Journey from a trainee to a trainer
In the earlier article, two key lessons from Shivani :
- Setting your goals – What is your mission? “If you don’t know where you are going, you will never know how to get there!” Setting your goals and knowing your motivation helps you in achieving your goals sooner.
- How can you achieve these goals to fruition? Once you have set your goals, I am going to walk you through how you can go about having your vision come to life. (From my experience through working with people in helping them achieve their fitness goals I find that this is where most people fail. But don’t worry, keep reading and I will shed more light on how to bring your goals to life.Which brings us to the third point :
- Achieve these goals through focus and discipline – To sustain focus and discipline, it is important to love yourself and stay positive.
However, journeys are a test of your grit and determination.
Here is a glimpse into my journey:
Phase 1 : The Student
Getting over one’s first love is hard. We all resort to something to get over a bad phase. In my case, I resorted to food. The emotional eating had the twin effects of deflating my self-esteem and degrading my health. I was called names by friends and colleagues like fatty, moti which further affected my self-esteem. I ended up in more comfort eating thus spiralling into a vicious circle.
I tried antidepressants but they did not help much. Although what did help was my sister’s support through this rough phase. She kept encouraging me, and helped me stay positive. That was when I realized the importance of staying positive.
Now my favourite mantra is Train your mind along with the body. Physical and mental health go hand in hand. It is essential that they complement each other.
This was also the reason I wanted a well-informed and knowledgeable coach. He pushed me beyond my limits. During the session while working out, he helped increase my knowledge on which muscle group I was targeting while exercising and why we needed to train them.
Phase 2 : The Master
It took me about six months to enjoy my workout routine. Up until then I saw it as something I just had to do. The positive comments elicited about my figure from the very people who called me moti, fatty, jhadi was a great boost to my self-confidence. This motivated me to challenge myself further during my workouts. I also started to take a keen interest in the muscle groups.
When I began losing weight further, I realized I would love to do this every day. That was when an idea struck me – I want to stay healthy for good, and motivate others to do the same. Why not get paid for it ? By now, I had an idea of the different muscle groups and which workout routines would best hone them.
Phase 3 : The Trainer
I decided to quit my corporate job and focused completely on being a trainer. I didn’t want to bite more than I could chew, so I started small. Around the same time, I came across a book by Zumba Fitness. Reading that book in itself was a life changing experience. I underwent the training and currently offer Zumba classes, and various fitness variations such as Strong by Zumba, Aqua Zumba, Poundfit & High Intensity Interval Training.
When everything seemed to be going on a good roll, life threw a couple of unpleasant surprises which tested my grit.
I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism – a deficiency of the thyroid hormone. Symptoms include fatigue, weakness, weight gain or difficulty losing weight. This presented a challenge in further achieving my goal of losing weight and achieving my target. I found that I would keep working out, eat healthy but my weight had plateaued and would not budge. It caused a lot of frustration, and was thus advised to refer to a physician to rule out medical issues. This is when I was learned more on hypothyroidism. So I did what I usually do when presented with a challenge: research more about it, treat it if I can and move forward.
Not too long after I thought I had tackled the issue of hypothyroidism, sometime and started seeing results towards my goal I met with an accident and had to undergo ACL reconstruction surgery. Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is important for maintaining stability of the knee joint, particularly in activities involving weaving, pivoting or kicking. The knee becomes unstable with a ruptured ACL and the joint became more damaged over time. Moreover, my job involved a lot of knee activity.So I needed an additional surgery.The recovery and rehabilitation post the surgeries took almost a year, and I was asked by my doctor to take a year off that knee. It was heart breaking to me since my life revolved around my mobility and my legs.
I wondered whether I could still continue my workouts. That was a depressing phase. The thought of going through all this effort only now to be constrained to bed was not a happy thought. But when life gives you lemons, make lemonade out of it. Since I was asked to stay off the physical activity, I used that time to work my mental health since I believe they go hand in hand. So I coped by picking up a lot of reading, surrounded myself with people who were a positive influence in my life. Decided to use that time to travel, by going places that rejuvenated my soul. I watched motivational videos to stay positive. I also worked out how to grow my business while staying at home. Once recovered, I began offering fitness classes to people. Zumba is extremely popular. In fact, I ended up opening classes at 10 locations with 600 clients in a span of one year. To solidify my background in the fitness industry, I am also pursuing further education from American College of Sports Medicine and ACE.
To sustain focus and discipline, it is important to love yourself and stay positive.
This has been my fitness journey. I would love to hear yours, so please leave a comment below or write an email to me.
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