Hi Friend,
Happy Wednesday to you!
A couple of weeks ago, my family was invited to go watch Michaela, one of our boot campers, compete in the Patriot Dance Festival @ the Boston Marriot Newton. She like many people has a love of movement and hers extends to dance.
It was fascinating to watch up close and in person, all the people perform in front of an audience. All ages, sizes and skill levels were present. Each dance lasted roughly a minute and dancers could stay on the floor for as few as 1 dance and as many as 5 or 6 consecutively and maybe even more. The pace was very fast with maybe 30 seconds between each dance and no more than a minute. Chop, Chop!
The day was split up into traditional ballroom dances (Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep and Argentine Tango), Michaela's strength, in the morning and International Latin dances (Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble and Jive), which are newer to her, in the afternoon. We attended the International Latin Dances in the afternoon because it fit our schedule better that day.
It was so cool to see the athleticism, movement patterns and skills of the participants as well as the level of conditioning required to be sharp and give effort & energy for the 60seconds and then recover quickly to be able to do it again (and again and again). Think anaerobic interval training, aka burst efforts followed by insufficient recovery (60:30's), for multiple rounds (5-6 rounds on average) with maybe 1-5 minutes off, repeated for 90min-2hrs. It was bad a** and exciting. The music was super fun and it made us want to move, party and dance along.
| |
The thing that stood out the most to me however was how Michaela's training really helped her to pop on the dance floor. Everyone there was obviously good, that's why they were there, but having the extra strength, balance, grace, speed, explosiveness, endurance, coordination, energy, stamina, vibrancy, you name it, on top of her sharply trained skills, made her really standout and gave her an edge.
I couldn't believe that the International Latin wasn't her strength with how strong she was at it, but then again, I'm not a dance judge so I don't know what they know, but I imagined that if Traditional Ballroom was her strength that she must have performed even better.
Well it turns out Traditional Ballroom was a strength for her as she won first place. This is a really encouraging pattern for her as she's now placed a couple of times at different competitions like this one, and as luck would have it, she also won first place in the International Latin and we were there to witness it. How cool for her! Yay Michaela!
| |
The take home messages are many. We all need to move. Self-care is the current label to describe this need. Everyone needs to schedule self-care into their days and weekly routines in some form. Michaela loves dancing. That's her sport. Others it could be tennis, golf, soccer, volleyball, running, cycling, etc... When you have a sport it makes it easy because there are seasons, start dates, end dates, weekly appointments in the form of practices, games / matches and social camaraderie all built into your weekly appointments. There's a lot to love.
When people want to get better at their sport, they tend to discover strength & conditioning because of the myriad of benefits it can help a person to develop to present a better self to their sport. It was obvious to me how Michaela had an advantage because of her weekly training with us. She was stronger, faster, more athletic, more springy, more enduring, more flexible, better balance, she was like watching HD TV vs. Black & White.
Other people don't have a sport yet, so they find joy in movement via walking, hiking, running, swimming, squash, yoga, pilates, group classes, cycling, boot camps, personal training, group personal training, etc... They schedule their own appointments and create their own routines and build the social part through showing up repeatedly and making friends with the people who are there at the same times as them.
Both options, sport or exercise are great self-care options and the hybrid of both sport participation and exercise or training as the supplement is my favorite. You can do the thing you love and then work on yourself to get better so when you do the thing you love, you bring a stronger, faster and more athletic self to it.
Training can your self-care and training can be your supplement. Both options are o.k. Find something you love and do it as often as you can.
Make it count,
Coach Mike
p.s. when you're ready, here are 3 ways I may be able to help you with your self-care:
Private Training. Maybe you've been neglecting yourself for a while or maybe you just do better when you work one-on-one. If you want your own time slot, a custom program and undivided attention, then this may be for you. Reply with "Private" in the subject line and let me know. Program Design. This is consulting. It's for the motivated person who likes to train when they want to train and do things themselves, but they want to make sure they're doing the right things and they value custom programming and someone who cares about them and checks in with them from time to time and who they check back with on whatever frequency that works best for them. If this sounds like you, reply with "Program" in the subject line and let me know. Group Personal Training. This is for those who love to be a part of a team and find joy in the camaraderie of a group, but don't always want the attention on them. They want a structured program to follow that provides consistency and variety. They want to be led by a coach, get better and have a great time exercising. They can train before work, after drop off or after work. They're can commit to training on average of 2-3x/wk. If this is you, reply with "group" in the subject line and let me know.
|
|
|
