Outside the Comfort Zone

I use TweetDeck religiously.You should follow me there if you don't already @theotherdre.

Here's the thing - if you follow the right people, there is endless advice, encouragement and ideas to help you with your fitness or just life in general goals. One thing that really pushed me to make a change was seeing a quote from one of the people i follow. It was something like:

"How are you to grow if you don't push yourself beyond your comfort level?"

It was one of those quotes that really knocked the wind out of me. It made me realize that I'm the type of person who for the most part - stays in my comfort zone. I have attempted to change my life in terms of being fit so many times over the years. But what i wasn't willing to do - was be uncomfortable.

Seeing this quote forced me to accept that about myself. The awareness of it shook me to my core and i decided then and there that it was time to stop being so scared and just go for it. I realized that nothing will EVER change unless you are willing to try something different. Because if the same old thing was working - the fitness industry probably wouldn't be a billion dollar biz, right?

This past summer - I had been doing TurboKick classes for about a year and an instructor training was coming up at my gym. I had been encouraged by one of my fitness mentors and good friend (Lindy for those of you who know her!) to sign up. My first reaction was to laugh. Me? A fitness instructor? Right.

Then that little tweet popped up and changed my mind. I WILL sign up for instructor training. I will be nervous about it until it happens, I'll stay up biting my nails about it the night before and won't be able to eat breakfast because i'm so nervous the morning of. But you know what - I did it. Not only did i do it - but i passed!

Good job, Dre, I thought. I'll just put that little certification in my drawer and be happy that i challenged myself. But no - once again my friend Lindy encouraged me to start helping her teach class each week. I was terrified. I would watch the instructor training videos over and over, practice for hours, write down all the moves. Re-write them in bigger letters so i could bring them with me for class. I would start having butterflies the morning of and be totally shaking by 5pm when it was almost GO time.

Eventually Lindy put me on the fitness schedule as team teaching. So there it was in writing - my name with the word "TurboKick" beside it. WHAT? Who am i becoming? More so - who do other people think i am? I thought "they must be crazy."

Teaching a group exercise class has been another type of journey for me - I have to prepare and plan for it every week. The thing is - I have so much fun during TurboKick - and i want nothing more than someone else to love it and get their butt kicked as much as I do. But in order to really share that version of this workout - I needed something else. Some WOW.

So here - again, an opportunity to go to All Star Presenter Camp came up and it was a chance to practice, get feedback from a pro and the support of others who were also trying to step up their game. I signed up for it. Geez. I'm a nervous wreck again. Worried about how it's going to go - what will i have to do? What will people say?

But that's right - I did it anyway because i needed to push myself.

And again - a change happened in me. One that i wouldn't have gotten to as quickly if i hadn't moved myself outside of my comfort zone. I discovered things about myself that i honestly didn't know before. It was tearful, surprising and much needed.

I'm at the point in my life and in my journey where I've seen some progress. I've achieved some of my goals. But my heart and mind haven't caught up to my body. I still sometimes look in the mirror and I don't see myself as i am now. I still see that person i used to be. The person i have worked so hard to improve. At camp - we actually were videotaped teaching a portion of the class and we watched it. It forced me to see how others might see me. I realized for the FIRST - maybe I wasn't so bad.

I share these experiences with you so I can finally say:

Sometimes we have to take time out of our constant work outs, diets, day-to-day craziness and recognize our progress. We are our own worst critic - and sometimes we gotta tell that critic to take a hike so we can see ourselves in a new light. One that we've worked so hard for. We need to take a step back from the constant judgment of ourselves and really look.

The journey at this stage is both mental and physical - and we have to be strong in both ways. Let these two make peace with each other - and you'll start seeing so many great things about yourself that you never noticed before. And that's progress.

Keep It Interesting - What haven't you tried?

After a lot of careful thought - I decided to make an investment in a circuit training program. I did a lot of research, talked to people who had completed different versions and ended up going with ChaLEAN Extreme. Now, I'm probably a LITTLE biased because I heart Chalene Johnson and think that her workouts are fantastic (check them out at www.turbokick.com).

I'm at the point where, I'm doing almost everything I can to get healthy. I'm not perfect at it, but I prepare healthy meals, keep eating out at a minimum (good for the wallet and the belly), I have workouts scheduled on my outlook calendar/blackberry phone everyday to keep me aware of my fitness goals. I'll lose weight and then hit a plateau.

Don't you hate that? So i'm finally back at my "more normal weight" - you know, the one where you don't feel like you are enormous but you still want to lose a bit more. But this is where i always plateau. This is right around the weight i was in highschool and even then i wanted to lose 15 pounds or so.

Here i am again. This time - i had to ask myself, what is it that i am NOT doing. It was a little exasperating if i'm being honest. I definitely have those moments of "This is too hard." "I'm working hard and not seeing any results so I'll just quit."

But ultimately - I have come too far (AND SO HAVE YOU!) to quit now. If you give up on your workouts even for just a few days, coming back will be hard all over again. So just stay consistent.

This brings me to the whole "Keep it interesting" concept. I like variety in my workouts - I do TurboKick on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursday (one is a class I participate in, another is me practicing for when i actually teach the next day), Hip Hop Hustle on Tuesdays, and i was doing a little bit of weightlifting for my upper body 2x a week.

But i was just not impressed with myself when it came to the weight lifting. In the end - muscle burns fat. Just sitting here on my butt at my office I am literally going to burn more fat when i have more muscle. So i decided that i needed to not just switch things up - but to integrate something totally different into my fitness program.

ChaLEAN Extreme was my answer. I bought the program, got some starting weights and completed my fitness test over the weekend. I started circuit #1 on Monday and have been following her "workout calendar." So having ALMOST completed the first week of the program i have to say - this has gotta work. This is different enough from anything i was doing before that I'm SUPER curious to see the end result.

And curiosity in this case has me hooked. I'm curious if i stick with this and all the other things i'm doing to be healthy - will i finally break through? And oh my goodness - will i hit a new goal weight, body fat goal, and look pretty awesome this summer in a sleeveless top?

Well, I just might. So i've made the commitment to get up at 6am every morning to fit this into my schedule. I am NOT a morning person by the way. But that's what pushing yourself is all about. You have to be open to change to be changed.

If you are stuck, you've got to try something new to get out of it. Sometimes it might be a little scary, more of an investment than you initially wanted. Whatever the excuse, just push past it and make your move. What is it that you are NOT doing?

Why haven't you started doing it yet? Aren't you curious what could happen if you just tried it out? I'll be checking back in with results from ChaLEAN Extreme. And that's right - i'm 100% confident i'll see change. Because i'm open to it, i'm ready for it and i'm okay with working hard for it.