Comfort Zones

I was regularly active, teaching a physical activity four evenings a week, also training on one of the four. On one or two of the off days, I took 3 - 4 mile brisk walks. I had hit a plateau noticing little change.

My physical trainer told me my body and my mind had become accustomed to my routine workout and developed a comfort zone. If I wanted to see a positive difference from my workouts, I had to get outside my comfort zone, shaking up both my body and my mind and allowing myself to progress.

Since my teaching and training class regimens were fixed, he devised a new program for my walking workouts. Instead of just walking, I walked, I skipped first with forward then reverse shoulder rotations, I heel - toe walked, I high knee walked, I side skipped right side forward, then left side forward. He threw in a few trips to the weight room during the walk to break things up. He showed me the written program, and then taught me by demonstration. He then gave me an essential piece of information that would make the program work.

It went something like this:

'I can write a workout program for you. I can teach you to do it. The program will get you out of your current comfort zone and allow you to make progress. However, you are the only one who can make the decision to change the way you are doing things. Only you can get yourself out of your comfort zone and make a positive change.'

He was right.

Life lesson:

At those times in your life when things are not going right and you know they need to change, you may have fallen into a comfort zone where you are stuck and are not making progress. Maybe it is time to modify your approach in a way that will get you out of your comfort zone and return to making progress. You may not need to make major changes, just shake things up a bit

Thanks, son.