WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU SHOULD DO?
The other day an athlete of approx 2 years approached me and asked if she should squat to a box. Now this was a great teaching moment for me because I KNEW that she KNEW exactly what the answer was.. but sometimes people need a nudge. So I told her what she needed to do.
But that got me thinking...Should I have answered? Or should I have asked "What do you think YOU should do?" With poor knees and a bad back, this woman knew she should listen to her body but she really wanted to keep up with the class and do what they were doing. But what would that do? Not a whole lot of good for those knee caps, and I might add, the potential to not be able to come to class for the rest of the week. She knew it! And I knew it! And I really didn't even need to say anything. But she was skeptical and needed someone to tell her what to do in that moment and I'm always happy to help. But was I really helping her?
When we ask someone, whether a coach, a friend, a co-worker, etc, we are assuming that person will be able to give us a clear, quick, trustworthy answer. However, take a step back and think about it…..how many times have you thought about what you need to do, and really didn't have a remote clue as to what you should do? I'd venture to say not all that often... If anything, you have SOME IDEA. We may ask our coach in the gym because we just don’t want to think about it, or worry about it in that moment. But wait, what if we DID know what to do? What if we could self-assess? And what if we had that answer tucked away in ourselves and actually said exactly what the coach would have said if we'd asked in the first place? That is the difference, sometimes yes we really have no idea what we should do in a situation. Even if you can't in the moment, you can at least put together what you think you should do and present it in order to create conversation! You ARE capable, you ARE decisive, you ARE in control of your body, your mind, and your emotions. Does that make sense? Or am I rambling? Haha!
Sometimes you just want someone to tell you what to do though, right? And that's ok! You don't want to have to think for yourself ALL the time, but I challenge you to start building that confident queue in your brain that says - Hey, I DO KNOW WHAT TO DO! I CAN rationalize and create a solution for myself and I know I'm surrounded by people that will support me in that decision and help me through it if it wasn't the best one.
I digress, this is just me thinking out loud. As coaches, our job is to COACH, EDUCATE, TEACH, so that when it comes time for you to make a decision for yourself whether in life, training, relationships, communication, etc, you allow yourself to grow and learn for the next situation that arises! Us coaches aren't always going to be there physically, but one thing that sets STF apart from other gyms, is that WE TRAIN YOUR MIND just as much as your body. We want to create strong, capable, proud and amazing humans that are in control of their decisions, their moods, and have CONFIDENCE IN CAPABILITY to kill it every day and to create the life they want through fitness, and beyond! Quality of life stems from ALL these things, physical and mental.
Enjoy your weekend and cheers to your amazing self!
