That's not just one Thing to Pick, now is it? Environment is huge. Plus, you likely have several. Each day. I'll have to concede, we could do an entire year-long series of Project Pick One Thing: Your Environment, just to cover the breadth of this topic. So for now, we'll specialize--we're picking Your Fitness Environment. (Next time, your nutritional environment.) And that's it. Because we can't pick everything....
"Behind You!"
If you ever worked in a restaurant you know this phrase. Without it, collisions are likely. People might get hurt, or heaven forbid, food might be lost on it's way out to the table. When you're in an environment where everyone is focused on similar, but not exactly the same, goals, it's important you feel supported but also know you're accountable for your own results. Good restaurants are like that, and so are good work environments. Actually, households work well in this way, too. And so do places of fitness.
Unfortunately, a great many people find the wrong environments for their own goals when they're seeking a place of fitness. Big gyms are an exciting playground for some, an affordable family activity for others, and a giant scary house of mirrors for others still. Small gyms with a focus on heavy lifting might be filled with a certain intensity that isn't right for a yogi just trying to get on a cardio machine once in a while. Home workout areas complete with dvds and stretchy bands can be far too underwhelming and lonely to motivate some people to regular workouts. For others, home is the absolute best health haven.
So, who's behind you? Who has your back? Tennis clubs are an environment. So are running clubs, fight clubs and country clubs. A quiet backyard where only the breeze and the windchimes are behind you, that's an environment, too. You have a lot of choices when it comes to the places, tools and people you'll choose for your fitness environment. Be thoughtful about your choices. Experiment, keep an open mind, trust your instincts, and believe anything is worth trying for a bit. When you find the environment(s) you like best, it should feel like your effort is paying off each time you're there. It should be a part of your lifestyle, not something you dread, nor an itchy uncomfortable fit.
Then again, you never know, not until you try. Big pro male athletes must be brave to enter the Pilates studio and give it a try, but when they do, they often learn it's a great environment for them to finesse and balance out all their other physical endeavors. Slim young girls must be brave to step up to the heavy plates and learn to hoist them above their heads while standing next to big pro male athletes, but when they do, they often learn it's a great environment to grow their own abilities in ways no one had really suggested before.
Proof in point: the following two videos for you to watch. Take the 15 minutes to get through both. It will help you start to form ideas about the type of environment(s) you want to place yourself in, to be fit, feel good and have fun.
In the Laura Plumey Crossfit video below, you'll witness a girl who competes with herself first and foremost, and it's incredible what she can and will do. I don't know Laura, and I don't do Crossfit, but I can spot an amazing competitor when I see one... You can view plenty of them, via the Crossfit program, but I'm sharing this video with you so you can focus on this one person working, in an environment that is both comfortable and motivating for her. The support and instructions she receives are a blessing. But even more than that I think the energy she's able to draw from this room of likeminded people really does the trick. When you're feeling at home/in a zone within the right environment, like this shot above featuring the women of Crossfit Portland, it can offer an emotional and mental boost that's hard to beat. Watch how Laura shines in this room, it's really inspiring: Crossfit Challenge: Laura Plumey
Now to contrast the first video, but also compare it, I'm sharing this lovely collection of scenes from an open gym Pilates class with 80-something Romana Kryzanowska, former ballerina and the first person given the blessing to teach Joe Pilates' method, after Joe and Clara Pilates themselves. At first glance, it seems that here is an entirely different environment for those working out. In many ways it is. But hang in there, and the similarities will start to hit you. The support and guidance of Romana, the independent pursuits of the students who are working on and with themselves first and foremost. When you get to minute 7 or so, you'll really start to see how nuts some Pilates practitioners are on that equipment, and how strong. Because they love it, it inspires them, they applaud when finished. The sharing of energy is also key: Elaine's Pilates Blog: Beautiful Pilates Video
So, there are just two of infinity, when it comes to places where, things with, and people with whom, you might spend your fitness time. If it's effective, and you're not hurting yourself, and it makes you feel good, you're on the right track. But if you're mentally fatigued by, or emotionally drained because of, or as excited as a dead fish when it comes time to go to your fitness place, then please, tweak it. Consideration number 1: YOU. You are ALWAYS the central component of ANY of your environments.
Just as this day cannot exist without you in it, your environment is nothing more than what you perceive it to be. Make it a great one.
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