Fitness Karma: The Unexpected Benefit to Helping Others Get Healthy
For the past few months, I’ve been helping my husband Mark out with his boot camps. I first started tagging along because traffic in Los Angeles is horrendous, and he’d never make it to his designated spots without a passenger. (Gotta love that carpool lane!) But something changed after the first six weeks of me tagging along.
I got to see the changes these girls in class went through. Women who couldn’t do a modified push-up started being able to do real push-ups — and lots of them! They beast it out every week, and it’s so fun to see their bodies morphing and their inner confidence increasing. Lots of muscle poking out—and smiles!
The three women you see above — Christine, Fran and Izzy — all could have canceled last Sunday. Fran had celebrated her birthday the night before … half of the girls were watching their children while their husbands were at a bachelor party in Vegas together. Knowing it would have been a small group, I know I would have started the excuses. But instead of skipping boot camp, they all went through a kick arse workout. And not just because they were afraid that skipping a session would slow their results. They’ve caught the bug; that lovely fitness mentality that works its way in if you just give it some time. They enjoy what moving can do for their energy, their bodies and their brains. They’ve made being active a part of their lives — a part that they love.
It’s inspiring to watch Mark affect peoples’ lives like that. It’s also fun that my loud mouth actually has the power to motivate the gals, too. When I go, I get to cheer them on and encourage them. I get to convince people to eat protein and that Sunday morning workouts are totally a great idea. It’s FBG heaven. I get the best rush from it all. I encourage the girls they can do it; they do it and then in my next workout I recall how they gave it their all. Then I give it my all. Then I take back that empowering “I can!” mentality to the next boot camp and the love goes on and on …
Have you ever helped a friend out with something only to end up learning it helped you all along? Experienced what we like to call FBG karma? —Tish