Perfectionism in Life, Fitness and Wellness

“A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem”.  - Albert Einstein.

‘Perfectionism has been defined as “a personality disposition characterized by an individual striving for flawlessness and setting excessively high performance standards, accompanied by overly critical self-evaluations and concerns regarding others’ evaluations” (Wikipedia).  If the person is adaptive, perfectionism can be a positive trait that motivates people to reach their goals.  People can derive pleasure from their efforts to perfect their life’s passion; whether it is at work, sport, academic or interpersonal relationships.  However, there are many maladaptive perfectionists who strive compulsively and unceasingly toward unobtainable goals and who measure their self-worth with their “productivity and accomplishment” (Wikipedia).   Maladaptive perfectionists set themselves up for failure, and in failing can develop such neuroses as fear, anxiety and depression.

In contrast to the adaptive perfectionist, sometimes, in the maladaptive perfectionist, the fear of failure becomes so great that they procrastinate and very rarely strive for the goals that they are most passionate about.  Maladaptive perfectionists can suffer from anxiety and low self-esteem.  Many perfectionists develop obsessive compulsive traits that can develop into many disorders; eating disorders, social anxiety, social phobia, work-a-holism, self-harm, substance abuse and clinical depression as well as physical problems like chronic stress and heart disease (“Being a Perfectionist can take its Toll on Health” www.msnbc.msn.com).

I understand our societies compulsion toward perfection; our role models are airbrushed and flawless, money and owning stuff gives us status so there is pressure to be important enough to make lots of that, we need to feel valued and love so we must seek out the perfect partner and then we must have the perfect children to increase the amount of love and value we feel… but then we must be unique and memorable… so we need to cultivate a talent- music, art, sport… anything we can find to define us and perfect this….  How do we find the hours in our day to be the perfect master in all these things?!!  How do we not become obsessive control freak- workaholic-chronically stressed individuals when life demands us to be so much!

Let’s look at perfectionism within the fitness world; it can mean the inability to accept our physical appearance, the desire to perfect certain physical skills, the need to treat our ‘body as a temple’ by perfecting our diet and not polluting it with harmful substances (and this can go from the obvious to the frivolous!) or the desire to obtain our personal goals.  Fitness Perfectionism can be both adaptive and maladaptive… it can inspire us to a discipline level we never thought capable of ourselves, or it can turn us into obsessive compulsive freaks that can’t let go of our regime in fear that we will deviate drastically from the results we have successfully obtained through our hard work. 

An adaptive fitness perfectionist admires his or her success; they notice admirable physical adaptations and accept their lifestyle adaptations through diet and exercise as mandatory to retain their successful fitness results…  A maladaptive fitness perfectionist finds obsessiveness and disappointment in training… failed weight reps can equal failure! discomfort can equal the same…  weight loss is great but if it does not happen to calculated measure, this is deemed unacceptable…

Maladaptive perfectionism can also inspire procrastination.  Due to the fear of failure, perfectionists may not exert themselves to full potential- whether it be by backing off their resistance weight, or holding back their cardio peak because they dread that feeling of failing to lift the bar or failing to complete that last minute’s worth of training…  The maladaptive perfectionist ties his/herself to the idea of success… whether this means they procrastinate by not changing the exercise intensity for weeks or months in fear of failure, or whether this means obsessively compulsively practicing the skill until it meets satisfaction (which is never) thus resulting in fatigue or even injury!

As a dancer and fitness professional I have felt the pressure of perfection; there is pressure to look a certain way and move a certain way, there is pressure to train the body for amounts of time some people would deem unfathomable, there a competitive pressure to keep up with all of those around in both skills and performance and there is pressure to reflect a personality others are lured to so as to cultivate any hope of success.  An adaptive perfectionist would say ‘bring on the challenge!’  They would do what they had to do to harness their skills and learn from failure so that they could stand up and be a real competitor!  A maladaptive perfectionist does not have this fate. 

When I visualize a maladaptive perfectionist, I picture Nina from the movie "Black Swan."   In this film,  Nina, trains obsessively to perfect her art, she sacrifices human connection to the point where she is social-a-phobic, she starves herself to ‘perfect’ her body and she chooses safety and technique in her dancing to ‘perfect’ the white swan in fear of really letting go and tapping into the unknown which is black and fearful!  It is true that when she does finally let go and find her black swan she consciously leaps to her death… but is this not typical of the maladaptive perfectionist?  Harm is favoured and welcomed, the lesson secondary and missed…

The fitness world can inspire this level of destructive obsessiveness; I have known body sculpting competitors who have risked kidney failure to compete, obsessive instructors who have worn their knees and hips out and had their careers end at a far too early age, people who have trained through torn muscles only to have the injury prolonged, trainers who have been hospitalised for ailments and were sprung doing pull ups from their hospital bed...!!!  It is as though we believe with becoming obsessive with perfecting our passions, we are licenced to be indestructible! 

“Perfectionism” seems like a shiny attractive thing that brings people closer to themselves and their life’s ambitions.  As an individual who has been a slave to maladaptive perfectionism, I can tell you that you are in for a world of pain!  Perfectionism has inspired a world of doubt within me and held me back!  I have taken fewer steps because I have doubted my abilities; I have closed my eyes too often because of the fear of the unknown…. Life offers change and many perfectionists shy away from it because it takes them beyond their control…. But what if control only brings ignorance, and frustration, and a lack of hope?  I guess this is where the imperfect and the more daring have an advantage.  If we learn and accept failure, maybe we can be delighted with our passions rather than obsessed with them, and  if we accept our shortcomings as unique to us, maybe they become valuable to our life’s experience.  If perfectionism is to hold any glow of positivity, it must be the inspiration to do what is better for ourselves, rather than something that hinders us and leads us to a world of non-achieving and disappointment.

Mind, Body & Spirit

"If there is right in the Soul,

There will be beauty in the person.

If there is beauty in the person,

There will be harmony in the home.

If there is harmony in the home,

There will be order in the nation.

If there is order in the nation,

There will be peace in the world." – Lao Tze

“Fundamentally, the word “health” comes from the root word “whole” (“Yoga Energy: Mind Body Spirit – Sadhguru “Huffpost Healthy Living”).  However, many of us from Western society only think in terms of our body when it comes to our health and fitness; being healthy means we are disease free and being fit means that we exercise our bodies to build strong muscles and healthy lungs.    But if we do go back to the root of the word “health” our medical health alone does not give us a sense of ‘wholeness.’  The term ‘whole’ takes into account our entire being.  If we are to take the concept of ‘health’ meaning ‘whole’ how can we not talk about our sense of wellness from within?

There have been many philosophers and scientists who have supported dualistic theories when it comes to mind and body.  According to 17^th century French philosopher Rene Descartes “I think, therefore I am;” Descartes wrote a thesis on mind-body dualism that established that he had a mind without needing to assume he had a body – “I understand the mind to be indivisible by its very nature, I understand the body to be divisible by its very nature, therefore, the mind is completely different from the body.”  A lot of western medicine seems to support Descartes theory of the body being a separate entity to the mind; ailments are physically and scientifically diagnosed and then symptoms are chemically or surgically treated.  Emotion is not recognized as a cause or a cure.

I think it is the eastern influence on our culture and developed theories on emotional intelligence and health that have influenced our culture and brought us round to the concept of ‘body-mind.’  This more unified concept argues that the body, mind, emotions and spirit are dynamically interrelated; each time a change is introduced at one level “it has a ripple effect throughout the entire system” (Wikipedia).  The belief of Body-mind theorists is that the body holds all experiences – both physical stress and emotional injury – so specific postural positions or muscle tension can bring back memories and emotions.  Body-mind therapy combines the strengths of “talk” therapy with body work, such as touch, postural alignment or movement education and exercise to increase body awareness, also known as mind-body or somatic therapy.  This therapy helps people become deeply aware of their bodily sensations as well as their emotions, images and behaviour.  Patients become more conscious of how they breathe, move, speak and where they experience feelings in their bodies (Wikipedia).  Suddenly there is a blur in the lines dividing mind and body.

In Yoga, when the term “health” is used, it isn’t in terms of either the body or the mind; it is only in terms of energy (Yoga Energy: Mind Body Spirit – Sadhguru “Huffpost Healthy Living”).  In yoga, if your energy body is in proper balance and in full flow, your physical body and mental body will be in perfect health.  Now the spirit governs our very health!

When we refer to our ‘well-being’ we are usually talking in terms of finding balance and nourishing all aspects of our life; our physical health through exercise and proper eating, our emotional health, finding success or a sense of importance through our occupation, a spiritual connection to our universe, being social and being connected to those around us, nurturing our intellect by gaining further knowledge of ourselves and our surroundings.  If this is true, there are many un-well beings among us.  As a fitness professional, I keep hearing about how time poor everyone is… people can’t spend time on their physical fitness because their work schedule is too hectic, some people sacrifice their physical fitness or their career due to overwhelming family commitments, there are people who train their body all the time but then over-stimulate it with supplements and pollute their bodies rather than nourish it through good nutrition… and then they are unwilling to enhance their education on the matter- or any other matter- because their time is so consumed with their obsessions and then the intellect becomes starved and once again the balance lost!  Many of us lose sight of our ‘whole’ health and well-being because we overindulge in one aspect of our life.

Fatigue is often a state recognised but never alleviated.  Many of us soldier on and endure the tired dragging of our feet and bodies.  Often there is admiration when we do this.  What we don’t stop to realise is that fatigue often comes when we overindulge in one aspect of our life and don’t nurture another.  If we are fatigued are we happy?  If we draw away from the centre of our well-being and focus on only select-criteria of what makes us whole, will we ever be satisfied with ourselves?  We compromise and neglect our energy constantly.

     Health and wellness are defined as being diseased free and having a functioning body.  What if the rest of our life is dysfunctional???  Are we well when we are fit to run a marathon but have no one in our lives to connect to?  Are we happy when our careers soar but feel like we are susceptible to a coronary when we climb a flight of stairs?  Is contentment found when we have the family of our dreams but our hunger for knowledge or our desire for career have been denied?  And if the wellness from within is not at a state we deem healthy, will our bodies just stand up and function as if this doesn’t matter???

So where do we focus our attention?  If we neglect our bodies we do run the risk of experiencing bad health and possibly disease… our body is our temple and should not be neglected.  There is much evidence that shows that neglecting our mind and our emotions can lead to poor health.  This once again puts our body, our physical and scientifically proven entity of who we are and what we represent, at risk… so our thoughts and feelings aren’t necessarily invisible…  I personally like the yogi philosophy of attending to our spiritual energy.  Yoga uses physical movement and mind connection to align our energy and bring it to a state of flow… and yet I can still see these three aspects of us – our mind, body and spirit- blurred boundaries and each aspect weaving through one another so that they interlock and make us whole again.     

Group Fitness = a Fitness Community

 “Throughout our lives we long to love ourselves more deeply and to feel connected with others. Instead, we often contract, fear intimacy, and suffer a bewildering sense of separation. We crave love, and yet we are lonely. Our delusion of being separate from one another, of being apart from all that is around us, gives rise to all of this pain.” -Sharon Salzberg.

You see it in movies and you hear it in songs.  Rejection is hard and people like to feel like they belong to something.  When we build relationships with anyone, whether it is a colleague, a lover or someone you entrust an errand to, you try to find a common language, an emotional interest and a bond that is going to strengthen the connection and lead to a happy result.  Being a part of something gives us value and inspires us to commit.  That is why a fitness class can build a fitness community.

A study conducted by Eric D. Wesselmann of Purdue University et.al. wanted to know just how small a cue could help someone feel connected (“Being Ignored Hurts, Even By a Stranger” – Medicalxpress.com).  In this study, a research assistant walked along a well-populated path, passed a subject and either met that person’s eyes, met that person’s eyes and smiled or looked in the direction of the person’s eyes but passed them “looking at them as if they were air” (Eric D. Wesselmann – Purdue University).  These subjects were immediately interviewed to see how they felt.  The study showed that people who had received eye contact from the research assistant, with or without a smile, felt less disconnected than those who had been ignored (“The Need to Feel Connected” – Neil Wagner – The Atlantic). 

When people say that they are unhappy or that they don’t like something it is usually because they don’t feel a part of it, or they do not understand it.  As a Group Fitness Manager I have found that negative attitudes towards classes come from feelings of isolation; people feel self-conscious, they sense that the regular group know how a class runs, moves and feels and they don’t feel a part of it, or they are singled out because an instructor or a member has noticed they aren’t moving like the rest of the group and the attention makes them feel isolated.  If Group Fitness is inclusive, there is an opportunity to build a fitness community.  Often when someone is new to something they make mistakes and ask a lot of questions.  Successful communities are built on the philosophy that there are no stupid questions.  Often if we play it nice, we inspire a feeling of comfort.  Saying “you’re in my spot!!!!” or “you’re going the wrong way!!!!” isn’t so welcoming…. and if we don't welcome new members how will the community grow?!

To build a community takes sensitivity and observation.  A community can’t be built on exclusion or pin-pointing individuals so that they feel singled out and isolated, yet a common interest must be found!  That is why well-structured classes are the key to building a fitness community.  I look at non-technical dance classes like Sh’bam and realise that by taking the casual approach to how the moves are performed and concentrating on the social aspect of class, people forget the self-conscious feeling of being uncoordinated and just keep moving!  I realise that the reason people prefer to do Pump rather than go into the gym and resistance train is that they can nod approval at their friend and just keep working through a song, and the fatigue they feel is somehow secondary to the experience.  A good instructor obviously taps into this, and can sift through the positive and negative of mass group training to create this sense of community. 

As a Group Fitness leader (for more years than I care to mention!), I have seen a lot of things; I have seen body transformations, coordination improvements, fitness increases and strength improvements.  There has been no greater change as the sense of community built in classes.  People build relationships, find friends… some even find partners!  I strongly believe that we all want to strive for improvement by seeking value from those near and dear to us.  If those we train alongside make us fitter and stronger, is this not a relationship worth cultivating???  Does this sense of belonging not want us to experience it on a regular basis???  Do we not feel like we are a part of something worthwhile???  This is the very thing to make us fitter, better people.  Not only that, we continue to train and stay fit because the training environment makes us happy and we want to be a part of it.  

The Body Doesn’t Forget

“We must become acquainted with our emotional household: we must see our feelings as they actually are, not as we assume they are. This breaks their hypnotic and damaging hold on us”

-Vernon Howard

                Our society demands self-control; ‘perfection’ is our ultimate pursuit and we strive for it with our appearance, with our relationships and with our careers.  We join gyms to work our bodies in the pursuit of maintaining our shape and becoming more fit or beautiful, we run our children here and there in the hope that they will be happy and love us and we are busy at work or in our relationships because we think that time spent is time valued.  Showing emotions or feeling is something often associated with weakness; it shows a lack of control or a vulnerable side to us.  Strength is often depicted as being made of stone.   And when you think about it, the people whom we often admire for beings strong are those who have faced a traumatic event, put on a brave face and soldiered on!  The feeling and the pain isn’t there so, therefore, this must be strength!  When did being made of stone become so admirable???

                When we are young we are full of feelings.  We cry when we hurt, feel fear or pain and we “are sensitive and react immediately and directly to our social and physical environment” (“The World of Feelings and Emotions” – Walter Last).  However, it is very early that we are taught that this is unacceptable; parents are told that by letting a child cry through the night it will teach the child to sleep better.  Often what happens is that the lesson appears to be learnt; the crying stops, the sense of abandonment doesn’t.  When we feel abandoned and afraid we often hold our breath, contract our diaphragm and close through our chest.  A closed chest, contracted diaphragm and held breath are often associated with respiratory problems such as asthma.  We learn certain conditions due to how we train our muscles to respond.

We don’t often associate emotions with the body.  Even scientists would have us believe that they are in our head.  Yet there have been many yoga instructors, massage therapists and psychologists that have reported patients or subjects that, when they physically moved in certain positions, it brought fourth emotions and sometimes tears.  Paul Ingraham (BIO) writes of a lady who asked him why is when she tilts her head back she starts crying? (“Body Memory and Body Work” – Paul Ingraham), while performing a shiatsu, a friend of mine pressed on the abdomen of a client and produced tears and many associates I know who teach yoga have been told to expect and respect crying during meditation.  Why is it that, despite not having expressed the emotion, we feel it when we are touched or positioned into a certain posture?

                When we expect pain, for instance, someone sticking a needle into us, our natural reaction is to tense our muscles and hold our breath.  Emotions often inspire pain, therefore, when we feel emotions, there is a physical reaction; we feel guilt and so our blood vessels constrict, our blood pressure drops as does our muscle tone (“Body Memory and Body Work” – Paul Ingraham), we feel anger so our body temperature rises, our shoulders become tense and our skin becomes more coloured, when we feel nervous we feel our hands become cold and fidgety, we become cold, pail and nervous and we feel a nauseous or sinking feeling in our abdomen.  So what happens when we want to be ‘strong’ and suppress our emotions???  According to psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich, our body stores this and our emotions become “carved in flesh” (“Body Memory and Body Work” – Paul Ingraham).  Our anger gets stored in our shoulders, our nervousness gets stored in our gut and our guilt gets stored in our lower back.  Older adults talk about the aches and pains they feel in their body.  Perhaps this is where all the lost emotions went.

                                It has been proven that negative thoughts suppressed show themselves in other ways; unexpressed negativity has been proven to develop cancerous tumours and other health disorders (“Body Memory and Body Work” – Paul Ingraham).   Findings show that cancer is frequently diagnosed about a year after a traumatic event such as losing a spouse, mental depression has proven to have many negative effects on our immune system, our digestive juices are inhabited when we are stressed and asthma attacks may be triggered by fear or apprehension (“The World of Feelings and Emotions”: - Walter Last). Our tendency to hold our emotions back, be everything for everyone and to be a soldier for whatever task is at hand can cause us bad health.  If there ever was anything to cause us weakness and not strength, it is to put our physical health at risk and lessen our chances at longevity. 

                When I consider the posture of successful men; Kerry Packer, Rupert Murdoch and see slumped shoulders and a protruding chin, I think “is this not the weight of the world on these men’s shoulders”???  The face still and tearless may tell us strength, but the body tells us more.  Take the late Kerry Packer for instance; over developed trapezius (neck) muscles probably due to stress, he suffered from as many as eight heart attacks in 1990 and was reported to have kidney issues in the year 2000’s until he eventually died of kidney failure in 2005 at age 68 (Wikipedia).  Despite us showing a brave face, our body responds to what we feel, and if we feel it over and over again our body distorts us into who we really are.  Oscar Wilde was right.  We can be beautiful and immaculate on the surface but our true-self, through our body, paints the portrait of who we really are.  Our Dorian Grey is ugly!  If we were what we felt, the picture would be beautiful. 

Dispelling Myths In Fitness Training

“Myth is an attempt to narrate a whole human experience, of which the purpose is too deep, going too deep in the blood and soul, for mental explanation or description.” – DH Lawrence.

Myths were something used in ancient times to explain why things happened.  There was no scientific technology for people to research facts and form educated opinions on why things are as they are… so stories were created and passed on through generations; Gods and Goddesses were credited for weather changes and natural disasters, tragedies and misfortunes were explained through creative and fictitious stories; monsters were invented, creatures were given life and victims became legends.  Even though most of us now don’t believe that a thunderstorm means we angered the God Zeus, or a boating accident is due to a Siren calling from the rocks, we still try to invent explanations when we don’t have the answers.  But why is it when the answers are at our fingertips, we can’t let go of the myth?

                Although sports date back to ancient times, the Fitness Industry is a relatively new one; Fitness clubs didn’t really become popular until the 80’s and becoming a qualified trainer wasn’t a requirement until the1990’s.  Prior to this, anyone who could move to music could take an Aerobics Class and anyone who could lift a weight and feel a muscle could train someone else to build strength.  As a result, just as those ancient folk before us did, those of us who didn’t know created a theory or story based on emotion and sensation.  According to Jane Fonda if you lie on your side and kick your leg up in the air it will tone your leg muscles (hey, they burn after 200 reps so! naturally it’s working!), and then she had us walking on our butt cheeks to burn fat from our arse (hey, I think the carpet burn alone did it!), and then someone told us that if you do sit-ups every day fat instantly disappears from the stomach area!…. There are endless examples; if I don’t feel sore after the workout I haven’t worked! If I don’t train weights today all my muscles will shrink overnight and I will become a weakling!  I am female and I lifted a weight! I’ll be huge by the morning!   The word is out there and we felt the sensation.  Of course it’s true!

                As the Fitness Industry becomes bigger and more competitive, the more educated the fitness population gets.  There is a lot of scientific research out there that proves that ‘feeling the burn’ isn’t the easy equation to seeing results.   Muscle soreness indicates muscle trauma and is believed to result from inflammation and microscopic tears in the elastic tissues surrounding muscle fibres.  Soreness is often a sign that we have not yet adapted to the training, not an indication of whether we have worked out or not.  Shock creates trauma, not necessarily growth.  There is scientific evidence to prove that a female doesn’t have enough testosterone to produce bulk and that recovery is an important stage of muscle growth.  The information is out there and yet we cling to the feeling!  We crave the ‘burn’ because it is physical and psychological evidence that we have experienced physical activity so we do small actions like bicep curls, or calf raises, or pulse sit-ups because we feel the burn more easily!  We do not consider the fact that bigger movements such as squats and dead lifts engage more muscles, work more of our body and, therefore, burn more calories and develop more muscle.  We hold onto the feeling and tell ourselves that it is not working or we won’t get results if that feeling isn’t there.

                I thought the idea of a convenient lifestyle was modern but now I realise it was ingrained within us from early generations; stories are easier than facts, answers are easier than questions, explanations are easier than knowledge.  If you look at the modern world it is all about convenience; cars to get you places faster, mobile phones to get you communicating instantly, drive-through for quicker eating, coffee drive-through for that caffeine hit without  the patience of waiting…  it is no wonder that so many myths become part of our lifestyle!  The made up explanation is so much easier to obtain and because it is often emotionally charged and delivered with vigour, we are hooked on the thought; we accept it and pass it on willingly.  It is easier to pass the word and see it go off like wildfire than to pass a book or essay and consider it.

                Sometimes it is the face of the message that doesn’t get the message across.  The 2% body fat girl without an ounce of muscle on her cannot tell the 100+kg body builder that biceps alone may not get his arms bigger, just as the muscle bound hulk cannot go to the 50% body fat woman and say, “Hey, weight training makes you leaner!”  How the message is delivered affects the lesson despite the research and the facts.  In this case perhaps proving that there are many educated voices proving the same points will hold more weight.

                How does one disprove any myth???  Myths work so well because they come from our emotions and our feelings; we feel the physical sensation (‘the burn’ or pain), we connect that with the emotional experience (‘results’ or ‘the lesson’) and then we summarise the result.  We often switch off to this idea of really knowing what works because the answer takes us away from what is more pleasurable; we want to believe that lying on our side and kicking our leg in the air means we exercised today and maybe we don’t like weights or cardio training because they take us from our comfort zones.  It is easier to take on board the myth that tells us what we want to hear.  What if we actually had to learn about our body and ourselves to achieve our real desires? This would mean work!   We would then have to research and be educated, get the information out there and then hope we role model what we are talking about. The answers are out there.  We only have to let go of our emotions and dismiss the myth to reap the rewards. 

The Group Fitness Coach

“A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are.”

– Ara Parasheghian

A coach is an individual who is involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or individual (Wikipedia).   Successful coaches can become as, or even better-known than athletes as they are often seen on television or heard on radio programs and, therefore, become the “face” associated with the team (Wikipedia).  Coaches have often had successful athletic careers in the sport they coach and are passionate, educated and experienced individuals at the sport they represent.  When I look at the most successful Group Fitness instructors around it is because they coach rather than instruct their classes.  Group fitness has evolved!  It is no longer about bouncing around a studio in lycra, and the instructor is not there for people to merely mimic moves or ‘perform’ for the audience at his/her feet.  The fitness industry has become more educated and just as personal trainers have to cater to individual needs – whether it be fitness goals or rehabilitative requirements, the Group Fitness Leader must not only step up to meet individual needs, they must adapt their skills to address multiple personalities and requirements.

                If you think back to the origins of Group Fitness during the Baby Boomer era it is not a pretty sight – there was Lycra, headbands and leg warmers, instructors didn’t need any qualifications aside from their ability to press play on a cassette player and string some random athletic moves together.  Moves weren’t based on any sports kinesiology, merely on feel (I think it was Jane Fonda who told us if you sit on the floor and walk forward and backwards with your butt cheeks you would lose weight off this area!).  Then the dance influence started to feed through and aerobic choreography got complicated!  Suddenly we were turning and moving to all directions of the room, and there were multiple moves given their own special name that you apparently had to remember and the aerobics instructor would have their back to you (a necessity if there was any hope of you facing the required direction!).  It probably wasn’t until the late 1990’s that instructors realised ‘hey, we are here for our class members!’ and so many of us turned around to face our participants.  Progress, yes!  True connection…. Possibly not…  Many instructors believed that being there ‘for’ the class meant ‘entertaining them.’  So we became performers – showing off our natural talent and flare for musical interpretation!  Group fitness went from the fad that packs a room, to the energetic dancers training room, to the ‘all about me show’ that you were allowed to move to.  No wonder aerobics class numbers were dwindling! 

           Thank you to the late 1990’s – 2000’s for the concept of Group Fitness!  Many people join sporting teams for the camaraderie and the high you feel competing with other active individuals; group fitness has bottled that and made it an optional daily occurrence; you can box for fitness and fun, cycle alongside your mates, out-do your fellow classmates in a plank challenge offered in an abdominal or core training class and jump higher than ever before in a plyometric based high-impact workout.  It was Les Mills that really latched onto this idea of bringing sporting camaraderie into the gym and the aerobic studio; RPM allows you to ride along with your mates to inspiring music, you can build strength and endurance in such programs as Pump and CxWorx, find empowerment and discipline with Body Combat and Body Balance and do explosive plyometric training for fitness and power with Attack and Step.  Although there are still some niche programs such as Jam and Sh’bam that allow for the fun aspect of dancing around the Group Fitness Studio, this is no longer what the studio represents.  Research has been done and education has been given.  The Group Fitness studio is now a goal orientated place to enter where you can be coached to change your posture, your fitness level and your life!  All of this you can do alongside your friends.

                There are many aspects that make a good coach; knowledge, interaction, connection, the personal touch and accentuating the positive (The Group Fitness Coach – Peggy J. Gregor).  Good coaches are educated on their sport; they speak and direct teams according to their education in the game and their experience on the field.  This is the case with the Group Fitness arena.  The best cycle instructors understand the mechanics of cycling and have spent time on the road.  They understand that music provides a cadence that helps set a pace to challenge fitness results and they know to structure a class based on an authentic road ride, drills that challenge you and make any rider more bike fit and coach perfect cycle posture for energy efficient riding and safe technique.  Pilates and Yoga professionals spend years perfecting their disciplines through constant (and usually expensive!) education courses so that they understand human kinetics to educate the general public on postural balance and core strength.  A true ‘yogi’ practices their discipline daily as well as coaches it because they live and want to share the values of the program, they don’t merely instruct ‘flexibility.’  The Group Fitness coach understands that pressing play and feeling the music isn’t enough.  Group Fitness is a good forum to educate the public on better fitness and a more balanced life.

                A coach realises that talking at his/her team doesn’t get results- interaction and individual connection is required for all team members to reach their common goal.  A personal trainer may have a variety of personalities in his/her client base and approach each individual differently according to their needs, imagine the Group Fitness arena!  All those personality types requiring motivation!  The ‘aerobics instructor’ may have encouraged groups to mimic moves, the Group Fitness Instructor may have performed to his/her group, the Group Fitness Coach adapts his/her teaching to be inclusive and suit a variety of personalities and needs.  The shy wallflower in the back corner may need assurance that all will be well and they are in a safe, friendly environment while the gung-ho gym-junkie front and centre may need a list of challenges barked at them and an energy level set above and beyond.  A true coach finds common ground for everyone by addressing each person at some point, choosing moments in the class to suit individual needs and taking everyone on their common journey; to achieve fitness results.

                The personal touch is when a coach goes above and beyond; they remember names, details and build not just rapport but relationships with individuals in the group fitness arena.  They may come to class early and leave a little later just to talk to class participants and answer questions.  The coach aims not just to build a successful class but to build a fitness community.  This is when the Group Fitness coach becomes most valuable to health clubs; they become more in tune to member needs and develop member loyalty because of the fitness community they have created.

               Good coaches accentuate the positive (The Group Fitness Coach – Peggy J. Gregor).  An important part of exercise prescription is perfecting technique; however, nit-pickers who constantly dwell on technique faults do not run successful classes.  It is a hard line between acknowledging successes and wanting someone to perform better by perfecting technique, but a good coach will find the middle ground between encouragement and improvement.  I have been to classes where instructors have prided themselves on being the technique ‘Nazi.’  I have never seen a reaction of gratitude to this teaching style.  No one wants to endure a session on what they are doing wrong from start to end.  We gain motivation to improve by hearing about what we are doing right and ‘now here is how we can do better’.   A good coach realises, connects, commends and then offers improvement.  A good sports coach recognises strengths and weaknesses in a team of players, so must the Group Fitness Leader.

                For all of us who entered the Group Fitness arena to move to the music we are in for a pleasant surprise!  In the hands of a good Group Fitness Coach we are going to leave the studio more educated and self-aware than when we entered the room, we are going to feel as though our needs have been met and that we have become a part of a fitness community.  The shift from 'aerobics classes' to group fitness training has revolutionised the industry; we don't just mimic and move to music, we learn about the training, focus on technique and bettering ourselves and do it with our friends, much like how a sports team trains. Sporting camaraderie can be found in the group fitness arena as we gradually connect and relate to those participating around us.  Group Fitness is now about an experience and personal development; a good Group Fitness Leader will make sure that we leave the studio feeling good about what we've been a part of and what has been accomplished. 

In Pursuit of Evolution; The Adrenaline Addict v’s the Mind, Body and Spirit Seeker.

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance” - Brian Tracy.

There is a new popular addiction; but unlike most other addictions this addict is often praised for their frantic energy and non-stop activity…   There are many adrenaline addicts that walk among us; we see them tapping their feet in long supermarket cues or speeding up to catch the orange light at intersections, most of them can’t go a day without the drama of completing several daily tasks with a sense of urgency!  However, just like most addicts there are health repercussions in living in a state of being constantly ‘on’.   Some of these involve health risks associated with most stress disorders – ulcers, heart attacks… but the emotional effect of being a human-doer rather than a human being is far greater.  When the true definition of wellness has been proven to stem from a balance of mind, body and spirit, the adrenaline addict falls off the wagon to finding true happiness.

Epinephrine or adrenaline is a hormone and a neurotransmitter (Wikipedea).  Adrenaline increases heart rate, constricts blood vessels, dilates air passages and participates in the fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system (Wikipedea).  Without adrenaline we wouldn’t be alerted to grab a child's hand at the curb when a car races by, we wouldn’t feel energy when facing certain challenges such as a big presentation at work or a stressful conflict and we wouldn’t get a cushion effect when we receive bad news (“Hurry up and Be Still: Freedom From Adrenaline Dependence- William Gaultiere, Ph. D.).  However, the problem with modern living and our busy lifestyles is we crave this constant state of urgency where we view every daily stress as an emergency; we multi-task to save time, stimulate ourselves with caffeine (an adrenaline stimulant), we cut sleep hours to get more done and then we grind our teeth through our sleep dreaming about tasks forgotten!  The sense of urgency inspires a manic energy that keeps us going to such an extreme that we never switch off!  Panic becomes the new initiative and the stress becomes an admired relentless energy.

Many business people depend on adrenaline to get through their 50-hour work week (“Hurry up and be Still: Freedom from Adrenaline Dependence- William Gaultiere, Ph. D.), and many people get hooked on adrenaline because it feels good to feel energised.  However, like other compulsive behaviours several symptoms surface that suggest a less than fulfilled life.  When adrenaline addicts slow down they are not happy so when they do relax they can experience actual withdrawal symptoms such as; a compulsion to get busy or be more stimulated by noise and activity, emptiness, boredom or depression, feelings of guilt about being idle, irritability or loss of temper, worrying about work that needs to be done, fidgetiness or restlessness, utter exhaustion (“Hurry up and Be Still: Freedom From Adrenaline Dependence- William Gaultiere, Ph. D.).  As well as the emotional symptoms, the body can suffer from things such as anxiety, rapid heartbeats, headaches, backaches, gastric diseases and sleep problems, not to mention dramatic stress related illnesses such as viruses, ulcers, heart disease and cancer  (“Hurry up and Be Still: Freedom From Adrenaline Dependence- William Gaultiere, Ph. D.). 

An adrenaline addict could be seen as a human-doing, not a human-being.  The definition of a state of wellness is balancing our mind, body and spirit.  Wellness can be described as the state that combines health and happiness (Wikipedia) and focusses on minimizing the effects of physical stress which causes nervous system irritation, chemical stress which causes body toxicity and mental stress which can induce hormonal changes in the adrenal glands.  Wellness programs allow individuals to take increased responsibility for their health behaviours; whether this be to alleviated stress through meditation or conflict workshops, to combat obesity by taking up a physical regime or by combatting other habits that affect health such as smoking or alcohol addiction through counselling or a step program.  Wellness is about finding a sense of balance and the following factors are said to contribute; living in a clean environment, eating organic food, regularly engaging in physical exercises, balance in career; family and relationships and developing a sense of spirit by cultivating religious beliefs or personal philosophies.  There are many dimensions that create a human being; by cultivating all of them we create a state of contentment.

We live in a fast-paced world where we have learned to admire individuals that show an abundance of energy.  We have possibly offered these individuals career promotions, responsibilities and ‘opportunities’ way beyond human capabilities… but that is just it… what we have asked has been way beyond what a human-being is capable.  There are only so many hours in the day, and only so many aspects of our lives can receive our full attention… and then we feel guilty for not being everything to everyone!  An adrenaline addict is not a superhuman-being.  It is an individual addicted to the energy that panic prevails.  A truly well individual is someone who recognises that sometimes you have to switch off, let go and enjoy peace of mind.  It is a gifted, happy individual that can give space and recognize it, appreciate peace and seek it, seek knowledge and manifest it, be true to all aspects of life without giving in to the fast-paced urgent pull that leads us to be solely consumed by work or family responsibilities.  Balance is the key.