My Journey With Health And Fitness – Being Mindful Of Others

Yesterday I headed out for my first walk at 7:30am (after already doing a bootcamp class). I got down to the beach and thought hmm, maybe I should have worn pants and not shorts. By time I hit the end of the pier it was now not only cold but it was windy at which point I had tears streaming down my face. Still I kept going even though I certainly wasn’t comfortable but I kept reminding myself that is the last week of my 6 week challenge and I am going to meet this week’s goals.

I think I mentioned that our usual instructor is off on vacation so we have guest instructors all this week. Today was a lovely woman named Kelly who is on the younger side but is quite buff. She had our workout laid out in circuit style so she demonstrated the first set of 5 exercises (all of them with weights) which we had to do 3 times. It was a really back and shoulder focused but I kind of enjoyed it.

Once we were through that first set she demonstrated the 2nd set of 5 exercises one of which involved doing a plank. I like Kelly because she seemed to be very cognizant of the fact most of us are not anywhere near her fitness level so she provided lots of modifications. When she got to the plank she showed the modifications and ultimately said look, even if you can only do it for 10 seconds just do your best. One of the other participants shouted out no, that isn’t acceptable you have to do better.

Now I want to point out that the woman who said that is in her mid 30’s and is quite fit. She has been doing these workouts since the gym was established 3 years ago and great that she has the ability to do a plank for 45 seconds, many of the others in the class can’t. These classes are comprised of women of all ages, sizes and fitness levels. Some, like me, have physical limitations that no amount of exercising is going to change. Some are just starting down their fitness journey and are trying to find their motivation. The bottom line is everyone in that gym at any given time is at a different point in their fitness.

I thought about the comment that was made and while I know she likely made it in jest, I realized she could have done a lot of damage. We have a woman in the class that is only in week 2 of her challenge and is trying really hard but sometimes needs to catch her breath. We have another woman who would aggravate her shoulder injury if she even had to try a plank. There are others in the class that simply are not at a weight level that would allow them to do this type of exercise. I thought, what if that off the cuff comment caused any one of these women to push themselves too far causing them to quit or even worse injure themselves.

It’s important that we all think about our words and be mindful of how they can impact others. If they are not going to do so positively then maybe those words should not be spoken at all.