I really dislike when people try to argue that the adage “No Pain, No Gain” is dangerous, or untrue or outdated.
Really?
Here’s what I say…the people that say this are usually the ones that need to apply this philosophy…and not just in their fitness levels, but in other parts of their lives too.
The way I see it, we need to step outside of our comfort zone, regardless of what area we need / desire improvement in…career, love, money, and yes, fitness.
No where is this more evident than in my latest group of soon-to-be 10-Week Challenger Graduates, who all dared to step outside of their own comfort zone, trust in me, do the work and create positive changes in their bodies and their lives.
As the emails come in, there are always varying levels of success…one woman has dropped 12 pounds, another has dropped 3 dress sizes, another hasn’t lost the weight according to the scale, but she had to get some new pants because her body shape changed…tighter waist, smaller thighs, smaller hips.
Some have been true to the training and eating every day so far, others perhaps not. Some have stayed on the healthy bandwagon religiously, others have fallen off and gotten back on, sometime several times over the course of the Challenge. And so it goes…
But in my view, regardless of what the scale shows, or the dress size, I can tell you this: each woman has stepped outside their comfort level and stepped into a new possibility, a place of opportunity, that needs to be reached in order to make changes. In their lives, they learned to embrace (whether with joy or not), the no pain, no gain philosophy that is necessary to make changes.
I always say, dig deep and soar high.
So the next time someone again says, “I don’t believe in the no pain, no gain thing….” I’ll ask them if there are any areas of their lives that they’d like to see improvement. With a little less talk and a more (courageous) action, I know they too would soar into that place of infinite possiblitites. If they embraced the pain of growth they would come out feeling stronger and more able to move into the fullness of their lives. That’s what I see in my Challengers every day!
Congarts to all my 10-Week Challengers….I am proud of you, but more importantly I hope that you are proud of you. You dared to step out of your comfort zone and live a new way. Let’s keep the momentum going, shall we?
karen
“Mark Twain said: Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great. Eight weeks into the Challenge I can taste success! Thank-you for inspiring us to be great Karen!”
– Susan Lees, Victoria, BC
for the 40+ woman!