This month at DPT we are focusing on a couple of bigger, overarching themes.
-Being a great teammate
-Working in a partnership
-Asking for help
During this month we encourage you to check in with yourself at the start of each session and think about how you can show up as a great teammate or partner.
If you see someone do something awesome, tell them.
We all know how great it feels to be acknowledged, but sometimes when we go to do it to someone else we think “oh that’s not a big deal” or “I don’t want to feel silly by mentioning it.”
Just mention it! They will love it.
Encourage someone to push it. If you see someone who is crushing an exercise, let them know it. Then let them know, “hey I bet you could go up in weight on that, you should totally try.”
We are all our own worst critics and we downplay our own accomplishments and strengths. When someone with an outside eye points it out, that’s a huge motivator.
So check in with yourself. Are you the person that does this on the regular? If so, keep it up.
If you find yourself noticing awesome things that folks are doing, but never saying anything, step out of your comfort zone a little and a great starting point is to just offer up one compliment each session. Don’t worry about the reaction or response. Just deliver that. I guarantee you will feel good and the person will feel amazing as well.
Try to do this every single time you walk into DPT. This will continue to forge the bonds, the inspiration and the teamwork that we value.
The last piece is asking for help. This is a tricky one because so often we feel that we don’t want to burden anyone, we can just do it ourselves faster or better or we get so wrapped up in our own head and thoughts that we don’t even offer up the option of asking for help because we’re so stressed.
I get that. I go through this all of the time.
Here’s the deal- this is a practice.
Just like everything we do physically in the gym, we have to train ourselves to make this happen. It’s not something you can just do once and then you’re a master of it.
Right now you may be practicing not asking for help. If you’re performing the actions I listed above, that’s a certain type of practice (maybe not a positive one, but it’s there).
We have to have some patience with ourselves and start practicing (not perfecting) the other way.
What is one thing you can do to move this practice forward if you struggle with it?
For me I check in with myself and I make it a point to ask for help or ask for what I need, once per day.
Some days I don’t and that’s okay, I just give myself some compassion, think about why I didn’t and then move on to practice again the next day.
If I did, I reflect on how it probably wasn’t so bad, how it helped me and it gives me confidence and momentum to keep doing it.
I highly encourage you to step into the challenge of February. Show up as a bad-ass teammate or partner (in the gym and outside, for that matter) and commit in some fashion to asking for help.