Remember him? Scary Harvey from Fat Club - former U.S. Marine Drill Instructor and the most frightening man in fitness. Harvey's technique mainly involved yelling at people until they crumbled into a bawling, blubbering mess, halfheartedly burpeeing their way through their training session.
I love working out, but I have no self-discipline. I can talk myself out of a planned training session in seconds, so I, like many of Harvey's victims, need someone to answer to. Which is why I have a lovely PT at the gym and am a member of the fantastical SUPERchicks (more about them another time, they deserve their own post). However, I chose these people to be my Discipline Lords because they're friendly and encouraging, but still give me a workout that Mr Motivator would be proud of. The Harvey method seems crazy to me - strenuous exercise is hard enough without being verbally abused at the same time. But then again, maybe uncontrollable sobbing burns more calories?
I realise the stick works for lot of people, but I'm definitely a carrot girl - my carrots of choice being food and gossip. The only thing that got me through the last few kilometers of last month's 10k was the thought of the beautiful bacon sandwich waiting on the other side (it was protein and totally approved by our SUPERchick leader), and both my PT and the SUPERchick trainers have their gossip distraction techniques down. In fact, it's not unusual for PT to promise me 'a really good story after you've finished this' as he straps me into bungee ropes or whacks another 40kg onto the squat rack.
I'd love to hear what motivates you. Stick-lovers (don't be rude), do you put yourself at the mercy of a particularly harsh trainer or training buddy? Are you one of those people that shouts abuse at yourself when your legs start to tire on a run? Or are you a carrot-lover too?
I'm all about the endorphins. Lactic acid junkie, that's me - similar to a heroin adict only with less needles and more sweating!Whenever I find reasons (because that's what they are, not excuses!) I shouldn't go to the gym I think about how good I feel after I've been. I've never been to the gym or for a run and thought afterwards, "I wish I hadn't done that." But I have skipped a session, sat on my bum drinking vino and eating biscuits and thought, "I should have gone to the gym. Fail."
ReplyDeletePlus, like you I have an aces trainer and pals at the gym who always supply me with endless gossip and fun. Infact, recently my trainer told me some gossip about another trainer at the gym getting up to naughties with one of his clients when he is married with children. Cliche much?! Sorry getting side tracked. Love the gossip!
x x x x x x x x x
PS Aces blog Swizzle, proud of ya x
I wonder what he was like in the Marines? The recruits would have sucked it up and been quite fit already - far from the blubbery, blubbering messes we're encouraged to laugh at/feel sorry for on TV.
ReplyDeleteI definitely need positive pushing, but not the 'drop and give me ten, faggot!' kind of abuse. My favourite gym class teachers are the ones who say 'I don't take any crap, and if you want to complain about me, the gym manager is at the back of the class!' You know you'll get good results, because they make sure your form is correct and they don't let you slack.
However, there needs to be something positive at the end of it. It's only a 1-letter difference, but it makes all the difference: 'treat', not 'threat'.