Most Commented

Resources

  • Forever Change is a quirky DIY guide to change and personal growth. Be willing to step out of your comfort zone, and create a better you - FOREVER.
  • I post here about once a week. I also have a sister site Forever Change Weight Loss.

Subscribe

One Armed Push Ups in a Strappy Blue Dress - My Comfort Zone Story

Posted by Leanne | February 1, 2009 .

Bad Art
Creative Commons License photo credit: Katie@!

 

Late last year, I made a decision to take my passion for exercise, nutrition and helping others with weight loss a step further. 

I decided to enrol in a Certificate 3 and 4 in Personal Training and Master Trainer course, so that I could become a fully qualified personal trainer.   The course started two weeks ago.

The course is part time with contact hours that suit people working full time.  (I work full time in an office job at present).  The contact hours are Tuesdays 6-9pm, Thursdays 6-9pm and Saturdays 9.30am to 4.30pm over about 18 weeks.

Two weeks ago on Tuesday night I attended my first session of the course.  I was out of my comfort zone the whole night and yet I loved it.  I was on a natural high when I got home, I was and still am so excited about what lies ahead. 

Here’s a run down of what events led me to be pushed way out of my comfort zone that fateful Tuesday night……

The grand entrance
Firstly I made a grand entrance.  That is always so important and helps you stand out from the crowd.  Sneaking into a course looking like everyone else does not get you out of your comfort zone.  How do you make an grand entrance to the first night of a personal trainers course? 

Well firstly I need to show you what you should wear if you don’t want to stand out.  Something like this is appropriate:

Yep that seems pretty sensible. 

For my grand entrance I chose a floral dark blue strappy dress accessorized with shiny metallic sandals.  Are you kidding you are asking?  No I’m not, that is what I wore that night.

When the choice is between bad and worse
You see I got confused.  I thought I was turning up to a dressmaking class so that was why I was wearing a dress.  Well that’s not quite right.  What actually what happened was that I went straight from work (long story don’t ask) and did not have time to go home and change. 

Therefore the choices were what I wore to work that day or my well used gym attire that got a very good sweaty work out that morning.  (it was a whopping 42 degrees celsius that day) The choice was a classic no brainer.  Of course the strappy dark blue floral number won hands down. 

An early win for miss smug pants
Early on in the class the instructor said we would be out of our comfort zone a lot during the course.  I smiled smugly to myself – how clever was I?  I had a head start on the rest of the class because I was already out of my comfort zone. 

Surely nothing else during the rest of the first night would faze me?  Well as it happened, little miss smug pants (or dress as it was on that night) was in for a few surprises.

 

Colors
Creative Commons License photo credit: Stylva

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What colour are my undies?
Of course we had the all too predictable public speaking segment (saw that a mile away).  Each course participant took their turn to stand up in front of the class and give the following information - their name, why they were there and what colour underwear they where wearing. 

In terms of my comfort zone, public speaking is way off the scale for me.  I did OK though but did get a bit flustered and in all the confusion, I forgot what colour underwear I was wearing.  I said I was wearing red ones when I was actually wearing black.  Oh the shame and embarrassment – I got the colour wrong! (mental note to self – must remember what colour my undies are when about to do next public speaking appearance) 

Once I sat down I breathed a sigh of relief.  The hard stuff was over for the night.  WRONG!  

The squats and push ups demo and trial
Later on in the evening, our class was herded out into the courtyard area (resplendent in fake grass), where the instructor demonstrated squats and push ups. 

The push ups started with the “normal” everyday push ups with arms and elbows out, then the triceps push up with arms and elbows close to the body through out the push up, then the diamond push up where the hands are close together in line with the chest with the thumbs and forefingers forming a “diamond” and finally the one armed push up. 

The demonstration was impressive, the instructor made it look so easy.  

Now it was our turn.  I didn’t quite nail the one armed push ups that night.  Truth be known I wasn’t able to crank out much at all in the push up department, even the “normal” ones where eluding me, but I gave it a go just like everyone else in the class. 

Then I heard these words:

“You will be expected to be able to do these (one armed push ups) by the end of the course. ”

The one armed push up challenge
He was joking wasn’t he?  Yes he was joking, but regardless of whether he was joking or not, my first thought was that’s impossible.  I mentally listed all of the reasons why I couldn’t do it.  I am 47 years old - double the age of just about everyone else in the class –I’m too old to do something like that.  Push ups have always been one of the hardest exercises for me.  I am not strong in that area.  I can only just (emphasis on just) do one normal push up.  And so on - I won’t bore you with the rest of my long list.

Then something clicked in my head.  I was thinking to myself hey maybe I could do this.  Then my thoughts turned to….How on earth am I going to be able to do a one armed push up?

I realised I just needed to let go of the how for now.  Don’t worry about the how, just focus what I need to do to get there.  So right there and then I decided to give it my best shot.  I have set myself the challenge and I reckon I am up for it. 

So what is the take home message?
The take home message for this post is very simple.  When ever you are out of your comfort zone whether it is intentionally or unintentionally – just do your best and enjoy the moment. 

With the right attitude you can truly learn a lot about yourself by participating.  If you don’t let the comfort zone scare you off, you open yourself up to new challenges and who knows what you can achieve if you give it your best shot?

For regular readers, you will notice I have not been very active on my blog lately.  I have been super busy, plus on top of that had a computer breakdown and then just when things were back to “normal” I started my course.  Now I have got a little more used to the study and work routine I should be back to blogging about once a week.  Thank you for sticking around.  “See” you again soon.



Posted under Belief, Comfort Zone, Personal Development | Like this article? Subscribe to our RSS feed

Leave a Comment

If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Comments

4 Comments so far
  1. Greg February 11, 2009 10:00 am

    So, can you do one armed pushups now? :)

  2. Leanne February 11, 2009 2:05 pm

    Hi Greg

    I wish! I am getting better at “normal” (on toes) push ups though. I started being able to do just one push up and 3 nights ago I did 1 set of 20 and then did 2 x 10. (I am still recovering from this now)

    Now after that cheeky question I am going to put you on the spot. :) What about you Greg, can you crank out one armed push ups? If so do you have any tips on how you progressed from normal ones to one armed?

  3. Greg February 15, 2009 8:46 am

    Mate, one armed pushups… I don’t know. Will have a go this afternoon though and let you know. Hopefully not from a hospital bed :)

    Never been a big fan of pushups, but for pure strength (and simplicity) you can’t beat them. You can do them anywhere, without complicated equipment… with or without a towel, and even in a strappy blue dress! (You crazy thing you!)

    As a young bloke in the reserves my best was 50 at a time, but I had a lot of encouragement (you either did 50 or were given some sort of horrible and painful punishment… very good motivator was Corporal Bastard). Yet, for some reason I still had pipe cleaner arms!

    Now I can rip out 30, (max. 36) in a row. Twice a week instead of hitting the gym, I do my weight free workout. Pushups 100 (5 x 20), situps, squats, reverse pushups, and a walk / run.

    The goal. To get back to 50 pushups in a row, then 100…

    Have you noticed that noone likes pushups? And the fact that you can do 20 in a row is not to be sneezed at. WELL DONE !! What’s your aim? How many in a row are you aiming for?

    And talking of being outside your comfort zone, I had your site open the other day reading this entry, and a mate popped in. The first thing he sees is me on the computer reading about pushups in a strappy blue dress. The look he gave me…

    Cheers,

    Greg

    Gregs last blog post..The Gym - One Year On

  4. Jules March 14, 2009 6:07 am

    All the best with your PT course, Leanne. Thanks for the heads up re: needing to be able to do single arm pushups. I’ll keep that in mind before I enrol in a PT course later in the year or in 2010 ;)