Sally Working on Sally

One of my most beloved clients (whom we shall call Sally) started training with me in April this year.  She was looking forward to her new fitness regime. She hoped that it would all be part of a new stage of self care in her life, along with her new skincare range that I’d given her to assist with her acne outbreak and her new braces to correct her teeth movement (no, I didn’t do the braces). 

Sally couldn’t wait to get started.

Getting to Know Her Cans and Can’ts

At our first meeting, I was getting to know Sally and wanted to know what she enjoyed in a fitness regime - and what she didn’t.  Sally informed me that she used to be quite a good sprinter and dancer and that she’s extremely flexible. 

How exciting to not only have a sprinter, but someone who can dance as well.  So much fun! 

Whilst I was talking with Sally, she noticed that some of my other clients were running around a 400 meter field and mentioned to me that she has never run long distance before and never would be able to.  I told Sally that she didn’t have to run long distance if she didn’t want to, and that she only had to do what she enjoyed doing. 

And that’s my motto: move the way you enjoy moving.  Why do something that you don’t enjoy. You’re not going to stick to it if you don’t like it, are you?

Run, Sally, Run

On Sally’s first night of training, she wanted to do some sprints with my other clients just to get started. She most certainly is a sprinter, like she assured me.

As the evening progressed and people started doing more distance training for upcoming fun runs, we worked on increasing people’s times spent running. Sally noticed that this looked like fun, but again expressed her concern that she can’t run long distances so it probably wasn’t even worth trying.

I said to Sally, why don’t you just give it a go and if you can’t do it, at least you tried and now you know for sure that it’s not for you.  So she did.  I went out with Sally around the track just to make sure she was ok, and at the end of it, Sally told me that she rather enjoyed the distance running. She even wanted to do it the next week.

Unexpected Success Not So Unexpected

Over time, Sally started to see that part of the joy of running longer distances was the social element. She could talk with her friends while they ran, which made the whole thing more enjoyable. And now, I’m thrilled to report that Sally is now entering her very first Fun Run for a 5 kilometer distance.

It just goes to show, if you change your mindset and give something a shot - even if you didn’t think you could do it - you can accomplish so much.  From the very beginning, I knew Sally could do this, but if I’d said this to her at the beginning, she may have run away in disbelief.

Have you ever tried something that you didn’t think you could do and found that you were pleasantly surprised by the outcome? Please share in the comments what this ‘Can Do’ attitude has done for you.

As a personal trainer who's always loved her body, Sue Bary was tired of being classified as 'mildly obese' and wanted to help others experience Enjoyable Body Movement without being subject to the usual verbiage of weight loss and dieting. Thus, she created enarji, a personal training practice steeped in the Health at Every Size approach and attitude. To learn more about Sue, click here. Because you are a special More of Me to Love member, Sue wants you to enjoy a FREE consultation through enarji's Virtual Health Coach services. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to schedule your free consultation today!