Confessions of a Fitness Instructor

Normally when I do confessional posts I tell you a bunch of random things like how I ate one half of a batch of brownies in one sitting (which I did do Monday night, while still warm, with ice cream.  Delish!), or how I got a cool old wooden chair and ottoman out of someone’s garbage on the weekend (I may or may not have done that…).  I normally don’t get too serious because life is too serious, but today I’m going to put on my, “I’m being a little bit serious” hat and tell you some straight up truths about my* life as a fitness instructor and some misconceptions about me.

*this post is only meant to be reflective of my own life, everyone is different so it is not meant to be a reflection of all fitness instructors, just little ole me.

Weight

I cannot tell you how many times I hear people say, “Oh, you’re so lucky!  With all the exercise you do you can eat whatever you want without gaining weight.”  Sure, I can eat loads of food and not worry about my weight, but you know what my real problem is?  Even though I eat a lot, some days I still don’t eat enough.  When it’s 10pm and you realize you still have a 1500 caloire deficit because you did 5 hours of exercise isn’t terribly fun.  Which is why I will often eat higher calorie foods in the evenings because lets be honest, it’s much easier to eat 100 calories in brownies and iced cream than it is broccoli.

Tiredness

“Don’t you ever get tired?” Ah, yes.  All of the freaking time!  Just because you see me when I’m all hopped up on latte’s and diet coke doesn’t mean that by the time I drive myself home I’m not back in a sleep induced coma ready to go to bed at 9pm.  Yes I sometimes take a nap at 10:30 in the morning because I’ve got another class to teach in the afternoon, and one in the evening.  If you think taking an exercise class is tiresome, try teaching one.  Not only are you doing the workout, you are talking the whole time, you’re coming up with exercises for people to do, and watching to make sure everyone is doing the exercises safely.  By the end of the class you are both mentally and physically drained.  In short -

I. Am. Always. Tired

Muscle Soreness

Sometimes people ask me if I ever get muscle soreness.  Ah yeah, I’m sore ALL OF THE TIME.  Especially my shoulders and upper back.  Luckily my legs don’t normally get too sore but that’s probably because they are the size of tree trunks.  I have yet to decide if that is a good or a bad thing.

I. Am. Always. Sore.

Sickness

Unlike a regular job, I don’t really have sick days.  If I don’t teach, I don’t get paid so I made a promise to myself that as long as I can stand up without passing out or needing to run to the bathroom and have a voice (and don’t think I’m uber contagious) I will teach.  In face I almost think I’d teach without a voice, I’m pretty good at nonverbal cueing.

I’ve decided it’s much easier to fake or pretend to be well for an hour than it is to pretend for 8 hours, besides exercise often helps and if all else fails and I really feel crappy, I’ll set up a circuit and get participants to do that while I watch their form and keep track of the time so I can tell them when to change stations.

I chose this profession, it wasn’t pushed upon me so I can’t really complain when I have to work while feeling like death.  The phrase “Suck it up princess,” comes to mind.

The Realest of the Real

I very rarely tell people this about me.  I don’t think it’s any of their business but on occasion I do let the cat out of the bag so to speak.  Years ago I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.  Without getting too dramatic about it, that certainly does contribute to my always tired, and always sore issues from above.  So why would I ever choose to become a fitness instructor?  I don’t believe in letting my body tell me what I can can’t do.  I don’t believe in giving myself the excuse of having this syndrome as a reason not to be active.  I used to be on three different prescription medications and essentially a walking zombie.  Now I may still be a walking zombie from time to time but I’m not on any medication and I’m healthier than I’ve ever been.

The most useful thing my doctor told me when he diagnosed me is that people with fibromyalgia that trained at Olympic athlete levels experienced little to no symptoms at all as a result.  Believe me, I’m not calling myself an Olympic athlete, or even a regular athlete, but I do know that exercising most days of the week keeps me going.  If I take more than two days off from exercise in a row I can feel the difference in my body.  I go down hill in a hurry.  So why did I choose to become a fitness instructor?  Because it forces me to keep moving regardless of how I feel on a particular day.  Because it’s what keeps me functioning normally, and because it helps me sleep better.

So, I guess the morale of this story is…wait this wasn’t a story…ok, the point to this post is every single one of us has physical limitations and problems.  We are all human, there are no superheroes or super humans amongst us. Don’t let your physical limitations limit you.  We may not all be able to come back and win the Tour de France like Lance Armstrong but you can certainly win YOUR personal Tour de France.