So this is something I think about all the time……..
I guess sunday summed it up again……..
Jo and I were taken on a surprise outing by a group of clients (who happen to be people I am fortunate to call friends and consider an extended part of my family) to Cothele house where we ended up canoeing up the Tamar river, me dressed as Elvis and Jo got away quite lightly with a feather boa. Off we went picnic packed, it was brilliant!
I thought we were just going out for a nice meal with some of our fitness camp members who like to get together outside of their training sessions for socials!
Wrong!
This got me thinking AGAIN…..
There are many , many things I like about what fitness can do to people’s lives……. And yes I am lucky to help people change theirs…… so here are my first fitness “likes” and “dislikes” ….
Fitness Like #1
How the emotional high of physical effort and a tough challenge brings people with different ages, abilities, jobs and problems together for a moment where everything is a level playing field and the common ground is “lets do this”.
So ,yes we all share the common ground of knowing the benefit of staying fit so we can take on any challenge…but we are all very different, we all have different pressures upon us outside of that……but we can come together and enjoy these moments.
A bit like the mud runs we have done, and the team triathlon we are going to enter together.
Fitness Dislike #1
Unfortunately, there are those who want to believe that fitness is a divider rather than what brings people together. I am all about helping people come together and get the most out of it. It also is frustrating when people want to make out that enjoying health, energy and community is an obsession. Words like fitness freak, gym freaks……it is a shame.
Obsession……..is a dangerous word………
Some say it is a word used by the lazy to describe the dedicated??
One of the things I encourage our team to do is try to create is the third place.
Try to make people feel special, feel like they have achieved, that feel of mastery in “our place”…….
Nearly everyone has a third place in life with one being home and two being work.
Not having a third place leads to a lonely life and having the wrong one gives you a permanent sense of ‘somethings missing’.
Finding this place, in my opinion has to start with health as a foundation, as without it, you have nothing…….
“no foot, no horse” as a farrier would say….
For us, “no health, no life”……
I also believe that wherever this place is it should be somewhere you can learn more about yourself and not just get lost and be found wondering.
It might be a ‘gym’, might be walking in a forest, walking on the moors, being by the sea with your dog, cycling, running in the countryside with the smell of cut grass….it might be dancing or riding your horse.
To be honest mine is a blend of a couple, training with friends, spending time with Jo, my brother, sister and mum and being with my dog (anywhere)!
So here we are, if you have found your third place, tell me where it is and what you love about it, and if you are reading this and you would like to come see our third place and what the fuss is about head over.
My best,
Matt “call me Elvis” Luxton
