Pushy Success. Another look at progress.

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Yesterday I talked about progress, today – progress Pt. 2. My personal trainer makes me do things I wouldn’t do alone, like core work and legs. Today, he made me do 6 sets of 21 plate squats and raise the plate above my head on the way up, for a total of 126 squats and overhead presses. He made me work and sweat and grind. When I go to the gym myself, I’m not pushy enough. In three months with a trainer, I’ve made more progress than I have in 25 years.

Personal trainers have no regard nor patience for your comfort zone and your lack of so-called willpower. They have an agenda – to get your a$$ in shape, and they could care less about your reluctance to do planks, flutter kicks, and Russian twists. They’re not into comfort.

We have a little something called resistance within us. And personal trainers have a little something called “Who Cares?” in them. If you want to make progress, you’ll have to go where you don’t want to go – to the land beyond your comfort zone. Your body won’t be used to doing all of that movement. So it pitches a fit.

Your partner is also like your trainer. Your partner has a little something called freewill. Their freewill is going to push against your comfort zone and put you in uncharted territory – good. That will make you grow. They don’t think and act like you do. Your personal trainer doesn’t think like you, and that’s why they’re probably more fit, lean, and muscled up than you are.

So you sometimes need a little push, not care and concern. You need an excursion to where you don’t want to go. Once you’re in what’s unfamiliar and you’re challenged, then you know you’re progressing. Sometimes it takes a push.