Posted on March 13, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

As a personal trainer we often challenge our clients  to push themselves out of their comfort zone.

On Tuesday night I taught Spin and Pump for Kate at Saxton, and I will be honest….I was nervous!  Not because I didn’t think I couldn’t deliver the class but because I know that Kate is an amazing class instructor and has a great reputation so I didn’t want to ruin this, nor for the people who were coming to the class not to feel like they didn’t have a good workout. This was me pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

When I first started personal training in Leeds I used to teach around 10 classes per week including Aerobics (yes, don’t laugh!), Spin, Circuits, Pump and Core Conditioning. So it wasn’t like I hadn’t taught them before…..it had just been a long time! (I’m not going to tell you how long!)

I pride myself on delivering the best to my personal training clients, and I wanted these classes to be no different so the weekend was spent practising. I went to Kate’s spin class on Saturday to remind me of how a class was structured….I’d run 9 miles before hand so I found it really hard….my legs were on fire on the climbs…..definitely being pushed out of my comfort zone!

Sunday morning was more practice of spin, making sure my routines fitted with the music. And then more practice on Monday and Tuesday for both Spin and Pump. My Virgo-nature means I’m a bit of a perfectionist so on Tuesday I had a little panic and rang Kate asking her if she would prefer Lucy (one of our class instructors and personal trainers in Leeds) to teach. Kate laughed at me (in a nice way), she knew I was just nervous as I was being pushed out of my comfort zone and reassured me it would all be ok!

So Tuesday night came, and there I was back in front of a class teaching pump like I did when I first ever started teaching. I think the classes went well, there were reports the next day that people’s legs were aching so to me that’s always a good sign. The people in spin were sweating (including me!)…..another good sign. So fingers crossed it all went well.

I guess it’s nice for my clients to hear that I even push myself out my comfort zone sometimes!

Next time you’re working out do something different, lift a heavier weight, work at a higher intensity……whatever you do, take yourself out of your comfort zone….you never know, you might surprise yourself!