Tuesday, January 21, 2014

In the middle

It is the name of a series I really like of the quintessential middle class of America. But I am not going to talk about the middle class and their money problems. Today I am talking about the simple things you can do to motivate yourself while exercising.

Now I love some intense cardio classes. The more crazy they are, the better. I don't enjoy zumba because they don't make me sweat as much. I do a lot of kick boxing, flex etc to keep my heart rate pumping.


Here is the hypothesis: Your class output is directly proportional to where you are standing in the studio. Meaning are you in the center or on the right or in the front facing the mirror head on?


Sample 1: Kick boxing class 1

Location: Middle right
Output: Medium
Reason: Took too many breaks to grab a sip of water which was right besides me. Felt like no one was judging me for taking breaks

Sample 2: Flex class 2

My location in the class: Last row left
Output: Medium Low
Reason: Did not feel as engaged and made too many short cuts in the class

Sample 3: Yoga Class 3
My location in the class: Front center
Output: High
Reason: Every moment I saw myself in the mirror I knew others could see me too. That motivated me to try harder at getting all the positions correctly. Also you don't have anyone obstructing your view which helps you in ensuring the right posture.

There could be many more variables that could impact your performance like the instructor, the class structure itself, music, the number of attendees etc. 

I feel that for me who is on the more introvert side, it is natural to stay on the side and work out or do anything. The performance is good to great but not recognized or appreciated by you. On the other hand when I pushed myself more by being in the middle of the class, I saw exponential change in performance. It did feel uncomfortable the first 5 minutes but by the end of the class it felt great.


Push yourself to explore the unknown. The results may surprise you.


Leena --<@