Getting Back to the Basics

On January 10th, a new 10 week session started at FXB here in Columbus. I was excited for this new round of newbies for various reasons:

•  I would no longer be the lowest person on the bag shaped totem pole
• Some friends are in this 10 week session and I’m SUPER excited to see the progress they’ll make
•  I wanted to see what it was like to go back and do a Week 1 workout all over again

Two weeks have now passed, and I’ve learned some valuable lessons from this new 10 week session.

I actually know what I’m doing.

It sure is strange to be one of the people in the gym who knows what to do. And more than that, to be one of the FIT members helping the 10 weekers with their form.

What??

I mean, there are still days when I feel like I need to be corrected on my form. I was talking to The Ninja about this last week, and she reminded me that we will always have something to improve—no matter how long we’ve been a FIT member.

Now I just need to do better at stepping up and helping those newbies. There have been a few times in the workouts when I notice that one of the 10 weekers around me doesn’t quite have the correct form. I debate over and over if I should step up to help, and in that time a coach or instructor notices and beats me to the punch.

It always feels great to pay it forward, so I need to remain confident in the fact that I do know what I’m doing and that I can help those 10 weekers.

The basics will always be tough.

As the new 10 week session approached, I was eagerly anticipating Week 1. I wanted to see how it felt this time around compared to my first week. I had visions of pushing through the workouts like I just got my runner’s high. After the brutal week right before the new 10 weeks started—the one where all the instructors competed to see who could most effectively kill us—I figured Week 1 would be difficult, but that I’d make it through much easier this time around. I’d be breathing easier. I wouldn’t feel like collapsing on the mat after the workout.

Well, yet again FXB has given me a hook-cross-switch foot roundhouse right back to reality.

The pace may be slower, the exercises might be basic, but they are still tough. Of course my analytical brain had to sort this out. I know I’m stronger. I know my endurance is better. So why is it just as hard? Why do I face plant into my puddles of Liquid Awesome at the end of each workout? Why am I waking up in the night with my shoulders aching?

My conclusion is that going back to the basics has forced me to challenge myself in new ways.

•  I want to set a good example for my 10 week partner, so I push myself faster/harder.
•  I hit the bag harder and faster.
• I try to kick the bag harder and higher.
• I’m actually doing all the burpees the FIT members have to still do between combinations.
• I’m trying to do as many of my push-ups from my toes as possible.
• I up my bands because I know we’re just doing classic sets, and I should be able to last through the entire set with that next color up.

I have a new appreciation for the start of a 10 week session. Going forward, I now know that I need to use this time to refocus on the basics, and set new challenges for myself.

No matter what kind of exercise program you are involved in, every once in a while take it back to the beginning. Focus on the basics—your form, your pace, your intensity—and see how you can up your game in new ways. Teach someone else. Keep evolving and challenging yourself!

And remember: