Do you argue for your limitations?

As a Pilates teacher and a trainer I have heard a lot of people over the years who “argue for their limitations” and most people don’t even realize they are doing it.  Have you heard that term before? “Argue for your limitations”?  

Let me give you an example.  I introduce an exercise to someone and before they have even tried the exercise they say something like:  My body is too big to do something like that. Or…I’m too old to move like that.  Or… I have never been good at that type of thing.   Often times even during the exercise they continue to repeat similar stories either out loud or in their head.

Before they’ve even attempted to practice the exercise they are “arguing” for why they can’t do it.   If you’ve worked with me at all you know I usually just straight up ignore these comments as I know they are not true. I know that me bringing my attention to the comment will only bring the clients attention more to these things and then they’ll spend more time thinking about and believing something that is not true.    

So why am I telling you about “arguing for your limitations”?     I have 2 reasons…

One is that I’m hopeful that just hearing about this will make you aware of when you are doing this in your life.  I mean…if you could choose how you thought about something before you did it…would you choose to think…

1. Oh this is an interesting exercise, I bet that there are some great benefits from practicing it in my body.

or would you choose to think

2. I think something is wrong with me that is not going to let me do this type of thing?     

Which thoughts do you think would make practicing the exercise more fun and effective?    Kind of a no brainer…right?  Try to catch yourself arguing for your limitations….and stop it! Decide to think something more encouraging instead!

P.S.  Clearly this idea applies to more areas of your life than just exercise…maybe notice if you “argue for your limitations” in other places in your life!

2.  My second reason for sharing this is that I had a great example of how one of my clients did the complete opposite of “arguing for her limitations”  that I thought might inspire you and maybe make you laugh.

After this week’s virtual Roll and Release Class, Cyndi was chatting with me afterwards. She mentioned she had to improvise a little because she didn’t have any of her massage balls with her, but she made it work and she felt better after doing it! She just rolled up a blanket and a towel and also used this thing in the picture that she had found in her dog’s toy box, as a substitute for balls!   

She used a Pokemon dog toy to roll and release tight muscles!!
I LOVE this so much!!

Cyndi travels a lot and has learned that if she wants to keep her body feeling good she needs to keep moving and take care of herself no matter where she is or what she has available to her as far as props!

Cyndi knew she would feel better if she practiced some roll and release techniques.  Instead of arguing for her limitations (not having a single ball with her for a class that was focused on using balls to roll and release tight muscles) ….she did what she could with what she had available! The end result was she felt better in her body and she had fun doing it! 

After you read Cyndi’s inspiring story it’s hard to ever convince yourself that you can’t take a specific class because you don’t have the right prop, right??!! I’m hoping maybe you’ll stop and question yourself when you find yourself creating reasons why something isn’t working for you and you’ll think of Cyndi rolling and massaging her back muscles on the Pokemon toy.  Definitely it’s inspiring!