I hear voices

I hear voices in my head when I workout and they're not coming from my iPod.

Sometimes I hear the voices of past personal trainers or coaches I once worked with, and sometimes I even hear my own voice. I'd like to introduce them to you.

Meet Heather. Heather is the voice of my spunky, yet fierce spinning instructor who, with gritted teeth and veins bulging screams: "GO JO! YOU GOT THIS! YOU'RE DOING IT!" and, "DON'T. YOU. QUIT."

 Sometimes, in the final stretch, she throws in some friendly reminders like, "You can do ANYTHING for 60 seconds!" 

Then there's Kim. Kim is a gentle soul who oozes sunshine, she was my first personal trainer. She counts my reps for me and as I near the end of a set she says things like, "8-is-great, 9-is-fine." Kim taught me a lot about form and on many lifts her voice still reminds me to "keep your shoulders back and down."

Krista, pictured here, is my online trainer. I've never met her in person and I've never even heard her voice, but I feel like I know her. Krista is from Ontario so her voice inside my head speaks with a Canadian accent. She visits when I am

distracted by the interesting people that train at my gym, like the air-bowler for instance. Krista's a former police officer so I picture her beside me with a big stick and a booming voice saying, "FOCUS ON THE TASK AT HAND."

And then there's my own voice. Sometimes, on challenging heavy lifting days, I kid myself by saying the weights are as light as air, and so I hear whispers counting down my reps, "5 marshmallows, 4 marshmallows, 3 marshmallows..." Other times my voice gets a little nasty and says things like, "Don't you give up, you sally" or it questions my efforts asking, "Are you earning your carbs?" 

And speaking of carbs, sometimes these voices follow me into the kitchen. Especially when I want just one more sliver off that row of Wild Oat Bars. Out of nowhere a voice clears her throat and speaks, "Just a pinch to grow and inch." Which really isn't smart to say when I have a knife in my hand, but nevertheless, it makes me stop and think.

I hope you have enjoyed meeting the training team that lives inside me. I encourage you to turn down your iPod and tune into your inner voice the next time you workout. It's there to challenge you, to give you some friendly reminders, to help you get the most of your workout, to make you think. That team is your inner spirit talking, screaming, cheering you on when you need it the most, and it's there to make you stronger. 

Now, the girls and I are off to (massage) therapy. When we return we just might change our Web address to www.sybil's.blogspot.not.calm.