My (Other) Toughest Workout
I took this photo after our first workout. We used a small studio space at a gym called Body Zone in Reading, PA. They gave us free T-Shirts! -March 11, 2010
It was 2010, and I was flown from LA to glamorous Reading, PA. It was the day before tour officially began. How the heck did I end up here? After 7 years, I still have no idea. But, there I was, feeling completely lost and alone. Although most of my friends were high end personal trainers, touring is a unicorn. There was no one I knew who could give me tips or a crash course on what was about to come. From bus etiquette, where do I eat, where do I sleep, how do I do my laundry, how will I know where I need to be and when? Anything would have been helpful and given me a little confidence. Instead, I got lots of pats on the back, “good lucks” and “you will do great”. But WHAT exactly was I doing? I wish I had a crash course on how to do my job! This person was the biggest celebrity that I had ever trained before. Other than a brief meet and greet in Nashville, I knew little if ANYTHING about her. Another slight technicality…no equipment. (We didn’t have our amazing mobile gym until 2016). Not knowing where we were training, and what equipment I would have access to, (if any at all), was just another piece of the puzzle that I would have to solve on the fly.
This experience, this FIRST workout, was the hardest thing I have ever done. What if I screwed up? What if she didn’t like the workouts? What if she didn’t like ME? I had a lot of insecurities, anxiety and self-doubt about not being good enough and vastly underqualified. But, at the same time, I was excited. I had been spinning my wheels in LA for years. I was barely staying afloat. It was difficult to be a forward thinker, when you are paralyzed by your present. I knew I needed a change. I even tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to do so. I spent some time in San Diego and then San Francisco hoping that something, ANYTHING would call me to move. Nope. Didn’t get the invite. Then, I decided to go back to school. I enrolled in the American Sign Language Program at the local community college. We were about 1 month in, when I received the call that would change my life. This amazing gift and opportunity somehow fell into my lap, and I would not mess this up. The negative self-talk and fumbling through life with an apologetic existence had to go. Believing in myself was my biggest challenge. There was no other option but to jump right in, feet first, and hope that it didn’t sting too bad when I landed.
I save all my old notebooks that have every workout I have ever planned. Recently, I came across the very first notebook from my very first tour.
If you have ever trained with me before, you will look at this and assume it was a warm-up or a finisher. Our first workout was unusual. We didn’t have a hotel gym to train in. We had a small space and the beat-up medicine ball that I managed to squeeze into my luggage. You don’t need a lot of space, time or equipment to get an effective, full body workout.
The growth and evolution of our training program certainly has come a long way from what you see below, but I am proud. Everyone must start somewhere, and it begins with making the choice to believe you CAN.
Give it a try!!
Ascending/Descending-As fast as possible with good form.
The first round, perform 10 reps of each of the 5 exercises in a row with no rest in between. The second round you perform 20 reps and so on. Increase the number of reps by 10 until you reach 40, then come back down to 10!
10-20-30-40-30-20-10
Ball Slams
Skaters
Log Jumps
Ball Thrusters (Squat with a Vertical Ball Toss)
Mountain Climbers