensitive about it.  I trust him!  He is managing me driving my fitness plan to be stronger and more flexible.       

Already this morning, I feel revved up for the day.  I do feel stronger than I did yesterday.  What’s better than that?