I Call Her
Mom by Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Weekly Column 1/30/20
Once a year
a vibrant mom enters my fitness world. She visits for 3 weeks each year and all
three weeks I’m jaw dropped. Do you ever have a person stroll into your life
and blow your mind? I’ve been athletic my entire life. Starting at age two I
began ice skating and continued in that sport until the age of 13. Throughout
the next season of my life I competed in the 80-meter low hurdles and even made
it to the Oklahoma State championships 3 times as a high schooler. Summer
track, cross country, soccer, twirling a rifle in the band and bodybuilding
kept me out of trouble and in shape! Now as a trainer with over 28 years’
experience. I’d always laugh and say I
had a long-term goal of teaching well into my 90’s. Honestly thinking in my
90’s! What would my quality of life be
anyway? Then enters “mom.”
I know her
daughter Diana, who’s been in my classes for several years. The first time her
mom stepped into class I was truly concerned. “I’m Martha!” she smiled and got
straight to working out. Soon I realized (she was then 88) I’d need to try to
keep up! Certain folks don’t realize time ticks away. This year her workouts
with me were even more special. I’d been missing my own mother something
terrible and her strength and joy made my heart smile. Would my mom be like
this if she was still alive? Conjecture for sure. But there Martha was not
missing a single beat.
I’m not sure
of her background in life, but I do know that for someone who is 90 years old
to just be upright is a feat in itself. “Mom,”
I put my arm around her and grinned, “when I grow up I want to be just like
you.”
Guiding the
generation behind you is imperative to growth. I’ve much more wisdom on fitness
than I did in my 20’s when I started teaching. Nutrition, injury and recovery
knowledge make me a better trainer. I’ve poured countless hours into learning.
I’ve done a million six grapevines in class and just as many burpees! What we
train becomes stronger. What we put effort into grows.
Training
your brain to remember the moves, suddenly becomes simple. I can teach any
style of class, from Spin, to Zumba, to now Chair Yoga which has been my latest
adventure and quite popular at my gym now. Muscles have memory. You do an
exercise long enough and you’re great at the movement. Just like when we crack
open our dusty Bible. You know the one you were going to study starting in
January 2020? Remember your resolutions? No condemnation here, rather I’m
coaching you through the tough part.
Simply start. This past weekend my bible muscles reached the pinnacle of
pain. On our woman’s retreat we went to school. Simply starting, we took apart
the Book of 1 John, chapter 1.
I know how
to read my bible, but this eye opener had my brain doing burpees! How can the
stories of the word of God come alive by technique? It did. Why was this simple
technique never taught to me? What had I been missing all these years? I know,
passion for knowing. Just like when I have a brand-new student in class and
they kinda know what a bicep curl looks like, I’m able to step in as a trainer
and make it even better. They’re seeing progress and a nice peak in their bicep
as well. That was Mindy, our teacher, this past weekend. I UNDERSTAND!
Here you go,
in a paragraph I’ll share what it took us an entire weekend to implement. Step
one, “observe.” Go through the entire book and read it like a book. Observe the
tense of the verbs, the action of the characters and such. Just look. Then it’s
investigation time to “interpret.” What exactly is going on and what are they
trying to say. Bring in other’s writing on the book. You know commentaries and
the like. Finally, application. How is this book of the bible impacting my
life? Where will I see growth in my “brain muscles?” Are we there yet? Nope,
were never going to arrive at the end of this journey of study. Use www.blueletterbible.org as a tool.
Remember there’s 66 books in the bible, which will take me a lifetime of
learning. “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about
Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of
repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,”- Hebrews 6:1
A lifetime
is what we have to give God. He’s placed us in this time span for his Glory.
How are we going to use the 90+ years of our lives? Yes, we make time for
things that are important to us, i.e. fitness, friendships, Netflix (ouch that
one hurt just saying it.) Once you understand how to do something you can teach
it to others. “Command and teach these things. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you
are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love,
in faith and in purity.”- 1 Timothy 4:11-12 (Our teacher Mindy is about the same age as
our oldest daughter.) Grasp the concept and grab a friend on the adventure.
It’s just like bring a friend to the gym day, but this one is bring a buddy to
the Bible life! Commit yourself and be disciplined to pursue a spiritual
exercise as well as the gym habit.
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