Why you can take any class and enjoy it!

“But will I be able to do it?”

If I had a pound for everytime I’ve heard that question! I’m often asked by members what classes would be best for them and if I think they can do it.  It reminds me of ‘the how long is a piece of string question. The reason why the question is such a conundrum is because so many multiple factors feed in to it. I’m a huge believer of,

“If you always do, what you’ve always done, you always get, what you’ve always got.”

So to me, trying a new class is something I have to do. I have to try this new experience to see what it brings to my workout, my body, my mind the list is endless.  I’ve been the Gen Manager of LYS now for nearly 5 years and I appreciate that we are not all as open to new experiences as I am. So today, I’ve tried to breakdown my main reasons, why every class is worth a try and how to make that experience enjoyable.

Start with the end in mind!

Why are you here? Why are looking to workout? What is your end goal? Understanding why you here will help you to adjust your mindset accordingly. Take me for example, I wanted to lose weight. I was miserable in my clothes and leaving the house post lockdown was both exhausting and expensive as I’d binge shop to find something I felt comfortable in.  So my goal, weight loss. So I know to lose weight I’m going to be looking for a class that energises me or strengthens me. With this in mind my expectations of this class is that I’m going to work hard. I’m going to sweat, be out of breath, find it tough….but that’s the point, that exertion will help me lose weight.

Body Scan/Mind Scan

Secondly where are you at? physically and mentally. To understand your starting point is empowering. When I started the 30 day plan I’d say my fitness level was below average, I was tired from having 4-5 hours (if I was lucky sleep) plus working FT and having my tribe. My diet was poor, my motivation was low and my expectations of myself during the 30 days was ambismal. So my starting point was established, the only way was up! When I took my first live class with Danielle for HIIT the min we started the warm up, I’d achieved something. You have to understand this to establish your approach to your class from a physical and mental vantage. I was not an ex athlete who was returning to training, I was a frumpy mum of 3 who wanted to do a bit!

Real Exertion V Perceived Exertion

How hard are you prepared to work? Yes it’s all on you. So remember we now know why we are here, where we are at so now its what are you going to do about it?  Do you ever tell yourself you can’t do something before you have even tried it? I do it all the time. This self doubt is a mood creator, it can define the outcome of something before it has even started. When approaching your class you need to understand the impact this will have. In my opinion it tends to go one of two ways. Either, you will start a class and go for it, pushing yourself to the max to prove to that negative self you can do it. Then what can happen is you completely over exert yourself and feel sick and struggle for the rest of the class. This experience then causes a strong emotional response to that class, to exercise in general and you decide you ‘can’t do it!’  The truth is you can do it, you just over did it, next time pace yourself.

Be proud of yourself

Rewarding yourself is really great way to boost your mood and also your commitment. So now you’ve completed your class, you may not have completed every posture or exercise but you did something. You turned up for that LIVE class and you had a go! Or you put the prerecorded class on and you gave it a go. The you of yesterday that did no exercise at all is now looking up to that you of today who had a go! You should be proud. The feeling of pride will be your self encouragement for the next time.

Will I like it, what’s next?

Where do you go now and will you like it? I’d love to be able to say that I can guarantee you’ll like every class you take but the truth is I can’t. There will be some classes that you’ll love and other’s that won’t be for you. The only way you are going to know is by trying them. The one consideration that is important when training online is your staying power. One of my jobs as Gen Manager is to decipher analytics of videos and we see it often that people will switch vid after six or 7 minutes. I often wonder how much of that is due to the ” I can’t do this” negative self chat. My advice is to treat every class as if the teacher is directly in front of you. You have made the time to take the class, you’ve started it….. so finish it! Your feelings towards an experience can be different at the end than they were at the beginning. So stick to it!

You know yourself better than anyone, let the ego that is stopping you doing something go. Try to trust yourself and your abilities. I promise there is not one class I would recommend anyone avoid on the platform. There is a class for every person for every ability and every mood.