When the teacher is not looking
by Sharnia

 

(prologue: I am Australian , my partner "Cowboy" and I have been going to a personal trainer (PT) for 6 weeks. You can read more http://chroniclesofsharnia-sharnanigans.blogspot.com
Tonight after training I began to realise the way you train when the trainer is away gives insight into what kind of a person you are.


PT has been away somewhere so Cowboy and I were business as usual even in the rediculous heat that has struck the one horse town.

Tonights session really showed how different the Cowboy and I are.


Let me illustrate the different personalities at play here through what happened tonight.

PT normally makes us run (or for me run/walk/run/walk) five laps of the oval.

Tonight I walked, jogged for a few metres, then walked hmmmmm say 3 or 4 laps.
Cowboy ran without stopping - 5. Exactly 5.

(important note: this followed a 12 hour working day where he was mustering or drafting sheep or other such cowboy lingo)

Then after the laps are completed we are to commence our individual routines.

For me this is 5 sets of ab crunches interspersed with oblique kicky things (not technical name)
I do this like a pro.

Actually to toot my own trumpet I am really getting good at these - despite, dear people the fact that my stomach muscles were cut open merely 10 months ago.... to reveal the Prince.

Sorry, off the subject to gloat.

So anyway the Cowboy is off to the grandstand doing squats and other such things to make him into a bulk of a man , or to do something for his knee which is dodgy.

He does it without taking a rest, a breath and I did not hear so much as a whinge about how hot it was, or the flies.

Maybe he was complaining and I just didn't hear him over my own complaints.

No, I know he doesn't. He just isn't the type.

I have not met this type of person before.

One who doesn't complain.

Cowboy is sort of a superhero.

We have to do 5 sets of everything.

So then there is me - running up and down a step for 25, then knee lift thingys for 25.

After about 3 knee lift thingys I decide poetic license is allowed with routine so I stop and go for a little stroll to the duck pond instead.

Meanwhile Cowboy is nearly having a cardiac arrest from the intensity he is building with his routine.

I leisurely stroll back and collect the weights from the car.

Admittedly, I then went on to do 5 sets of 25 weight thingys pretty well...

THEN.... Cowboy does his with much heavier weights - even with his little pile of rocks to count how many sets.

As for me I say to myself 1 set, 2 , set - Cowboy will say "How many are you up to?"
and I will say "This is my last"

I know I am only cheating myself.

I'm all about the shortcut, wagging, making it easier on myself - getting away with it when the teacher is not there kind've thing.

This is why we pay the trainer though.
I know this about me.
This is why we have hired help.

I was always the kid in class that wanted to do something naughty if the teacher had to go out for a bit, and there was always a Cowboy in the class that went on with their work.

Because their motivation and work ethic was so much better than mine.

Cowboy impresses me so much.
He is driven to achieve what he sets out to and never ever takes shortcuts.

If he says he is going to do something, he does it- no matter who is watching or who isn't.

He is true to himself, doesn't make excuses or EVER complain - I am absolutely baffled by him - but in awe.

I am an excuse making, whingy machine who is always thinking "How can I get out of it?"and then complain because the muffin top is not decreasing at the rate I desire.

Just writing that makes me feel like I am being hard on myself because I have been doing well - but just trying to illustrate the differences here.

Tonight I learnt what character traits come to the fore 'when the teacher is not looking'

it seperates the women from the Cowboys... that is for sure.

 

Submitted by Sharnia (view blog) on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 4:27pm
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