I've learned a lot, but there's more to learn!

-by Mindy Irish

This past week I had the privilege of working with my very first personal trainer, ever ever (I'm just a little excited!)  I'm a Team Beachbody Coach and won $1000 in a Shakeology transformation contest for the month of February 2012.  I decided to use some of my prize winnings to reinvest back into my health!!  In the spending line up was a new pair of running shoes (taking care of your feet is a must!), a 10-pack of Hot Yoga sessions for both my husband and me (lucky guy!), and 10 training sessions with a trainer at my local YMCA.

I started with the trainer and one of the questions on the consult questionnaire was: "What do you wish to get out of these training sessions?"  My response-an education, challenging accountability, and a mentor.  My goal is to train to compete in Figure competitions, and with that lofty goal I knew I needed to take my training up a notch.  What I was doing was making progress, but I also saw a stall coming on.  I had to make changes if I wanted to see changes and reach my true potential.

I've spent a lot of time and money educating myself along this journey.  Weight Watchers meetings and memberships, e-books, fitness chat room memberships, monthly auto ship for nutritional products, time in the gym around qualified instructors, and more.  But what had to happen was for me to own and admit that I don't know everything!  I had to ask myself if I was on autopilot or really intentional and properly informed on all parts diet, exercise, and training strategy.

When you're working towards your goals (ahmmm, we all should be!), you never want to get on autopilot of just going thru the motions.  You lose sight of where you're headed by just being in routine and the old saying of "if you aim for nothing, you'll hit it" couldn't be more appropriate!


So as you travel your journey I encourage you to seek out an education.  If you really want your health and fitness lifestyle to stick around for the long haul, you'll want to be in the know of what works best for you and why.  Seek out professionals who can teach you about the why of the why something is changing you.  Don't just accept it and move on, find out why and how your body is benefiting.  But turn your filters on, because if you try to take in too much info from sources everywhere, you might send yourself backwards.  Ultimately, because when you know better, you do better!  Hooray for your initiative and hats off to baby steps towards the healthiest you and your ultimate potential!