Team 4all Tryouts….Paying it forward

 

 

Below is my Team 4all entry!  🙂

 

 

 

I plan on committing 2011 to be the year I pay it forward with fitness and motivation.  I remember back when a regular fitness and healthy lifestyle was not the norm for me.  Sure, I ran track in high school, but after the season was over, so was I!  It was not until college that I started to take my health and fitness more seriously.  I was really involved in taking group exercise classes and soon became an instructor myself.  I thank the awesome staff and instructors at the university for seeing my strengths and encouraging me!  I was on the shy side, so getting up in front of a class full of strangers and moving on beat was way out of my comfort zone.  I got over it fast because it was that important to me.  I dove in head first and taught all styles of group fitness.  Kickboxing, toning, step, yoga, spinning; you name it; I probably taught it! It was also around this time that I chose a major of Physical education with an emphasis in corporate wellness and never looked back.

Motivating others motivates me.  I love to see and hear my class participant’s success stories. Sometimes they actually give me credit!  I know I can’t take all the credit though!  When I was pregnant, my classes were always full of people.  They were full because the students felt I was very motivating.  Not so much with my words, but more so with my presence.  I did not understand that at first, but later a participant told me that if I was showing up to teach at 6 am while 8 months pregnant, then they had no excuse! 

I will gain my power through paying it forward this year while gaining motivation (and hopefully giving some along the way) from others.  I love to introduce and talk about my passions with whomever will listen.  Whether it be eating healthy, running a race or lifting weights.  I don’t mind running at a slower pace or taking time out of my fitness routine to help others and to show them why I love doing all the active things I do.

I feel I would represent Team 4all with my commitment to fitness by paying it forward and sharing my love of fitness to others.  It does not matter if you’re a gym rat, a weekend warrior, a hard-core competitor or a Pilates kind-of woman.  There are many ways to seek fitness and wellness in your life and I would love to represent 4all, and what it stands for.  I became a group exercise leader because I was inspired by those around me.  I hope to do the same and pay it forward in 2011 and beyond.