Monday, August 11, 2008

Training wheels off

I've been seeing a fabulous trainer at my gym for about a month now. We only have two sessions left and then I can't afford him again for, oh, another six months or so. But he is totally worth it because he totally kicks my ass.

I always thought purchasing personal training time was a pretentious expenditure. How judgmental of me, eh? But then I began using one and I have totally changed my mind. When you have a good one, it can totally motivate you to do things you didn't think possible. Like chin-ups. Or 100 crunches. Or bear walking your way across the gym floor (totally embarrassing by the way).


Bear walking example. Not me. I hope you would know that by now.

But my most embarrassing moment with the trainer? Getting into a screaming match with him. In the middle of the weight area.

How did this happen? Because I was being a wuss. And my trainer didn't like wuss.

So, at the end of one of my sessions, I am lying on a stability ball while fabulous personal trainer is holding arm bands behind me so I can do crunches while holding said arm bands. Like so:



Looks easy enough, right. Um, no. Trainer dude tells me to do 40. Cool. I think I can; I think I can, is running through my head. At about 20, I believe I am going to die. Or at least my abs are going to EXPLODE OUT OF MY STOMACH. So, I tell trainer that I can't do any more. He politely tells me I have 20 more to go. I say no. And he loudly says, Yes! I do like three more and then I tell him I'm done. He shouts at me to do 17 more. I yell back, I can't! He yells, Do it! Me: It's not possible! Him: Come on!

At this point people are stopping what they are doing and staring. So, now I have an audience of people who think I am a wuss. I can't take it.

I killed the last 17, though I seriously don't know how. It probably helped that the trainer was shouting encouragement the last 10 while I yelled, I hate you! to him. When I flopped on the ball after I finished, he smiled and said, I knew you could do it as I received some applause from around the room.

Now that's motivation.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

ha! I trained for a year with a trainer, and everyone would tell me they thought it was this ridiculous luxury. It's really not, and you're proof that once you do it, you realize that's what a lot of us need to stay fit. My trainer would kick my ass and we would get into there stupid arguments. He quit on me twice, and I quit pretty much every time we had a session. It was hilarious! I did gain a friend though which was totally cool.

andrea said...

Good for you! I know how hard trainers can be, but SO worth it aren't they?

Meaghan said...

Leave it up to you to get an applause at the gym! But it sounds like you'll be kicking ass before you know it! I've never had a personal trainer, but I did have to do 100 push ups (not the girly kind, either) once for color guard in high school. I was pissed!

Abby said...

Awesome story.

Makes me miss my trainer. :-)

Julie said...

This is me clapping for you! :)

Simply Being Still... said...

Yeah!! Love the story!

Anonymous said...

Hahaha! I love it! I love that he was such a mean, brutal beast! My ex-bf used to act as my personal trainer, and that's one of the things I miss about him -- he was definitely a motivating factor in the gym, even though sometimes I wanted to yell at him!

La Petite Chic said...

Oh my gosh, that is hilarious!! I love that people clapped for you.