Doesn't take much.

The trainer carefully cherry picks two pink plastic coated Barbie weights from the rack, hands them to his 2^nd trimester client. “Ok, here. Extend out in front of you like this. Not all the way now. Good. Just relax. Good. And rest.”….

Or the trainer could stop wasting the client’s time, pause to think about the demands pregnancy, labor & post partum recovery impose on the body and actually use their hour productively. How does one address strength in the lower back and the hip complex to ensure the body is equipped to deal with the increasingly low and off set center of gravity? For trained professionals, this should be the first thing we do. Stop. Look at what the client needs. Balance that with what the client wants. Plan. Deliver results.

One of the central tent poles of my practice is that fitness doesn’t just exist in the gym. To truly attain a higher level of physical fitness, we must be observers of the world around us ad the demands it places on our bodies every single day. How does it challenge you? How do you boil that down? How do you increase the challenge so that when the world demands of you performance of 8, you’re ready to give 12?

When a professional or collegiate athlete trains, they don’t simply train up to the challenge of their event. They train faster, harder and longer than the event or the game could ask of them. Each of us is an athlete. Each of us is tasked with performing at a higher level to get through the day. Maybe it’s a multitasking & coordination demand your ringing phone, satchel, hot Starbucks, rush hour and the subway stairs place on you in an instant. Maybe it’s just the fear of changing the water bottle on the office cooler that demands higher performance.

At any rate, I would like to pose the question: What do pink plastic coated Barbie weights and Lay-Z Boy padded machines on your gym floor have to do with any of that? Challenge yourself. Stand up off that bench or out of that oh so comfy machine that you’re so used to. Practice picking something up. Practice moving your weight through space. Practice sweating a little more than you’re used to.

If you’re not sure how, drop me a line. I can send over an idea or two. Try it.

If you’d feel more comfortable getting your feet wet with other like minded folks, stop in for this week’s Saturday Night Blowout. Details in the “Upcoming Events” field. Thanks for stopping in. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.