Meet my FXB Instructors: The Captain

The Captain: a.k.a. Jenny

Why is Jenny the Captain? I can assure it’s not because she reminds me of this guy:

Or this one:

Or even this one:

And she certainly doesn’t remind me of this Captain:

While these are all Captains of debatable aptitude, Jenny is much too cool to be modeled after any of them. No, she is The Captain for one simple fact: 

She is hands-down the best FXB Cheerleader I’ve ever met!

If you have ever been in the same class as Jenny, I’m sure you would agree that she is every bit a cheerleader for everyone there. She’s always encouraging others. She’s often seen doing round-offs across the mat. She’s always the first to respond back to the instructor’s prompts (sometimes also the loudest). And what do you hear if she’s not in the class?

[crickets]

But what, you might ask, makes her The Captain and not just The FXB Cheerleader? I’ll use the qualities About.com lists for a Cheer Captain as justification.

- Good Communication Skills

The Captain was one of my coaches during my 10 week challenge, so I learned early on that she was a good communicator. And as an instructor, she clearly enunciates what is to be done.

- Responsibility and Maturity

Um, let’s just skip past this one.

- Be a Good Role Model

The Captain is certainly a good role model for FXB. When she’s not instructing, she’s trying to knock the stuffing right out of the bags, or pop the bands! She certainly walks the walk and talks the talk!

- Fair and Impartial

The Captain is very fair and impartial. She will brutalize each muscle group with the same amount of intensity, and no one set of muscles is given preference. Not even the triceps.

- Helpful and Friendly

The Captain is always at the ready to answer any questions. She is very friendly (and is usually smiling) while she forces, I mean encourages, people to work harder.

- Be Approachable

The Captain is one of those people that others gravitate toward, like butterflies to a flower (or is it more like a moth to a flame?).

So Captain, my Captain, thank you for leading us through some very fun workouts!

Change is Good

It’s amazing how one small change can make a big difference.

It’s not like this is a new concept for me—in fact I’ve known it for several years. I’m a huge advocate of change and adapting as necessary in order to improve, evolve, or grow. In my role at Cummins prior to my leave, driving change was basically my job.

Yet, in my personal life it’s been easy to forget.

Now that I work out of the home, this is how I dress pretty much every day.

  

What you have here are your basic comfy pants in black (gray or purple on the odd occasion), a loose shirt, and a long sweater. In the winter it’s a long sleeve sweater (gray), and in the summer the pants are the same but shorter (and sometimes a shorter sweater). Even when I worked at Cummins it was the same look, but amped up for work—the pants were still comfy (and black) but they were dress slacks, and I wore a black jacket in place of the sweater.

I started layering when my hormonal problems began, and I experienced severe temperature swings. However, when the hot/cold flashes stopped the sweaters remained. I no longer wore them for warmth, but to hide. I didn’t like my arms showing and felt better when my back side was covered up. Occasionally I’d change up the bottom half and wear a pair of jeans, as long as I knew I wouldn’t have to be in them for long. They weren’t comfortable, and I always had a ‘muffin top’ that I had to add another layer to control.

So I defaulted to comfort. Comfort in the loose fitting clothes, and comfort in knowing that the areas of my body I didn’t like were covered up.

As I was getting dressed today, I grabbed a pair of those go-to pants automatically. However I paused before putting them on. I’ve claimed that I’ve learned to love myself for who I am, so why can’t I wear clothes that don’t cover everything up?

I put those pants back and put this on instead.

Today I have to go grocery shopping, run my daughter to gymnastics, to the orthodontist, and then back to gymnastics. Then I’m home getting work done (either on the computer or around the house). I would have never considered wearing jeans on a day like today. It’s the kind of day where comfort is very appealing.

But you know what? I feel so different today in my ‘non-standard’ outfit. I feel like I’m making changes. I feel lighter without all those layers to hide behind. It makes me want to keep working hard for more progress.

Change feels good. No more hiding.

(You might still see the sweater from time to time—I do live in Indiana after all where the weather changes in the snap of a finger!)

Not Good Enough

I don’t know when it happened—I can’t recall that first moment when I started to feel as if I wasn’t good enough. I do remember a time before. A time when I felt confident. A time when I felt as though I always gave everything I had and it was enough.

But then, at some point in my youth I started believing that in most things I attempted to do I was good, but not good enough.

• I played sports well enough to make the team, but not enough to play in the games.
• I was liked by the others in school well enough for them to be kind to me, but not enough for them to include me in most activities.

I could make this list longer, but I won’t. The point of this post is not to drum up sympathy for the girl who used to be me. The point is that somewhere along the way I started to believe I wasn’t good enough, and unfortunately that feeling has stayed with me. It’s the main reason I have such difficulty accepting criticism. It’s not that I think the person criticizing me (or my performance, or my books, or whatever) is wrong, it’s that I think they are right. I try my best to look for the ‘constructive’ side of criticism, but I usually end up back in the mentality that I’m not good enough. Which sucks, because I do believe that constructive criticism leads to overall improvement. Eventually I pull myself out of it, but it’s an emotionally draining process and sometimes it takes a while.

As I’ve reflected on this destructive belief over the years, I think it began the year I ran cross country in middle school. I was already on the track team, and the coaches convinced me to give cross country a shot. I was a short distance runner—100, 200, and 400 relay. And I was fast. I usually took home second or third place. My relay team was undefeated. But it turned out that long distance wasn’t my thing. I didn’t like it, and I wasn’t very good at it. I would use just about every excuse to get out of running in practice. I didn’t perform well in the meets. As a kid who was used to being one of the runners to beat, it was difficult to fade into the middle of the pack. There is one day that I remember in particular.

It was the last cross country meet of the season, and I didn’t want to run. I hated the course, which started and ended with a steep hill. Not far into the run, I stepped in a hole and fell. I sat on the ground and watched all the other runners leave me behind. I sat there and thought, “They’ve all passed me. I’m not fast enough to win, and now I’m going to come in last. I don’t want to be last. I could just not finish. I could pretend that I hurt my ankle too much to keep running.” I looked down at my ankle and I thought about it. Really thought about it. I took a deep breath, stood up—then I moved my legs and started to run.

I finished the race.

But the thing is, I hated every second of that run. Don’t get me wrong, I was proud of myself for finishing the race when all I wanted to do was quit. However, I was clouded by the feeling of not being good enough. That’s really what was going through my mind when I was sitting on the ground, staring after all the other runners. I never felt good enough to win the race to begin with, so why not quit when given a guise to do so?

That moment has stuck with me over the years to remind me that even if I don’t feel good enough to do something to the level of my expectations, I am good enough to not quit.

I have my moments. I don’t always know what triggers them, but they are there. My confidence slips. I start telling myself why I can’t do things. I start comparing myself to others who are more successful. But then God sends someone my way. Someone who says just what I need to hear, right when I need to hear it.

• It’s the coworker I only know by face who suddenly stops at my desk and says, “I wanted to tell you that you look nice today.”
• It’s the random lady riding by on her bike who calls out to me, “You look really nice!”
• It’s the email from someone who has read one of my books, telling me how much it has helped her heal.

These are just a few of the moments over the years when God has provided me with the words I needed to hear. The words slip past my walls of defense, and then I remember that girl sitting in the grass trying to find the will to quit. I remember that she didn’t quit, and it’s enough to jump start my confidence again.

Recently I’ve slipped into the ‘not good enough’ mode in my Journey to FIT. I think it’s because I’m approaching a turning point in my life. My 2-year leave is up in mid-June, and I have to make a decision about going back to work or quitting. And remember, I don’t like to quit. Logically I know that I wouldn’t be quitting, but rather moving on to different things—mother, wife, writer. However, in my heart it feels like quitting. Not only that, but Cummins has been a major part of my identity for 19 years. This past year and a half when someone would ask what I do my response was, “I’m on leave from Cummins.” If I quit, I won’t have that anymore.

Suddenly I’m not feeling good enough in all aspects of my life. I don’t feel good enough to be able to work and manage my family and get healthy at the same time. It’s also made me start thinking about my whole approach to the $10k challenge I signed up for. I’ve commented that I signed up because I do better when people are watching. And that’s true, however I’ve also finally admitted that I’ve approached it this way because I don’t feel like I’m good enough to win. And if I’m not good enough to win, why kill myself by going all out—I could just do enough to finish at the end of the pack. I’d still make progress and get healthy, but I won’t be disappointed by not being good enough to win.

And just as He has done before, God has put people in my path to tell me what I need to hear.

• I’ve had a 10 weeker tell me that she’d like to get be like me on the mat.
• I’ve had FIT members, who I admire, tell me that I’m hard to keep up with on the bag.
• I had someone tell me that I inspired her by not quitting during my pyramid sit-ups, even when I was the last to finish (by at least a minute).
• I’ve had a friend tell me that my blog inspired her to change her life.

And once again I’m thinking about that time I sat in the grass trying to quit, but instead took a deep breath and started running. I want to finish my Journey to FIT just as I finished that race all those years ago. However, for the first time I’m looking at that moment a little differently.

This time I don’t want to hate every second of the race. This race is about changing my life, and I don’t want to ‘just finish’. I want to fight for first, even if I fall down.

I’m using all the complements I’ve received recently to fuel a new fire. One that doesn’t just get me off the ground, but one that surges me forward. A new fire that reminds me that I’m not good enough.

I’m MORE than enough.

It may take some time, and I know it will take a lot of effort, but I’m determined to believe it.

Meet my FXB Instructors: Sergeant Exercise

Sergeant Exercise: a.k.a Chad

I decided to do this post in a format that Sergeant Exercise would appreciate.

Now, I’m aware that Sergeant Exercise has a pre-existing nickname: The Quadinator. And let me tell you—it is a very accurate nickname. He will take your legs, rip them to shreds, and then come back to give you more on the next leg day. I’m not trying to strip him of this well earned moniker.

I just think he’s worthy of more than one, so I’ve added Sergeant Exercise to his resume.

I’ve used Urbandictionary.com in the past to help support my assigned nicknames, because it’s just funny. It didn’t disappoint in this instance either. While the top definition for Sergeant is a bit ‘colorful’ and inappropriate (so no link here, but you may go look it up on your own), I was able to pull out what I feel is an accurate definition:

“Can be your mentor, worst nightmare or just some guy messing with your mind...often at the same time.”

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Sergeant Exercise was the first to introduce me to Sally in the world of exercise. In my mind, any Sally exercise will be permanently linked to him. He’s not the only instructor to dish out Sally, but somehow he manages to make you feel like you’re that dude in the image above.

All the instructors at FXB are focused on challenging the participants. However, Sergeant Exercise is the only instructor I’ve seen actually toss a band at someone he felt should color-up. Luckily, I’ve never been the recipient of one of his flying bands. Well, at least that was the case before this post...

There’s one more reason Chad is Sergeant Exercise for me—and I smile every time he says it (unless I’m grimacing from the pain in my legs...)

Test Jeans and Batteries

I had my testing recently, and I know that I’ve made progress. I am feeling the changes in my body with my clothes, and I’m certainly feeling the progress at the gym. However, every once in a while it’s good to be able to see and feel some tangible results.

Enter the test jeans.

You know the jeans I’m talking about. They’re the ones you try on at the start of a weight loss journey, even though you know you can’t button them up. You try them on because they will become the pair you pull out periodically, just to see if you can finally button them up without having to look like this lady. Test jeans show you the results that are hard to see in the mirror every day.

So I have my test jeans. I couldn’t even button them before I started at FXB. I’m talking at least an inch or more before the two sides would meet in the middle.

But here they are, buttoned and feeling OK! They’re still a bit tight to comfortably wear out and about, but they are on and buttoned. And I can even sit down in them!

Now what are those batteries I’m talking about?

If you recall, a few years ago I purchased a watch only to be disappointed when it arrived because it wouldn’t fit. When I first clicked the band closed all those years ago, it pinched me and left a mark.

Now that watch is on, and even better I have enough room to slide a finger under the band!

But alas, the batteries have died. Sigh.

I tried to change them here at home, but I don’t seem to have the proper tools. So I took it to a jeweler in town, and even they couldn’t get it open! They suggested another location in town, so I will be going there very soon. If that doesn’t work, I think I’ll have to see if I can send it in to Fossil to change the batteries.

Because I’ve worked far too hard to not be able to wear this watch!!

Next up—being able to pull a pair of knee-high socks up all the way without cutting off my circulation...