I have had the opportunity to meet a relatively large number of people in my years of doing bootcamp classes. This year has been no exception.
I have learned a few things about people and exercise through the years, and of course think I’ve got everything all tied up.
Not.
All of that said, I really do love it when a camper surprises me. It is always so much fun to discover that others have these little hidden talents. Sometimes they are hidden from me, sometimes from themselves.
I am thinking about one camper who started with me in September. She’s got adult kids and wants to get her flat belly back. She works hard when she’s with me, and she has been making steady progress with her fitness as a result. I think she’s fantastic.
But I will always remember the day I made the class sprint up a hill.
She let loose and beat everyone there.
She knew she had it someplace inside her, but hadn’t let that part out for some time. (She never told me she was a sprinter in high school!)
How fun.
I had a new camper try the class out today; all I knew about her was that she hadn’t worked out in a year and a half and had young kids.
Of course I don’t know what someone’s capable of just from a phone call—she could have weighed 300 pounds or she could have weighed 90 pounds and I wouldn’t have known. She could have been in the Olympics in 1992 or she could have not walked farther than a block for thirty years.
She did tell me that she was “fairly fit” before she had kids, and she said she wasn’t afraid to work (love that, too!). But again, I never know what that really means.
So how great was it when I met her today and it came time for me to instruct everyone on some sprints, say “GO!” and watch her leave the rest of the class in the dust.
She knew she had it in her, someplace, no matter how long it had been since she reminded herself of that talent.
I love that.
I know a few days ago I put up a quote on Facebook that mentioned how we always have something left despite our own belief we are spent.
So never be afraid to give something new a try: you never know who you’ll surprise!
