Yesterday, I saved a turtle, only to have it bite my two year old son in a rather pissy manner if I may say so myself. The poor turtle was surrounded by preschoolers and faced a grisly death by the industrial lawn mower zig-sagging closer and closer. So I picked it up, and fielded off the exclamations of, "watch out, its a snappy turtle!" and "that tootle will bite you!" with smug reassurances that it was a sweet box turtle. I apparently placed too much confidence in this damn turtle, because my cherubic, snotty-nosed baby reached out one little finger and that turtle lunged at it like a duck after a French fry. Have you heard the word "turtle" enough? I don't think so. So, lesson learned, box turtles do in fact bite, and those little preschoolers knew way more than I gave them credit for.
This is a fitness blog, though, so how does this tie in to the gym? Box turtles....box jumps....turtle pose....no. Is there a turtle pose? I don't know. Stick a BOSU ball on someone's back and make them low crawl. There we go. I patent that! Just kidding.
No, I'm relating this to fitness through instinct. Those young children knew through instinct that that distressed, desperate turtle was in no mood for babies. They even told me! In my grand state of adultness, I ruled out that possibility. Snapping turtles bite, they're dangerous. Box turtles eat lettuce and look cute. I ignored a very basic instinct because somewhere I had read something that assured me it was safe. That right there was the reason my son will have a deep, dark fear of box turtles that will haunt him for life and sneak up on him in a movie theater when a turtle comes on the screen and ruin the date he was on with what would've been the perfect woman and mother of my grandchildren and permanently label me as the destroyer of my son's life. But I digress....
Who hasn't tried out a new move in a group class or at the gym and thought, "Really? Is this correct? It feels wrong." But the instructor, or the magazine, or YouTube said it was ok, so you kept going. Don't. If it feels wrong, stop. Instructors aren't infallible. We learn everyday, and often the rules and national guidelines change. What was once ok, is now proven to mess up your shoulders. What was once thought healthy is now a major contraindication. As professionals, we study, practice, and strive to stay on top of it all but things can slip through the cracks and people through our peripheral vision. There are many of you and only one of us in a classroom.
Magazines are the devil. Many of those moves you see in popular magazines are hazardous and borderline contraindicated. Not all, but enough to make professionals nervous. During training, I was taught NEVER to teach moves from a magazine, unless I'm trying to hurt someone. Think about it. You have a stressed out writer with an article deadline frantically Google-ing some move never featured before in any of the other thousand magazines, some crazy headline grabber. But I, as well as most, am guilty of trusting those moves. My instinct may have thought, "wow, this one-legged hop with a kettle bell press on a BOSU sure is jacking up my knees and spine and holy crap I hope I don't fall!" but I looked at the magazine, it said it was cool, so I kept going. There are some good programs/articles out there, such as the Spartan Workout from Men's Fitness Magazine and I always love a good, basic core plan, just beware the desperate turtles. Learn to listen to the little guy (your brain) when he tells you it isn't right. Stick to the basics, they're still around for a reason.
All in all, enjoy your fitness, remember that a pushup trumps most, and if you pull of my patented BOSU turtle exercise, I expect pictures! ;)
Once again a well written article! I love how that incident makes a case for many of life's lessons. Listen to yourself... If it doesn't feel right, then it probably isn't right! It's easy to rely on others, but it's more important to rely on myself! Thanks for reminding me of the importance of this lesson!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteNo one knows you like you!
Delete