- I'm still fat
- I really want to move out of the area
- Don't want to be tied down to anything long term
- I get shin splints
- I have no experience
- I don't know what I'm doing
- I don't know what I'm talking about
- I don't have any place to do it
- No one will come
- People will think it's stupid
Punk Rope Baby
November Kickoff - Jumping Rope
Jump Rope Ouch
Punk Rope. GO TIM!
Serendipity
I loved Punk Rope so freakin' much that I forced myself to get the ACSM Personal Trainer Certification just so I could legitimately teach it anywhere. I dedicated tons and tons of hours to researching certification programs and books to read. Then when I decided on which one I wanted, I spent countless hours studying. Then I took the damn test and passed it.
I bought my very own Punk Rope t-shirt.
I bought my very own supply of Punk Rope jump ropes.
I even have a collection of class curricula. All I'm missing is the music and the guts to follow through with what I started last fall.
Why bring this up now? Well, I've been reading some of my favorite blogs lately and decided that I needed to take a deep look into myself as a result of what others were writing about. Here are just a couple right off the top of my head even though I know I'm forgetting more.
MizFit
Big Girl Bombshell
Mrs. FatAss
I've also been talking about fear lately over at Becoming a Thinner, Sexier Me. I even addressed two specific fears and the stupid excuses I've been making for myself over there.
Well, I figured it was time to talk about fear as it relates to personal fitness. That's something I haven't done here before. Personally, I think that fear has a lot to do with why people don't start living a more active lifestyle. I also think it has a lot to do with why people give up shortly after they start.
I've had a couple readers mention that I seem fearless and just have an all-in kind of attitude. As flattering as that is, it's just not entirely true. I will admit that I'm extreme. Extremely in and extremely out. Extremely hot and extremely cold. That doesn't mean that I don't have fears that I have to walk through to get to the extremely in place though. In fact, I've had a lot of fears. I mentioned one last week about starting this blog in the first place.
Some fears, I can walk through without much effort while others feel crippling. Example? Recently, Accountabilibuddy had a little party for her son who just graduated from high school and is getting ready for boot camp. Everyone went to an indoor trampoline place for an hour of jumping around. I had never even heard of such a place before but it sounded like fun so I committed to going. Hubby and I showed up and were ready to jump in right away. No fear. I started jumping and getting comfortable with it no problem. Then I saw others trying to do flips and crazy shit and I immediately wanted to try it too. I'm a nerd like that. But, I had a little voice in my head that was warning me of the dangers of attempting something like that.
- You could land on your head
- You could break something
- You could flip yourself right off the damn things
- You could hurt someone else
- You could totally embarrass yourself in a number of different ways
Ooohhhhh Shiiiiittttt!
I did it! Okay, I almost did it. I got about 3/4 around and landed on my butt. So I tried again and did the same thing, but this time, I bit my tongue. Ouch! It seriously hurt my poor little tongue. So, I wasn't perfectly successful but at least I tried. I tried! Isn't that success? In my book it is. I felt a fear, I walked through it. Now, I'm not scared of it anymore. I exposed the fear and it's gone, no longer influencing my life experiences. I can't wait to go back and jump around a bit more. It was a seriously good workout.
Other fears take a lot more courage to face and some of them hang around for weeks, months, even years. I stayed lazy, overweight, and unhappy for a decade because of fear. I've been pretty consistently scared of roller derby since I got the bright idea that I wanted to be a roller girl a few months ago but I've also been consistently walking through that fear. Roller skating as much as I can. And I signed myself up for a roller derby boot camp that starts today by the way and I'm freakin' TERRIFIED! Don't worry, I'll tell you all the gory details later.
Then there's the stupid Punk Rope fear. It's something I really did love. It's something I worked really hard for. It's something I really do want to do.
So, here's the ridiculousness of these excuses:
- I'm still fat - Who freakin' cares?! I'll tell you who, NOBODY! And if they do, they're assholes so they can just piss off anyway.
- I really want to move out of the area - So? I can teach it anywhere. Duh...
- Don't want to be tied down to anything long term - It's not a marriage. There is no contract to sign. It's just me doing what I enjoy and having fun teaching others too.
- I get shin splints - Wahhhhh. Seriously? I walked the Breast Cancer 3Day with a torn abductor tendon. Like shin splints are a good excuse for anything. Idea: get new shoes.
- I have no experience - Well there's only one way to get experience.
- I don't know what I'm doing - You will if you learn and then practice. Idea: Learn then Practice.
- I don't know what I'm talking about - Good thing Punk Rope is more about doing than talking.
- I don't have any place to do it - It's summer time, I don't need a facility right now. Outside works just fine. Then I can find someplace indoors for fall and winter if I decide I want to keep doing it. That's just a lazy excuse.
- No one will come - Well, that's true if I never do anything to get it started. Idea: Set it up and invite people.
- People will think it's stupid - The people who think it's stupid are the same people who would prefer to sit on their asses eating cheetos all freakin' day. Fuck em!
Now for the obvious question: Thanks for sharing but what are you going to DO about it?
Because I'm all about taking action...here's my plan.
- Download the music I need for one class
- Enlist Hubby, Accountabilibuddy, and any other close friends I can round up to let me practice with them
- Practice a couple times
- Get my list of invitations together and offer a couple demo classes to family, friends, coworkers, etc
- Make a plan to start holding classes on a regular basis
Okay folks, enough about me. What about you? What fitness fears do you have? Let's walk through these fears and kick their asses together.
Oh and Big Girl Bombshell has been kind enough as to let me guest post over at her blog tomorrow. Don't forget to go check it out.
P.S. She agreed to guest post for me as well. Yay! Keep a look out for that too.
