My friend and I did some sprints down at the beach in Elwood together last night. He is faster than me and does more sprints than me, but I am not trying to improve his cardiovascular fitness, I’m trying to improve mine. I felt great afterwards.
Keeping my eyes on my own training and not comparing myself to others in unhelpful ways is one of the most important fitness skills I practise, because it helps me participate more safely in the activities I do and to find more enjoyment and satisfaction in them – which also makes it more likely that I’ll continue doing them long enough to see improvements.
It’s also a skill I encourage the people I train to practise, especially in group classes. I want people enjoy the camaraderie of being active in a social setting while also treating their active time as something that they are doing for themselves from a place of care, and to make decisions about the way and the extent to which they participate based on that.
We can choose to use physical activity as an opportunity to train not just our bodies but also our thought habits – especially the ones we may have picked up around exercise – so that we can take better care of ourselves, inside and out.
Posted By
Shelley Lask
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